Stolzenberg Sidecar

Had never heard of this sidecar, so did a quick Google search.  Pretty cool looking rig.  Good luck on your research.  Should be a lot of fun on the road.  

Posted by: @gallant1

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Good day all, 

New to the group and sidecars, always interested, found one that really piqued my interest and pulled the trigger.  I can only find very minimal info on it, a Stolzenberg on a BMW R. Only one site, cybermotorcycle.com on line, states only manufactured from '69 to '75, 1st in Germany licensed with fibreglass boat and minimal production.  They state only 30-35 units but that does not sound right to me.  Does anyone have one, any photos, any info, publications  or where I could get any information?  Thank you in advance, glad to finally be a part of the group.  Dave

Dave, we all get the same information as you have,  when searching online. 

However....I am in Heidelberg, Germany  right this minute,  and will be visiting the Deutsches Motorrad Museum in Germany this weekend,  so I will ask 3,141.59 questions about this Stolzenberg sidecar. 

After 2 more posts from you.....you  can then post pictures of your Sidecar,  so we can admire it.

@miles-ladue 

Good day, thank you very much.  I have a feeling I’m gonna be happily interested in getting information about this side car. Never seen one like it.  The only thing I can see wrong with it so far and I saw that Day was the owner put a hinge on the windscreen where it used to be solid mounted. I’m going to have to do some fiberglass work to make sure it’s back to original. The only thing I can see wrong with it so far and I saw that day was the owner put a hinge on the windscreen where it used to be solid mounted. I’m going to have to do a little fiberglass work to make sure it’s back to original.  

Let me take the opportunity to refresh everyone on some resources you have at your fingertips here on our website. Some of you old timers may recall the Sidecar Talk Yahoo Groups which was popular many years ago. When they were decommissioned they were archived by Claude and then Bruce Stephens spent an extraordinary amount of time creating a massive index of all the posts and topics. And I took his work and reformatted it so it is searchable online in our website. 

You can find the Sidecar Talk Yahoo Groups knowledgebase on the website under the main menu "Sidecar Library Page" and then click on "Sidecar Talk Yahoo Groups Knowledgebase". That will open up a folder on Google Drive where you can enter your search terms in the top search bar. 

When I search for "Stolzenberg" I see a few references to the Sidecarist magazine index. The index is a result of another project of mine where I found a collection of 30 years of original Sidecarist magazines and uploaded all of them to the website (223 issues!). 

Then I opened the Sidecarist Index PDF and searched inside of that for "Stolzenberg". That gave me a reference to Sidecarist in 1984, volume 8, issue 7. And when I go back into the index and find that issue I see in the contents an article by Hal Kendall titled "Industrial News - Report from Germany". 

The lead paragraph starts "Hans Koepsell is the designer and builder of a beautiful handmade German sidecar, their Stolzenberg. For over three decades  Koepsell has designed and built special bodies for a wide variety of vehicles including trucks, semi-trailer rigs, buses, cars, and campers. He went into
sidecar construction some eight years ago."

To save you a lot of clicking around I will include the link to the magazine PDF here and you can scroll down to page 38. 

https://sidecar-media.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/magazines/upload/Sidecarist-V08-N7.pdf

I post all the details because a lot of people have gone to a lot of work to capture, archive, and index a huge body of knowledge and resources that I don't think many people are aware of. And this is a good example case of what is possible. 

Pretty cool info Jerry!

Wonder if Hans Koepsell is in the same family as Stan Koepsell who Flying Monkeys (@miles-ladue) has his Euro-Wing stationed with?

ETA:  Never mind Stan's last name isn't Koepsell.  Good grief I'm getting old... lol

Posted by: @scott-h

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Pretty cool info Jerry!

Wonder if Hans Koepsell is in the same family as Stan Koepsell who Flying Monkeys (@miles-ladue) has his Euro-Wing stationed with?

ETA:  Never mind Stan's last name isn't Koepsell.  Good grief I'm getting old... lol

Two things:

His first name is not "Stan". His name is Stefan Knopf.

And Secondly, it took three (3) clicks of the thumbs up icon for me to register the LIKE on the post by @sheath above.

Laugh with me or laugh at me,  I'm good with either.  Laughter is the best of medicine.

Disclaimer:  While I'm blaming my blunders on age, it's really just stupidity.  🤣 

Thank you all for the help you’re giving me on this. Special thanks to Jerry and all his archives search help and that link.  I did try to search other forums and information on this site, but my mechanical skills are way far better than my technological skills. And that’s putting it lightly.  From looking at the sidecar now that I’ve had time to study it out of my trailer. It is quite evident that Hans Koepsell designed and built specialty bodies for vehicles.  This thing just keeps getting better the more I look at the design and mechanical build.  I can honestly say after being a member for only one day, this appears to be a great group to be a part of.  A couple more posts and I will post a photo of the Stolzenberg.  Thank you all again.  And hopefully a little bit more information passed on to me from this one post.

@webmaster thank you for that useful info.

It is a worthy cause to preserve history no matter what type.

I gave you the the necessary multi click to record my like. 😁

Here's some pics, just out of the trailer!  Thank you all again and hoping for more, possibly another owner so I may get some tech info.  Some work need be done.

That is a cool looking sidecar, congratulations on the find.

Looking forward to seeing photos of your build.

@jan-2 

Good eve, 

Thank you. Just going to restore back to its majestic original beauty.  Not a whole lot to do but need be done right. 

Posted by: @gallant1

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@jan-2 

Good eve, 

Thank you. Just going to restore back to its majestic original beauty.  Not a whole lot to do but need be done right. 

David,  if I may suggest,  replace all the tan colored seat cover, and tonneau cover. With a dark red covering, that comes close to matching the paint on the bike tank.

The saddle tan color is certainly not original. Nor is that aftermarket seat on the BMW. However if that aftermarket seat is comfortable,   and works for you,  then just recover it,  in dark red, or black sides with dark red seating areas. 

@miles-ladue 

Good morning,

The restoration I’m looking forward to is on the sidecar itself. There are a couple things about it that are not original need to be taken care of. I need to know how the original seat was mounted, and faring. Also need a new wheel. I saw that looks like in the photo from that sidecar article. The motorcycle, there’s no problem. I bought my first airhead in 1981, an R 100 RT.  I own two other BMWs right now, in addition to this one, and I’m in the process of trying to find my original green one. It is in New Hampshire somewhere and I’m one owner away from it.  If/when I find it and the current owner is willing to part with it, this sidecar will have a new steed.  This R100RT needs a ton more restoration than the side car.  Low miles but a mess. The Corbin seat has to go, and the fairing (not on it when I bought this) needs to be totally reconditioned.  That is a very rare item also. It has the original from the factory fold out fog/spotlights into where the vents are.  The entire bike needs to be re-sprayed anyway.  Bonus is my sweetheart lady is 100% behind all of this. And is excited to see it come together.  She actually bought this rig for me. 🥰