1919

ORIGIN: Kingston upon Thames, Surrey

DATES: 1913 – 1925 (this bike 1919)

The decline in aircraft orders after the First World War ended left many aircraft companies with a shortfall in work for their highly skilled labour force. Among them was the Sopwith Aviation Company, who built the famous Camel biplane. Owner Tom Sopwith had known about the ABC Company as early as 1911 when he installed an ABC aero engine in one of his planes. During the war, the development of motorbikes took second place to aircraft construction but, by 1918, it was announced that ABC motorbikes were to be made under the Sopwith Aviation and Engineering company banner in Kingston upon Thames.