Did you know that British sidecar company Watsonian Squire will be 105 years old in 2017? They can trace the history of the company back to 1921, when Thomas Fredrick Watson formed the Patent Collapsible Sidecar Company in Birmingham. And to celebrate, the new Watsonian Squire Flight Sidecar has been created.
The new single seat outfit is designed to look contemporary and have clean, modern lines. So while the more traditional Watsonian Squire range will suit your retro roadster, the Flight will fit better with motorcycles that look more to the future.
Rather than use spare age technology, the Flight uses a fibreglass body shell with a polished gel coat finish. There’s a decent amount of room for the single passenger, as the cockpit is 590mm wide, and there’s 1350mm of leg room. That’s in addition to tilting the seat forwards to get into the 430 x 670 x 450 mm boot space.
Overall, you’re adding a 2000 mm long and 980 mm sidecar, which uses a completely new platform chassis, and a 15″ cast alloy wheel. To give passengers a smoother ride, there’s transverse swinging arm suspension and a hydraulic shock absorber. In total, it adds around 80kg of weight before anyone gets in.
The sidecar chassis arms won’t bolt to every bike, which is why it’s pictured with a model specific tubular frame attaching it to a 900cc Yamaha Tracer.
We wonder if the Flight name is partly inspired by the fact the company acquired Swallow sidecars in 1956 (As well as Watsonian merging with Squire in 1988). Either way, they’ve moved on a lot from the earliest examples in 1912, which used wickerwork for the bodies.
The cost of the new Watsonian Squire Flight Sidecar, including the fully-upholstered seat and wide polycarbonate screen, is a total of £5,195. So you’ll need to really want one, but given the fact the factory is still going after 105 years, it seems there’s a decent market out there…
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