1951 A10 BSA / 1950 Steib TR500

All Rights Reserved Keith Fryer / Phoenix Photo

In over thirty years of motorcycling, I'd never ridden a sidecar outfit. That is until I met Roger Baker to photograph his 1949 Triumph 3HW, when he mentioned he owned a BSA with a Steib and asked if I had ridden one before. Well, the truth is I hadn't. I've been the ballast in a Watsonian attached to a Yamaha 650cc twin, but I'd not actually piloted one before. "Time you did, then!" he said with a smile.

So here we are, some months later, in a deserted car park near Worthing and I'm eyeing up the plunger A10 outfit with a more studious eye than normal. The motorcycle half of the combination is a 1950 model A10, the chair a 1951 Steib TR500, both with a patina formed of many miles and about half a century of varied ownership.

Well, looking at it isn't going to get the job done, so following some advice from Roger, I'm swinging on the kick start and soon find myself trundling around the tarmac in a series of tight circles, with the odd straight line thrown in for good measure. I just kept repeating to myself 'accelerate for left, decelerate for right.' That way the bike goes around the chair on left handers and vice-versa on right handers. It sounds so easy.!

How did this idea of combining a passenger chair with a motorcycle come about?

Like

many innovations, the idea may have been carried in the minds of several people at similar points in time, but the ones who got to the Patent Office first in this case were the Graham Brothers of Enfield.

They registered the claim for a sidecar that could be attached to either a cycle or motorcycle in January 1903. Other manufacturers soon took note and Sangsters, who produced Ariel Cycles, acquired the rights and produced their 'Liberty' Sociable Attachment. Aptly named, this device offered a passenger a far more comfortable and sociable means of transport than any of the previous designs.

So the sidecar provided a workable solution; passengers could now be carried in comfort and not be subject to balancing on the back of a sparsely padded motorcycle of the times.

Early sidecars were elegant wickerwork constructions, often modelled on Bath chairs and set on a lightweight tubular chassis, supported by a single wheel. Improvements in early motorcycle design and an increase in power brought about big changes in the chairs, many now being built of aluminium or wood and offering a good deal of weather protection with enclosed body panels and decent windshields.

The twenties saw requirements for more specialised bodies being met, particularly with the surplus of outfits from the first world war reaching the civilian markets. It didn't take much to adapt ex-military machines for civilian life and this provided an extra boost to sidecar manufacture.

But the fifties are as far as we'll go for the purpose of this article, with sidecar firms enjoying the good times, offering enclosed family models along with the open-top, solo seat versions for the enthusiast.

Amongst the best of the sporting chairs were Steib, made in Hamburg by Spezalfabrik Fuer Seittenwagen. They were sited near the BMW factory, and enjoyed a close association that was to benefit them both over the years. Steib had a reputation for quality, the chairs being made of pressed and welded steel. Comfort was good, too, as I was to find out later. But first, the ride.

Roger's made of stern stuff and had no qualms about jumping into the Steib for my maiden ride. As for first impressions - you notice just how wide it feels compared to a solo. An obvious thought, maybe, but knowing it is one thing, dealing with it is another. You're riding a motorcycle, but have to leave a car sized safety zone around the various road features and hazards, it's something to get used to very quickly, or you'll soon experience some very interesting momements. Apart from that? Well, corners required a lot of rider input, at least on these slower roads. I found the bars needed a firm hand to get the outfit round the bends and roundabouts that peppered the test route. In fact, my arms felt like they'd been given a real work out by the end of the run.

"Not normally like that," said Roger, "You can usually steer the outfit on the throttle at higher speeds, with much less strain on your arms." He was right, of course. I'd been trundling along in the thirty mph limit, feeling the various forces at work on the chassis and concentrating on not stuffing the chair into the back of any of the parked cars as we passed them by.

At one junction, we approached downhill, I braked, the outfit wanted to go right, and I wanted to go left. It needed a fair old heave to get those bars over in the right direction. All good, heart pumping stuff! It was also good fun, once I'd got used to understanding what the bike wanted to do and how best I could accommodate it's needs in the circumstances; it all went well. At least I thought it did.

