Scooter Sidecars.com

Siderider

I received these great stories regarding the Siderider sidecar.  Thanks so much to Jason Runnquist for sharing!!

Hi there,

I happened to google Siderider the other day and came upon your site showing the 2 brochures.

I can offer you a bit more information. My father was a good friend of the designer which led to him getting the exclusive rights to distribute the Siderider in North America. The designer’s name I believe is Robyn Barns. I do know he was an engineer/designer at Lotus. He also had a soft-rock band which came out with a song entitled ‘Siderider’….it was pretty dire even by the standards of the day!  I remember hearing talk about negotiations to use one in a James Bond film but don’t think it ever came about. I believe there may have been a Matchbox (like Hot Wheels) toy version of the siderider in the UK.

The photos on your site make me feel a bit nostalgic. Although the siderider seems quite dated now I remember being very impressed as a kiddie by how cool it looked. My Dad had ones hooked up to a Goldwing, Kawasaki ZR1000 (think that was the model, early 80s shiny silver thing  ) and a Yamaha 1100 (again not totally sure of the model but it was the biggest beast around at the time). 

If memory serves I think it came into being in the late 70s (78 or 79) and my father was taking them to shows around Canada and the states for about 3 years. I’m pretty sure of the dates as I got to meet so many playboy models at these shows as a shy 14-15 year old. If only he’d done it for a few years more!

One humorous incident happened when the designer came over to Canada to work on the mounting brackets (or whatever the technical term is). They got a local blacksmith to make some to attach to the Kawasaki. While zooming down a country road to test them the sidecar detached, swerved off the road, through a ditch and a barbed wire fence, coming to rest about 30 feet in a field. I remember my Father (who was riding the bike) couldn’t stop laughing and Robyn, though completely unharmed, was white as a ghost and swearing at him that it wasn’t funny. The more he protested the harder my father laughed. The siderider came out of it with only a few scratches too!

Hope some people are still enjoying them out there.

(No Ratings Yet)

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Cozy Side Car

Here is some information form Scott Ridge about the Cozy Sidecar. He decided to import directly from India for his Honda Helix. I have several stories about directly importing sidecars from India and surprisingly they are all successful stories. The biggest issue, not surprisingly, is delays at customs. You’ll find an image of the completed rig, very nice!

Dear Scott

I was very pleased to see your web site.  Back in 2001 I imported a Cozy side car directly from the manufacturer in India.  I dealt with a Mr. Gupta who was very cooperative and helpful.  Unfortunately, I was not in a position to install it on my Honda Helix until this past June so it just sat in my basement.  However, I did determine early on that the attachment device would not work on my Honda Helix and my searches on the web led me to Geroge McDuffee.  He was just going out of business at the time and I bought his last custom sub-frame kit for a Cozy sidecar attachment to a large scooter or motorcycle.  It was the one that he had on his own Honda Helix.  He also emailed me the detailed instructions for the attachment.  When I did the attachment last June I discovered that the attachment was the easy part and that the alignment was the challenge.  So far so good.  My rig gets a lot of attention and I enjoy driving it.  I’m still in the middle of “shake down” and won’t do the final adjustments and trimming of the sub-frame parts until next season. I am writing because George’s literature mentions that he had a “steering damper” in the design stage.  My rig has a fair amount of front end wobble at low speed.  Before I trim about 18″ off the front of my sub-frame I am curious if you know if anyone ever perfected a steering damper for one of Georges custom made large frame scooter sub-frames?  If so could you pass on any information you have about a steering damper,  I am also attaching some photos of my rig including close ups of the sub frame.

Many Thanks

Scott Ridge

(No Ratings Yet)

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Lambretta Tv175 Spanish “Winter Model” with a Baby Comet sidecar

Thanks for the info and pictures Rui! 

Hello

Great site you have…..

I have a Lambretta Tv175 Spanish “Winter Model” with a Baby Comet sidecar all built in Spain and both extremely rare, this is believed to be the only one around……well for now I guess.

Pics enclosed

Regards

Rui Rodrigues from the UK

(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5)

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SS180 and Cozy

Trace was another who successfully imported his sidecar from India. Note the fantastic shock mount for this Cozy. 

Scott,

It’s been a long and arduous process, but I finally got my sidecar through Silverline Marketing. I’ve learned lots through the import process and can make recommendations to anyone else you know of that is thinking of importing. I do want to thank you for recommending Avinash Gupta. I wound up getting their fiberglass car. The scooter shops aren’t bringing this one to the states. It is more expensive but it’s lighter and won’t rust. Those are both big pluses for me. Below is a picture of it coupled to my SS180. Thanks again.

Trace

(1 votes, average: 4 out of 5)

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Cozy with RE500

Ray sent this information regarding his Royal Enfield and Cozy. Great stuff… thanks!

Hi there, the site helped me set up my imported Cozy and Royal Enfield 500 electra x (new spec lean burn). However I am sure I missed a few things - does anyone have any drawings about setting up this rig. I noticed in one of the tech pages lean out is via suspension adjustment - I will now have to look at this! Any works info appreciated.
Attached a couple of pics.

Regards
Ray Baird

(No Ratings Yet)

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sidecar for my trail 90

This is one of my favorites. It’s a California Side Car Tag-A-Long on a C-70. Check out the pictures - I want one of these Thanks Todd for sharing.

Please check out my new purchase. From reading through your excellent site I found what it is. It’s a Tag-A-Long from the California Sidecar Co. designed to fit the c-70 and (possibly modified for) the CT90 Trail 90. I plan to restore it of course, but I’d like to change to a spindle mount 17″ trail 90 wheel and fender, maybe with a brake… I have more pictures if you would like to see them.

-todd in Hayward Ca.

(No Ratings Yet)

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Nic Andermann sent some wonderful shots of some unmolested Piaggio sidecars. These are true gems!

Hello

I have some original Piaggio sidecars  if you want some picts. for your site let me know they’re not in the greatest shape but very complete and good examples.  when I dig them out to restore them I’ll get you some better picts. the orange peeler is missing only the lenze to the marker, every thing else was on it both of them mount on the left

thanks Nic

(No Ratings Yet)

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Giordano Sidecars

Pictures sent byAnna Giordano… please pass the tissues.

The Durkopp Diana belongs to Anna.

(No Ratings Yet)

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