GOODS DELIVERY BY SIDECAR.
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Agents for Commercial Vehicles are Advised by " Vim " to Consider the Possibilities of the Motorcycle and Sidecar.
By " Vim."
THE SIDECAR taxicab, has proved itself to be a perfectly practical vehicle. Whether, taken year in and year put, it is going:to be a paying proposition will depend on many things, and principally on the regulations made by the authorities of the districts in which they operate. For our present purpose, it is aufficient to know that a first-class motorcycle is quite up to drawing a substantially constructed sidecar, plus a couple of passengers and light luggage. That it could do this was demonstrated long ago by private motorcyclists; but it is only recently that this super-loading has, so to speak, been regularized by the introduction of the sidecar taxi, and that we have seen motorcycle manufacturers actually encouraging weight carrying instead of frowning at it. -..
It seems certain that, neck and neck with the development of the sidecar as a multi-passenger conveyance, it will also develop as a carrier of goods of trade. Of course, it is no new thing to employ motorcycle combinations in the latter capacity, but the movement does not as yet appear to have been taken up with any enthusiasm. The low first cost and, cost of upkeep of a motorcycle are very strong points in its favour, and if it is able to stand up to the arduous work of transporting goods for long periods of time, there is no doubt that it is far more suitable for the delivery systems of many classes of shops than the lightest of light vans at present being made. It may eventually even wipe out the accepted types of threeWheeled parcels carriers, unless these machine's im prove considerably. .
Small Tradesmen and the Sidecar Goods Carrier.
At any rate, I think that conmereial Vehicle agents should devote attention to the sidecar goods carrier. To the butcher, the pastrycook, the flarist, the Truiterer, and all tradeepeople who have to provide for theirseustomers' whim of wanting things. " sent round at once, please," load capacity is a minor consideration. Speed, general handiness, and cheapness are what matter to them. The small local :shopkeeper usually finds it verydifficult, if not impossible, to organize a regular delivery round, simply because he is not big enough to overawe his customers,. into conforming with his way of doing business. Ile knows, too, that his chief claim to the patronage ef local residents is his willingness to deliver his wares promptly at any time of the day, and that, were it not for this, the advantages of dealing with the'large stores would rob him of much of his custom. Therefore, the motorcycle and sidecar should, as a rule, suit his requirements perfectly, so long as it gave him very little trouble. True, he, already has available to him the parcel car ; but excellent as this kind of 'vehicle is, I venture to think that the motorcycle and attachment will appeal to him more strongly, for these reasons:—
Motorcycles are such common obiette on the road that every person, however -ignorant of things mechanical he may be now believes that they are easy to manage and look after. They have, as it were, assumed a defitilte value in the eye of the pu,blie, and are no longer doubtful quantities. The parcel car is
also a known quantity, but only, as one might say, to those who use them. The difference is that, whereas the average small traelesnran would probably. take it for granted that he could keep a motorcycle running, he might he dubious about taking on similar '.responsibilities in another form—that of a cyclecar. This argument may seem somewhat weak, but human decisions are influenced in curious ways, and we ought ,always to take that into account. But if a more powerful argument is wanted, it can be found in the fact that a motorcycle and sidecar combination is really the only motor vehicle that can be made so as to he completely convertible in a very short space of time from a goods to a passenger conveyance, and vice versa. Interchangeable, van and touring bodies can be had for fitting to ear chassis, and many of them are not only extremely clever in design, but also compara,tively; easy to change over, and are almost indistinguishable from the real thing when one or other of the bodies, is in place.eBut the motorcycle combination has advantages in this respect which are' peculiar to its for of construction, and which may count very heavily in the fight that, as I fancy, it will soon make for a large share of the parcels carrying market.
One Machine for Business and Pleasure Purposes.
'Unlike any other motor vehicle, the power Unit of the niotorcyae.combination is absolutely complete in itself. The most expensive part of the machine, it can, if desired, be attached to one of half a dozen different types of sidecar without a great deal labour. Indeed, there is no necessity even to provide more than one chassis for the bodies, so that any tradesman owner could-take hie family for a run on Sundays. while using the vehicle all the rest of'. the week for business purposes, without having to Spend a lot of money to secure that privilege. Unless I am much mistaken, any garage proprietor who obtains an agency for a motorcycle equal to the task of hauling goods about, and another agency for a firm of sidecar builders who understand what tradespeople want in bodywork, has it in'his power to reap a rich harvest of sales. If retailed at the right price. and pushed with enthusiasm, I believe that these trade combinations would' sell like hot cakes, particularly if deferred payments were accepted. I hope that agents evliothave hitherto dealt only in commercial vans and lorries will not disdain to totich this field of the,ir trade. It should be borne in mind that many smallshops grow to be. big ones in time; and so, apart from the immediate prefits to be made, future orders for larger vehicles are bound to arise from the, same source.
Some of the sidecar taxi services are being run by garages, and, since they find the-business satisfactory, the question is opened up whether it would not be' profitable enterprise for an agent to run a fleet of motorcycle goods` carrier s,for letting out on hire under contract. This, too, has been tried here and there in a rather haphazardsway, but'i know of no garage firm that has yet attempted to do the thing on an extensive Scale. Ran on up-to-datelines, there should be money in it.