A to Z Reference

During WWI, P&Ms were supplied to the military with many used by the Royal Flying Corps PA 1921-29 Belgium During the early Twenties a leading Belgian marque from Liege whose owner/designer Mons Praillet fitted a range of side-valve and ohv Blackburne engines. Later PA also used JAP and MAG units and built their own 250…

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Liberia mopeds line up at the Paris Show in 1956 Liberator 1902-c1928 France Pioneer firm who experimented with clip-on kits before making their first production machines, based on the Werner principle, with the engine mounted within the frame diamond. Used proprietary engines including Antoine, Sarolea and JAP. Very rare. Liberia Early Twenties and 1951-56 France…

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Straight frame tubes were the hallmark of pre-war Francis Barnetts FN 1901-62 Belgium Like BSA, FN (La Fabrique Nationale d’Armes de Geurre) were weapon makers. Founded in 1889, the Herstal company began making cycle frames in 1895, then complete cycles and their first 133cc single cylinder motorcycle in 1901. With sound financial backing, development progressed…

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1938 250cc BMW R23 single BMW 1923-to date Germany Today BMW is Germany’s only large scale motorcycle manufacturer. Although portraying an image of dependable quality, the company itself has survived a close call with bankruptcy and kept afloat after WWII by manufacturing cooking pots, cycle parts and wood working tools. Their practice of building top…

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Vintage HRD-badged Vincent-built machine with 490cc JAP engine Vincent 1928-55 UK Born in London to wealthy parents whose main income came from a partnership in a large Argentinian cattle ranch, Philip Conrad Vincent, PCV to many, was educated at Harrow and then went up to Cambridge in 1926 to read Mechanical Sciences. Having already decided…

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1937 Motor Glide motorcycle from Salsbury Sadrian 1956-63 Spain Established maker of lightweight three-wheelers who branched out into lightweight motorcycle manufacture, using 125-200cc Hispano-Villiers power.  Salsbury 1935-49 USA Super salesman and entrepreneur E Foster Salsbury conceived his idea for cheap personal transport in 1935. Salsbury folklore claims EFS had one of those flashes of inspiration…

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1901 Astor-powered Orient single Olmo 1951-c1961 Italy Production began using Mosquito clip-on units mounted under the pedal crank of suitable cycle frames and then moved into moped production using 50cc proprietary units. Olympic 1903-05 and 1919-23 UK Wolverhampton cycle-maker Frank Parkyn, who displayed MMC-powered motorcycles at the 1903 Crystal Palace Show, restarted production of lightweights…

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Nineties Laverda 750S La Francaise Diamant 1907-54 France Parisian firm, under the Alcyon umbrella for much of its life. Built a sizeable range of predominantly utility type machines from 100cc pedal start, two-stroke lightweights to 500cc four-stroke singles. Post WWII production centred around a range of up to 250cc lightweights. Moderately priced examples surface at…

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Federation motorcycles were marketed through the Co-op Fafnir 1900-14(26) Germany Production at the Aachen factory was initially established to build Werner-designed engines under licence, which were marketed as proprietary units. Fafnir soon developed further motorcycle engines up to a 1000cc V-twin and became Germany’s leading producer. From c1903, Fafnir made superb motorcycles too. Surviving Fafnir…

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Bimota SB8K Santamonica Berini 1949-c1960 Holland Production commenced with a 32cc cyclemotor unit, nicknamed the ‘motor egg’ due to the shape of its fuel tank. The disc valve two-stroke engine, similar to that found in the British Cyclemaster, was mounted above the front wheel of a bicycle, driving via a roller pressed on the tyre.…

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