A Sidecar turns a motorcycle into a three-wheeled vehicle. Their peak popularity (160,000 in the UK in 1955, pre-World War II in the US) came about when powerful motorcycles were available, but there were relatively few cars about.
Sidecars such as the British Watsonian were coach-built in wood and had doors, sliding windows and even a sun-roof, but modern sidecars may be fibreglass or aluminium. Alignment of the sidecar is critical and the mountings come under considerable stress, making a quickly-detachable version largely impractical - in any case, the special sidecar tyres are poorly-suited to solo riding.
Sidecars such as the British Watsonian were coach-built in wood and had doors, sliding windows and even a sun-roof, but modern sidecars may be fibreglass or aluminium. Alignment of the sidecar is critical and the mountings come under considerable stress, making a quickly-detachable version largely impractical - in any case, the special sidecar tyres are poorly-suited to solo riding.
The cornering of "an outfit" is partly controlled by the throttle and this makes for interesting effects - a sidecar wheel brake fitted (usually a pedal side-by-side with the motorcycle rear brake) helps considerably. Sidecars place a heavy strain on wheel bearings, wheel-spokes and suspension components - even frames and engines may suffer. A hinged sidecar known as the "Sidewinder" became available in the UK in the 1970s, but its popularity came about due to driver licensing requirements, its carrying capacity being approximately limited to one tool-box