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Author Topic: Pre-WWI bike?  (Read 5314 times)

Offline noo

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Pre-WWI bike?
« on: September 11, 2008, 09:20:14 PM »
Hi. Can anyone help identify the bike in this photo of my grandfather? I'm guessing that the picture was taken in the early 1920s but the bike was possibly way older than that because he wasn't at all well off.
Simon Hartland from the National Motorcycle Museum very kindly took a look at the photo and guessed that it might be a 4.25hp Centaur, manufactured between 1906 and 1908.
Any thoughts would be most appreciated.
Cheers,
Noo
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Offline noo

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Re: Pre-WWI bike?
« Reply #1 on: September 11, 2008, 09:23:44 PM »
Pic didn't attach poroperly in the first post...
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Offline cardan

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Re: Pre-WWI bike?
« Reply #2 on: September 12, 2008, 04:23:23 AM »
It could easily be a Quadrant of around 1910 - the front fork is not unlike the setup on early Quadrants, and the flat-top timing chest and magneto behind the engine is similar to later Quadrants. Maybe someone has a picture of a Quadrant from this period to compare?

Leon
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Offline cardan

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Re: Pre-WWI bike?
« Reply #3 on: November 19, 2008, 11:38:52 AM »
Yes, the bike is a 3 1/2 h.p. (500 cc) Quadrant. 1911 adverts show an almost identical bike, except that the hand oil pump in the front of the tank is angled - unlike the vertical one in the photo. I think we can say confidently 1910-11 as the open-magnet Bosch magneto was replaced by the waterproof version for 1912.

Leon
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