Humber Motorcycles

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The old Humber logo from around 1870
An English Humber with a sidecar in the Motor and Technology Museum in Otrębusy in Poland

Humber Ltd. or Humber Motorcycles was an English motorcycle and automobile manufacturer in Beeston , Nottinghamshire, named after its founder Thomas Humber .

history

Founded in Beeston in 1868 as a bicycle brand, the company was very successful with high quality models and opened further plants in Coventry and Wolverhampton . In 1896, Humber developed the first practical motorcycle in England in which a Humber bicycle was fitted with an E.J. Pennington engine with 2  hp (1.5 kW). Leon Bolee engines were later manufactured under license.

Motorcycles were built from 1898 to 1930, making Humber one of the oldest British motorcycle manufacturers.

With the development and successful sale of automobiles around the time of the First World War ( Humber Automobile ), the production of motorcycles was discontinued when the Rootes Group took over in 1930.

development

From 1902, motorcycles were produced under a license from Phelon & Moore , and in 1908 the first completely in-house design came onto the market. Machines were built with their own one and two cylinders from 500 (exactly 496) to 750 (746) cm³.

From about 1904 to 1909, Humber did not build motorcycles because he focused on automobile production.

From 1909 to 1915, Humber was successful in racing and set several world records. One example was in 1910 with an average speed of 48.55 km / h to 100 miles in Brooklands , another in 1911 with the victory of Percy Evans in the Isle of Man TT in the 350cc class.

In 1910 the Centaur Cycle in West Orchard ( Dorset ) was taken over, which at that time only manufactured bicycles and motorcycles.

Humber developed a number of models in the period before the First World War , such as a 750 cc motorcycle with three horizontal cylinders ( boxer engine ). During the World War, Humber built military machines for the British Army and around 500 teams for the Imperial Russian Army .

From around 1920 Humber was successful in trials and won the International Six-Day Race several times . After 1923, Humber limited itself to 350 and 500 models.

Web links

Commons : Humber  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files