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Interesting motorcycles, not XS650
- Thread starter Kevin Werner
- Start date
Perhaps a condensed history of JAP is in order:
John Prestwich, an engineer, commenced manufacture of scientific instruments in 1895, when he was 20, initially behind his father's house at 1 Lansdowne Road, Tottenham, London. By 1911 he had moved to new premises in Tariff Road,[1] within the Northumberland Park area of Tottenham, London,.
Circa 1902 J.A.Prestwich and Company began manufacturing motorcycle engines which were used in many motorcycle marques. The motorcycle engines were associated with racing and record success and were used in speedway bikes into the 1960s. Prestwich also made engines for aeroplanes.[2][3] During WWII Prestwich produced around 240,000 industrial petrol engines in support of the war effort, together with millions of aircraft parts, fuses, etc.[5]
In 1951 the assets of J.A.Prestwich and Company Limited and Pencils Ltd were taken over by J.A.Prestwich Industries Limited which was registered on 23 April 1951 and floated on the London Stock Exchange shortly after. By 1957 practically all the shares in the company had been acquired by Villiers Engineering Company Limited of Wolverhampton, which also made motorcycle and industrial engines. The engineering works in Northumberland Park closed in 1963 and J.A.Prestwich Industries Limited was liquidated in 1964.[5][6]
From 1904 to 1908 complete motorcycles were produced[8] from the development of the first overhead valve motorcycle engine to be produced in the UK.[9]
After that the factory concentrated on supplying its engines to other manufacturers, including Brough Superior,[10] Triumph Motorcycles,[11] A. J. Stevens & Co. Ltd, Enfield Cycle Co, Hazlewoods Limited, Zenith Motorcycles, Grindlay Peerless and HRD Motorcycles, the forerunner of Vincent Motorcycles.[12] Machines that incorporated its engines included the AJS Model D, fabricated for the Russians in the First World War.[13]
JAP exported significant numbers of engines to foreign motorcycle manufacturers including Dresch[14] and Terrot in France, and Ardie,[15] Hecker[16] and Tornax[17] in Germany.
Latterly, JAP engines (under Villiers control) were used in motorcycle racing, and most commonly speedway or dirt track. Various enthusiasts continued development of the engine into the 70's primarily for grass track, speedway and long track use. Variants included the use of 4 valve heads, twin spark plugs and early electronic ignition systems. Some were modified to run as alcohol fuelled engines primarily for speedway use. All the engines were 4 stroke. Use of the engine declined in the 70's as competing engines from Jawa-CZ and Weslake were developed giving better performance.
In 1957 Villiers absorbed JA Prestwich Industries, makers of the J.A.P. engines.
In the early 1960s, the company was taken over by Manganese Bronze Holdings, and in 1966 together with AMC became Norton-Villiers, and in 1972 merged with the BSA group to become Norton-Villiers-Triumph, which eventually went into liquidation in 1978.
- Wikipedia
I want one too!
Thanks for the history lesson JP.
Thanks for the info! I always thought JAP closed long before '64.
What the heck is it? It's waaaaay cool!
Well that took some serious googling to find:
VILLA V4 REPLICA
View Full Size
If you’ve never heard of the Villa V4, it’s not surprising: this racing motorcycle never turned a wheel in anger. The lovely machine here is an immaculate replica of Francesco Villa’s planned 1969 GP racer—a bike that was killed overnight by an FIM edict limiting 250cc bikes to two cylinders
Ahhh yes, the politics of racing (follow the $$$)Well that took some serious googling to find:
VILLA V4 REPLICA
View Full Size
If you’ve never heard of the Villa V4, it’s not surprising: this racing motorcycle never turned a wheel in anger. The lovely machine here is an immaculate replica of Francesco Villa’s planned 1969 GP racer—a bike that was killed overnight by an FIM edict limiting 250cc bikes to two cylinders
A V-4 2 stroke, wow! Bet it sounded awesome.Well that took some serious googling to find:
VILLA V4 REPLICA
View Full Size
If you’ve never heard of the Villa V4, it’s not surprising: this racing motorcycle never turned a wheel in anger. The lovely machine here is an immaculate replica of Francesco Villa’s planned 1969 GP racer—a bike that was killed overnight by an FIM edict limiting 250cc bikes to two cylinders
Sorry, Ants, no intention to be controversial, honest, but the 400N Superdream is one of the few motorbikes I find uninteresting. In fact, without I hope over-egging the pudding too much, the 400N was one of those middle-weight bikes that probably put me off parallel-twin cylinder bikes for decades.
Don't know why I didn't like the 400N and its ilk? Maybe it was the revvy, under-powered engines, about as exciting as farting in the bath? Or the cheapo looking comstar riveted wheels, surely down to the accountants? Or the sensible commuter image used to sell them? Or maybe it was just the bland, generic, corporate . . . . . . sorry, fell asleep for a moment, styling?
Wake up to a wet dream?
Of course, there's nothing wrong with them but maybe just not quite my cup of tea.
Don't know why I didn't like the 400N and its ilk? Maybe it was the revvy, under-powered engines, about as exciting as farting in the bath? Or the cheapo looking comstar riveted wheels, surely down to the accountants? Or the sensible commuter image used to sell them? Or maybe it was just the bland, generic, corporate . . . . . . sorry, fell asleep for a moment, styling?
Wake up to a wet dream?
Of course, there's nothing wrong with them but maybe just not quite my cup of tea.
Crikey, you as well; I thought it was just me!
The early 80's were kind of a low point for interesting vehicles of all kinds. Yes there were a few memorable rides, but......
