Girl power
Sammy Miller’s latest restoration is the only known survivor of this 1924 Beardmore Precision model, aimed directly at the female motorcyclist
Back in the early years of motorcycling, it was not uncommon for women to ride powered two-wheelers – in fact, the practice was popular enough to convince some manufacturers to create machines specifically as ‘Ladies Models’. Sammy Miller’s latest restoration is a perfect example of the genre. This 1924 Beardmore Precision Ladies Model is so called because it has a step-through loop frame to allow for the ladies’ dresses when mounting/dismounting, with the short fuel tank also forward mounted for the same reason. It is powered by a 250cc side-valve engine with a three-speed gearbox, while a band-type front brake and a hub rear brake deal with deceleration.
The Beardmore Precision company came about when the William Beardmore & Company, a Scottish engineering and shipbuilding company, invested into the FE Baker Group (initially of Moorsom Street in 1906, but later based in Kings Norton, Birmingham) to build motorcycles using
‘Precision’ engines produced by Frank Edward Baker. Another of Sammy’s current restoration projects is a 1913 Sun which is also powered by a Beardmore Precision 597cc side valve engine. According to Erwin Tragatsch’s Encyclopaedia of Motorcycling,
Beardmore built not only ships but also produced cars, aircraft, airships and locomotives, while Baker had been selling engines to a huge number of small manufacturers. Grace’s Guide claims that in 1911, 96 machines from various manufacturers at the Olympia Show in London used Precision engines.
The Beardmore Precision motorcycles arrived after World War I, with 247, 347, 498 and 596cc engines, and even used a 348cc Barr & Stroud sleeve engine. Beardmore Precision produced motorcycles from 1921 until 1924, so this Ladies Model was produced in the final year of the company’s existence. In 1924, with the company in decline, Beardmore withdrew their backing and, according to Grace’s Guide, Baker went on to form his own company in 1926 called Baker Motor Cycles, making a range of Villiers-powered machines until 1930 when he sold out to James.
Despite all this history, Sammy’s recent restoration is thought to be the only known survivor of this model, the restoration work having been completed by Sammy’s chief mechanic Jim Devereux and Sammy himself. The bike joins the nine other examples of female-specific motorcycles in the Ladies Model section of the museum, including a 1923 Beardmore Precision 350cc side-valve model.