Cleveland 1920



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4 cylinder pictures

Links

Indian history

Hall of Fame






 

Colibri

Links

Colibri

Colibri 1919

 

Colibri/Furir 1915 Factory owner Emil Jern in Gävle Sweden produced a help engine. After a time it was called Furir and was mounted on steering handle on an ordinary bicycle. The whole unit was sold including patents was sold to two persons living in Gävle and they started the Engine factory Furir. Form the beginning their main product was water pumps and 1919 the firm was reconstructed and named Colibri.

This became also the first auxiliary bicycle engine produced in larger series. Colibri was also sold as frame mounted engine 1919 and had certain similarities with FN from that time. 1921 a V-twin was built. This type was crosswise mounted in the frame. The company went bankruptcy 1923, but the remaining spare parts parts were advertized up to 1928.

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Swedish version
 

Typhoon Campus 1952 - 1954

 

Typhoon Campus 1947-1950 1951-1954 This motorcycle was produced when Bert Gutenberg ordered to develop a new type of engine. This was aimed to be used for transport cycles like three wheelers. This job was laid to the most well known engine constructor in Sweden Folke Mannerstedt. The case history later showed that it didn't became a three wheeler. Instead the new engine was used for a motorcycle. This cycle got the name Campus and

it was mounted in a cycle, as shown, named Typhoon.   The type of engine worked with the two cycle principle. The idea was taken from sleeve valve engines, but instead it had a rotating sleeve which closed the inlet. In this it was not needed to have a cylinder head. The cylinder was casted in one part of aluminum. This engine didn't became a lucky construction and production ceased 1950. Production started again 1952-54 with a Zündapp 200cc engine.

Swedish version

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Rex 247

Links

Swedish Rex MC

Rex V Twin

Rex Acme

 

Rex 247 Sverige 1908-1957 The bicycle factory REX in Halmstad Sweden used Moto Sache engines in the beginning, but serial production was not started until 1923 when they changed to Villers and JAP engines. During WWII an electrical variant was produced. Later during the 50th small motorcycles and mopeds. Rex Acme was the English version. It was produced by the brothers William and Harold Williamsson. The first made small cars in Coventry but went over to motorcycles 1904. They used engines from other producers like JAP. Telescope front spring was used already 1906. 1908 they leaned the cylinder unit in order to lower the height of the motorcycle.

As a thank you for their work the border fired the two brothers for their work 1911 and started to mount own produced engines. The company ceased mc production 1933. During a few years there were popular to mount two exhaust pipes from one port. But it showed that the cycle had a better run with only one pipe. Royal Enfield had such a model. The owner found that it was better with only one working pipe but kept the none working one. The name Rex could be found in several European countries like Sweden, Germany, Italy and Rex Acme in England.

Swedish version

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Rex

Links

Rex GB
 

Rex 172 1927 Sweden

This Rex equipped with Villers 172 cc. The same as Monark used.
 

Rex Acme GB Rex Acme was the English version. It was produced by the brothers William and Harold Williamsson 1899. They first made small cars in Coventry but went over to motorcycles 1904 and used engines from other producers like JAP. Telescope front end was used already 1906. 1908 they leaned the cylinder unit in order to lower the height of the motorcycle.

As a thank you for their work the border fired the two brothers for their work 1911 and started to mount own produced engines. The company ceased mc production 1933. Now Rex started to produce their own engine but still used other marks like JAP. Rex merged Acme 1922 and changed name to Rex ACME and had 1927 15 different models. The depression killed the company and it was taken over by Mills-Fulford side car producer. 1932-33 the production ceased. Rex-Acme used Blackburne, JAP, MAG, Villiers, Sturmey-Archer, and Barr & Stroud.

Swedish version

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Suecia

Links

Suecia factory
in swedish

 

Suecia 1927 - 1939 When Eiber went bankruptcy a new company started and took over the production locals from Eiber in Örkelljunga Sweden. Here Suecia started to produce motorcycles with 250 to 750 cc and engines from Mag, Blackburne and JAP. They got a military order 1937 but the production ceased when WWII started.

According to Suecia paper one can understand that the production took influences from Sarolea 500cc and 1928 the first cycle was mounted. If someone is more interested about this mark the link tell you almost everything. It is written by a enthusiast who started Suecia paper but at last got tired because the support from owners was zero. Anyway he has left the paper copies on internet.

