A Third Wheel – The Eccentric Alternative – A Guide To Sidecars amd Trikes by Simon Potter
I much prefer to read motorcycle travel stories than trawl through facts about a particular marque or indeed, as in this case, information about sidecars and trikes.
However, this book landed on my desk, probably due to my interest in the subject as I passenger in two totally different sidecars – a Russian Ural called ‘Boris’ and a Triumph Sprint called ‘Proper Job’, (never trust a man or woman who do not name their vehicles!) – so the job was mine as it were.
For a fact based book, Mr Potter does write in an engaging style that draws you in to the subject even if he does occasionally go off at wordy tangents that add nothing to the book in my opinion. As you would expect, he is a long term sidecar owner and fan and as he says in the books title they are an eccentric alternative and I agree with his observation that they seem rare enough on UK roads to warrant lots of pointing, waving and interest both from fellow motorcyclists and the general public, despite the fact that all dealers will assure you that they sell lots of them.
The book starts with a history of the sidecar and goes on to discuss the merits and pitfalls of different motorcycle and chair combinations. In one respect I have to disagree with the author in that he states “you likely won’t carry a passenger”, eh? come again? That is certainly their heritage – as an alternative to a small family car – but surely today’s sidecarists don’t buy them thinking they will be mostly riding around on their own?
The author then goes on to discuss trikes. For me personally there is enough information for a sidecar book on its own, but again the book covers the evolution of trikes from the matt black, car-engined based welded box section frame style(my personal favourite) through to the Billy Connolly-esque Boom Trike style (the author’s favourite). Interestingly a matt black variety was getting far more interest at the Isle of Man TT than was the bling-y variety, despite the author’s view that this type have no place in the triking world – hmmm.
The author also states that he believes camping and shared loos to be a thing of the past and gives this as the reason that sidecar owners clubs rallies are poorly attended, well he obviously doesn’t get to the MAG Farmyard Rally then. (as a sidenote it was interesting that the reporting of the Farmyard Rally in MCN recently had no mention of MAG, I wonder why that was?)
The book also includes information on how to correctly set up your sidecar and trike with the proper forks and geometry for correct handling, toe-in and lean-out etc. This information can be hard to source on your own and is therefore a useful addition to the book as is the detailed information on the different UK and overseas suppliers plus an index containing a directory of sidecar and trike suppliers and useful contacts.
Overall I can recommend this book as a comprehensive reference guide.
If you should want to purchase your own copy you can get it from Amazon by clicking here
