Motorcycle engines from France, Britain, Germany, Switzerland...
Notes:
Ajax engines are believed to have been built by AJS and supplied to Italian manufacturers such as Astoria.
See also HO Twins and Fours
Desmo systems
Henk Cloosterman of Desmodromology has devoted a great deal of time and effort to documenting desmodromic systems.
Among them:
Azzarati built desmo engines for Benelli in the 1930s.
BMW aircooled twins by Franz Pohn
BMW R1 Project 1989-1992
Brüdersdorf, Roland, desmo engines, Sweden.
Capriolo of 1954 using a Kürchen desmo system from the 1920s
Demm 1957 DOHC 49cc desmo
Ducati (many pages)
ESO 250 GP 1962
Horak, Karel. 250cc bevel-drive desmo 1969
Howarth two-stroke triple with desmo inlet valves.
JAP 1924 Desmo
Kürchen
Lantenhammer, Otto, built a desmo engine. He is also mentioned under
GM.
Mangoletsi, G.A. 1930
Morini 250GP 1962
Moto Guzzi, Hans Peter Länge
MTRM by Carlo Mazzucato
MV Agusta 1959 DOHC 125cc
Neander, Kürchen desmo
NP by Nerio Pancaldi
Norton Manx 1957
Norton 350 1. Harry Hinton. 2. Bryan Thomas.
Norton, James Lansdowne. Patent 209,882 Nov 15 1922.
NSU Ultramax, Willi Hartung
Orionette OHV two-stroke.
Rudge DDS by David Downer
Treen 350 desmo
Velocette desmo conversion kit by BMG. Dennis Quinlan has information on this.
Velocette 1964 by Tony Foale of FF fame.
Displacement Calculator
Microma In 1947, Mignon, Croleak and Malaprade developed a motorcycle engine based on a Gillet-Herstal unit. The single-cylinder four-stroke disc-valve "turntable" engine had no poppet valves, the disc being driven via a shaft and bevel gears, one assumes. Information is very sparse. The Austrian Freyler engine used a similar concept in 1928-29. Source: Wikipedia NL (NIT)
Mercury Engines fitted to Vaschetto, Mello and Tomaselli.
Morris engines were fitted to Hobart lightweights in 1922
Piazza and Ladetto & Blatto engines were used on a variety of Italian machines.
SMW, Bosch Stockdorfer Motorenwerke AG, Stockdorf, near Munich. This engine was used in the early 1920s by Bison, Linsner, SBD, and the wooden-framed Hirsch.
Vickers, the arms manufacturer, supplied engines to Royal Enfield in the years following WWI.
Whitley engines were supplied to Mills and Fullford in 1903-1904.
Bergmann aluminum engine with steel liners, cast iron cylinder heads, and direct-operated o.h. valves. From this view of the engine it is difficult to appreciate that it is a V twin.
An Aluminium Engine.
Another good unit for assemblers is the Bergmann, a V type with aluminium cylinders, having steel liners and vertical overhead valves directly operated by an overhead camshaft, no gear being used between the cam and the valve stem. This engine has a cast iron detachable head, and is built as a unit with the change-speed gear. It is the work of one of the most reputed German engineers, and is undoubtedly a fine piece of work.
The MotorCycle, October 6th, 1921
Sources: Sergio Scalarandi et al
If you have a query or information about motorcycle engine manufacturers please contact us
