A to Z Reference

Enfield (now Royal Enfield) Bullet Eagle 1910-15 USA Quality made Spake-engined singles and V-twins. Now rare and expensive. EBE c1920-30 Sweden Proprietary engine manufacturer who made cycle clip-ons and then complete machines with 172-598cc engines. A number of 172cc ohv models with three-speed Sturmey Archer gearboxes survive in Northern Europe. EBS c1924-30 Germany Berlin manufacturer…

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1908 Bat 7hp V twin BAC 1951-53 UK After the Bond Minibyke design and production was taken over by Ellis of Leeds, the Bond Aircraft and Engineering Company built two conventional but very small motorcycles called the Lilliput. The 125cc version powered by a JAP two-stroke engine was in production for a year while the…

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French firm Ultima made motorcycles for 50 years. This is a 1923 model Ultima 1908-58 France Maker from rue Commandant Faurax, Lyon headed for many years by ME Billion. Early production centred round side-valve single and V-twin motorcycles using JAP and Zurcher engines. Later used Aubier-Dunne engines too. Through the Thirties, Ultima concentrated on 250/350cc…

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The pre-WWII four cylinder Gilera racer, based on the Rondine Romeo 1969-75 Italy Maker of 50cc Minarelli-engined ultralightweights. Odd examples of the motorcycle and moped like machines find their way out of Italy. Rondine (Dates as detailed) Italy Four concerns are briefly mentioned here as one led to the post WWII world championship winning Gilera…

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1955 Norton Dominator 88 NB: Continued from Norton's pre-war history Norton kicked off civilian production after WWII with two models, the 16H and Model 18. By September 1946 the range had grown: Big 4, 16H, Model 18, ES2, two Internationals plus 350/500 racing models and a trials machine. Things looked good, but weren’t quite so…

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Kawasaki GPZ900R was the bench mark sports machine of the eighties K125 1940s-1950s Russia Yet another copy of the DKW125. Modestly priced survivors have appeared since the end of the East/West divide. Spares will be a problem for, despite the design being heavily based on the Deek, much is not interchangeable. Kaptein 1938-1950s Holland Dutch…

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Ducati 916 rewrote the superbike design book Ducati 1950 – Italy Founded in 1926 to produce radios and electrical components, the Bologna factory diversified into military equipment before WWI, after which they began making Aldo Farinelli designed 48cc Cucciolo cyclemotor units. Following a brief partnership with Aero Caprioni, Ducati displayed a 60cc motorcycle at the…

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Ascott-Pullin sported a pressed steel chassis Armis 1920-23 UK One of a host of small manufacturers who sprang up after WWI to cash in on the sudden high demand for motorcycles, the Armis Cycle Manufacturing Co Ltd of Birmingham ceased production in 1924 when the market shrank. Used proprietary engines including Precision, JAP and Blackburne…

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TWN (Triumph) BDG250 Triumph (TWN, Orial) 1903-57 Germany Within a year of starting motorcycle production, Triumph of Coventry opened a satellite factory at Nurnberg, Germany. Although the satellite products were sold as Triumph – especially in Germany – the Nurnberg factory often sold motorcycles in export markets as TWN (Triumph Werke Nurnberg). Confusingly, the brand…

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1906 ad extols the virtues of the Riley: ‘… the machine for the night or all-weather rider.’ Riley 1901(1899)-1908 UK Aged just 20, William Riley took over the family weaving business in Coventry in 1870, just as the city’s weavers were beginning to reel from the impact of cheaper imports – all sounds very familiar…

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