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Indian Motorcycle is an American brand of motorcycles originally produced from 1901 to 1953 in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States. Hendee Manufacturing Company initially produced the motorcycles, but the name was changed to the Indian Motocycle Manufacturing Company in 1923.
BMW's motorcycle history began in 1921 when the company commenced manufacturing engines for other companies. BMW's own motorcycles—sold under the BMW Motorrad brand—began in 1923 with the BMW R 32, which was powered by a flat-twin engine. Production of motorcycles with flat-twin engines continues to this day, however BMW has also produced many models with other types of engines.
A. J. Stevens & Co. Ltd was a British automobile and motorcycle manufacturer in operation from 1909 to 1931. The company was founded by Joe Stevens in Wolverhampton, England. After the firm was sold, the name continued to be used by Matchless, Associated Motorcycles and Norton-Villiers on four-stroke motorcycles till 1969, and since the name's resale in 1974, on lightweight, two-stroke scramblers and today on small-capacity roadsters and cruisers. The company held 117 motorcycle world records.
The Alcyon was a French bicycle, automobile and motorcycle manufacturer between 1903 and 1954.
Clyno Engineering Company, later Clyno Engineering Company (1922) Ltd, was a motorcycle and car manufacturer that operated in Thrapston from 1909 to 1910 and then in Wolverhampton from 1910 to 1929. During this time they produced over 15,000 motorcycles and between 36,000 and 40,000 cars, at one point becoming Britain's third largest car manufacturer.
Matchless is one of the oldest marques of British motorcycles, manufactured in Plumstead, London, between 1899 and 1966. A wide range of models was produced under the Matchless name, ranging from small two-strokes to 750 cc four-stroke twins. Matchless had a long history of racing success; a Matchless ridden by Charlie Collier won the first single-cylinder race in the first Isle of Man TT in 1907.
Unit construction is the design of larger motorcycles where the engine and gearbox components share a single casing. This sometimes includes the design of automobile engines and was often loosely applied to motorcycles with rather different internal layouts such as the flat twin BMW models.
Rudge Whitworth Cycles was a British bicycle, bicycle saddle, motorcycle and sports car wheel manufacturer that resulted from the merger of two bicycle manufacturers in 1894, Whitworth Cycle Co. of Birmingham, founded by Charles Henry Pugh and his two sons Charles Vernon and John, and Rudge Cycle Co. of Coventry.
Douglas was a British motorcycle manufacturer from 1907–1957 based in Kingswood, Bristol, owned by the Douglas family, and especially known for its horizontally opposed twin cylinder engined bikes and as manufacturers of speedway machines. The company also built a range of cars between 1913 and 1922.
Blackburne was a trade name of Burney and Blackburne Limited a British manufacturer of motorcycles from 1913 to 1922 at Tongham near Farnham, Surrey. They were also a major supplier of engines to other motor cycle and light car makers and continued to make these until 1937. Burney and Blackburne also made small aircraft engines.
ABC motorcycles was a British motorcycle manufacturer established in 1914 by Ronald Charteris in London. Several British motorcycle firms started up with the name "ABC", including Sopwith. The All British Engine Company Ltd. of London was founded in 1912 and later changed to ABC Motors Ltd. With chief engineer Granville Bradshaw, Charteris built a range of engines throughout the First World War. From 1913 ABC produced motorcycle engines.
Triumph Motorcycles Ltd is the largest UK-owned motorcycle manufacturer, established in 1983 by John Bloor after the original company Triumph Engineering went into receivership. The new company, initially called Bonneville Coventry Ltd, continued Triumph's lineage of motorcycle production since 1902. They have major manufacturing facilities in Thailand.
Bradbury Motor Cycles was a British motorcycle manufacturer based in Oldham, England and established in 1902. Originally involved in the manufacture of machine tools, sewing machines and cycles, their first motorcycles were bicycles with clip-on Minerva engines. The Bradbury factory went on to develop and produce a range of single-cylinder motorcycle, V-twins and horizontally opposed twins. The 1912 Bradbury motorcycles were one of the earliest with variable gearing. Although the factory survived the First World War it closed in 1924.
The Abra was an Italian motorcycle that was manufactured from 1923 to 1927. The Abra initially used a DKW 146cc two-stroke engine, but from 1924 132cc engines of the company's own design were used. Production was limited.
AEL was a motorcycle and accessories dealer in Coventry, England who assembled bikes between 1919 and 1924 using frames probably manufactured in Coventry. Engines ranged from 147cc to 348cc, and were provided by companies such as Villiers, JAP and Blackburne.
The Pope Model L was a motorcycle produced by Pope Manufacturing Company in Westfield, Massachusetts, between 1914 and 1920.
Motorcycle braking systems have varied throughout time, as motorcycles evolved from bicycles with an engine attached, to the 220 mph (350 km/h) prototype motorcycles seen racing in MotoGP. Most systems work by converting kinetic energy into thermal energy (heat) by friction. On motorcycles, approximately 70% of the braking effort is performed by the front brake. This however can vary for individual motorcycles; longer-wheelbase types having more weight biased rearward, such as cruisers and tourers, can have a`greater effort applied by the rear brake. In contrast, sports bikes with a shorter wheelbase and more vertical fork geometry can tolerate higher front braking loads. For these reasons, motorcycles tend to have a vastly more powerful front brake compared to the rear.
References
- ↑ Keeling, Gary. "British motorcycle manufacturers - A". MotorbikeWorld. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
- ↑ Tragatsch, Erwin; Ash, Kevin (2000). The New Illustrated Encyclopedia of Motorcycles. London: Quantum Publishing. p. 119. ISBN 1-86160-342-8.
