NORTHAMPTON’S MOTORCYCLES
Richard Jones continues his tour of the motorcycling midlands, celebrating those British bikes built in Northamptonshire. This time he recalls a marque you may recognise, Cedos, although you may not have appreciated its origins…
Richard Jones continues his tour of the motorcycling midlands, celebrating those British bikes built in Northamptonshire. This time he recalls a marque you may recognise, Cedos, although you may not have appreciated its origins…
In May 1919 the Hanwell brothers, Cedric and Oscar, submitted a patent for improvements in spring forks for motorcycles. This was essentially a housing with a spring under compression which allowed backward, forward, and up and down movement. Then in October a second patent was applied for in respect of improvements to motorcycle under-shields. These patents may not have been entirely original as there is a passing resemblance e to Triumph equivalents. But that very same month a two-page article appeared in The Motor Cycle heralding the introduction of the Cedos 2½hp motorcycle. ‘An entirely new and well-designed lightweight embodying many practical features.’
The brothers’ father, Herbert, was a plumber, and the London Gazette of January 1919 advises that the Hanwell Pendant Company Ltd had acquired Herbert’s gas fitting business. It also adopted a new objective, to ‘carry on the business of general engineers and motor engineers and mechanics, including the manufacture and dealing in motor cars and vehicles, motor and other cycles, aeroplanes and other aircraft.’ The Hanwell Pendant Co became Hanwell and Sons Components, probably in September 1919, ahead of the launch of the Cedos (CEDric and OScar) that autumn.
It’s possible that some of the machine’s engine design may have been courtesy of a Minerva engineer who was working with Advance in Northampton. A later report mentions Mr E Smith working with Cedos, who was ‘for a long time associated with a concern manufacturing a well-known machine possessing a high pre-war reputation’. This may well have been Ernest Smith, who then became the works manager for Cedos.
Despite the fact that only one motorcycle had been built when they announced its arrival, The Motor Cycle was very complimentary. They described the Cedos as ‘one of the most carefully thought out lightweights we have yet been privileged to examine’. The machine had been designed with extensive brazing and welding to reduce any irritating rattles. Much was made of the 211cc, single cylinder, two-stroke engine with its bore and stroke of 62mm by 70mm; apparently ‘all parts are beautifully made’.
Many design features were highlighted including the exhaust ports, which were divided into two parts to prevent piston rings from catching and to improve gas flow. The carburettor was also said to be very ingenious, although The Motor Cycle were precluded from explaining it in any detail as the patent was still pending. It incorporated a variable choke that enabled the engine to run extremely slowly and two-stroke regularly.
The two-speed gearbox design with its handlebar mounted thumb lever change also came in for praise. The drive chain tension could be adjusted by simply slackening off a single bolt and rotating the gearbox through a few degrees with a tommy bar. Final drive was by belt, and much was made of the under-shield, which started life at the bottom of the rear mudguard, spread out either side of the aluminium footboards and terminated as a shield to prevent the rider being sprayed with mud.
In common with other pioneer motorcyclists, the Hanwell boys didn’t believe in front wheel brakes. Instead two belt rim brakes were provided to the rear wheel, one acting on the outer part operated by the left heel and the one on the inside by the right toe. All the frames were formed on jigs to ensure variation was negligible; special forks were manufactured by Cedos which presumably incorporated their patent improvements; the fuel tank held two gallons, and the exhaust pipe was reasonably quiet. The colour scheme was purple, the paint applied over a coating of zinc phosphate (a rust-proofing process which led to the metal being ‘Cosletised’), with the frame being a slightly deeper shade than the tank. Purple was and is associated with royalty and Roman emperors, and was far from cheap. Perhaps Cedos were instilling their quality message subliminally with this paintwork? Finally The Motor Cycle commented that apart from rubber and leather goods and ignition products, everything else was manufactured in-house. Prices were described as ‘reasonable’ and deliveries were due to start the following January.
In November 1919, the Cedos appeared in The Motor Cycle’s Olympia show preview together with a diagram of that clever twinchoke carburettor. It returned in the show report with illustrations of the motorcycle and the flywheel and chain cover.
One month later the Cedos is back in print in a ‘New Ideas in 1920 Model Engines’ feature. It’s of ‘remarkable interest… full of good points and redolent of experienced cleverness’. The exhaust bulb into which the exhaust port passed the engine gases was of particular note and the writer commented that any issues with turbulent gas flow were outweighed by the ‘free and immediate expansion the bulb allows’.
You have to hand it to Oscar and Cedric. In a single year they applied for at least three patents, set up a production line, manufactured their first motorcycle and got four favourable reports in one of the main motorcycle publications of the day. Can you imagine that happening today and what the cost would be? Never mind how much red tape would have to be cut? Still, they didn’t get it entirely for free: some things never change. The 18th December edition of The Motor Cycle featured a full page advertisement for the two Cedos models. The Gents version retailed for 60 guineas while the Ladies model (‘ The Real Scooter’) was two guineas more. In today’s money these prices are between £9500 and £10,000.
