early motorcycles

Wearwell: The Wolverhampton Motorcycle Pioneer Brought Down by Scandal

by

Mark Lancaster

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15th October 2026

From bicycle manufacturing to early motorcycles, Wearwell looked set to become a major name in the British motorcycle industry. But financial wrongdoing brought the company’s promising future to an abrupt end. Like so many, Wearwell started out as a bicycle manufacturer. The Cogent Cycle Co was founded by Henry Clarke and the business included his…
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The Thorough: the short-lived motorcycle that offered unusually long test rides

by

Mark Lancaster

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8th September 2026

At the end of the 19th century George Featherstone was an ironmonger living in Bethnal Green but he had a son who was interested in the great strides that transportation was taking. It seems likely that it was John Featherstone who persuaded his father into producing a motorcycle in 1903. By then, John, now in…
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Vindec Special: The German Motorcycle That Nearly Won the First TT

by

Mark Lancaster

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27th August 2026

The Vindec Special was actually built in Germany by Köln-Lindenthaler Metallwerke AG of Cologne. However, it is an interesting footnote in British motorcycling history because its distribution in this country was handled by the South British Trading Company with the assistance and advice of William Huntingdon ‘Billy’ Wells. Wells had moved to London from his…
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