Where does the passenger go?

Dictionaries inform the sidecar is: ‘a jaunting-car; small car attached to the side of a motorcycle; kind of cocktail.’ We’ll forget jaunting-cars and cocktails, but how did the world arrive at the sidecar? And what came before?

- RICHARD ROSENTHAL

How to carry a passenger?

Today, we motorcyclists may carry passengers on pillion seats or in sidecars, but for the first pioneer motorcyclists, no such existed. Many early motorcycles were direct drive machines, powered by small, attached engines, which were often pedal started. They were devoid of a clutch or other free engine facility and the rider stopped the engine at each halt.If a passenger was to be carried,that passenger would have had to mount after the machine was underway (with the engine started) and dismount on stopping, or the rider would have to pedal/bump/paddle start the motorcycle with the passenger aboard. Either scenario was hardly ideal.

Even if carrying a passenger aboard the motorised cycle was viable, where to place their seat was the next question. Ideas included towing a passenger-carrying trailer behind a solo motorcycle (with some ambitious souls designing the trailer for two or more passengers), or to fit a forecar, comprising a seat mounted on a chassis between two wheels fitted to the motorcycle in place of the front fork. The next development was the manufactured forecar, with its united chassis serving both the motorcycle part and the forecar. Progressively, these became more sophisticated, but the desirability of carrying the passenger/s in front of drivers soon waned, in favour of sidecar outfits or cars.