ABC Motorcycles 400cc 1919-1925
Produced between 1919 and 1925, the ABC 400 had a 398 cc horizontally opposed twin-cylinder overhead-valve four-stroke engine, four-speed gearbox with an H-gate and was fitted with an advanced (for the time) carburettor from Claudel-Hobsob to give a top speed of 70 mph (110 km/h).
The ABC, designed by engineering genius Granville Bradshaw, was definitely years ahead of its time at its birth in 1919: transverse ohv twin, four speed gearbox, cradle frame, front and rear springing, drum brakes and incorporated leg shields are a number of the machine’s modern features.
A kick-starter, however, was seen as surplus to requirements because the machine was easily push-started.
Bradshaw produced a prototype of the machine within 3 weeks; the Sopwith aviation company produced the machine in an effort to keep the 3,500 strong workforce employed when the need for aircraft had diminished strongly after the end of the war in 1918.
Originally the selling price was set to £70, soon a price of £ 160 became realistic and later it turned out that any price under £300 was bringing a loss to the manufacturer.
So the price had to become too high, customers turned away and in 1921 the Sopwith factory closed down, after about 3,300 machines had been made.