Douglas Bingham
2003, Industry
Inventor/designer, race veteran, and owner of Side Strider, a
company building up to 500 sidecars a year over the past 20 years,
Doug was the first to mount sidecars on many models of the era,
including Honda 750's, Gold Wings and Kawasaki V1's. To make the
mountings possible, Doug invented new leading links - fork changes
- for ease of sidecar maneuverability.
Starting at age 13 with his first bike - a 1941 Indian Chief -
today Doug has two AMA MVP awards for his decades of service to the
industry. Doug has raced and placed in too many sidecar events to
list, was a close friend to motorcycling notables such as Dot Robinson
and Steve McQueen, and has been a driving force for charitable
events. During the famous Love Ride in California, his sidecars are
used for carrying the children, many of whom are disabled.
Nicknamed "Mr. Sidecar", Doug has proved that with enough ingenuity,
you can do almost anything in a sidecar. He has filmed Olympic races
and major marathons from Side Strider cars, winning 3 Emmy awards
for his Los Angeles marathon coverage. Anyone familiar with the movie,
Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade has seen Doug's work, where
Harrison Ford and Sean Connery are chased across the German
countryside. Today sidecars with mounted cameras have become a Side
Strider specialty.
Doug Bingham fully believes that inside every motorcyclist is a
"sidecarist" waiting to be discovered. He is the sidecar industry's
greatest advocate and always ready to meet the next sidecar challenge.
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