The Ascot-Pullin 500 was a
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 ...
made by
Ascot-Pullin Motorcycles in
Letchworth
Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town in the North Hertfordshire district of Hertfordshire, England. It is noted for being the first garden city. The population at the time of the 2021 census was 33,990.
Letchworth ...
,
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...
in 1928.
As an updated version of the Pullin motor bicycle of 1919,
the Ascot-Pullin 500
overhead valve
An overhead valve engine, abbreviated (OHV) and sometimes called a pushrod engine, is a piston engine whose valves are located in the cylinder head above the combustion chamber. This contrasts with flathead (or "sidevalve") engines, where the v ...
single
Single may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Single (music), a song release
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* "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008
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* "Single", by ...
was the first time
hydraulic brakes
A hydraulic brake is an arrangement of brake, braking mechanism which uses brake fluid, typically containing glycol ethers or diethylene glycol, to transfer pressure from the controlling mechanism to the braking mechanism.
History
During 1904, Fr ...
were used on a motorcycle.
History
In 1919, British inventor
Cyril Pullin and Stanley L. Groom produced the Pullin motor bicycle,
a wheeled machine that included a novel
two-stroke engine
A two-stroke (or two-stroke cycle) engine is a type of internal combustion engine that completes a Thermodynamic power cycle, power cycle with two strokes of the piston, one up and one down, in one revolution of the crankshaft in contrast to a f ...
and extensive manufacture use of steel pressings that anticipated developments by British motorcycle manufacturer
Ariel Motorcycles
Ariel Motorcycles was a British maker of bicycles and then motorcycles in Bournbrook, Birmingham. It was an innovator in British motorcycling, part of the Ariel marque. The company was sold to Birmingham Small Arms Company, BSA in 1951 but the ...
in the late 1950s and Japanese motorcycle manufacturers in 1960s.
The bicycle was patented in 1920.
Since 1920, Pullin had been working with Stanley Groom to develop and patent a two-stroke motorcycle with a unique design of
pressed sheet metal frame and
forks
In cutlery or kitchenware, a fork (from 'pitchfork') is a Eating utensil, utensil, now usually made of metal, whose long handle terminates in a head that branches into several narrow and often slightly curved tine (structural), tines with whic ...
. After working on a range of other inventions including the
Ascot
Ascot, Ascott or Askot may refer to:
Places Australia
* Ascot, Queensland, suburb of Brisbane
* Ascot, Queensland (Toowoomba Region), a locality
* Ascot Park, South Australia, suburb of Adelaide
* Ascot (Ballarat), town near Ballarat in Victoria ...
, Pullin teamed up with Groom again to further develop their ideas and patent the Ascot Pullin motorcycle, with a
four-stroke
A four-stroke (also four-cycle) engine is an internal combustion (IC) engine in which the piston completes four separate strokes while turning the crankshaft. A stroke refers to the full travel of the piston along the cylinder, in either directio ...
rather than two-cycle engine. At a time when manufacturers were taking a very traditional approach to motorcycle design with conventional frames and engine layout, Pullin and Grom were keen to create an enclosed feel by mounting the engine horizontally within a pressed-steel frame. As well as the hydraulic brakes, Pullin also designed a telescopic centre stand and an adjustable windshield, complete with a windscreen wiper and rear-view mirror, as well as a fully enclosed chain and interchangeable wheels.
With estimated , the Ascot-Pullin was capable of , but approximately 400 to 500 were produced, so few survive to this day.
Pullin's influence can be seen in the emergence of the
Ariel Leader and the
Vincent Black Prince thirty years later, which both developed the enclosed concept in an attempt to attract a wider range of customers. As with the Ascot-Pullin, however, the fully enclosed look has never really led to high volume sales but instead attracts a niche market.
At present, the
U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recognizes that the first hydraulic brakes on motorcycles occurred in 1952.
See also
*
List of motorcycles of the 1920s
A list is a set of discrete items of information collected and set forth in some format for utility, entertainment, or other purposes. A list may be memorialized in any number of ways, including existing only in the mind of the list-maker, but ...
References
External links
{{Commons category
Ascot-Pullinat ''Grace's Guide'' to British Industrial History
Motorcycles of the United Kingdom
Motorcycles introduced in the 1920s