EXPLORING THE VINTAGE VIBES: THE MOD EASY SIDECAR 3 - A NOSTALGIC RIDE TO ADVENTURE

Cruising along the boulevards of retro, Easy Sidecar 3 Mod Easy Sidecar 3 is not just an ebike, it is an artifact that will take you back in time to a totally different era of travel, and something everyone from Indiana Jones could ride. With a motorcycle design shrouded in the past, and disguised in a machine from the same era, the Sidecar 3 offers more than just a ride, but travels back in time. Initially, before we dive into the details of this motorcycle reimagined as an ebike, let’s see how this classic bike combines yesterday’s charm with today’s technology.

UNVEILING THE MOD EASY SIDECAR 3: A FIRST LOOK

General Impressions: A Fusion of Style and Adventure

But the Mod Easy Sidecar 3 is an undeniable symbol of fun and style, a departure from the ‘tool first’ attitude that marks many of its competitors. Based on the look of vintage motorcycles from the Second World War, this $4,299 classic e-bike isn’t just a means of transport: it’s a way to get some attention while you’re at it. Matte finish gives the bike a little something extra. It looks vintage, but not in an obvious way.

THE GENESIS OF A MODERN CLASSIC

Dor Korngold of Mod Bike modified the Mod Easy as a pet project: a classic cruiser designed without so much as a sketch. ‘It was born out of the random assortment of parts in my garage,’ he says. The wooden battery compartment, the old Electra frame, the sidecar. If anything was responsible for the Mod Easy, it was spontaneity. ‘It’s a bike that just isn’t ordinary,’ says Korngold. ‘Anything that I see is more for art than a purpose. That’s what our work is about. It is art.

EXPERIENCING THE RIDE: A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME

When you ride the Mod Easy Sidecar 3, a 77-pound e-bike, its seductive qualities become apparent. The bike has a generous ride, torque sensors that help it adapt to your pedalling, and the sensibility of an assist that feels great and goes on when you want it (and off when you don’t). There’s no on-off boost that characters every other e-bike I’ve ridden, just a slight assistance that feels like having a tailwind.

It is such an easy bike to ride: it’s got light steering and handles so beautifully in the corners. You sink down in the saddle and swing the wide handlebars left and right. You let yourself be comfortable, and you look at what is around you. You can enjoy a ride on a sidecar bike. And then you remember something that happens only with these bikes: around the corner comes the passenger, and you know that it’s going to be a fun ride.

A SIDECAR FOR FUN: ELEVATING THE JOY OF RIDING

The addition of a sidecar converts an individual exploration into a communal adventure, though it’s not really one that the passenger can partake in to the same degree as the rider (except, perhaps, children for whom such a novelty is extremely delightful). They would have to sit tight, laugh and enjoy themselves, scream if they feel like it, all the while acknowledging that they are just incapable of offering a helping hand, much less replicating the primary experience. This riding machine’s capacity for memefactory is beyond question. It’s not only about the ride. It’s about the adventure, which one can’t wait to tell everyone about.

NAVIGATING THE PRACTICALITIES: A THOUGHTFUL CONSIDERATION

Add the weight and the semi-enclosed small space of the sidecar and riding becomes more of a conscious thought process. It’s not just about having fun anymore. You have to plan manoeuvres carefully and shift weight to balance the motorcycle. Nonetheless, the Mod Easy Sidecar 3 is yet another extension of bike-plus-sidecar that clearly demonstrates that a lot of people find it fun to ride while getting from A to B.

EMBRACING THE CLASSIC: A LEGACY OF ADVENTURE

It’s hard not to view the Mod Easy Sidecar 3 as a valedictory doo-wop ode — to a vision of independence and escape, now recast into the form of the pin-striped Cadillac convertible. But eagle-eyed doo-wop fans might seize on the driving force behind such a metamorphosis. In a timeless number about aviation-style romance called Halfway to Paradise (1958), singer Bobby Darin sang of ‘a bird with pretty wings, who has a mind of her own’. And therein lies the simple, inescapable secret of modern urban mobility: the user controls the vehicle, the vehicle doesn’t control the user.

THE ESSENCE OF THE CLASSIC

With this, we complete the trip through the backstreets of nostalgia and innovation. The Mod Easy Sidecar 3 is ‘classic’ in the sense that this term invokes either an aesthetic of white-tablecloth refinement or deep-seated, enduring appeal. It conjures in the mind images of the same kind of DNA that fashion...