c1913 The Monarch 'Jap' 500cc Motorcycle

Description

Monarch is an early Australian motorcycle marque that was actually produced by two totally separate entities, and its products are unrelated. The first Monarch came out of Footscray (Melbourne), where brothers Albert and Robert Sulman produced a 5hp motorcycle. As was typical of the period, this first Monarch was a step away from a motorised bicycle and still fairly rudimentary, and the majority of these early machines were thought to be powered by a Healing Precision Big Four. There is however believed to have been one built with a Jap 4.5hp single-cylinder engine. It had a belt drive and a brake on the rear wheel only. These first Monarchs are not connected in any way with the similarly named motorcycles that were built by the Firth Brothers in nearby Richmond, from 1921.