Steib Sidecars

The great "Gespann" (bottom plate - a.k.a. Sidecar)

Like the saying goes: "which came first, The chicken or the egg?" I'm not sure who started the who "Zepplin" style sidecar, but it was undoubtedly brought popularity by the Steib company.

In 1914 Josef Steib senior created a company for upholstery and painting for automobiles. Later Steib was assigned to build a sidecar for the new 500er route model. That was the beginning of their success story. In the 50's Steib was the world market leader of sidecar manufacturing. 100 bodies were produced daily. At the end of the 50's the number of  motorcycles produced sank rapidly and so did the demand for side cars. Production stopped soon after for the Steib company.

The two prominent models for "Rollers" (German for scooter) were the Roller 1 and Roller 2.

Steib Roller 1 (with 10" wheel)

Steib Roller 2 ( with 13" wheel)

There was never a "Zepplin" style sidecar produced by Steib for scooters, but the influence of this style body continues today. Below is an example of the Steib "Zepplin" S 501 produced for motorcycles.

Stieb's can been affixed to just about any scooter, but they are most notable for their marriage to these scooters:

• Goggo
   
• Zündapp
   
• Bastert

There are several companies who reproduce the Steib today. In fact the Cozy is a reproduction of the Globe which was a reproduction of the Steib S 501 as well! Here are some small outfits still producing (mostly by hand) Steib reproductions:

If you are looking for reproduction parts, check Bench Mark Works - Craig Vechorik vechbmw@aol.com and he carries just about any part you can imagine for Steib's. See info above for website

This is a reproduction Steib produced by Kali