Swedish version

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Union 1951

Links

Only in Swedish

Union story

MCHK about Union





 

 

Union Super Sport 1951 It is just like that the four Swedish motorcycle marks Furir, Eiber, Suecia and Union have some sort of heritage. All four types had been started and developed by private persons. All of them had for it's time made extraordinary vehicles and all of them have not succeeded in the long run in spite of their small production and lack of money. From these are Union the last and most advanced motorcycle which has been planned in Sweden. This happened in the end of 1940 after the war and the cycle only survived till 1951. The main reason for Union was that there was no printed agreement with the granter of loan. When the man behind died it became too easy for the new responsible to withdraw money flow. Maybe outside people can have the opinion that as the production just was on the way to start it was not the right time to kill the economical base. It was expected that cash flow was expected to be positive. The bankruptcy seemed at this time to be quite unnecessary. In Sweden Huskvarna had developed a new engine built on the English Sturmey Archer. It was named Huskvarna 112 TV. It was aimed for the Swedish army which later named it Monark/Albin M42. The cycle engine was built by Albin factory in Kristinehamn and assembled by Monark. Birger Berggren who was well familiar within the MC sport i Sweden and had good contacts with the best designers as Mannerstedt, started the project for a new heavy motorcycle in Sweden. The Huskvarna/Albin engine was developed by the men around Mannerstedt and Gunnar Hagström. They were although not permanently appointed to the project. Birger found a financier through family contacts. Erik Berglund who owned OHS ironworks and Habo sulphate factory, with large areas of forest, several manor houses, an electric power station and a local railroad. The power station and the railroad are still in use even if it has veteran status. Erik Berglund had money to invest in for him interesting projects.

The production for this mc was placed in in Charlottenberg as there was also interest in Norway and Sweden for a new military machine. This was the cause that the name became Union. The works was the Norwegian tobacco production Tiedermann in Charlotteberg. The Norway connection was that some parts should be casted there. 300 cycles were planned to be produced and all of them were sold in advance. Time looked bright for the Union company. Some smaller reverse which not affected was that Norway chose to be included in NATO and a military machine was out of the question and Sweden could not decide in time. The great disaster was that Erik Berglund, the financier, died 1950 and his son Stig followed his advisers, the successor followed this not to put more money in Union. This was the point when production just had started and delivers started to the buyers. A bankruptcy became a necessity 1951. This in spite of Union was only indebt with 225000 Skr. A small sum today but may be not at this time. Only 42 cycles were produced and from these 4 Sport models. Now when the leading person in OHS concern was dead, the factories were sold 1967 including all surrounding companies were laid down 1978. Today the power station and some of the left buildings from the factory what is still to be find in the forest. If the Union leaders had have a long term agreement from their financier about the money, maybe the selling had been started and the cash flow became good, the production could have went on for 10 years. The future for smaller producer of motorcycles were not good in the 1960 and 1970th. Birger Berglund who had been the main dedicated person for this project was very much in bad mood for this forced situation. He moved to Arvika where he opened a machine firm for delivery to industry. His interest for engines and motorcycles continued. In this activities he was an important person in Arvika and he often took part in veteran competitions. In such a competition in Hedemora he was killed because of heart stroke while driving.

Swedish version

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Huskvarna

 

Huskvarna 1903 - Husqvarna 1000 cc almost identical to a Indian or HD, technically from the 30th. The company started to sell bicycles and later they put in a small engine.  Already 1920 they had their own 550 motor and later a 1000cc. With this they went into competitions. It was a success mostly due to the brilliant designer Folke Mannerstedt. Huskvarna won several World Championships. During the 30th they brought in line with what people wanted. Cheap 2- stroke bikes were sold. With successful models of these types Huskvarna managed till end of 50th. With the help of world known drivers like Bill Nilsson, Håkan Carlqvist and Torsten Hallman, Huskvarna became a Cross machine with a high reputation. Huskvarna was bought and all products that didn't suit Electrolux were sold. The motorcycle part was bought by Cagiva in Italy 1986.

Sorry to say all these kind of fusions are leading to that the mark disappears from market some time later. In this case Huskvarna, as a company, ended all production and lots of good engineers and workers went out of job. The end result of the fusion with Electrolux, became only a short time higher book-keeping finances for Electrolux. For some time Huskvarna only produced freezers and alike. The best ad at that time was "Do as Electrolux buy Huskvarna". Several of the designers and drivers started their own production. Husaberg! They had difficulties with money and had big problems to economically fight the Japanese dragoons. The bad luck for Huskvarna was that they had an extremely wide production program and among these product they had freezers. Eletrolux was also a freezer producer and had to invest overflow money. Today in the honorable workshops of Huskvarna city it is only a very nice museum. Pity, Sweden might have had a mc producer with a high standard.