I learnt there's a vastly different technique needed to pilot a sidecar than to ride a solo, but the basics can be learnt fairly quickly. It's like many new skills; the only way to become proficient is practice, racking up as many miles in as many different circumstances as you can. That way it becomes second nature and you can start to really enjoy the fun that a good outfit will provide.

Proof of the pudding was watching Roger while I sat in the Steib, experiencing the outfit from a passenger's point of view. I saw totally different body language and a confidence born of many miles. And noticeably faster, I thought, as we whistled along the narrow seafront roads, watching him steer one handed. It's all in the technique. Either that, or he eats an awful lot of spinach.

From a passenger viewpoint, the Steib had plenty of legroom and a comfortable seat, with space at the rear to a pack tent, luggage and bottle or two of cold, crisp Riesling. Road bumps were not a problem; the ride was steady, no undue springing or jarring to spoil the journey. Supremely efficient, as was expected.

The Steib TR500 Tourer, to give it its full name, was their top of the range model of the time. Priced at eight hundred marks, it was not such a common sight on the roads as the more affordable S500, with its distinctive bullet shaped bodywork, which sold for six hundred marks.

The sidecar chassis is connected to the BSA by Steib's QD ball and claw fitting, one each at the front and rear, they are very strong and enable rapid detachment and attachment, similar to a trailer hitch. The front of the chair is supported on its chassis by a rubber bush that acts as a pivot point and at the back by quarter elliptic springs. Later models used thick rubber straps to support the rear. The seat is original, except for a top section that Roger had to replace.

Wheel movement is controlled by a short leading link and coil spring, but lacks any means of damping. Its a steel body, similar in style to the German wartime model, except this one doesn't have the machine gun mounting.

The sidecar wheel is QD, with a 'knock off' hub and is partially enclosed by a hinged mudguard. The brake drum doesn't hold any internals, they cost extra at the time and nowadays some of the parts are just about impossible to find. It does, however, have splines for the sidecar wheel drive takeoff for a BMW. One section that Roger thinks was replaced was the floorpan. "It's a common thing for it to rot, they're steel and if you leave it outside you can get water in the bottom, so it's probably had a new one welded in by now."

A quick mention for the 1950 plunger A10 alongside, doing all the hard work. I always appreciate the pleasant nature of these motorcycles. They are easy to start, ride and maintain, give good fuel consumption and spares are readily available. If you want more power, it's there for the making and there are options galore in the aftermarket catalogues to customise it any way you chose.

This one has a couple of extra breather pipes, one from the chaincase filler cap, another from the bottom of the oil tank. There is one area that Roger pays particular attention to, the plunger rear suspension. "I get a bit paranoid with that, I grease it nearly every time I use it. I've no idea how to take it to bits, I don't think I want to know, " he laughed.

And talking of various parts, some of you may have spotted the B31 petrol tank that's replaced the rusted A10 original and also the Triumph Trophy handlebars. Why the bars? Well, Roger didn't like the ones that were on there, they were too high. And he's also Secretary of the West Sussex Branch of the TOMCC, so he had to get some Triumph in there somewhere!

The A10 was a popular choice for pulling a chair, it would go and stop well enough to suit most peoples needs and the brakes on this one are certainly up to the job of stopping the plot. Ferodo Green linings do the job here. I've always been impressed with the brakes, even when you've got it loaded up, they still work quite well," agreed Roger.

What about leading link forks for the A10? "I've not really thought seriously about them, I found some at an auto jumble once and thought shall I? But I'm not sure yet. The only real hard work is on downhill left handers, when you're trying to brake and turn, you have to heave it round then."

Roger brought the outfit complete, after it had been beautifully restored by Dennis Swift in about 1992, who rescued it from the basement in a block of London flats. Why did he buy a sidecar outfit? "Well, Suzy fancied a sidecar, it would make a change from riding pillion, so we brought it and went on a tour of the West Country in the Spring of 2001. We covered six hundred miles in a week and won 'Furthest Travelled' prize at a North Devon British Bike Owners Show." A short time later, in May that year, they rode the outfit to Mayenne with the Sussex British Bike Owners Charity Run.

