Silk Engineering was a British motorcycle manufacturer established by George Silk and Maurice Patey and based at Darley Abbey, Derbyshire. They produced Silk 700Stwo-stroke motorcycles until 1979. Problems with spare parts and rising costs led to the company ceasing manufacture.[1]
A motorcycle, often called a bike, motorbike, or cycle, is a two- or three-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long distance travel, commuting, cruising, sport including racing, and off-road riding. Motorcycling is riding a motorcycle and related social activity such as joining a motorcycle club and attending motorcycle rallies.
Darley Abbey is a former historic mill village, now a suburb of the city of Derby, England. It is located approximately 1.4 miles (2.3 km) north of the city centre, on the west bank of the River Derwent, and forms part of the Darley ward along with Little Chester and the West End. The settlement dates back to the medieval era, when it was the site of an Augustinian monastery. In the 18th century, the Evans family developed their planned industrial mill village in the area; Darley Abbey is now part of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site.
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire, containing the southern extremity of the Pennine range of hills which extend into the north of the county. The county contains part of the National Forest, and borders on Greater Manchester to the northwest, West Yorkshire to the north, South Yorkshire to the northeast, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the southeast, Staffordshire to the west and southwest and Cheshire also to the west. Kinder Scout, at 636 metres (2,087 ft), is the highest point in the county, whilst Trent Meadows, where the River Trent leaves Derbyshire, is its lowest point at 27 metres (89 ft). The River Derwent is the county's longest river at 66 miles (106 km), and runs roughly north to south through the county. In 2003 the Ordnance Survey placed Church Flatts Farm at Coton in the Elms as the furthest point from the sea in Great Britain.
Silk was founded in the late 1960s by George Silk, a Scott motorcycle enthusiast who worked for Derbyshire Scott specialist Tom Ward. George Silk developed a racing motorcycle by fitting a Scott engine into a Spondon frame.[2] Following some success with a Silk Special at the Barbon Hill Climb in 1970,[3] Silk began planning a road-going prototype with his business partner Maurice Patey. They set up Silk Engineering and began providing a spares and repair service for Scott motorcycle owners. They also offered a range of modifications to improve the reliability and performance of Scotts, as well as improving the lubrication and gas flow.[4] Silk exhibited the prototype at the Racing and Sporting Motorcycle Show in London in 1971. Orders exceeded his capability to produce them but he hand-built 21 Silk-Scott Specials between 1971 and 1975. The supply of Scott engines was limited, therefore customers were asked to find their own.[5]
The Scott Motorcycle Company was owned by Scott Motors (Saltaire) Limited, Shipley, West Yorkshire, England and was a well-known producer of motorcycles and light engines for industry. Founded by Alfred Angas Scott in 1908 as the Scott Engineering Company in Bradford, Yorkshire, Scott motorcycles were produced until 1978.
Matt Holder, who had bought the rights to the Scott engines, disputed the use of the Scott trademark and prevented Silk from making Scott engines under licence, forcing Silk to develop his own. A new two stroke engine was developed by David Midgelow (from Rolls Royce engineering) and George Silk, and they had assistance from two-stroke expert Gordon Blair of Queen’s University, Belfast, who optimised the porting with the aid of specialist computer programs.[2]
Rolls-Royce was a British luxury car and later an aero engine manufacturing business established in 1904 by the partnership of Charles Rolls and Henry Royce. Building on Royce's reputation established with his cranes they quickly developed a reputation for superior engineering by manufacturing the "best car in the world". The First World War brought them into manufacturing aero engines. Joint development of jet engines began in 1940 and they entered production.
Belfast is a port city in the United Kingdom and the capital city of Northern Ireland, on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast of Ireland. It is the largest city in Northern Ireland and second largest on the island of Ireland. It had a population of 333,871 in 2015.
The Silk 700S was launched in 1975 and featured the new engine in a steel tubular frame made by Spondon Engineering of Derbyshire, who also made the forks, yokes, disc/drum brakes and rotors.[3] Priced at £1,355 it was the most expensive production motorcycle of the time.[5] The 700S continued to be developed at the Darley Abbey works in Derbyshire, along with the SPR Production Racing version.[2] Production was slow, with just two motorcycles a week coming off the production line. Customers could select from five colour schemes – British Racing Green, metallic blue or green, black with gold coachlines or plain red. There was also a Scott special edition in purple and cream – and a special scheme similar to Silk Cut cigarettes, which were popular at the time.[3]
The Silk 700S was a British motorcycle made by Silk Engineering between 1975 and 1979 in Darley Abbey, Derbyshire, UK.
The engine had no water pump, using instead a thermo-syphon cooling system. Coolant in the cylinder jackets absorbed engine heat and rose convectively via a rubber tube to the radiator. The cooled liquid was denser and sank through another tube to the base of the cylinders. (The thermo-syphon system was used in early cars and static engines, but became insufficient as power outputs increased. However, the system worked well enough in the Scott engine).[3]
Thermosiphon is a method of passive heat exchange, based on natural convection, which circulates a fluid without the necessity of a mechanical pump. Thermosiphoning is used for circulation of liquids and volatile gases in heating and cooling applications such as heat pumps, water heaters, boilers and furnaces. Thermosiphoning also occurs across air temperature gradients such as those utilized in a wood fire chimney or solar chimney.
A coolant is a substance, typically liquid or gas, that is used to reduce or regulate the temperature of a system. An ideal coolant has high thermal capacity, low viscosity, is low-cost, non-toxic, chemically inert and neither causes nor promotes corrosion of the cooling system. Some applications also require the coolant to be an electrical insulator.
The final drive chain was fully enclosed, with the upper and lower runs being encased in "telescopic" rubber gaiters.
The Silk Engineering company was taken over by the Kendal-based Furmanite International Group in 1976 who continued production of the Silk 700S and in 1977 it was upgraded to the 700S Mk2, which Silk called the Sabre. Improvements from the Mk 1 included finned cylinder barrels, a redesigned seat, instruments and rear light nacelle. Porting and timing revisions plus a higher compression boosted power to a more respectable 48hp, but the price continued to rise.[6] In 1978 the 100th Silk motorcycle was produced and production continued until December 1979 when Silk realised they were losing £200 with every motorcycle sold.[1]
Kendal, known earlier as Kirkby in Kendal or Kirkby Kendal, is a market town and civil parish within the South Lakeland District of Cumbria, England. Historically in Westmorland, it is situated about 8 miles (13 km) south-east of Windermere, 19 miles (31 km) north of Lancaster, 23 miles (37 km) north-east of Barrow-in-Furness and 38 miles (61 km) north-west of Skipton. The town lies in the valley or "dale" of the River Kent, from which it derives its name, and has a total resident population of 28,586, making it the third largest settlement in Cumbria behind Carlisle and Barrow-in-Furness.
Silk 500
The last Silk motorcycle ever built was Clive Worrall's 500cc model based on a prototype that was never produced. It was used as a competition prize for Classic Bike magazine.[5]
Silk 350
The Silk 350 was a two-stroke Trials prototype that was developed but never made it into production.[2]
Sources
1 2 Brown, Roland (1999). The History of British Bikes. Parragon. ISBN0-7525-3153-0.
1 2 3 4 De Cet, Mirco (2005). Quentin Daniel, ed. The Complete Encyclopedia of Classic Motorcycles. Rebo International. ISBN978-90-366-1497-9.
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