Valentine Page (1891–1978) 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 ...

designer. He worked for leading UK marques including

JAP ''Jap'' is an English abbreviation of the word " Japanese". In the United States, some Japanese Americans have come to find the term offensive because of the internment they suffered during World War II. Before the attack on Pearl Harbor, ''Jap ...

Ariel Ariel may refer to: Film and television *Ariel Award, a Mexican Academy of Film award * ''Ariel'' (film), a 1988 Finnish film by Aki Kaurismäki *, a Russian film directed by Yevgeni Kotov * ''ARIEL Visual'' and ''ARIEL Deluxe'', a 1989 and 1991 ...

, Triumph, and BSA. Page was an innovator whose radical designs include the Triumph 6/1;

BSA Gold Star The BSA Gold Star is a motorcycle made by Birmingham Small Arms Company, BSA from 1938 to 1963. They were 350 cc and 500 cc Single-cylinder engine, single-cylinder Four-stroke engine, four-stroke production motorcycles known for bein ...

, M20, and A7; Ariel Leader; and the JAP engine of the

Brough Superior SS100 The Brough Superior SS 100 is a motorcycle which was designed and built by George Brough in Nottingham, England in 1924. Although every bike was designed to meet specific customer requirements—even the handlebars were individually shaped—s ...

JAP

Val Page served his apprenticeship as a motorcycle engineer and designer with JAP. Page designed the engines used in the Brough Superior SS80 and SS100 luxury motorcycles, and developed the racing motorcycles which made riders such as Bert le Vack famous.

Ariel

Page spent most of his career with Ariel Motorcycles, which he joined in 1925. Eventually he became chief designer and developed a new range of engines for the 1926 season. For the 1927 season he designed a new frame, but it had a weakness that led to breakages and warranty claims. He rectified this with a revised frame for the 1928 season. Ariel 350 cc Red Hunter 1938

Page's designs formed the basis for what became the Red Hunter, which continued until Ariel ceased production of four-strokes in 1959.

Triumph

Page left Ariel in 1932 to become chief designer at the rival Triumph where, with Edward Turner, he developed Triumph's first parallel twin, the model 6/1, and a range of singles, including a 150cc two-stroke and 250, 350 and 500cc four-strokes.

BSA

In 1936 Page moved to BSA, where he designed all new models except the V-twins. His designs included the Empire Star, which was developed into the high performance production BSA Gold Star, named in celebration of

Wal Handley Walter Leslie Handley (5 April 1902 – 15 November 1941) born in Aston, Birmingham,
Kolumbus.fi Walter Leslie Ha ...

's 100 mph lap time at the Brooklands circuit. The innovative Gold Star had a single cylinder 500 cc engine with twin pushrods operating double-coil springs and

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 ...

s. The pushrod tunnel was an integral casting in the cylinder block. Page also designed the M20 side-valve motorcycle, of which 125,000 served in the Second World War.

Return to Ariel

After the War he returned to Ariel. There he designed the

monocoque Monocoque ( ), also called structural skin, is a structural system in which loads are supported by an object's external skin, in a manner similar to an egg shell. The word ''monocoque'' is a French term for "single shell". First used for boats, ...

Ariel Leader two-stroke twin, which was launched in 1958.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Page, Val 1891 births 1978 deaths British motorcycle pioneers British motorcycle designers