AJW Motorcycles Ltd was a British

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

manufacturer, established in

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

in 1928. The last AJW motorcycle produced was the 125 cc Fox Cub in 1953, after which AJW began importing

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

two-stroke A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a power cycle with two strokes of the piston, one up and one down, in one revolution of the crankshaft in contrast to a four-stroke engine which re ...

''Wolfhound'' motorcycles with AJW badges. They also produced bikes in the 1970s such as the "Champion", the "Whippet", the "Pointer" and the "Collie". These were all rebadged Italian models. They ceased trading in 1981.

History

Founded by Arthur John Wheaton, (known as Jack) in 1926, using his initials AJW, the company began production in the workshop of the family printing works in Friernhay Street

. The best-known AJW motorcycles were the ''Grey Fox'' and the ''Red Panther'' but the company also produced a range of bikes with names including the ''Silver Fox'', ''Silver Vixen'', the ''Vixen'', ''Flying Vixen'', ''Flying Fox'' (with a Rudge Ulster engine) and the ''Speed Fox''. With a torpedo-shaped fuel tank and full duplex tubular loop frame, the engine had twin-port heads and double exhaust pipes down each side. Enthusiast owners included

Brooklands Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England, United Kingdom. It opened in 1907 and was the world's first purpose-built 'banked' motor racing circuit as well as one of Britain's first airfields, ...

racing champions such as Claude Temple and Joe Wright. Production was limited so they became fairly exclusive, with just 250 motorcycles produced in their best year.

Sources

External links

AJW Summit Twin 597 cc

AJW Fox Cub, Wilkin & Sons Museum, Tiptree
{{British motorcycle manufacturers Defunct motorcycle manufacturers of the United Kingdom Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1928 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1981 1928 establishments in England 1981 disestablishments in England British companies disestablished in 1981 British companies established in 1928