| Saltley | 1919-24 |
| Sarco-Reliance | 1967-73. Offroad bikes. |
| Saturn | 1925-26 |
| Saxessons | 1923 |
| Scale | 1913-19. Not producing during WW1. |
| Scarlet | 1915 |
| Scorpion | 1951-56 (and 1963-65?) - offroad machines. |
| Scott | Founded by Alfred Angus Scott, who patented an early form of caliper brakes in 1897, a fully triangulated frame, rotary induction valves, unit construction and more. Scott was a true pioneer. He started making boat engines in 1900. He patented his first engine in 1904 and started production in 1908 with a vertical two-stroke 450cc twin, with patented triangulated frame, chain drive, neutral-finder, and two-speed gearbox. His two-stroke engine designs are still the basis of modern two-stroke engines. Very innovative company - created the first kickstart, monoshock rear ends, efficient radiators and rotary inlet valves. They offered drip-feed lubricators and centrestands in 1914, as well as designing unit-construction engines, friction-band clutch and twin pannier gas tanks. Scott quickly garnered a name for their liquid-cooled, two-stroke, parallel twin design that won numerous trials, hill climbs and TT races in 1911-14. But the two-stroke design was losing speed to four-strokes offered by other companies by then. By 1925, Scotts weren't winning races. Two-speed at first, their first three-speed appeared in 1923, and only after that did they return to some small prominence. Scott himself left the company in 1915 to set up an experimental workshop. After WW1, Scott turned his attention to a three-wheeler called the Sociable or Autocar, but despite its superior design, was not popular and led to financial disaster. Scott died of pneumonia in 1922 at age 48, and with him went the company's driving force. In trouble by 1927, they went into receivership in 1931. Albert Reynolds stepped in to save the company, but they never fully recovered and planned 650cc twin was never manufactured. Scott offered a three-cylinder two stroke (747cc, later 986cc) in 1934 and a 596cc Clubman Special in 1938. After the war, production continued with the 596cc Flying Squirrel, but ended in 1950. Then the company was taken over by Matt Holder's Aerco Jig and Tool Company. A 493cc Scott Swift based on the old design was made from 1956 to 1961. Later a later Silk model was produced, but it was a short-lived project. |
| Scott-Cyc-Auto | 1934-50. Same as Cyc-Auto. Scott took over in 1938. |
| Scout | 1912-13. |
| Seal | Made motorcycle-sidecar units from 1912 until 1933 using JAP engines and a three-speed gearbox. The sidecar contained the driving mechanism with a steering wheel, and both the rider and passenger sat in it. The actual motorcycle outrigger component had no seat. |
| Seeley | 1966-72. Colin Seeley got rights to make Matchless G50 and AJS 7R racers after AMC closed. |
| Service | 1900-12 (1911-15?) |
| SGS | 1926-33 |
| Sharratt | 1920-30. Originally a bicycle company. |
| Shaw | 1904-22 (1901-08?) |
| Sheffield-Henderson | 1919-23. Sidecar manufacturer, also made some motorcycles. |
| Silk | Small company started by racer/builder George Silk and Maurice Patey, in 1970, production started 1975. Started with a water-cooled 656cc twin. Went to 682cc in 1976 with their 700s production model. Closed in 1979. |
| Silva | 1919-20. Scooter. |
| Silver | 1907. Started by Thomas Silver after he left Quadrant. |
| Silver Prince | 1919-24. Built by Tyrus Cycle Co. |
| Simms | 1902. Made engines and magnetos, and some complete bikes. |
| Simplex | 1919-22 |
| Singer | Early British bicycle firm, founded by George Singer, that started in 1900 offering a 222cc four-stroke single (the engine design was bought from P&B, formed by former Beeston employee Edwin Perks and Harold Birch). The unique feature was the engine, gas tank and carburetor housed in a wheel! The design was used in the rear wheel and then the front wheel of a trike. Dropped out of motorcycles shortly after (around 1906), but returned in 1909 and built a series of racers and roadsters. In 1911 they offered a unit-construction 535 and 299cc models. In 1913 they offered an open-frame 'ladies' model.' They entered several bikes in races, including the Senior TT in 1914. The company also made more conventional bikes, but gave up after WW1 and turned to cars. They were taken over by rival Coventry Premier in the 1920s. Eventually the name was acquired by the Chrysler Corporation. |
| Sirrah | 1922-25 (1921-26?) Made by Alfred Wiseman. |
| Skootamota | 1919-22. Scooter made by ABC |
| SL | 1924-25 |
| Slade-JAP | 1920-23. Manchester. |
| Slaney | 1921-22 |
| SMS | 1913-14 |
| SOS | Super Onslow Special, later named 'So Obviously Superior' because they offered high quality products. Founded 1927, closed in 1939 at the onset of war. Models made with JAP and Villiers engines. Made water-cooled engines in 1932. Taken over by Tom Meeton in 1933 who added optional foot-change gearboxes in 1934. All-weather models offered deep-valenced mudguards, leg shields and under-shields. Also sold tuned versions under the name Meetons Motor. |
