Three-wheelers were popular in Europe, but less so in Great Britain. One reason was that, from the earliest days of motorcycling, British motorcycle manufacturers recognized their commercial potential and offered a wide range of sidecars.
Motorcycle outfits were well-suited to commercial use, and were much faster than any of the three-wheelers on offer. Most three-wheeler commercials were made in small numbers by minor manufacturers, while the outfits were made by top motorcycle companies who obviously invested a lot of money in their development and after-sales service.
As an example of the range of sidecars on the market, here’s the offerings from just one manufacturer, BSA, in 1927.
You can see below that BSA sidecar bodies were interchangeable, so you could use a passenger sidecar body for bank holiday family motoring down to Brighton and, on Monday morning, put the commercial body back on for work.
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Somewhat at the opposite end of the spectrum from a flat-tank 9.86hp BSA V-Twin, below you can see my own commercial outfit…
www.triporteurs.co.uk 