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Motorcycle and sidecar.

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Hello all,this is more than likely a wild stab in the dark post but here goes anyway.

When I first started work in 1973,I was in the joiners workshop at Bradbury construction at sharrow.Every evening I would walk down to hunters bar roundabout to get my bus home and every evening,just down from the workshop,a chap would be waiting on a motorcycle and sidecar,pretty sure it was a 650 bsa twin with a busmar d/a sidecar,he would pick up a lass and they would be gone.He stirred something in me as although a lifelong motorcyclist I wanted a sidecar outfit.For the last 15 years or so I've been riding one as accidents put paid to my solo riding.I realise the odds on this lad still being about,never mind being a member on here but it's just that his combo stuck in my mind.Sidecar outfits....You've just got to be a bit mad!! Once you've mastered the beasts they are the most fun you can have with clothes on!!!

 

Regards to all,Colin.

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They were terrible you could,nt have a pillion unless you had a sack of spuds in the sidecar. Wouldn't corner for toffee and always felt has though it was going to topple over turning left. The front tire was always being replaced due to it wearing flat. and the slightest bit of rain would cause it to aquaplane. Its horrible to say but a plastic pig handled better than a combo. Still did thousands of miles with one and my dog loved it.

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had a bsa gold flash with 1.5 sidecar when i first got married.went many happy miles on it to coast and lincolnshire fishing.not dangerous if driven properly

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I didn't say they were dangerous I said they were terrible, but fun thats why I had one for years. And still have one in bits in my garage.

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my husband had a triumph thunderbird 650 D/A s/car it was metalic blue we had years of happy motorcycling. we are in our 80's now and often reminisce . Daffodil123

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I forgot to say it was 1960 when we had the triumph Daffodil123

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my husband had a triumph thunderbird 650 D/A s/car...
Sounds like my dad's (I'm the little one in this 1951 photo). Yes, it's good to reminisce, and m/c combinations had a reputation for safety..:)

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After owning several bikes in my teens, my wife bought me a BSA A65 with a Busmar Astral sidecar from Smiths on Spital Hill in the mid 60's for 250 pounds, it was a bit scary riding it home for the first time, especially around left hand corners, but after a week I was riding it like a pro.

I had two Ford seats in the sidecar, one had to be taken out later so we could get the pram in it, I once opened it up on the straight road between Hope and Castleton to see how fast it would go, and I got to 90 mph before I scared myself and slowed down.

I prefered the combination to any other vehicle that I had owned up to that time.

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After owning several bikes in my teens, my wife bought me a BSA A65 with a Busmar Astral sidecar from Smiths on Spital Hill in the mid 60's for 250 pounds, it was a bit scary riding it home for the first time, especially around left hand corners, but after a week I was riding it like a pro.

I had two Ford seats in the sidecar, one had to be taken out later so we could get the pram in it, I once opened it up on the straight road between Hope and Castleton to see how fast it would go, and I got to 90 mph before I scared myself and slowed down.

I prefered the combination to any other vehicle that I had owned up to that time.

 

Took me week too.I ride mine daily and have never had the chair up unless on purpose!

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I got the urge to ride a combo when I was 18 so swapped my Tiger Cub for a BSA Gold Flash and chair. One Saturday morning, with my brother on board, we were hurtling down Normanton Hill, somehow lost control and started climbing the grassy bank. We struck a concrete light pole head-on, the bike spun around, the light pole sheared off and crushed the sidecar. We were both thrown down the road and the worst injury we suffered was a grazed forehead which wouldn't have happened if my brother had been wearing a crash hat. A week later I received a bill from the council for £27 for 'damage to council property'.

Despite all that I loved riding the 3 wheeler and nothing like that ever happened again.

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My Dad had a Panther with sidecar. Before the war we used to go to Blackpool on it. Me on the pillion, Mam & baby brother in sidecar. I remember the trips were long & uncomfotable, we wore our usual clothes & it was b....y cold going over the Penines.

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I had a few combos in the past, I had a Panther 600 sloper we had some right fun on that bike it had ape hanger handle bars extended front forks and a racked rigid frame and a tin bath on the side car frame, we went out for a ride one day with the mates and it started raining heavy like mad and the tin bath started filling up with water and the mate who was in the tin bath got socked we stopped and and bashed a hole in the bottom of the bath to let the water out by this time he was socked to the skin we would go round corners with the side car in the air and holding on for life we ended up in a few ditches and one weekend out on the snake pass we ended up down a bank and in a field full of cows happy days.

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