CD:s för olika Husqvarna
Husqvarna factory museum

Swedish version

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Monark/EBE

Links

Eiber

 

Eiber Engineer Nils Eiber, who during 1920th started Swedish Motor industry in city of Örkelljunga in order to produce motorcycles and bicycles with auxiliary engines. But the depression and selling his engine to NV struck hard and the production had to be stopped. Eiber moved to Stockholm and opened a workshop in Kungsholmsstrand just nearby St Eriks bridge. Here he specialized on turning and milling works like gear wheels and other details. He could not stop from thinking of motorcycle engines, and started to produce competition engines in the beginning of 30th. This production included both 500 cc and 1000cc engines. The latter he also delivered as a outboard boat motor. The Eiber engine was a very advanced engine construction. The results which were achieved must be seen as exceptionally. Specially taking in consideration that the whole engine was casted in

iron. If Eiber had earned so much money that he had been able to develop his engine, it should have been a serious concurrent for SRM, JAP and later ESO-Jawa. Nils Eiber didn't work with this just for a pure hobby. His main purpose was for sure to make his constructions well known through good results in competitions. After this he should develop his ideas.  He was almost on the way to succeed with this, but Nils Eiber didn't reach the point. He met his dead in a car accident 1935. This was when he was in high creative force and all his work ended. This was a result that happened for several highly creative mechanicals developer. The most well known Eiber MC can be seen at Sura MC museum or MC museum Falköping. It is former Harry "Professor" Lundberger's old competition mc:s.

Swedish version

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NSU

Links

About NSU

NSU story

NSU Bison

 

In the 1930th NSU was the largest manufacturer of motor bikes in Europe. On the other hand this firm started 1900 in the city of Neckarsulm to produce knitting machines and their name was Neckarsulm Strickmachinen. The name of the bike became first Neckarsulm Fahrradwerke, but it was supposed to be a difficult name for a bike. Instead it was called NSU.  Compare with Yamaha which from the beginning was a company making music instruments and Suzuki which was a textile company. During the period between the wars they designed a motorcycle like a band wagon equipped with Opel engine. This small "motor bikeband car" helped the farmers after the war to save the growth of the year, when all tractors had been taken as war booty by the Russians. See Sinsheim military.

In the beginning NSU started to use Zedel v-twins, but thought they could make a better one themselves. In the 50th NSU was much involved in competitions and record driving. They built special models for this. They also produce a scooter of their own and had licenses for Vespa and Lambretta. In the 60th NSU bought a license to build Wankel engine, developed and produced mc:s and cars for this concept. This was very expensive and was the direct cause for NSU to run into economical problems. VW-Porsche bought the NSU company. Today the big factory locals, which was not so much damaged during the war, are rebuilt with a nice museum, locals for other companies and living apartments.

Swedish version

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CZ

 

CZ Strokonice The weapon factory CZ in Czechoslovakai started to produce motorcycles in the middle of the 30th. This country was one of the largest producer of Weapon. This was one of the main reasons why the Nazist wanted to have control over this country. An other reason was that the country was placed far away from England and no bombers could yet reach the factories there. After the war the country became the place where Russia had their main production of tanks.

There are several rumours about the quality of these tanks. This because the workers didn't like Russia. This Strokonice mc came 1933 and had engines from 98 cc to 500 cc. The mc showed is from 1937. This mc got model year 1946 in Sweden. The year it was imported. The engine was CZ own construction.

Swedish version

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Sparta 247 Victoria

Links

Sparta MC

About Sparta

Sparta Story

Sparta models
 

 

Sparta In Holland Verbeek & Schakel started 1917 production av small motorcycles with 74 cc and 98 cc engines. This engine was made by Sachs. The name Verbeeck & Schakel became hard to advertize and it was 1931 changed to Sparta. During the 30th lots of cycles with 150 cc and 200 cc engines for using as transports and normally bakers and milk deliverers bought them.

Later they changed to ILO engines. After the war cycles were equipped with Victoria engines and also scooters were popular. between 1953 and 1957. 1965 motorcycle production stopped and mopeds ceased 1980. Remaining production today are cycles equipped with electrical help engines.