Press coverage continued in February 1920 when Motor Cycling took a Cedos for a test ride. During a trip around the works, conducted by Cedric, much was made of the Hanwells’ resolution of two issues which plagued two-strokes at that time – fourstroking and ‘drying up’. Cedric encouraged the journalist to ‘stick it’ to the little Cedos, which he did for three miles and up a stiff
hill, finding no signs of knocking, rattling or falling off in power.
The journalist then set off for Kent and a 200 mile ride during which the only unplanned stop was caused by a puncture. He commented on the absence of vibration and four-stroking, the fact that the machine stayed in top gear practically all the way to London and that it went up hills admirably without running out of steam. The only criticisms were that it would benefit from a lower bottom gear or a third gear, and one very annoying fault: first gear did not engage on every occasion when changing down, necessitating a stop to achieve this. However, overall, the journalist ‘parted with this pleasant little mount with genuine regret’.
Lady riders also appeared to enjoy the benefits of a Cedos. I met Terry Spencer, a Cedos aficionado and owner of two examples, who told me of Margaret Maycock, a photographic assistant from Wollaston in Northampton. Margaret rode to work on her Cedos every day – at the Bull Ring in Birmingham. This is about 70 miles using the M1 and M6, so back in the early 1920s it was quite some trek. Terry’s mother-in-law, Laura, also toured Devon and Cornwall on a Cedos in 1925; another major undertaking in those days before motorways and tarmacadam. It certainly seems that the Cedos was a wellengineered and reliable motorcycle, arguably as good as if not better than many of its contemporary lightweights.
Coverage of the 1920 Olympia show makes mention of the Ladies and Gents models, now priced at 70 and 72 guineas, and two new models: the Gents Sporting and the Ladies side-carette. Both had two-speed gearboxes and both featured a new 247cc two-stroke engine which retained the bore of the smaller capacity engine but featured a longer 70mm stroke. An advert in February 1921 heralded a price reduction to 60 and 62 guineas, as well as achieving 166mpg in official French consumption trials.
Later in 1921 Cedric Hanwell won a gold medal in the Scottish Six Days Trial aboard one of his Cedos machines. Gearboxes now came from Sturmey Archer, the cylinder head was detachable (an unusual feature for the time) and a new clutch and kick-starter were noted. Black was now the standard colour although purple was available as an optional extra.
This was also when Cedos met financial problems, perhaps unsurprising given the rapid expansion of the company. Trading was suspended and Herbert sold his house, but regrettably for Oscar and Cedric these efforts were for naught. When a new company, Cedos Engineering Co Ltd, returned in October 1922 the only employee – now a director – to survive from Hanwell Components was Ernest Smith. Hanwell and Sons was voluntarily wound up, and the Hanwell family leave our story.
Oscar seems to have disappeared from the scene and died in Derbyshire in 1950. Brother Cedric registered a patent in the US for, of all things, a ‘toy cannon, pistol, gun or the like’ and in later years had patents registered in the US and Canada for threaded elements on studs and bolts as well as a thread generating machine and a shaft bearing. He also travelled to New York in 1948 and Madeira in 1951; eventually his journeys came to an end and he died in Yarmouth in 1972.
The Cedos lived on, however. That September The Motor Cycle featured Ernest Smith’s new engine design with its detachable cylinder head, which was to be introduced at the Paris Salon for 1923 with a three-speed gearbox. The article starts: ‘The Cedos twostroke was obviously too good to go under when the company went into liquidation.’
In May 1923 The Motor Cycle announced that Cedos would enter the TT with two identical ohv Blackburne-engined 350cc machines and one 349cc sidevalve. All would be provided with three-speed Sturmey Archer gearboxes, Amac carburettors and Druid forks – very different from the ethos of ‘everything in-house’. Rider Norman Black finished fifth in the Lightweight but failed to complete the Junior. That was Cedos’ one and only attempt at the TT.
A new 198cc model was announced in July. It retailed at £30 for the Gents and £34 for the Ladies models; this went on to win another gold medal for Cedos in the ACU six day trial ridden by Edith Spokes, of more whom later. October saw the announcement of the 348cc Bradshaw-engined model going into production with the Gents and Ladies models selling for £57.10s and £60. Titch Allen felt that Cedos should have advertised this bike ‘as the 350 that goes like a 500. It sure packs a big punch. Smooth with it too. You would never believe it’s only a 350 when you let the clutch in. The flywheel weight is generous, that helps, but the engine punches away with a wonderful solid feel to it and accelerates as if the chair were not there.’
Meanwhile the 247cc cooking models had come down in price to £42. The Olympia show of 1923 saw all these machines on display along with the Cedos Blackburne, with a 348cc four-stroke sidevalve engine and internal expanding brakes, as well as a loopframe replica of the machine Edith Spokes rode in the ACU Trial, priced at £60. Of course
there had to be a TT Replica and, to cap it all, a Cedos with a 976cc JAP sidevalve V-twin was also displayed for the 1924 market. This Olympia show was also remarkable because Mr and Mrs Grenfell arrived at the event aboard two 2¼hp Cedos motorcycles. They’d ridden the pair some 680 miles over the snow-covered Jura mountains from Geneva, a journey which speaks volumes about the capabilities of Cedos bikes. They apparently averaged 100mpg and a half pint of oil for the whole journey; total running costs of 10s.
