Cotton: A brief history of a long-lived marque
While most will know the name, there are many people who are unaware of the lengthy and laudable history of one of the great names of British motorcycling history. Gerry Allen sets out to put the record straight on Cotton.
Which British motorcycle firm was in continuous operation from 1919 to 1980, raced in and won TTs, had numerous successes on short circuits, sprints, scrambles and trials events, and once set 12 world records in a day at Brooklands? The answer is Cotton!
Although never a large manufacturer, Cotton always punched above its weight when it came to competition and innovation throughout its history, stretching from rigid vintage machines to monoshock racers capable of competing with contemporary Yamahas and works Kawasakis.
Cotton was founded in 1919 by Frank Willoughby Cotton (FWC or ‘Bill’ Cotton). He was born in
1891 into a farming family and later trained in the legal profession before entering the motor industry. He seems to have been a keen motorcyclist, attending sprints and hill climbs before the First World War. It appears he was dissatisfied with the frames of current bikes (based on the pedal cycle diamond frame) and, in 1913, devised a triangulated frame with four straight tubes which were triangulated in all planes. Additional straight tubes linked the engine/gearbox to headstock and rear wheel spindle.
Because all the forces acted along the tubes (i.e., only compression and tension with little bending force), the tubes could be smaller and thinner, resulting in a very rigid frame with light weight.
He patented the frame in 1914 and persuaded Levis to construct two prototypes. After attempting to test the frame to destruction, Levis offered to buy the revolutionary design, but FWC declined. He wanted to form his own company. The First World War prevented this in the short term but, in 1919, the company was founded at 11a Bristol Road, a small premises in Gloucester. The first Cotton prototype was registered in November 1919. Alfred Camery (who was building and selling small numbers of motorcycles under the Sudbrook name) was located in the same premises and may have had an involvement in manufacturing the very early Cottons; however, this relationship came to an end when Camery emigrated to Australia in 1921.
Cotton launched the first Cotton range in 1920 with the debut production machine appearing in the same year. Production at first was limited, but the success of Cotton owners in speed trials and the like encouraged Cotton to compete in the TT and, in 1922, it entered a team in the Junior TT for the first time. After an eventful race (spilling his spare plugs at the start, four crashes, loss of part of the exhaust, having to replace a valve, a pit fire, and brake failure) a young Stanley Woods finished in fifth place.
However, 1923 proved to be better – and less exciting! – when Woods won the event. The resulting publicity produced a six-fold increase in sales, and Cotton moved to larger premises, the famous Vulcan Works in Quay Street, Gloucester. Further TT success came in 1926 when the works team came first, second and third in the Lightweight TT.
The design of the frame meant that it was capable of housing virtually any engine or gearbox, just requiring a change of engine plates. This enabled Cotton to market a range of motorcycles from lightweights (including ‘Snowden specials’) to sporting 500s while using the same basic frame. Following racing success, an improved, stronger frame was introduced in 1928 using the same triangulated design but with larger diameter tubes and a modified headstock casting that allowed the lower two top tubes to be spaced further apart to clear the taller, large capacity OHV engines that were becoming popular. The original frame continued to be used for the smaller capacity, SV and twostroke machines. A curved bottom tube was later introduced to clear the larger gearboxes coming into use.
Cottons continued to race in the TT, but did not win any more trophies before the Second World War. Success continued in other events (including Brooklands) and sales of Cotton approached 1000 per year. However, the writing was on the wall as the design did not advance, and, critically, Cotton did not make engines, using proprietary engines from manufacturers such as Blackburne, JAP, Python (Rudge) and Villiers. This meant that it had little control over engine development and as companies like Norton, Velocette, Rudge, Excelsior, etc., made advances in engine design, Cotton was left behind; not even its fabled triangulated frame was enough to keep it at the leading edge of racing. The last major success was at Brooklands in 1935 when Eric Fernihough and
Charles Mortimer set 12 world records in a day. Despite not being an engine manufacturer, Cotton made efforts to stay ahead of some of the opposition, being one of two companies to use the short-lived OHC Blackburne racing engine, and having an association with Cross Engineering and its rotary valve engines. The Marchant-JAP and high-cam JAP engines were attempts to modernise, but came too late as the Second World War stopped their development.
The 1930s were difficult for many manufacturers and, although Cotton maintained sales at a reasonable level through competitive pricing, the margins were slim. In 1939 the Ministry of Supply prevented sales of machines to the civilian market, and after several months of inactivity (and without the necessary financial buffer), FWC was forced to liquidate the company in early 1940.
The firm subsequently traded as the Cotton Motorcycle Company
(EE Cotton) and made a few bikes during the war, along with repairs and light engineering for the
War Department. After the war, Cotton limped along, undertaking refurbishments and although it built at least one prototype parallel twin in 1953 using the newly announced JAP 500 sv engine, it is not known if any were sold. FWC decided to retire, and in 1954 a pivotal moment for Cotton occurred when two local businessmen approached him and he sold them the business. A new chapter of Cotton’s long history began. Pat Onions and Monty
Denley had been involved in the local motorcycle trade, and they established their new purchase as E Cotton (Motorcycles) Ltd, still at Vulcan Works, with FWC still involved for a period (probably to assist them in establishing the new business).