| Southey | 1905-25 (1921-22?) |
| SPA-JAP | 1921-23 |
| Spark | 1903-04. Name also used by Sparkbrook, 1921-23. |
| Sparkbrook | 1912-25 (1912-24?). Two strokes. |
| Spartan | 1920-22 and 1976-78. Two companies, latter made racing bikes. |
| Speed King-JAP | 1913-14 (1914-15?). Mail order motorcycles, sold by Graves. |
| Sprite | Small Birmingham company that started making 246cc scramblers and trials bikes in 1964. Founded by trials rider Frank Hipkin. Sold in the USA under American Eagle name. Company went broke in 1974, but continued later to make forks and wheel hubs until at least 1978. |
| Spur | 1916. Same as Grose-Spur. |
| Stafford | 1898 |
| Stafford Pup | 1920. Scooter. |
| Stag | 1912-14 |
| Stanger | 1921-23 Unusual V-twin design. |
| Stan | 1919. |
| Stanley | 1902 |
| Star | 1898-1914 (1903-15?) Car and tricycle manufacturer, and 1919-21 (also called Star-Griffon) |
| Starley | 1902-04. Built by Swift. |
| Stellar | 1912-14 |
| Stevens | Formed by the Stevens brothers after they sold AJS to Matchless. Made motorcycles and enginesfrom 1934 to 38. |
| Stuart | 1911-12. Same as Stellar. |
| Sudbrook | 1919-20 |
| Sun | Started as Sun Cycles and Fittings Company in 1885, making bikes. Began making motorcycles with Precision engine-powered vehicles in 1911.Made a rotary disc-valve two-stroke racer in 1922 using a Vitesse designed engine. Later used Blackburne, Villiers and JAP engines. Motorcycle production ended in 1932, but returned in 1948 with a 98cc autocycle, later made into a full motorcycle. Made small two-strokes powered by Villiers in the 1950s. Its 1957 250cc Overlander twin offered 'generous' weather protection. A scooter called the Geni was announced for 1958. They ceased production a few years later, when chairman Fred Parkes retired in 1961. Raleigh picked up the company, and continued the bicycle manufacturing side. |
| Sunbeam | 1912-57. Founded the Marston family, they had been making metal goods since 1790 and bicycles since the late 1880s. They made cars starting in 1902 when the Sunbeam company split from John Marston Ltd. Marston, 76, started making motorcycles in 1912. His first model was a 347cc side-valve single designed by John Greenwood, designer of the Imperial Rover. It had high construction quality and finish, an unusual engine-balancing system and an oil-bath all-chain drive. Sunbeams were known as the 'Gentleman's Motor Bicycle.' Sunbeam's attractive gold-on-black paintwork was much copied in its day. Marston and his son died during WW1 and the company passed to Noble Industries (later becoming ICI). They developed the motorcycles even further, winning TT races with their 500cc machines. A smaller range for the 1920s was aimed at cost-effectiveness, and quality suffered. The Sunbeam 90 of 1920 had an alloy piston, overhead valves at 45 degrees and a central sparkplug. Electrical lighting by Lucas was an option at extra cost in 1928. In 1930 the company was noted as 'A subsidiary of Imperial Chemical Industries.' The last sporting Sunbeam was dropped in 1934. In 1936, Matchless purchased Sunbeam when AJS, Matchless and Sunbeam became Associated Motor Cycles (AMC) Ltd., continuing production with four new models (245, 348, 497 and 598cc), and next year the larger models got pivoted-fork rear suspension. But the outbreak of war stalled production of new machines. After the war the company was bought by BSA. In 1947 they produced the S7, an advanced overhead-cam, unit construction machine designed by Erling Poppe, using shaft drive, and an ohc longitudinal twin engine. However, it hadn't the speed, handling nor quality of earlier Sunbeams. A De Luxe version was introduced in 1949, making 10,000 by 1952. But BSA made no effort to improve the line outside of an S10 variant, and the name and production were dropped after 1956. BSA later labelled its 175 and 250cc scooters as Sunbeams launched in 1958 and continued until 1964. |
| Superb | Founded by engineer William Frederick Hooper in 1920, his first design was an advanced Superb Four, an inline-four ohc, shaft-driven machine, with a pump-driven oil lubrication system, and using aluminum cylinders, upper crankcase and gearbox. Only a handful were produced and the under-funded company collapsed in 1922. |
| Supreme-OK | See OK-Supreme. |
| Supremoco | 1921-23 |
| Swallow | 1946-51. Sidecar manufacturer, built small Gadabout scooter. |
| Swan | 1911-13. Sheet-metal open frames. |
| Swift | 1898-1915. Bicycle manufacturer, made Starley machines until 1905. Returned in 1910 to sell rebadged Ariels, later putting Abingdon engines in them. |
| Symplex | 1913-22 |
| Dalesman | 1969-74. Offroad. |
| Dalton | 1920-22 |
| Dane | 1919-20 |
| Dart | 1901-06 and 1923-24 |
| Davison | 1902-08 |
| DAW | 1902-05 |
| Day-Leeds | 1912-14 |
| Dayton | 1913-60. Small engines, clip-ons and scooters after 1954. Made a small machine in 1913, and a scooter in 1955 but closed out in 1960. Dayton: also made an autocycle in 1938. |
