Can anyone ID this bike?

[sonofdave]

Can anyone help identify this bike from this photo taken in Derbyshire c1920.

Thanks in advance

[cardan]

Hi Son of Dave!

Nice photo, but I think we're closer to 1910 than 1920. Certainly the lightweight bike is 1910-ish anyway, and with a Brown and Barlow carburettor (with control on the handlebar), BSA-ish chain wheel and Powell and Hanmer gas lights it's almost certainly British made. Is it something like a Centaur? You might be able to read the name on the tank with a magnifying glass under a bright light.

I'm surprised the magneto chain is out in the open. Perhaps the cover has come to grief in a fall.

Cheers

Leon

[sonofdave]

Hi Son of Dave!

Nice photo, but I think we're closer to 1910 than 1920. Certainly the lightweight bike is 1910-ish anyway, and with a Brown and Barlow carburettor (with control on the handlebar), BSA-ish chain wheel and Powell and Hanmer gas lights it's almost certainly British made. Is it something like a Centaur? You might be able to read the name on the tank with a magnifying glass under a bright light.

I'm surprised the magneto chain is out in the open. Perhaps the cover has come to grief in a fall.

Cheers

Leon

This is the logo zoomed in, if it helps?

[cardan]

No it doesn't help - me at least.

I had a look last night and still can't identify the bike. One of the problems is that it is a "lightweight" model, and the magazines of the era tended to have photos of the flagship models rather than the cheap and cheerfuls. Notice, for example, that the frame doesn't have a tube underneath the petrol tank. The front fork looks to be unsprung - or maybe it has a springing arrangement at the axle end - which was rare on "proper" bikes by 1910, but present on some of the lightweights.

I love the torpedo tank! Just a pity the name is hard to read.

Leon

[R]

That rear stand is also unusual and very distinctive.
If some other photo shows similar, it has to be a match, to the make at least (?).

Does the original photo show all the front numberplate.
Some counties still have all their records, and may be able to trace it that way (?).

[sonofdave]

No it doesn't help - me at least.

I had a look last night and still can't identify the bike. One of the problems is that it is a "lightweight" model, and the magazines of the era tended to have photos of the flagship models rather than the cheap and cheerfuls. Notice, for example, that the frame doesn't have a tube underneath the petrol tank. The front fork looks to be unsprung - or maybe it has a springing arrangement at the axle end - which was rare on "proper" bikes by 1910, but present on some of the lightweights.

I love the torpedo tank! Just a pity the name is hard to read.

Leon

I love the tank too, thought it might be easy to ID based on that. Thanks for your efforts.

[sonofdave]

Does the original photo show all the front numberplate.
Some counties still have all their records, and may be able to trace it that way (?).

Sadly not, this is the full crop of the photo.

[Dirt_Track]

G'day
The rear stands are "Ukantes" which were a very early accessory type (you will see them fitted to the Rem Fowler 1907 TT Norton for instance.
Fitted to everything and anything!
Howard.