In January 1924 The Motor Cycle made a brief mention of a new oil-cooled Cedos with a Walmsley Bradshaw engine. Then in November another new 250cc two-stroke was announced with twin induction and exhaust ports. But once again all was not well with the company’s finances. In 1925 suppliers started asking for cash with any orders from Cedos, while significant discounts were offered on bikes by the company and its network of dealers, and production was also curtailed. The Cedos Engineering Company was wound up that autumn following a petition by the Dunlop Rubber Co. After its assets were auctioned the outstanding liabilities amounted to around £7500.
The actual cause of the failure is not known, but the company had expanded very quickly. The continuing introduction of new models must have been quite a drain on resources and the latest machines were far from affordable. The 1925 8hp Cedos Super Sport V-twin with a JAP engine cost £105, or as much as £150 if fitted with the optional 100mph ohv JAP engine – almost as much as a Harley-Davidson or Indian and these had to be imported. Cedos had moved away from its roots of well-engineered, lightweight motorcycles, mainly manufactured in-house, and this could well have been its undoing.
Still every cloud has a silver lining and Cedos’ end was not quite yet in sight. A triumvirate of three local businessmen founded a new company called Cedos Motorcycles Ltd. Two of the three weren’t exactly versed in the manufacture of motorcycles; John Adkins was a decorator and builders’ merchant. Albert Neale, who ran a bingo hall in Luton, became the sales manager. Percy Spokes was an existing agent for the marque and a keen Cedos enthusiast who owned his own motorcycle shop – he was married to Edith Spokes of SDT fame and eventually became known as Northampton’s ‘Mr Motorcycle’. So keen was Mr Spokes that he and Edith rode to the south of France aboard their new Cedos sidecar outfit and then rode back in time to compete in a local event. Percy Spokes was a familiar sight around Northampton, riding his Bradshawengined outfit with Watsonian sidecar. He took the outfit to the Northampton cycle parade when it was new in 1924, and made a final appearance at that event in 1963.
The resurrected Cedos company was set up in February 1926, trading from Brunswick Place. The 1926 Cedos range featured five lightweight models priced between £25 and £35, three with final belt drive and two with chain. All had the Cedos-manufactured 247cc two-stroke engine; two models had threespeed gearboxes from Sturmey Archer but none had a front brake – talk about keeping up a tradition. There were also two 350cc four-stroke machines, one with a Blackburne engine (£60.10s) and one with the oil-cooled Bradshaw unit at £55.10s (or £71.15s with a sidecar); both had front brakes. Finally there was the 247cc Queens (Ladies) Model with all chain drive, three-speed gearbox, kick-starter and a finish described as ‘De Luxe’ for £50.
August 1926 saw Cedos earn yet another gold medal, this time in the International Six Day Trial at an average of 38mph. The rider was works foreman, Frank Wilkinson, who was ‘neither fast nor very steady,’ but ‘he preserved a clean score to the end.’ Wilkinson was the only competitor in his class to clear the round. Mrs PC Spokes (presumably Percy’s wife Edith again), also entered but riding a 3.46hp Royal Enfield. She had some difficulties, first stopping ‘temporarily three quarters of the way up’ Blackermill Hill near Buxton; the following day she got lost and then fell off three times due to the ‘greasy conditions’ but only bruised her hand. Competing in such a testing event at a time when women rarely rode motorcycles, she did fantastically well to have taken part. The following year she and four other riders were described as ‘the British ladies who triumphed in the international trials.’ As our cousins from the USA would say: ‘Way to go, Mrs Spokes!’
All seemed to be set fair. Two other lightweights were added to the Cedos collection in 1928 with 147cc and 172cc Villiers engines. Known as the CV1 and CV2, they were priced at £39.5s and £42. Except it things weren’t ‘set fair’ or even anything like it. Despite what Cedos may have been advertising in the press or telling journalists, there are no known examples existing from after 1926. It’s doubtful if any machines were sold at all in 1927 while none at all were manufactured in 1928. The following year saw the Wall Street crash and the start of the Depression, which made the globe’s more recent economic woes pale by comparison. Cedos motorcycle production came to an end that year and, while the New Cedos Engineering in St James Road continued until the 1970s, Cedos Motor Cycles Ltd was struck off the companies register in January 1932.
The stars of the show – the motorcycles themselves – are still around today. Several thousand may have been manufactured but now there are about 18 left. Most are located in the UK although three are thought to be in Holland (where many were sold and specific catalogues were produced for this market), and one in Norway. There is also one in South Africa which is known to have taken part in the 700km Durban to Johannesburg Run, quite something for a 1920s machine. There are rumours of a V-twin in Australia but nothing substantiated, so if any readers know of this machine or have photographs then please take one step forward.
Percy Spokes departed in 1964 but his Cedos sidecar outfit still lives on. It was the tested by Titch Allen and appeared at a Bonhams’ auction in 2014 when it sold for a tad under £10,000. Not a bad increase on the £71.15s purchase price – although Mr Spokes, as a director and development engineer, may well have received a discount!