Rudge Multi 1920 499cc IOE single frame # 769645 engine # 18785 Multi-gear # 12696 With the introduction of the Multi Gear in 1912Rudge was far ahead of the competition. They won the 1914 TT races with this system and Rudges were subsequently barred from certain speed events because of their “unfair head start”. The factory turned this to their advantage by using the “ barred” logo in a clever company advertising campaign. The Multi Gear system is based on the possibility to vary the diameters o ...
Anton Wiklund was one of the pioneers of the bicycle industry in Sweden. The factory in Stockholm was very progressive in its designs, and this is evident in this elegant and lightweight safety bicycle. This safety bicycle, in which the top tube slopes upwards only slightly, features Trelleborg 28″ pneumatic tires and a lightweight frame and handlebars made of hollow tubes. Around 1894, this bicycle was the best available on the market. Frame number 4645 is stamped under the bottom bracket and i ...
BMW 1938 R71 745 cc side valve horizontally opposed twin frame# 508593 engine # 700665 video: https://youtu.be/MCDzpKPeCPg In the late thirties BMWs were sold in considerable numbers, in spite of their high prices. The make had built up an excellent reputation for quality and luxury: from 1938 on all BMWs had both front and rear springing, a feature which was very uncommon for most other makes. From 1938 till the war stopped production of civilian bikes all BMW twins shared a common frame and co ...
BMW 1961 R50S 494 cc transverse OHV twin frame & engine # 564463 video: https://youtu.be/mnsWk47U5Uc Bayerische Motoren-Werke is known in English as the Bavarian Motor Works, or more simply as BMW. The firm launched its first horizontally opposed twin in 1923, and has stood by this style of engine layout ever since. The opposed design offers riders buttery smooth performance as the engine has inherently good balance. In 1955 BMW created its R50, R60, and R69 models. These new models had a simila ...
Triumph 1949 Grand Prix production racer replica 498 cc OHV twin frame # 33291 engine # T100 31611 Triumph motorcycles were not keen to enter the world of road racing. However, right after the second world war, a surplus of generator motors Triumph built for the Royal Air Force turned out to have the key ingredient to solving the Speed Twins overheating problem when highly tuned: a square finned all-alloy barrel and head. The first T100 to employ the generator top end was built by Freddy Clarke ...
Harley-Davidson 1920 “F” 989 cc IOE V-twin frame # F11894 engine # 20 T 21887 video: https://youtu.be/l_63LFMUJOI In April 1920 the new Juneau Avenue factory building was completed; this made H-D the largest motorcycle factory in the world with 2,400 employees and established dealerships in 67 countries. There were 50,000 subscribers to “The Enthusiast” magazine. Harley-Davidsons were fast becoming famous for their power, comfort and reliability: more than 7,500 Model Fs with magneto and more th ...
Laverda 1971 750 SF 744 cc OHC twin frame # LAV750F5132DGM.5934.0M engine # 750*5132* video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpGjbWrvggs Founded in 1873, Laverda started out making farm machinery, only turning to motorcycle manufacture in the immediate aftermath of WW2. Lightweights, scooters and mopeds formed the mainstay of Laverda production up to the late 1960s when the small Italian concern, hitherto little known outside its home country, astonished the motorcycling world by introducing a 6 ...
Royal Enfield 1931 499 cc Model J31 De Luxe Two-Port OHV frame # 10620 engine # J4405 video: https://youtu.be/9I5bLaz39KE “The late Twenties had proved a difficult period for the British Motor Cycle Industry, with periods of industrial unrest, which saw many manufacturers go to the wall. British motorcycle production had fallen from a peak figure of 160,000 in 1927 to 126,000 in 1930, would drop to 74,700 in 1931 and to as low as 52,200 in 1933 before the turning point of the Great Depression. T ...
Royal Enfield 1937 Model JF “Bullet” 499 cc four-valve OHV single frame # 21785 engine # JF 2514 video: https://youtu.be/Wgb7PeQ4mWQ The famous “Bullet” model name came into existence in the 1933 model range, presented in September 1932 and is still carried on nowadays by a 650 cc model built by Royal Enfield India at Chennai. The 1933 model year catalogue introduced the Bullet models in the 250, 350 and 500 cc class: “ The vogue of the high-efficiency sports motor cycle has produced nothing fin ...
Aermacchi / Harley Davidson 1974 SS 350 344 cc ohv single frame & engine # 6AH412548 Formerly known as Aeronautica Macchi, the company was founded in 1912 by Giulio Macchi at Varese in north-western Lombardy as Nieuport-Macchi, to build Nieuport monoplanes under license for the Italian military. With a factory located on the shores of Lake Varese, the firm originally manufactured a series of Nieuport designs, as well as seaplanes. After World War II, the company began producing utility three-whe ...
