Wright and Gasking

W and G produced motorcycles from 1927 to 1928. The initials stood for Wright and Gasking of Rea Street, Birmingham.

In July 1927, the company announced this marque on a machine fitted with a 494cc vertical-twin two-stroke engine with the cylinders inclined forward a little. There were four small internal flywheels, one large external flywheel on the right, plain bearings at centre and each crankshaft end, and high primary and secondary compression ratios. A single rear-mounted B and B carbruettor supplied the mixture, which was fired by a chain-driven Bosch magneto mounted immediately behind the crankcase, and just above an aluminium expansion chamber with internal baffles into which the two exhaust pipes ran, with twin exit pipes and silencers. Lubriction was from an oil tank via a needle valve to the mains.

The engine drove a three-speed Sturmey-Archer gearbox and went into a conventional frame with Druid forks and drum brakes. To begin with, a flat petrol tank was fitted, but this was soon changed to a saddle tank.

Although the machine was said to perform well, quickly and quietly, it did not sell well. It was possible that the magneto could have proved troublesome as it was very close to the exhaust heat.

The make was very short lived.

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