Motorcycle enthusiasts and history buffs alike will love the story of James Goulding and his sidecars.
One hundred years ago in 1910, my grandfather, James
Goulding built his first sidecar in Melbourne, Australia. In 1956 He
built his last sidecar in Saginaw, Michigan. A lot of Motorcycle History
happened between these two events and James and his famous family were a
part of 80 years of Bike History. Mr. Goulding was born in Carlisle,
England in 1885. His family emigrated to Australia when he was four
years old. James grew to be an energetic and ambitious worker and had
his own home building business (and his first Harley-Davidson) by 1908.
James designed his first sidecar to haul his building tools, and from
the beginning he used his chassis idea with the floating axle system
that made them so durable.
In 1915, he had his sidecar manufacturing business well underway. In
1911, he married Mary Olive Ratford. In 1912 Olive, as James called
her, gave birth to motorcycling’s most famous lady, Dot (Goulding)
Robinson. She wasn’t born in a sidecar as legend has it, but her mother
was rushed to the doctor in a 1911 Harley belt-drive motorcycle with a
Goulding sidecar. In 1915, Claude Goulding was born and in 1917 my
mother Edna Goulding was added to the clan. By 1917, Goulding Sidecars
were the primary brand in Australia and New Zealand. In 1920, James
decided to introduce his product in America. He did this with a 12,000
mile tour of the U.S. using a 1917 Harley “J’ Model 1000cc with his
sidecar. One part of this tour was a transcontinental run from New York
to San Francisco. Photos attest to how nasty the dirt and sand roads
were a good deal of the way. The trip ended at Dudley Perkin’s
Harley-Davidson dealership in San Francisco.
James started a motorcycle dynasty in which his sidecars became
famous and his children became famous for endurance racing. And the
website on Goulding Sidecars has tons of interesting material: stories,
photographs, videos, technical information, and updates.
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