Swedish version

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Gillet Herstal

Links

Gillet Herstal

 

Gillet 1919- 1960 The WWI was over and Leon Gillet build together with Fernand Laguess a 300 cc two cycle machine. Comparing what later became the normalwas thet the exhaust port were poining backward, and the gearbox was placed in front of engine. The driving method was done by driving belt. This type of cycle production ceased 1927.

1926 Gillet presented av 4 stroke 500 cc model. This cycle made together with FN an around the world driving in order to make it well known. During teh 30th Gillet presented several new models. After WWII Gillet started again but decline in selling continued and 1955 they merged with FN and Sarolea to survive. This didn't succeed and production ceased 1960.

Swedish version

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Panther 75 350 cc

Links

Panther Classic

Panther mc

Panther short story

 

Panther 75 In the year 1900 Joah Phelon and Harry Rainer got together with a mc patent. The idea was that the engine cylinder took the place for front frame tube from the top of the cylinder. This is for sure a distinguishing mark for a Panther motorcycle. All produced cycles had this construction patent. Harry Rainer was killed already 1903 in a traffic accident and was replaced by Richahrd Moore. He had constructed a 2 geared unit which worked with chains and coupling. The company was called P&M and the cycle was developed in a slow steady way with improvements. The mark had it's own 500 cc engine which was produced in Cleackheaton and 1914 they succeeded to get orders from Royal Flying Corps, which later

got the name RAF. The cycle was known for it's steady construction and became later a good sidecar  cycle. Several engine sizes were advertized of own production and even from other deliverer. These were like Villers. As all other producers Panther had one real flop which was a V-twin and had the name Panthette. This investment almost made Panther company bankrupt. A very popular model was a 250 cc which was sold under the name Red Panther for a very low prize. After the war the engine size stabilized around 650 cc. All Panther cycles still used the patent for the front frame tube. The production was reduced heavily in the beginning of 60 th. and the last Panther was delivered from the factory 1967 in Cleackheaton.

Swedish version

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Francis Barnett 1952

Links

Francis Barnet owners club

Francis Barnett

Pictures

Francis Barnet Classics

Francis Barnett timeline

FB Story
 

 

Francis Barnett 200 1952 This mark started it's story 1920. The type showed it's identity with a frame construction which was different from all other cycles. All pipes had been screwed together. This made that the frame was easy to put together. Engines mounted were Villers and had the volume of 137 up to 343 cc. JAP engines were also used.

The cycle on the picture is made 1952 and has an engine with 200 cc. The mark was merged together with AMC and was the same as James. The production was laid down 1966. The main idea about Francis Barnet was that it should be a cheap working cycle without any special signs. With this as a background it was very easy for the producer to stay in market up to 1966.

Swedish version

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Puch 125

Links

Puch

Puch Split Single

Puch motorcycles

Steyer-Puch Story

Puch museum

Puch Racing mc

 

Puch 1899-1991 Johan Puch who during the late 1800 produced bicycles, decided to establish a firm 1889. Now he produced bicycles and wagons and 1901 the company started to produce car engines. The car, see Svedino, was much asked for at this time and Puch understood that this was the product for today and future 1904. Now he set up his business in Austria and it became a large and important factory with all sorts of vehicles on it's schedule. WWI was on the way and the military in Austria and Hungary needed all sorts of vehicles. Even the Kaiser family got their cars from Puch if they didn't use horses and wagon which were manufactured by Lohner. As all producers during the war did Puch expand heavily. Sadly for Puch the Austrian Empire became a looser in the war and Puch went out of jobs. Puch was almost bankruptcy. The banks then sent an Italian engineer Giovanni Marcelino in order to save the company. At this time Johan Puch had withdraw.

Giovanni had his construction the double piston engine with him. The construction had already been done in Italy. This motor was developed and became famous and used almost in all motorcycles made by Puch factory. Nazi Germany took over and when Anschluss was declared all factories had to specialize for military products. They got working labor from the close situated concentration camp Mathausen, one of the most terrible during the war. After the war it became several merges, first with Fiat. During the 50th Puch mostly delivered motorcycles, mopeds and scooters. This was the civil production. The military production was more important. Austria was totally free when Russia didn't show up from a conference and could not stop the unification of the four zones. In this way Austria got open borders to the West. Late 1970 a merge with Mercedes Benz was done and also a cooperation agreement with Volkswagen. The shown motorcycle on picture is a 125 cc double piston model. All mc production came to an end 1987 and up to 1991 only mopeds and scooters were produced.

