Sprite
Sprite were motorcycles produced from 1964 to 1974, and built by Frank Hipkin, of Hipkin and Evans, Sprite Motor Cycles, Ell Street, Oldbury, Birmingham, and later by Sprite Developments, Halesowen, Worcester (1965-1971).
1964 This make came about when Hipkin built and raced his own trials and scrambles machines. These were quite successful, so he was asked to build for others. The first Sprite was made with suitable parts that came to hand, but production brought Sprite frames with duplex downtubes. The engine was a combination of Alpha and Greeves, and very similar to other 246cc two-stroke engines of the period. To keep costs down, the machine was sold in kit form, and they also supplied a frame kit for the 500cc Triumph twin engine. Models were available for scrambles or for trials with a narrower frame.
1965 Leading-link forks were used, with others remaining as an option.
They used the 247cc Starmaker engine, and when the Villiers supply dried up, they offered their own engine for scrambles.
1969 This was joined by a trials model with a 125cc Sachs engine.
1970s The firm ran on into the new decade, but when their US importers, American Eagle collapsed owing them a lot of money.
1974 Sprite motorcycles came to an end, although the firm itself recovered.
- Note: The company continued later to make forks and wheel hubs until at least 1978.
See Also
Sources of Information
- 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] Ian Chadwick's motorcycle web site
- [2] Wikipedia on Sprite motorcycles
- Powered Vehicles made in the Black Country by Jim Boulton and Harold Parsons. Published 1990. ISBN 0 904015 30 0