| Defy-All | 1921-22 |
| De Luxe | 1920-24 |
| Dene | 1903-22 |
| Dennell | 1903-08 |
| Despatch-Rider | 1915-17 |
| Diamond | 1910-38. Bought by Sunbeam in 1920. |
| DKR | 1957-66. Scooters. |
| DMW | Dawson Motors, Wolverhampton. Started by W. 'Smokey' Dawson, who ran a small motorcycle business. Began making rear suspension systems in 1942, then progressed to grass-track 350 and 500cc JAP-powered machines. In 1947 they made a lightweight 125c roadster, moving to a 250cc vertical twin in 1953. Novel frame design used square-section tubing. They also made scooters, the most famous being the 250cc-Villiers powered Deemster. Made mostly trials and racing bikes until the late 1970s. |
| DOT | 'Devoid of Trouble,' founded in 1903 (1902?) by Harry Reed. Name probably originates with his daughter Dorothy's nickname, but the slogan was used in advertising from 1923 on. Started with Peugot and Fafnir engines. Reed won the 1908 TT on one of his Peugot-powered machines, with an average speed of 38.6mph. Reed became a regular competitor after that. DOT switched to JAP engines, then later Bradshaw. In 1926, the company was in financial trouble and had to rebuild, with Reed (50) leaving. The company continued to produce and race until 1932, when the Depression hit. They stayed in business doing contract engineering work until after WW2, when they re-emerged with a strong line in 1949. They lasted until 1973, when the doors closed. |
| Douglas | Based on Light Motors Ltd., founded by W. J. Barter. He produced his first single-cylinder motorcycle between 1902 and 1904, then turned to a 200cc horizontal twin called the Fee (French for Fairy, which it was later named). The company failed in 1907, but was taken over by the Douglas family, which owned the nearby foundry where Light had purchased components. Douglas concentrated on flat-twin engines in its motorcycles from 1906, using an engine designed by JJ Barter. They turned the engine into a 350cc model for 1907 and sold it through 1910 with increasing success. They won several races and trials events, and became a major supplier of machines in WW1, making 70,000 bikes for the allied effort, including about 25,000 WD models. The 1915 model had a fore-and-aft flat twin engine, belt drive, and full electrical lighting. Douglas built the first disc brakes in the early 1920s. During the 1920s, Douglas had a Royal Warrant for supplying motorcycles to Prince Albert (late King George VI) and Prince Henry. Performance for Douglas machines was good, and their reputation was great, but quality and workmanship were not. Despite this, they won several races including the 1923 sidecar TT and senior TT. Even King George V acquired a Douglas machine in this period. In 1934 they produced a 494cc shaft-drive model called the Endeavour. The company made several products including airplane engines, tractors, Vespa scooters, trucks and cars. In 1935 they were in financial trouble and were taken over by BAC. They continued to make motorcycles, and in WW2 made generators and bikes. In 1948, Douglas was again in economic distress and forced to rationalize its line to a series based on a 350cc flat twin. The last model made was the advanced and novel 350cc Dragonfly, in 1955. Distinctive looks and good handling couldn't hide the low top speed (75 mph, although a sports model claimed 84mph) and poor low-rev performance. A 500cc prototype was shown in 1951, but never made. The company was purchased by Westinghouse Brake & Signal, but new owners were more interested in making Vespa scooters, and motorcycle production ceased in 1957, although they continued to import and assemble Vespas and later Gilera motorcycles. |
| Downer Groves | |
| Dreadnought | 1915-25 |
| Dresda | Developed by racer David Degens, who acquired Dresda Autos in the late 1950s. He started making 'Tritons' (Triumph engines in Norton frames) which became popular race bikes. In 1965 he built a Triton, detuned for greater stability, and won the Barcelona 24-hour race on it. Later he also used Suzuki 500 twin and 750 triple, and Honda 750 quad engines. |
| Dunelt | Founded by Dunford and Elliott of Sheffield in 1919 with an unusual "supercharged" 499cc two-stroke single at at time when experts felt two strokes would never work above 350cc. Dunelt offered all-chain transmission in 1924. They became involved in sidecars in 1926. Their bikes broke several records in the 1920s including the first cross-desert ride (Cairo to Siwa and back in 1924) and the Double Twelve Hour World Record at Brooklands on a Model K in 1928. But their 1929 models were not a success and by 1931 the company closed its Birmingham plant. The company continued for a few years, making three-wheelers popular as commercial vehicles, but closed in 1935. A moped with the Dunelt name was shown at the Earls Court show in 1956. Company closed in 57. |
| Dunkley | 1913 and 1957-59 (Different company of same name that made scooters) |
| DUX | 1904-06 |
| Duzmo | 1919-23 |
| Dyson-Motorette | 1920-22. |