Swedish version

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Motobecane

Links

Motobecane

 

Motobecane France which was the country during the motor vehicle evaluation time and during the end of 1890, it was the land which most supported cars and motorcycle industry by building roads and legislate laws which allowed that rolling units could grow. At this time there were lots of different badges for cars and motorcycles. The resistance was large both in Germany and England. Only in France the authorities were positive for motor vehicles. This leading development was slowly dropped during the first 50 years. Today, 2000, there are only few marks known in France. One of these is Motobecane. The most usual in Sweden was not a motorcycle instead it was a moped, Mobylett. There are les with rolling cycles than you can find in mc museums in Sweden.

Such a museum cycle is Motobecane, which was a large producer of two wheeled cycles. during the 1920 th. When two engine designers, Chales Benoit and Abel Bardin 1922, started to work at the company, production started and Motobecane was for a long time the largest in France. There were many models of the bike equipped with engines with 250 cc and less. Also one 750 cc was sold for a popular racing class in France. The factory was badly destroyed during the war and there was great problems to start production for export after war. Motobecano factory now put money on bicycles and French cycle industry became well known for there competition bicycles. As all other producers it came a time, during the 70 th, when production didn't sell and the company was declared bankruptcy 1981. In this situation Motobecano was bought by Yamaha and the factory was reformed and got a change in products over to scooters.

Swedish version

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Nimbus

Links

Nimbus

Nimbus military

Nimbus USA Club
 

 

Nimbus 1919-1960 For once the Nimbus production didn't start by a company that earlier began with bicycles. 1919 Nielsen and Fisker merged to produce a motorcycle. They had already earlier established a company which already 1910 started with vacuum cleaners. The main plan was that together with their already established product trying to earn more money through a motorcycle. This won't be any problem as the market at this time was positive. Now any problem didn't show up as their motorcycle Nimbus was well looked forward and totally 12000 machines were sold. The Swedes Song Group Swe-Danes, included among the three singers Alice Babs, told once why they had got popular with "You got to have your own style".

Nimbus had this unusual style. No other cycle had the same construction. 4 cylinders engine, engine block from Austin seven, telescope in front, shaft drive and a frame of flat iron which were riveted together. This became their developed model named Nimbus C. The interest for this Nimbus didn't raise until a company with the name Nimbus was officially started. Not after 1920 the sales started to expand. This was of course why buy a motorcycle by a vacuum cleaner salesman. Selling a motorcycle in Denmark was though not easy when government in Denmark often put on taxes for motor vehicles. The luck for Nimbus factory was that they got a rolling contract from the Danish army. This made them continue with production despite low civil sales. As long as this contract was working Nimbus continued, but when it came to an end 1960 the production ceased.

Swedish version

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Sarolea

Links

Sarolea

Sarolea Classics

Private Sarolea

Bjorns Sarolea

 

Sarolea 1850-1956 Sarolea was founded 1850 as a company working with parts for weapons and bicycles by Joseph Sarolea. He died 1894 but was succeeded by a very energetic man who managed the firm till 1949. During the time between the wars several models were announced on the market. These had 350 to 600 cc. T

hey returned after the war but at that time the will to fight for selling was gone and the joining with FN was established. The last type was a 2 cyl 600 cc named Atlantic. Very handsome. During this time Sarolea as a mark disappeared in the middle of 1950. In Sweden there was Fleron that was the main importer with it's founder Axel Löfström.

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FN Sport

Links

FN History

FN History 2

FN Story 3
 

 

FN 1902-1965 FN was a company which was established just nearby Sarolea in the Belgian town of Herstal. Here they started to manufacture, what all other firms did, bicycles and motorcycles. The bicycle from FN had the curiosity to be driven by a prop shaft instead of a chain. This bicycle was on the market 1898. The first real motorcycle came 1901. It had a 133 cc motor and was driven by a riveted leather strap for "chain".

The engine capacity was successively increased from 133, to 188, 300, 347 to a four cylinders engine with 748 cc. By this reason it was called Type 700. FN is known for its unusual front spring construction which came after the WWI. They had bought it from Switzerland. 1959 FN produced their own mopeds with several different names. For ex. the sport model Rocket. Together with Sarolea they designed a type S. 1967 the last moped left the production line of FN.

Swedish version

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Raleigh

Links

Raleigh

 

Raleigh  1899 - 1906, 1919 - 1933 1958 -1967 Raleigh had a production which change very much. The mark started already 1899 with a mc equipped with a Schwann engine and vacuum controlled inlet valve. The production stopped 1905 and restarted again after WWI 1919.

