The origins of the Royal Enfield marque can be traced back to a small light engineering firm – George Townsend & Company – founded in Redditch, Worcestershire, in mid-Victorian times. The firm moved into bicycle manufacture and by the turn of the Century had been reorganised as the Enfield Cycle Company, makers of the ‘Royal Enfield’.
source.image: classic-motorcycle.com
The Redditch company built its first powered vehicles – De Dion-engined tricycles and quadricycles – in the closing years of the 19th Century and its first motorcycles around 1900. By 1904 the firm was concentrating on car production, resuming motorcycle manufacture in 1910 with a 2¼hp v-twin Motosacoche-powered lightweight.
The first 2¾hp (350cc) Enfield appeared in 1924 in overhead-valve and sidevalve versions, both of which used engines supplied by J A Prestwich. The JAP engine gave way to one of Royal Enfield’s own manufacture for 1925, at which time the three-speed Sturmey Archer gearbox was standardised.
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This Royal Enfield is a wonderful example of flat tank generation. It is equipped with a Powell & Hanmer acetylene lighting set, grease gun, wooden toolbox, Amal carburetor and a three-speed Sturmey Archer gearbox. It has a lot of lovely details and is a great runner.
