Bradbury Motor Cycles
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. History The company was established in 1852 as Bradbury & Co., and was Britain's and Europe's first sewing machine manufacturer. The first Bradbury bicycle appeared as early as 1895, and production continued until at least 1914. The company began manufacturing and marketing motorcycles in 1902 under the name Bradbury Motor Cycles. Their first motorcycle was a bicycle fitted with a 1¾ hp Minerva clip-on engine. In 1903 they began producing motorcycles with engines which they called the Peerless Motor Cycle. These were based on a design by John Birch. In 1904 Bradbury launched a new motorcycle with a new frame design and in 1905 their Peerless motorcycle won a special reliability trial. In 1909, the Bradbury motorcycle was launched and