Hesketh 1982 “Vampire” 992cc 8-valve OHC V-twin frame # 055 engine # 0130 Brainchild of wealthy aristocrat and Formula 1 team owner Alexander Furmor-Hesketh, the Hesketh V1000 promised to be an all-new British superbike in the Vincent mould. The proposed design had all the right ingredients: 992cc 8-valve Weslake v-twin engine, nickel-plated Reynolds 531 frame, Brembo brakes, Marzocchi front forks, Dellorto carbs, Lucas Rita electronic ignition and Astralite wheels. In the spring of 1980 the fir ...
Velocette 1949/1950 KTT Mk VIII 348cc OHC frame # SF 231 engine # KTT1044 After the 1928 TT win Velocette marketed the KTT as the first British “over the counter” racer. Thus began the production of a competitive racing motorcycle that was very successful for almost 25 years. The final development of the Velocette KTT, the Mk VIII, was introduced in 1938 at that year’s Earls Court Show, and was the first motorcycle to use the now-conventional swinging-arm rear fork with a shock absorber unit. Th ...
Clément 1903 Type D Autocyclette 192 cc OHV frame # 105649 engine # 3633 In 1902 Adolphe Clément enters the field of motorized bicycles with a small engine of 126 cc capacity. This engine has an automatic inlet valve, an overhead exhaust valve and an external flywheel. The cylindrical tank with petrol and oil compartments and hand operated oil pump is fixed behind the saddle. The battery is stored in a leather case that is strapped to the horizontal frame tube and the ignition coil is fitted on ...
Harley-Davidson 1924 989 cc IOE V-twin model “FE” engine # 24FE12029 1924 is not a good year for the firm: the losses amount to almost $ 120,000 and the workforce is trimmed down from 2,500 to 1,000 employees. Sales in the USA have seriously diminished in the early twenties because of the competition of the cheap automobile. A positive thing is that export sales are still looking good. More than 6000 machines are exported oversees this year; this amounts to almost half of all Harleys manufacture ...
Sunbeam 1926 “Light Solo” Model 5 499cc side valve frame # 09205 engine # 294/16545/ S video: https://youtu.be/acFRGyNwxUU Although vintage Sunbeam side valve machines look very much the same to many people, there are actually three different 500cc models in the mid-twenties: the standard 85x88mm Model 3 machine is marketed as an all-purpose machine and is suitable for sidecar work. The Model 5 “Light Solo” has the same engine dimensions but sports handlebars and footrests instead of footboards. ...
Matchless 1969 P11A Street Scrambler 745 cc OHV twin frame # 125913 engine # P11/125913 “Big, chunky-tyred wheels support a frame and power plant that really mean business. The tank clings leech-like to the frame and glows in Candy Apple Red. Below it run some of the most sensually curved exhaust pipes ever bent, feeding into skimpy, sawn-off barrel silencers. And the briefest of saddles offers seating at handlebars that pull back like the ears of a startled hare. The Norton P11 street scrambler ...
Harley-Davidson 1934 Model B 346 cc side valve single engine # 34B1104 In the mid-twenties the H-D management decided that, especially in the European and Australasian markets, a small-capacity HD would be a selling point, if only to act as a “starter model”. So in 1926 some 350 cc class models were brought out; the OHV versions were rather exotic machines mainly meant for competition use, but the side valve models 26A and B (the B had an electrical lighting system) were good sellers: more than ...
Capriolo 1956ca “Cento 50” 149 cc face-cam transverse twin frame # 00274 engine # 00302 Video: https://youtu.be/G_0EGZcLPVA Named after the roe deer, the Capriolo marque emerges in 1948 from the ashes of the giant Caproni group, formerly one of Italy’s largest manufacturing concerns. Capriolo starts two-wheeled production with a 50 cc ultra-lightweight before swiftly moving on to the 75 cc Capriolo 75, which is notable for its use of a pressed-steel frame and an unusual four-stroke engine of the ...
Gilera 1936ca racer based on VTGS “Otto Bulloni” 499 cc ohv single frame # 214547 engine # 1003 In 1935 Gilera presented its “VT” series, in which the VT stood for “Valvole in Testo”, or overhead valves. These ‘VT’ overhead-valve 500cc singles were among the best fast touring bikes that money could buy. They are commonly known as either ‘Quattro Bulloni’ or in GS form as ‘ Otto Bulloni’ (4 bolt or 8 bolt) depending on the engine’s top-end fixing arrangements. Power outputs for the roadster model ...
Excelsior 1919 Series 19 in Board track racer trim 974cc IOE V-twin frame # 20579/9 engine # 101848 1911 was a landmark year in Excelsior’s history, for the firm was acquired by bicycle maker Ignaz Schwinn and it introduced its first v-twin model that year. In 1913 the 61ci (974cc) twin was offered with all-chain drive, while two-speed planetary transmission and a leaf-sprung, Indian-style front fork were two of the following season’s innovations. Alongside rivals Harley-Davidson and Indian, Exc ...