Sparkbrook Manufacturing Co
of Paynes Lane, Coventry were makers of the Sparkbrook cycles, and motorcycles from 1912 to 1924.
1884 Sparkbrook Manufacturing Co, of Coventry.[1]
1884 Four Sparkbrook Nationals took part in an Ipswich cyclists meeting[2].
1896/7 Directory: Listed under cycles. More details
1897 March. Extraordinary General Meeting. The company of Paynes Lane. George Beverley Cooper is Chairman.[3]
1910 Bicycle. Seen at the National Cycle Collection. Sparkbrook Cycle Company of Coventry.
1912 Late in the year, this long-established cycle firm entered the powered market with a single sidecar model. It had a 6hp JAP engine, two-speed gearbox, chain-cum-belt drive and Druid forks. The coach-built body was suspended on C-springs.
1913-1917 For a list of the models and prices of motorcycles see the 1917 Red Book
1914 An 8hp version was added.
1915 Production of the sidecar model stopped, but a light solo was listed and this alone continued into the following year.
1919 Two models appeared, each with the 269cc Villiers engine. One had direct-belt drive, and the other two speeds via their own counter-shaft gearbox with belt final drive.
1921 Those two models continued with the additional option of a two-speed Sturmey-Archer gearbox. During the year a utility-version of the direct-drive two-stroke was added and sold from 1922 to 1923 as the Spark.
The Spark was a very basic utility model fitted with the 269cc Villiers two-stroke engine and direct-belt drive. It had a simple frame with pressed sheet-steel lugs and Gosport front forks. When Villiers stopped making the older engine, the 247cc unit was used in its place.
1922 The range ran on and was joined by a 346cc sv JAP model.
1923 They changed to the new Villiers 247cc and 343cc engines, kept the 346cc sv JAP and added another model with the 349cc sleeve-valve Barr and Stroud. All modes came with a choice of transmissions and speeds, together with complete sidecar combinations with the four-stroke engines.
1924 A 349cc ohv Bradshaw engine replace the JAP, and that, with the others, brought the marque to its close.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News - Saturday 22 March 1884
- ↑ The Ipswich Journal 24 June 1884
- ↑ The London Gazette Publication date:23 March 1897 Issue:26835 Page:1699
- ↑ British Motor Cars 1950/51
- The British Motorcycle Directory - Over 1,100 Marques from 1888 - by Roy Bacon and Ken Hallworth. Pub: The Crowood Press 2004 ISBN 1 86126 674 X
- [1] Cyber Motor Cycles web site
- Miller’s Price Guide to Classic Motorcycles
- The Encyclopedia of the Motorcycle by Peter Henshaw. Published 2007. ISBN 978 1 8401 3967 9
- Peck's Trades Directory of Birmingham, 1896-97: Cycles