This month’s piece on sidecar builders was going to be H for Hedingham, but sadly, although I am sure they are in some form of manufacture, I am unable to source much information.
For this reason I’ll skip to M, and Merlin Sidecars will be featured instead. Now I know Merlins aren’t going to be to everyone’s taste, but they have fitted many of their own chairs to Hinckley sports bikes. Mind you, a lot of people aren’t going to consider them classic either!
Cast your mind back to Eric Oliver and Stan Dibben’s Sidecar GP win in Belgium.
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The year was 1954 and it was the final sidecar win for Norton too; they managed the result by streamlining the bike and sidecar to maximise what power they had.
This is not normal with most road-going chairs, even with faired bikes, and I dread to think what happens to the air between the bike and sidecar. T
This is something Ken Minns of Merlin, and his sons Michael and Peter, have tried to resolve, their own racing experience having helped for they are no strangers to the Isle of Man course on two and three wheels.
Read more and view more images in the February 2019 issue of OBM – on sale now!
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