ALLDAYS/ALLON
Although we love the idea of a motorcycle called the Alldays & Onions, contrary to popular belief the name was never quite so. The business of Allday & Onions dated back to 1889, although both William Alldays and John Onions had started their respective companies at least a century and a half before that. Engineers and blacksmiths, the firm made all manner of ironmongery, and when the bicycle boom started, it became a logical progression to manufacture those as well.
Motorcycles were a natural step forward from bicycles, but although an Alldays & Onions badge appeared on its cars, it was under the name Allday-Matchless that motorcycle production began in 1903. The machines were greeted well by the motorcycling press,
The Motor Cycle saying of the first 3hp model that “all the attention in the countless details that go to make up a perfect design has been bestowed upon the one model – a fact which we think the purchaser will appreciate.”
In 1915, the name of the motorcycle operation was changed (could it be after pressure from a certain Plumstead company?) to Allon when the factory moved to Fallows Road, Smallheath, in Birmingham.
Models included a 593cc JAP V-twin but the company went into receivership in 1925. Resurrected under the name New Alldays & Onions, the 348cc sidevalve Jap Sports was produced under the Alldays name but only for one year.
The last models were offered in 1927, after which motorcycle production stopped. Alldays & Onions went on to become a market leader in the manufacture of centrifugal fans and, in 2005, became part of Witt UK in Halifax.