I was riding in the park with Poppy the recently and we had stopped to watch a couple of squirrels when a gentleman walked up to say hello and talk to us. He was a friendly fellow, and said he’d seen us before and was curious to know more about who we were and why we were riding around the park. After talking a bit, he said he remembered mentioning to his friends how I looked like a nazi with my menacing Rottweiler and sidecar.
Hmmmm…OK…interesting.
I responded with the fact that helmet had hints of the classic German stormtrooper, but the motorcycle version was very American Indian. He said, no. It was my sidecar. He asked me if I was interested in that style of German design. I made it clear—fuck no! I said that the sidecar was most likely relative to what you have seen and experienced, and that I get regular groups of Italian tourists who declared “Moto Guzzi!” When they see us riding around. It got me questioning if there was something buried deeper in my interest in the design of fascist machines, so I started looking at pictures of us riding around the park and thinking more about motorcycle sidecars in general.
I went down the sidecar rabbit hole to understand the available images and stories…
The sidecar was initially developed for bicycles back in 1893 in France.
The inspiration for the invention of the sidecar was a newspaper competition that wanted to discover the best way to get a passenger onto a bike–it turns out on the side was better than on the back.
The winner of the contest was a French army officer named M. Bertoux. It wasn’t till ten years later, in 1903, however, that a patent was filed by Mr. WJ Graham of Enfield in Middlesex (near London).
Harley-Davidson motorcycles were first used by the U.S. Army when it ordered twelve motorcycles with sidecars with mounted machine guns on them for the General Pershing’s 1916 Mexican Excursion.
During World War One, Harley-Davidson supplied 20,000 motorcycles providing an ideal way to rapidly deploy machine gun crews into position.
At the onset of WWII in the late 1930s, Harley-Davidson’s production would see a massive increase and a complete switch to military machines. These bikes became the transportation choice of messengers, helping to close the wide distances between mobile forward units.
During World War II, German troops used many BMW and Zündapp sidecar motorcycles. On German, Italian, French, Belgian, British and Soviet military sidecars, the side wheel was sometimes also driven, sometimes using a differential gear, to improve the vehicle’s all-terrain ability.
The Early Sidecars
During that early era of automobile experimentation a bicycle and motorcycle sidecar were seen as viable modes of transportation, and you gotta admit that one looks pretty comfortable.
The Early Sidecars with Dogs
Then of course I had to include a photo of an early motorcycle side car with a dog. There were a number of dog companions on motorcycle journeys, and the ones who had their own sidecar were the best!
Early Harley and Indians Designs
This where we start getting more at what I like. I like the early Indian bikes. I like this kind of slick and futuristic sidecar. Honestly I hadn’t thought to much about the different designs–I was just trying to get something practical for my best friend.
Very Cool BMW Sidecar
I went down the rabbit hole pretty deep. You gotta admit that this one is pretty fucking cool. The sidecar is a pain to have to get to the street each day, otherwise I’d totally have something this cool made for a custom bike–who knows, maybe some day.
British Soldiers
Now we are getting to where I think this gentleman and I have been programmed over the years through television, movies, and old newsreels. I know I have watched a lot of old military movies and I’m sure it is where I got the seeds planted.
American Soldiers
I guess I kind of look like these soliders. I’ve considered getting Poppy a mounted machine-gun to take out the squirrels. Something water powered. I think she just likes watching then tough, and I don’t want to be seen as a menace. ;-)
German Soldiers
I still think it was the helmet that triggered this guy. I’ve since gotten a real safe and modern helmet. The stormtrooper helmet is popular with deliveristas in NYC, and when I look at this photo and compare with Poppy and me, it is the helmet, and not the bike.
Indiana Jones
It is the layers of movies that I think programs boomers and generation X when it comes to seeing a sidecar. I think the Great Escape, Indiana Jones, and other movies have really colored in the lines of what see, and I’m sure shapes my desire to have a bike, helmet, and sidecar.
Wallace and Gromit
This is where the movies really tell me that they shape how people see Poppy and I. I’d say that Wallace and Gromit are the most common thing I’ve seen and heard people call us, which I absolutely love, because Poppy and I are doppelgangers.
Harry Potter and Hagred
Similar to Wallace and Gromit, I’ve heard people numerous times say, “look it’s Hagred and Harry Potter”. LOL. Which I also absolutely love. I’d say that it is mostely Millenialls and younger that say this, and the guy I met was definitely a Boomer.
It really feels like the motorcycle is relative to your world view and experience. Honestly I’d say my current bike reminds me of old Indian motorcycle, which is what attracted me to it. The sidecar is just a plastic mold, so it really doesn’t have any nostalgic anything for me. But I guess the combination of my helmet, my green jacket, and the image of the sidecar can look very German motorcycle if that is what you are steeped in—honestly the American and German one’s look all the same to me.
Like I said, I will leave this gentleman’s views isolated to his world view and how he sees the world in this moment based upon what he’s seen. It really stuck with me and caught me off guard because it was the first negative image of Poppy and I that I have gotten. Everyone else is just over the moon with how cute she is, and how cool it is that I ride around with my dog. I’ve had a couple people worry about the squirrels she is obsessing over, but this was the first time anyone has shared that I looked menacing riding around Central Park.
The number on reason I do it is for the smiles. I get about 50-75 people a day smiling. Their faces go from frown to smile as we ride by. I absolutely love it. It makese my day to be able to get the exercise, experience New York City, but it is the smiles that make each day’s ride so magical.
