Turns out sidecars can be worth a pretty penny

Published: 10 June 2017

Ural Sidecar

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Sidecars fetch decent money – even if they’re not attached to a bike!

Can’t remember if I mentioned it, but I scratched my sidecar itch a short while ago by buying a BMW R65 and Watsonian combo from a mate for £2200. Unfortunately the other half, after a couple of experimental sorties in the chair, firmly declared: “Never again” and it went to another mate (for £2300) whose missus said exactly the same thing.

He liked the R65, though, so he removed the chair and sold it separately for two grand. Which means he got a lovely condition R65 for three hundred quid. The Force is strong with This One.

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That intrigued me, so I started looking again at sidecar combos and sidecars on their own, purely out of academic interest, you understand.

I’ve known for a while that decent used combos sell, and for good money, because there are always people who feel the sidecar bug nibbling and want to experiment – the si-curious, if you will.

A 1200 Gold Wing with a Watsonian chair and leading link forks is evidently worth £2750, and somebody recently decided six grand was worth paying for a Triumph 955 Daytona and low, sleek chair.

But I never knew how much tatty sidecars, not hitched to anything and in any sort of condition, are fetching. For just a few bits of tube and a wheel, you’ll pay a couple of hundred quid. For a fully restored unit from the 1930s, several grand. In between that, the choice is massive. Lonesome Squire and Watsonian chairs fetch between £500 and £1000. Somebody recently sold a unit home-made from the drop tank of WW2 Hawker Tempest. It didn’t even have a wheel, but it fetched over £1100. So there’s no price guide… anything and everything is in play when it comes to outfits. Have fun.

Looking for the perfect two-wheeled companion? Visit MCN Bikes For Sale website or use MCN’s Bikes For Sale App.

By Neil Murray

MCN Used Bike Expert