13 Great Harley-Davidson Sidecar Rigs Over the Years
1. 1916 Harley and Wicker Sidecar
Doc, of Doc's Harley Davidson in Bonduel, WI, and his passenger Dawn aim to compete in the coast-to-coast Motorcycle Cannonball Rally this year. Actually, as I type this, they are entering the home stretch, heading from Colorado to the California coast, and doing quite well. The wicker sidecar is of the same period as the bike, which is a beefed up and improved 1916 Harley with modern LED lighting. Wicker was like the fiberglass of its day, offering a light weight and easy-to-work-with material for bodywork. They have been posting Facebook updates, and you can see their progress by clicking and liking their page.
2. 1922 Harley at the Beach
This Harley-Davidson promotional photo shows several of the advantages of a sidecar equipped bike: 1. The third wheel offers greater stability in mud, snow and sand, while maintaining a narrower track and lighter weight than a four-wheeled car. 2. You can carry more than one passenger, though these four may be overloading this poor 3-speed, pocket valve motor and those skinny tires. Side cars very much like this were offered from the factory from the teen, all the way until WWII.
3. 1933 Harley Bathing Beauties
By 1933, when these photos were taken, Harley-Davidson was the top bike company in the USA, with Indian in second, and everyone else dead or dying. These bathing beauties are wearing racy and exciting suits for the depression era, when most people still wore old-timer swimsuits, but Harley was an exciting company embracing the modern Jazz and Art Deco styles. Even so, that second photo must have been a behind-the-scenes shot never meant for public consumption, as they are practically falling out of their suits! The bikes? Well, they are the VL series flathead bikes, introduced just a few years earlier as the modern and powerful replacement to the old IoE motors.
4. 1939 Harley Knucklehead - As Modern as the Moment
When the OHV Knucklehead motor replaced the flathead, Harley-Davidson suddenly had one of the fastest vehicles on the road. The factory sidecar was restyled and got more legroom, and less of a boat nose. This same style sidecar is still being made today, in the USA, for modern Harley fitment by Liberty Sidecars.
5. The War
When WWII broke, Harley-Davidson quickly began producing military versions of the WL 45 cubic inch flathead bike for dispatch and scout duty. Later, they were also equipped with sidecars and fitted with machine guns or mortars, for more offensive applications. Though lightly armored, the bikes could move more quickly in any terrain and deliver men, ammo, or information where needed faster than a truck or a man on foot.
6. Bike on Bike Action
People today trailer their full dress touring bikes behind their diesel pusher motorhomes with more space and luxury than many houses. Things were not always like this. This post-war bike has had a rail graphed onto the sidecar chassis where the passenger chair used to be. It was not uncommon to see racers on a budget use a setup like this to get from track to track when competing in the county fair dirt track circuit. If this Panhead had a 45 ci flat track bike on the side car, it would probably weigh less than a modern Electra Glide Ultra Classic.
7. 1966 Batman Batcycle
There were at least four motorcycles involved with the 1960s version of Batman, but only one of them was a Harley-Davidson. In a first season episode, Batman and Robin take the Batcycle instead of the Batmobile. It was a stock black sidecar-equipped bike, with orange tape stripes added as well as police spotlights and special explosion-shaped windscreens. The bike was rented from a local dealer, so not many modifications were possible. Later, the dynamic duo has a Yamaha Catalina based Batcycle, with a cool sidecar featuring a go-kart. Bat Girl had her own motorcycle, most likely based on the same model Yamaha.
8. Sportster Road Race Sidehack
It takes a special kind of crazy to want to race sidecars, and an even crazier one to be the "monkey" in the sidecar. This iron head Sportster-based race sidehack was built back in the 1970s, then retired and converted into a unique street bike. Sports car tires and a special leading link suspension deal with the lateral forces that only low slung sidecars have to deal with, since they don't lean like a two-wheeled bike.
9. Metal Work Show Bike
This Panhead based show bike must have taken thousands of hours of bending and welding to get to where it is here. When you are trying to make a splash on the show circuit, adding a sidecar gives you a lot more to show off your talents. You have to wonder where they hid the fuel tank on this one though.
10. 1980 FLT Tour Glide with Enclosed Side Car
This Harley-Davidson FLT Tour Glide with enclosed sidecar that seats two comes from the time before Harley embraced its classic good looks and heritage. The only way this bike could get more 1980s is if you popped a Duran Duran cassette into the tape deck. This was about the last time the Motor Company tried to keep up with modern styling, thank god.
11. Dogs and Side Cars
One of the reasons people love side cars is that people love dogs. Both people and dogs love the wind in their face, but it is the rare dog that can be trained to hold on and sit on the bike. Get a side car though, and you can train almost any example of man's best friend to sit, stay and enjoy the ride, like this Golden Retriever in a Liberty Sidecar. In fact, there is a movie dedicated to dogs who ride in sidecars called Sit, Stay, Ride.
12. Wheelchair Sidecars
For many years now, people confined to wheelchairs, and their friends and family members, have been converting sidecar rigs into handicap-accessible motorcycles. The old Honda CB750 automatic was and still is very popular for wheelchair conversions which allow you to drive from the sidecar, with a terrified passenger sitting on the bike. The setup pictured is made with a platform which can hold a wheelchair, and lowers with an airbag to allow easy boarding. The inventor standing next to it is Brian Mahaney of Forged Spirit, and he made it to help disabled veterans get some stress relief and therapy by feeling the wind in their faces again. The full story is here.
13. Police Sidecars
Before they stopped offering them, the law enforcement community was Harley-Davidson's biggest buyer of sidecar-equipped bikes. Various departments used them for various duties, like traffic patrol and crowd control. With urban gridlock getting worse and worse in recent years, there was no longer any advantage offered by a sidecar when compared to the weather and collision protection offered by a cruiser.
For maintenance and repair guides, browse our How-to articles at http://hdforums.com/how-tos!
