ABC Motorcycle

ABC Motorcycle was a brand of British ABC Motors.

History

1913-1914

ABC 1913-1914 (1st company)

1914-1919

ABC Motors Ltd (reorganized)

Originally at Brooklands, Byfleet, moved to Walton-on-Thames and produced mainly war materials and motorcycles engines for the military.

1920-1922

Another reorganization, which took place at Walton-on-Thames. Production centered around spare parts and development of new designs, but there were no new motorcycles put on the market. Bradshaw’s policy was to sell his designs to manufacturing concerns.

1919-1922

This was the real ABC motorcycle, built by Sopwith Aviation Company at Kingston-on Thames, a company which built aircraft during the Great War and afterwards took over Bradshaw’s newest creation. This was a transverse-mounted 398cc flat twin with overhead valves, 4 speed gearbox, chain drive, spring frame and fork with automatic lubrication. Often regarded as the predecessor of the first BMW motorcycle, the Sopwith-ABC was an advanced albeit under-developed design when Sopwith put it on the market. The valve gear was unreliable, the lubrication poor and although they could sell more than they made the ABC failed and by 1921 ABC Sopwith were in liquidation, mainly because the cutting edge design led to many guarantee claims.

1920-1924

ABC Sopwith in France. Made under license from Sopwith by a branch factory of the French Gnome et Rhône aero engine and motorcycle company, the French ABC lasted longer than the English original. The French ABC used a modified cylinder head and build two engine sizes, 348cc and 493cc.