In 1917, Henderson sold his company to Excelsior, where he worked as chief designer for two years. But soon disagreements began, and William founded his own company, giving it a resounding name "Ace" ("Ace"). The Ace motorcycle produced in 1919 was very similar to Henderson's first motorcycle, but had a three-speed gearbox, and the working volume was increased to 1206 cm3. And the company "Excelsior" moved in 1920 to the production of the model "Henderson K", designed by Arthur Lemon. The main layout principle - four cylinders in a row longitudinally in the frame - was retained, but the engine was actually redesigned. It became completely bottom-valve, the working volume increased to 1301 cm3, the torque was transmitted to the rear wheel through a three-speed gearbox and chain.
William Henderson died in December 1922 when he ran into a new model of Ace motorcycle during a road test. Arthur Lemon became the chief designer instead of him, who designed a number of new high-speed models. Alas, these bikes were extremely expensive to produce, the company was constantly experiencing financial difficulties and was eventually acquired by Indiana, which produced four-cylinder motorcycles since 1927, first under the name of Indian Ace, and then simply Indian Foure (ie, "Four").
Another company that produced four-cylinder motorcycles in the U.S. in the twenties, was the company "Cleveland". It engaged in motorcycle business in 1915, starting with light motorcycles with two-stroke engines, but in 1925 suddenly released on the market a large four-cylinder motorcycle, designed in the spirit of William Henderson: longitudinal position in the frame, the upper inlet and lower outlet valves, chain drive on the rear wheel.
Small American motorcycles, although numerically inferior to the large two-wheelers, were very technically perfect. The fact that they were willingly copied and produced under license in Europe can serve as proof of this. The "exemplary" lightweight motorcycle can be considered to be the "Evans" produced in 1915, which had a single-cylinder two-stroke engine with a working volume of 90 cm3. The engine was installed in a very light - the entire motorcycle weighed only 30 kg - tubular frame and had a belt drive on the rear wheel. The bike was quite popular and produced throughout the twenties. Under license it was produced since 1922 by Berlin-based company "Stock".
If "Evans" was a living embodiment of the principle of design "from the bike", then "Ner-a-Kar" in 1921 was just as obvious a brainchild of automobile principles (its name in English is consonant with the words "almost a car"). The extremely low frame was completely encapsulated, both wheels had spiral spring suspensions, and the front wheel had a fully automobile steering mechanism with longitudinal thrust. In the U.S., the car was produced with a single-cylinder two-stroke engine with a working volume of 212 cm3 and a friction five-speed transmission, in the UK it was made with a two-stroke engine with a working volume of 285 cm3 or four-stroke 350-cubic, with a normal three-speed gearbox.
Post-war Germany was a devastated country tormented by revolution, reparations and hyperinflation. Nevertheless, not only was it able to quickly restore motorcycle production, but it soon became one of the legislators of technical progress in the motorcycle industry. Conversion has its share of the credit: under the peace treaty, Germany was not allowed to produce almost all kinds of weapons. It was not only large factories that turned to the motorcycle in search of a suitable "consumer product" for the production of the motorcycle - even more important is that the design of the motorcycle was done by young capable designers who "got their hands on" the military orders. Their talent and design "uncomplicated" had a decisive influence on the development of the German school of motorcycle building.
Arnaud Dietrich founded the Ardi Company (named after his name and surname) in 1919. His first creation was the famous "Minimax" - a lightweight motorcycle with a one-cylinder two-stroke engine with a working volume of 288 cm3, two-speed gearbox and belt drive on the rear wheel. It is such simple and cheap cars that for quite understandable reasons enjoyed the greatest popularity in postwar Germany. YOU, already in 1922, Dietrich died in a test of a new motorcycle model. After his death, the development of his own design was abandoned, and soon the company began to mount on their bikes English engines "JAP" with a working volume from 200 to 1000 cm3. The bikes themselves also became a direct imitation of the English design school.
Continued in the next part...
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