The other Manx

Surely one of the most beautiful sports machines ever conceived, the Excelsior Manxman performed as well as it looked. Today, surviving examples are among the most prized of all motorcycles.

Beginning as a bicycle manufacturer in Coventry in 1874, Excelsior was the first British company to commercially produce motorcycles. The Manxman came into being as Excelsior, like a few of its rivals, struggled out of the Depression, where it had survived by selling cheap two-strokes – including the cheapest motorcycle on the market with a (British) retail price of just under £20. It was quite a comedown for a firm that had an illustrious racing history. Since 1920, Excelsior had been owned by R.Walker and Sons, a Birmingham-based producer of marine instruments, but which also supplied some motorcycle components to several of the Midlands manufacturers. Under Walker’s ownership, Excelsior production shifted from Coventry to Tyseley, Birmingham, where it remained until the final Excelsiors were produced in 1964. In the 1920s, Excelsior was a regular entrant at the Isle of Man TT, using 250cc and 350cc engines sourced from JAP and Blackburn. In 1929, Syd Crabtree won the Lightweight 250cc TT on a JAPengined Excelsior B14, and the factory wasted no time in turning out a TT Replica which sold for £78 – double that of the standard 250 Excelsior.

As the Depression slightly loosened its grip, Excelsior took the brave move in 1933 to produce a machine that has become legendary in TT history – the Mechanical Marvel. The ‘MM’ used an incredibly complex 250cc Blackburn engine with four radial valves operated by pairs of pushrods, using two carburettors and so costly to produce that only six were made. Nevertheless, Sid Gleave rode one to victory in the 1933 250cc Lightweight TT, averaging an impressive 71.59 mph. However this time there was no question of the factory producing a TT Replica for sale to the general public, although there were plenty of willing Excelsior customers. Instead, they decided (wisely) on a far less complicated design (initially still made by Blackburn) which was a 2valve 250 with shaft-driven overhead camshaft and a truly massive and robust bottom end, housed in sand-cast crankcases. Cast-in oil ways on the timing side crankcase assisted in stiffening the case. The flywheels were in forged steel with integral mainshafts and a connecting rod made from R.R.56 light alloy; an impressive specification but expensive to produce. Inside the timing chest, the central pinion in the gear drive to the magneto drove a large capacity oil