There was one problem there that Roger remembers, "It was really hard work to drive on the right. Dennis had set it up so well for riding on the left, allowing for the camber of the road pulling the outfit to the left, that when faced with the camber going the other way, I had to fight to keep it put of the gutter."

A long weekend, that one, but they covered another four hundred miles without any problems. They've entered many other events and shows, winning the 'Visitors Choice' at the Dinosaurs Rally at Copthorne last year. And they're off to Mayenne and Devon again for this year as well.

Roger hopes eventually to find a more powerful bike with similar sidecar fittings so that he can swap the chair over. "I'd like to have more horsepower for the long distance travel and I've got a Hinkley Tiger, I think that should be ok. Then I can run the BSA for the vintage events and use the Tiger for long distance work."

What about open road performance with the A10?. "I've had seventy out of it, but it felt like it was being unkind, its happier at a steady fifty-five. Petrol consumption averages about forty five mpg." He's fitted an electronic voltage regulator from KTech, a modern Hawker Energy 'Cyclon' battery and the magneto's had an exchange armature from Draganfly.

So my first impressions of sidecarring? Fun, without a doubt, pleased I tried it.

To state the obvious, it's a completely different art compared to solo riding. There's different signals from the tyres and chassis to learn and react to and absolutely do not forget the fact you've a chair on the side, as Roger calmly reminded me when we cruised past a line of parked cars.

Motorcycle and sidecar combinations aren't such a common a sight on the roads as they used to be and seem to attract a good deal of attention wherever they go. People walk up and either reminisce or are curious as what it is. Maybe there's a connection to a previous 'golden age' or an interest in just being different; who knows? But whatever it is, people seem to react favourably to the presence of an outfit; it's a pleasant side effect of sidecar ownership.

Just a quick aside - the sticker in the cockpit caught my eye and sense of humour: "Get in, Sit Down, Shut Up and Hang On!" Phil Primmer of West Country Sidecars

supplied the sticker, Roger collected his at the 100th Sidecar Anniversary Rally at Popham, "They were handing them out, so I thought I'd have one of those." Glad you did Roger. It sums things up quite nicely.

In my short time with an outfit, I've learnt they're not dull, they're just different. And as much fun as any solo I've ridden.

SPECIFICATIONS

Sidecar: Steib TR500 Tourer. Single seat sports sidecar. Ball & Claw fittings to motorcycle frame, Sprung Wheel, using Avon Triple Duty 3.50 x 19 tyre. Elliptical spring suspension for sidecar body. MOTORCYCLE: Engine type: four stroke, air cooled, vertical twin Bore & stroke: 70 x 84mm Compression: 7.25:1

Lubrication: Dry Sump

CARBURETTOR Make: Amal 389, Size: 1 1/8 TRANSMISSION Primary drive: single row chain. Clutch: wet, multi plate Gearbox: four speed. Final drive: 5/8 x 3/8 chain

ELECTRICS 6v / Battery / dynamo / magneto / points / K-Tech solid state voltage regulator CYCLE PARTS Frame: All welded, twin downtubes Front Suspension: Telescopic forks, hydraulically damped Rear Suspension: Plunger units Tyre size front: Avon AM20 100/90. Brakes front: 8 sls. Tyre size rear: Avon SM 3.50 x 19 Brakes rear: 7 sls

DIMENSIONS Dry weight: 408lbs Wheelbase: 55 Seat Height: 32 Fuel capacity: 3.5 gals PERFORMANCE Top speed: 70 mph Fuel consumption: 45 mpg CONTACTS Parts: Richard Hacker Motorcycles 020 8659 4045 Draganfly Motorcycles 01986 894798 Phil Primmer (Steib) West Country Sidecars 01425 656 471 Oil: 4 pints

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