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  • Len Vale-Onslow: the maverick who gave motorcycles the welded frame

    Len Vale-Onslow: the maverick who gave motorcycles the welded frame

    by

    Mark Lancaster

    –

    From childhood crashes to the first welded production motorcycle frame, Len Vale-Onslow’s story is one of invention, risk-taking and what might have been. The name of Len Vale-Onslow needs little introduction. Born Leslie Vale-Onslow in 1900, he was introduced to motorcycles in 1908 when he rode a machine built by his brothers. A police constable…

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  • Swan Motor Manufacturing

    Swan Motor Manufacturing

    by

    Mark Lancaster

    –

    The Swan Motor Manufacturing began life in Frodsham High Street in Cheshire in around 1910 and exhibited its first motorcycle at the Olympia Show in 1911. This was an open-frame machine with, unusually for the time, front and rear suspension. The founder of the company was FH Thornton who lived in a large house opposite…

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