Italian-Watsonian-Monaco-Epic
Under the headline „Nothing and nobody can stop my passion for motorbikes“ Francesco from Naples tells SidecarNews the story of his motorcycling life.
“In the 1950’s motorcycling in Napoli was regarded as highly dangerous and parents were not inclined to allow their youngsters riding a scooter, moped or even a proper motorbike. So I kept my passion quiet. My only chance to ride a motorised two-wheeler was to hire a bicycle fitted with a 48cc auxiliary Mosquito engine. The pleasure of one hour riding cost me half of my weekly payment. It wasn’t until the late 1960’s that my small wage as a residential hospital doctor allowed me to buy a second-hand, 10 years old Puch 175SV for 50,000 Lira. I think this bike is still a wonderful motor with easy maintenance and tuning options.” |
Francesco went through a dozen or more bikes including Italian Vespa’s, Guzzi’s, Gilera’s to foreign Triumphs, Velocette’s and BMW’s until he noticed, something could be missing. He discovered his passion for combinations when he combined an old wreckage of an original Piaggio sidecar with a 1963’s Vespa 150GL. But bureaucracy nearly killed the project. As the original paperwork on the sidecar was missing, allowing a left-hand sidecar fitted, the Vespa outfit had to meet current legislation to get the certificate of roadworthyness . The battle finally was won with a bit of cheating. Francesco bought a veteran Vespa combo with ancient papers and simply transferred identities. |
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Francesco, the happy owner
“This negative experience nearly put me off sidecars altogether, but a broken bone ruling out solo-riding required another sidecar combination. In February 2008 I found a second hand Watsonian sidecar on eBay from a collector with a warehouse full of combo’s. By the time I had restored a BMW R75/5 which I wanted to marry with my new acquisition. My old mechanic had no idea about sidecar and when he tried my Vespa combination he came back trembling with fear. But he agreed to carry out the job. It turned out I had bought a left-hand Watsonian Palma instead of a right-hand. We had to convert it to running on the legal side of the bike. Further questions arose from my desire to have a braked sidecar with an interchangeable wheel to the BM. I had to buy an original BMW wheel. It still shakes me when I recall the price of it. The wheel came from Germany and soon we were able to build up the combo. After sorting some minor details a radio was fitted and the day of road-testing drew up. What a disaster! Steering wobble and hard work on the handlebars, inefficient brakes and a wrong feel had to be put right. We managed and succeeded with a sweet running combination”.
Previous experience with Italian bureaucracy should have warned Francesco not to go into a fight with the registration office again. He was about to abandon the project and it was only with an expert’s help he achieved victory in September 2010. He got his papers just in time for the “First BMW Meeting of Southern Italy” at Matera.
“It was a fantastic pleasure of a round trip of 500 Km on mixed roads under sun and rain, with ease and comfort and no troubles. As I initially wanted to take my two grand children I bought this Watsonian Palma one and half seater-sidecar. Only now I think its better to drive around with a passenger plus some safe storing capabilities in a boot. The Palma can be easily converted in the Monaco type. So I got the spares from Knee Brook, the German importers for Watsonian-Squire. I hope I can do many more trips with my pride and joy and finally find out what I love and enjoy more – two or three wheels. That is the question.”
