George Singer’s famed motor-wheel machinery helped set the English-speaking world in motion. Brass-era motorized cycles were much less expensive than their four-wheeled automotive counterparts, and their ability to run on pedal power made them quite a good choice for upwardly mobile contemporaries. If you, perhaps, didn’t have enough money to buy a Vauxhall Prince Henry sport runabout, but you needed to carry more than one person, you might have opted for a gorgeous motorbike with a matching wicker sidecar. I call tillerman, but there’s room for someone else. Do you want to go for a ride?
What’s that? Oh, you’re worried about safety? I wouldn’t fret too much about that. Being 114 years old means this motorcycle isn’t exactly a speed demon, and with the extra weight and aerodynamic resistance of a leather-bound passenger, I’d be surprised if this thing could make it up a reasonable incline. When we come to anything other than level ground, you’ll probably have to get out and push, or at least walk alongside. Singer offered these with 299cc and 535cc engines in-period, and the listing doesn’t offer which this one is, but either way you’re looking at horsepower levels measured in decimal points. The pedals will really come in handy, I think.
I’d wager that you sitting in the sidecar would be caressed by comfortable vintage buttoned leather in a close facsimile to a wing-backed library lounger than I would be sitting on a treble-sprung hand-crafted Brooks leather saddle. Depending on how smooth the roads are, I might be having a bit more fun, however. So what do you think? Will you climb in this wicker and green leather open-face casket and rip around the countryside for a few hours with me?
This exact motorcycle was offered for sale in 2019 at $47,500 in Missouri. These days the RM Sotheby’s Hershey auction seems to believe the value has declined a bit in the years since, as it is offered with a pre-auction estimate of between $35,000 and $45,000.