FROM ACROSS THE POND
1959 A10 Rocket 650 twin. This was BSA in her prime.
“ THE HISTORY OF MATCHLESS MOTORCYCLES”
family-run business behind. In 1930, Charlie designed a narrowangle( 26-degrees) 400cc V-twin, the Matchless Silver Arrow. They expanded this into a 600cc V-4 in 1931.
The quintessential Matchless: 1948 G80 500cc single.
BY ANDY TALLONE Classic-British-Motorcycles. com
STARTED WITH BICYCLES Established by Henry Herbert Collier as‘ Collier & Sons’, with sons Charlie and Henry, Matchless Motorcycles started out making bicycles, as did so many makers of classic British motorcycles. They built their first prototype motorcycle in 1899 and had it in production by 1901. In 1905 they produced a JAP V-twin powered bike with one of the earliest versions of rear swing arm suspension in motorcycle history.
THE EARLY YEARS Then they started racing. In 1907, son Charlie won the Inaugural TT Singles Race at an average speed of 38.21 mph( blistering speed at the time). His brother Harry won in 1909 and Charlie won again in 1910. At the time, they were building mostly singles, with a few V-twins for sidecar duty. Until this point, Matchless Motorcycles were built using other manufacturers’ engines, but starting in 1912, Matchless began building their own engines. WWI came and went without them landing any military contracts to build motorcycles for the War Department. But in 1919 production resumed with Matchless building a new V-twin and in 1923 a new single. The father died in 1926, leaving a vibrant
MATCHLESS BUYS AJS Also in 1931, Matchless bought AJS Motorcycles from the Stevens brothers, then in the late 1930s bought Sunbeam Motorcycles also, which it would later sell to BSA in 1943. From this point on, all Matchless and AJS Motorcycles would be mechanically nearly identical, with slightly different styling. The only major mechanical difference between the two was that Matchless positioned the magneto behind the cylinder, and the AJS had its magneto in front of the cylinder. Otherwise, they were essentially the same machines built on the same production line. Each had its own model designation. The Matchless G80( 500 single) became the AJS Model 18. The Matchless G9( 500 twin) was the AJS Model 20, and so on.
A SUPPLIER OF ENGINES In 1933, Matchless began supplying V-twin engines to the Morgan Car Company for their cute little 3-wheeled cars and became the exclusive supplier by 1935. From 1935 to 1940, Matchless V-twins were supplied to Brough Superior for all their motorcycles( this is the bike that Lawrence of Arabia rode). In 1935, Matchless engineers invented the‘ hairpin valve springs’ that would become a trademark of the two brands.
AJS engines( left) had their magnetos in front, Matchless( right) put theirs in back. Otherwise they were identical.
Matchless supplied V-twin engines to Morgan for their 3-wheeled cars.
26 Thunder Roads Magazine ® Colorado October 2016 www. thunderroadscolorado. com