The mark used auxiliary producers of engines and gearboxes. 1933 the production stopped again. The factory started with moped again 1956 and used their own constructions. All production ceased 1967?. Read more detail in the link and sub link Raleigh History.

Swedish version

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Douglas 600 1929

Links

Douglas

Douglas pictures

Douglas Vespa

 

Douglas 600 1929 Already 1907 was this mark on sale. The owners did control the production up to 1935 when they sold the company to the investment company Bond. It was two brothers William and Edward who 1882 started a smithy. From their product there were mostly casted details. In the beginning of 1900 they got commission to cast details for a motorcycle named Fée. This name was later changed to Fairy. In the motorcycle company there were two constructors Joseph Barter and Walter Moore. They developed a 200 cc engine for bicycles. The progress for Light Motors was not good. Joseph Barter was hired at Douglas which at this time had included machining works. Joseph got now the opportunity to develop a boxer engine where the cylinders were placed along in the frame. This became the identity for Douglas during a long time. 1907 their first cycles was presented on the market. The selling was not as high as expected and Douglas survived on their main competence which was casting and machining. 1910 started in a good way and they got orders for 1300 cycles. This created a certain stability in the company. 1913 they produced with 400 employees about 100 cycles a day. This was a remarkable figure at this time, when neither transports or selling organization were created. Douglas was known for quality and their motorcycles kept going without service for long distances. This made that for the coming WWI they got orders from the defence and the company had an economical stability up to 1918. The production was during this time 25000 machines. The company developed itself in a modern way and tried both rear suspension and disc brake in front, although the buyers had no acceptance for these novelties. After the WWI the requirement for all the military machines, which were sold back on the civil market, a rebuilding set to change them for private use. Here Douglas had much work to do. In the same time the demand for new vehicles was large in the beginning of 20th.

Douglas which was a powerful machine which included a high engine moment became very popular as a side car cycle. This was the right time before the small cars conquered the buyers. The old constructors had now ended and new men had taken over. Pullin and Dixon developed new types of engines and also a new gearbox. Douglas also tried to sell so called cycle cars 1913 till 1922, but this was just a parenthesis. In the end of 1920 a new model was shown. This was not sufficient tested and they got big problems which almost led to bankruptcy. The two constructors stopped their employments with large internal frictions with the board and the company had no competent people for developing. The lead succeeded to solve all problems wiith the model EW. Douglas also hoped for a new type of competition class in England. It was called Dirt Track. For this the founders of Douglas wanted to sell the MC part of the company to Bond Aircraft Eng. 1935. Douglas wanted probably to put work on casting and machining. They were economical hard pressed by the depression. After WWII Bond had not the power to adopt itself for the new marked which showed up and the demand sank drastically. In this situation most investment trust companies try to solve problems in a short term way. They search for a license to build an other product. But normally the company has no heritage for the new production. The lead only hide what they should have done earlier. A license was bought, for production and development, in England of Vespa Scooter. This was the way up to 1957 when production of Douglas machines was ceased. Before this happened the company had developed a new type of Douglas machine.  This was sold under the name of Dragonfly. This cycle was too simple and vacant with it's weak engine and high weight and it was not what people wanted. Now after WWII the marked search for big, heavy and impulsive things even if people didn't really needed that kind.

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BSA

Links

BSA models

Bjorns BSA

MC museum Surahammar
 

 

BSA 1903-1990 Birmingham Small Arms produced  10000 rifles a week and 145000 machine guns before WWII. This was the latest result what William III in the end of 1600 century understood that he needed a war industry independent of foreign countries. Already 1903 the first bike was built, although it had an Belgian Minerva engines. These bikes were green which became the BSA color. Till WWII several different models were sold with increasing volumes. Names as Sloper, Blue Star and the M-Range. The last well known for it's use by AAA as support bike on the English roads. During WWII they delivered lots of model M20 for the defense.

BSA took as war booty over the MC designs from Adler, but didn't use the information. Instead Ariel got it in their hands. After the war BSA started with a cheap machine and sold ca 500000 till 1963. This was a copy of the DKW 2-stroke bike converted to inch and mirrored. Well known are all A-models like A10, A65, Gold Star, Rocket, Spitfire and so on. The declining production from BSA forced action together with Triumph and Norton. This turned out to be a failure when the employers wanted to decide themselves. Four years later all were fired and a national company NVT started to produce spare parts for these English bikes. Some new production were aimed but with foreign engines in the end of 1990.

Links to other museums
Nationalmotorcyclemuseum Australia