c1914 Hobart 225cc Two Stroke Motorcycle

Description

Hobart motorcycles were produced from 1901 to 1923 by Hobart Bird and Co. The company, formed by William Hobart Bird in the early 1890s, was also a supplier to other motorcycle firms. Its earliest known appearance was in 1892 when an advertisement appeared for a ‘Hobart’ bicycle being produced in Wolverhampton, and by 1897 the company was operating out of St Patrick's Road, Cheylesmore, Coventry. In 1901 the company started producing a primitive motorcycle with an inclined engine, and two years later added a model with a vertical engine in a loop frame, fitted with braced forks, whilst also continuing to manufacture bicycles. After a short hiatus as just a supplier, Hobart returned to complete motorcycle production in 1910. This model had a 2.5hp engine inclined in the frame over the down-tube, with a gear-driven Bosch magneto, an adjustable pulley for the belt drive, and Druid forks. A year later a 3.5hp twin and a Ladies' model were produced. This featured an open frame with the engine mounted lower with the cylinder horizontal, and all the mechanicals fully enclosed. By 1913 Hobart was using JAP engines as well as its own, and in 1914 came a 225cc two-stroke model before a 269cc Villiers, along with a 6hp V-twin with a JAP engine and three speeds, appeared in 1915. Post war the two-stroke, including a spring-frame model, was listed with the range expanded in subsequent years to include an "ultralight motorcycle". The early model had an open, Ladies frame and with a solid rear end and spring front forks. In 1922 there were new models with 348cc Blackburne and 346cc JAP engines, both listed in solo and sidecar forms. In 1923 the 269cc Villiers model was replaced by a 170cc Hobart two-stroke engine driving a two-speed gearbox, and the 292cc JAP model by a 249cc Blackburne. All these four-strokes had a good range of transmission options, with two or three speeds and final drive by belt or chain. That same year the company was taken over by Rex-Acme and became Hobart-Acme Motors. Just a year later the range was cut to the 170cc two-stroke, 346cc JAP, and the 292cc JAP, before the Hobart motorcycle brand disappeared altogether.