The first motorcycle from the new firm utilised a stock of rigid triangulated frames left over from the pre-war period, fitted with a 197cc Villiers 8E engine and telescopic forks. This was aimed at the utility market and brought in some much-needed revenue for the new venture.
As pre-war, the small Cotton company did not have facilities for in-house engine production so were, as has been mentioned, reliant on proprietary engines. Spring frames were now becoming the norm and Onions and Denley developed their first in-house model, the Vulcan, which featured a single loop frame, Villiers 8E engine and telescopic forks. This was launched at the end of 1954, and the following year a competition model appeared with Armstrong leading link forks. The model range broadened and the Vulcan was joined by the twincylinder Cotanzas (250cc and 322cc), powered by Anzani engines. These, however, were low on power and were soon superseded by the Villiers 2T and 3T engines.
The early appearance of an offroad Cotton by Rev Evans was a portent of things to come in the off-road arena, and in 1956 a Trials model was introduced with the pivot fork frame. In 1955 Westbury Motor Cycles had become involved with the company, investing money into the development of a competition scrambler while also taking on an agency role. Tin Pritchard, the owner of Westbury Motorcycles, became a director of Cotton while Fluff Brown (later of Starmaker/Stormer fame) joined the company as competition manager, concentrating on development of the 36A Parkinson barrelled engine for the scramblers and developing close ties with Villiers who he subsequently joined in 1966.
Like many firms, Cotton succumbed to the fashion for rear enclosure (‘bathtubs’) and launched the Herald as well as the Messenger with the Villiers 3T engine. But the company started to achieve success in trials, and local men Bill Jackson and Jim Timms became works riders. They were supplied with 36A Villiers bikes that were maintained by the company but they did not receive a retainer, expenses or even a contract. Private entries and works riders at this time competed as much for the love of the sport as the financial rewards!
On the international stage in the 1959 International Six Day Trial (ISDT) at Gottwold in Czechoslovakia, two of the 13 private riders from Britain, Chris Clarke of Reading and Andre Valpet of Northampton, were mounted on the Gloucester machines.
In 1959 a 20-year-old Bryan ‘Badger’ Goss from Dorset, accompanied by grass track legend Lew Coffin, visited the factory. Bryan so impressed the Cotton management that they supplied him with a machine at cost price! Subsequently at the Somerset Grand National in 1960 he won all five scramble races that he rode in. He helped to perfect the factory experimental model and was probably Cotton’s first official works rider. The advent of scrambling on BBC TV’s sports programme, Grandstand, led to Cotton becoming a household name, with riders such as Malcolm Davis, Freddie Mays, Joe Johnson, etc., appearing on the nation’s screens, often leading the charge.
Cotton had considerable success in the early 1960s in off-road competition. Local rider Jim Timms recalled a hectic schedule involving the winter series of Grandstand scrambles and regular racing in Belgium and Holland (frequently accompanied by Fluff Brown) resulting in some 100 successes a season. Devon rider Colin Dommett acquired a factory Cotton in 1960 and instantly won five out of the six trials in which he competed. He latterly rode for the works team in solo trials in Wales, South West and Southern England before gaining international success on a variety of machines. John Draper joined the Cotton scrambles team at the end of 1960 after leaving BSA. In 1964 Cotton achieved a major coup by, in conjunction with Villiers, signing off-road stars Arthur Lampkin and his younger brother Alan (‘Sid’) to ride trials and scrambles bikes for the season.
Importantly, 1960 saw Cotton exhibit at the autumn Earl’s Court Motorcycle Show for the first time in over a quarter of a century. One of the Double Gloucester machines from the Austrian ISDT, complete with original mud, featured on its stand. The show saw the launch of the Cotton Continental and the accompanying sales catalogue featured a scrambler (Cougar), trials bike, Messenger Twin, the Double Gloucester, Herald Twin, Vulcan and Vulcan Sports models.
Cotton continued to develop the models and, in 1960, it introduced the Eric Lee-designed twin-loop frame, replacing the earlier single loop frame. The new frame used triangulation of the rear swingarm pivot and a well-braced steering head and was constructed of small diameter tubing, resulting in a stiff yet lightweight frame which formed the basis of the future model range. Cotton had close links with Villiers, and was involved in the development of its new engine, the Starmaker. Peter Inchley worked with Fluff Brown and soon the Cobra was available with the Starmaker engine and Eric Lee frame.
Derek Minter contacted Cotton to obtain a trials bike for winter use, and Cotton came to an arrangement with him to assist in the development of a road racing machine using the Starmaker, known as the Telstar racer. This enjoyed considerable success and was ridden by the likes of Derek Minter, Bill Ivy, Paul Smart and numerous privateers. A road-going version, the Conquest, achieved considerable success in Production racing, winning its class in the
1965 and 1966 ‘500 milers’ held at Castle Combe and Brands Hatch. In 1965 it placed third overall in the race, beating Thruxton Bonnevilles, Norton Atlases, etc. If you could afford one, they made a superb roadster, and Pat Onions recounted how, when he got cheesed off with the pressures, he used to take a Conquest out and lurk on the South Wales road waiting for unsuspecting Triumph and BSA twins.
