It is not very often that you seen a motorcycle of this grandeur, let alone one built by the company that is synonymous with swords and razor blades.
This rather unconventional old motorcycle was manufactured in 1914 and was highly advanced for the time, when most bikes were simple and basic and would rattle down the road with the rider doing his or her best to keep their machine on the straight and narrow. This Wilkinson was on the Bonhams stand at the 2024 VMCC Banbury Run; here is a little about this marvellous motorcycle.
The first Wilkinson motorcycle was produced in 1908 in London. It was a military scouting model complete with a quick-firing machine gun on the handlebars. The British Army were quick to fire back however, and the motorcycle was turned down for war work. Wilkinson instead looked at a civilian bike, and a came up with the Touring Auto-Cycle (TAC), which had a 678cc inline four-cylinder air-cooled engine with shaft drive. A small number of early versions of the TAC featured a steering wheel instead of bars (this novel idea didn’t last long for obvious reasons!), and an upholstered bucket seat, much like an old style captains chair. The TAC had leaf spring suspension front and rear, and with a long wheel base and relaxed riding style, it must have looked quite the picture on Britain’s roads in 1908.
The company philosophy: “to make the adoption of car lines the starting point and not an afterthought” makes perfect sense when you look at the motorcycle and observe many characteristics associated with motor cars.
The Wilkinson was later updated with an 848cc four-cylinder which was now water cooled, and it became the Touring Motor Cycle (TMC). It really was a gentleman’s carriage and the TMC was geared towards comfort and reliability, and suitable for long-distance touring. Well you couldn’t imagine racing around the Isle of Man TT on a bike like this! Silence, Reliability, Comfort was the motto from Wilkinson. It retained similar characteristics to the TAC and the four-cylinder engine provided a smooth torquey ride. The rider, sat relaxed in the laid-back bucket seat, would move up and down the three speed gear box using a lever mounted on the frame in front of him, with the final drive drive by shaft and flexible coupling.
The fuel tank is mounted at the rear of the motorcycle, supported by the mudguard – hence the chunky dimensions. The rear wheel was mounted on quarter-elliptic springs and offered an unheard-of 70mm of sprung movement.
The oil tank is mounted in front of the rider. It is a total loss system, but is essentially automatic. The rider had to first use a hand pump to pressurise the tank, and the oil then drips in tune with the engine, providing essential lubrication before spitting the surplus into the abyss, whether that be on the road, or on the rider! The drip rate is monitored through a small sight glass – not so easy when having to manhandle a complex machine down the tracks of the turn of the century.
The 848cc inline four was a rarity in a British motorcycle at the time. It was made even rarer by virtue of water cooling via a radiator, which was given an extra boost from a fan. The engine was fired up not by a kick start, but through a handle which is pulled upwards to engage the flywheel, spin the engine, and fire the Wilkinson into life. The Bosch magneto was mounted on top of the gearbox and thus under the seat.
The front leaf spring suspension seen on the TAC was replaced with girder-type forks for the TMC. The Wilkinson stops only on the rear wheel using a dual system, which activates both an internal expanding brake, and a band brake on the outside of the same drum. The brakes were operated by the squeeze of pedals embedded within the footboards – each pedal operated the internal and external braking bands independently.
Wilkinson sales literature indicated a top speed of in excess of 60mph in solo form – an impressive figure in Edwardian times. It is however a believable quote given the high-tech, thumpy side valve engine firing on four cylinders.
There are mixed estimations about the number of Wilkinson motorcycles produced, but let’s say somewhere around 200, so not many. They were available to the lucky customer in black, grey or olive green.
The production of these splendid old bikes ground to a halt with the outbreak of the Great War when the company was forced to produce thousands of bayonets for the war effort. Today, Wilkinson motorcycles are rare and highly sought after by collectors due to their historical significance and unique, top-quality engineering.
The Wilkinson TMC featured was first registered in Essex on 17th March 1914 by a Mr Roland Beckett of Essex, who was a dispatch rider with the Royal Signals during WWI. It has a superb history and is up in the next Bonhams Autumn Stafford Sale. With only a handful of Wilkinsons having survived, this is a unique opportunity for someone to own a very rare, eccentric and impressive vintage motorcycle.
For more information on this machine, visit the Bonhams website.
an article by The Girder Club
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