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[Duke of Wybourne.]

I had Panther with factory chassis which enabled all the wheels be interchangeable, so I could carry a spare. The body was a Busmar Astral. For anyone who has been over the Bealach na Bà, on an outfit, it's a buttock clenching experience. It would be even worse on something light. I had a fast MZ with a lightweight Squire sidecar with a 10" wheel, and it was truly horrific.

[Chris [Stockport]]

Always a pleasure to drive one.
I particularly like getting mine to go sideways in the snow, so the front wheel points forwards, but the rest of the bike and the sidecar are sort of sideways, on the left.
Only done this on a private road, but, like getting the chair in the air, it increased my confidence in case of "situations" in normal riding.
Before anyone complains, I know GB has now changed to a UK sticker, but it's just covering a screw hole where the carrier was....

[LanesExplorer]

'tis a beautiful machine, Chris. Looks like new! But what happened to the rack?

[Chris [Stockport]]

The Rack:
A few people tried to sit on it; I thought it wouldn't be long before it punched through the fibreglass.
I didn't need it anyway (it came with the sidecar) as there's loads of storage space anyway.
So... it's hanging up in the shed, waiting for re use or recycling into something else...

[Wheaters]

I have a sidecar brake which operates independently on the Honda CX500 and Velorex sidecar which mean with care I can slow down going around left handers. (Assuming the sidecar wheel is in contact with the road.)

That seems very sensible. We’re the two pedals side b6 side so you could get your boot on both, or bias the amount of braking to the left or right? I learned to drive on a farm tractor that had independent rear brakes…you could use the main pedal, or put one or both feet on the two rear brake pedals…very useful.

[Wheaters]

That was supposed to read “were the two brake pedals side by side”….

Just updated the iOS on my iPad to version 15. It does weird things now!

[swiftjess]

This topic has intrigued me so I have been looking up some of the sidecars mentioned. The Busmar looks like it would be large enough to take a couple of children.
Another Watsonian I came across was this 'Monaco' which seems to be a sort of touring sports sidecar. The present Watsonian Squire company don't list it which seems a pity as it would be a good complement to an Interceptor I think?

[papasmurf]

I have a sidecar brake which operates independently on the Honda CX500 and Velorex sidecar which mean with care I can slow down going around left handers. (Assuming the sidecar wheel is in contact with the road.)

That seems very sensible. We’re the two pedals side b6 side so you could get your boot on both, or bias the amount of braking to the left or right? I learned to drive on a farm tractor that had independent rear brakes…you could use the main pedal, or put one or both feet on the two rear brake pedals…very useful.

The sidecar brake is cable operated by a lever under the clutch lever. (That was my idea and it works well, if memory serves £4.50 for the lever and £12 for the Bowden cable.)

[Duke of Wybourne.]

This topic has intrigued me so I have been looking up some of the sidecars mentioned. The Busmar looks like it would be large enough to take a couple of children.
Another Watsonian I came across was this 'Monaco' which seems to be a sort of touring sports sidecar. The present Watsonian Squire company don't list it which seems a pity as it would be a good complement to an Interceptor I think?

The Busmar Astral would comfortably take 2 fully grown adults. With the seats removed I could sleep in it. Panthers, Norton big 4's and M 21's were probably best suited for lugging a thing like a small caravan bolted on to the side.

[Daiwiskers]

Always loved the look of the Stieb? Steib?
Can't remember spelling but I am sure someone will know

Never could get the foot brake for the sidecar set up right so just did without

Always surprised people how quickly you could corner in the wet

Edit was it Velorex that made sidecars that where popular on MZ's i think one of them would be about right on a bullet