He would pass them in second gear, change up and disappear!
In the second half of the 60s, increased competition from overseas manufacturers including Husqvarna, CZ and Maico in scrambling, Bultaco, Montesa and Ossa in trials, and Yamaha in road racing, meant that Cotton, being reliant on Villiers engines, became less competitive. A severe blow came in 1967 when Norton Villiers announced it would no longer supply other manufacturers with engines, reserving them for its
AJS Y4 (later Stormer) range. Like many small British manufacturers,
Cotton searched for alternatives and settled on Minarelli engines for its range. The first model was the Cotton 170 in 1968, followed by the Cavalier, Enduro and Cavalier Expert. Capacity increased from 170cc to 220cc as Cotton attempted to keep up with the European opposition, but sales continued to fall. Diversification into producing the Sturdy (a three-wheeled truck for factory and parks usage) helped keep the company afloat. It struggled through the early 1970s making kit bikes and undertaking general engineering.
In 1976 Terry Wilson, a local businessman who wanted to be a motorcycle manufacturer, bought the company. Wilson developed links with Rotax and, after relocating to various premises around Gloucester, produced a trials bike and a road racer (the LCRS), both using a single-cylinder 250cc Rotax engine. Development also started on a prototype military bike using the Rotax engine in response to a call from the MoD for a machine to replace the ageing BSA B40 which, had it come to fruition, could have had a huge impact on Cotton sales. But, despite Cotton producing a bike that impressed in all the tests with its performance and reliability, the MoD selected Can-Am Bombardier to make the bikes.
Wilson also bought Mike Eatough’s EMX concern in 1978 and merged it with Cotton, with the enterprise based in Bolton. Initially the company produced scramblers and the LRCS racer, both using the discvalve 250cc Rotax single. Wilson was very ambitious – perhaps too ambitious – and soon had plans for competing on the world stage. In motocross, Cotton developed a Rotax-powered machine for the 500cc class and formed a works team (comprised of Pete Mathia,
Rob Wilkinson and Lawrence Spence) to compete in the 1979 Motocross GP series. Despite some problems in the early part of the season (and missing some rounds due to cash constraints), the team showed promise with some good results in the later rounds against factory teams from Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki, Kawasaki, Maico, KTM and Husqvarna. Things augured well for 1980.
In road racing, Wilson persuaded Rotax to produce a twin-cylinder 250cc engine, based on the successful 125cc disc valve, using a new crankcase. The prototype V-twin debuted in 1979 and, in its first race at Oulton Park, Derek Huxley finished a close second to reigning world champion Kork Ballington on the works Kawasaki after being slowed by a backmarker. In 1980 Steve Tonkin came 3rd in the TT on the production tandem-twin Cotton racer and won the Vladivar Vodka championship.
Cotton was poised for a successful future when it all came crashing down. The company was overstretched and it declared bankruptcy in 1980. The firm was sold to
Armstrong which continued racing and developing the models under the CCM-Armstrong banner. Steve Tonkin won the 1981 250 TT on an Armstrong-badged Cotton with a race-record time. And that was the end of Cotton.
Well, almost…
Despite selling the company to Armstrong, Terry Wilson had retained the Cotton International name and, in 1983, reappeared with a new venture. Jan Fellstrom of Target Design, who had been part of the Suzuki Katana design project, had devised a concept for a modular design for motorcycles. It was based on a single monocoque which could accommodate a range of Rotax engines from 125-500cc and, with a simple change of body panels, the basic structure could be adapted to standard, sports, tourer and enduro versions. In short, it was a 16-model range, all based on the same core components. The 125cc weighed 90kg and had disc brakes and monoshock suspension, making it a competitive package.
The Mersey Enterprise Board provided funding for the 125cc prototype which was called the Centaur and the motorcycle press enthusiastically endorsed the project. Unfortunately, the prototype was rushed and not fully developed and so the launch in front of the cameras (including the BBC) was a bit of a disaster, with the bike spluttering around a damp Liverpool before breaking down. No further funding was forthcoming and the project died.
Cotton remained in business from 1919 to 1980 (or 1983 if you include the Centaur saga) and although the history can be split into three eras, they all shared some common features – ambitious, underfunded, overachievement in competition, with results belying their scant resources. Likewise, although the bikes from the various periods differ hugely, they share the same underlying feature; an innovative frame design leading to a lightweight yet rigid frame that formed the basis of a superb handling machine.
Today Cottons can still be seen at shows and competing in classic and vintage events. The marque is served by an enthusiastic and active club (Cotton Owners & Enthusiasts Club, www.cotttonownersclub.wordpress. com) and holds an annual rally at the Folk of Gloucester, 300 yards from the site of the factory on
Quay Street.
With many thanks to the Cotton Owners & Enthusiasts Club for help in compiling this article.