One of the most wonderous names, a range of racing and reliable plodders in the range and, by evidence of this example, built well. A great story about a great bike…
Words and pictures by Oli Hulme
In 1874, bicycle manufacturer Bayliss, Thomas & Co, of Lower Ford Street, Coventry, decided its range needed a snappier moniker and chose ‘Excelsior’ as its trademark. The word, meaning onward and upward, or ‘higher,’ had only existed for about 100 years and was previously best-known as the title of a poem by Longfellow.
In 1896, it decided the future was in powered two-wheelers and built its first motorcycle. It featured a single-cylinder Minerva engine from Belgium fitted into one the firm’s own bicycle frames, as was the fashion of the time. It is claimed that this Excelsior was the first motorcycle ever sold in Britain.
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It didn’t take long for Bayliss, Thomas & Co to pursue sporting glory, for just four years later it was involved in motorcycle racing and in 1910, the cumbersome company name was dropped and The Excelsior Motor Company Co Ltd was born.
Shortly after the First World War, the company was taken over by R Walker & Son and motorcycle production was transferred to the Walker’s site at Kings Road, Tyseley, Birmingham.
Pre-war Excelsiors
For many motorcyclists, Excelsior is known best for its Manxman singles from the 1930s, a motorcycling supermodel if ever there was one. Excelsior’s golden era began in the late 1920s when the bikes had a flurry of success on the race tracks of Europe. In 1928, its 250cc machines won the Dutch TT, and German, French European and Brooklands Grand Prix races, and Excelsior machines were awarded three gold medals in ISDT. The firm’s 250 covered 200 miles in three hours and 23 minutes at the Belgian Grand Prix, at an average speed of 60mph.
Capitalising on this success, in 1929 Excelsior produced a range of 14 machines for both the home and overseas markets. Undecided as to what to call the various models, it adopted a more simplistic approach and gave them numbers. The No 1, the No 2, and the No 3 Utility models were essentially the same bike but with options, and there were a number of bigger bikes with two-stroke, sidevalve and OHV engines, right up to the 3½hp, OHV, twin-port Tourist Trophy and a 5hp JAP-engined 500. Postwar, Excelsior produced an extensive range of lightweights which used both Villiers units and Excelsior’s own engines, including an exotic electric-start, three-cylinder, two-stroke engine. These machines were made until the mid-1960s, when the company was bought out by Britax, which turned the factory over to making motoring accessories.
Utility motorcycles for the Great Depression
The Utility lightweight two-strokes propping up the range of Excelsior bikes in the late 1920s attracted buyers and the company used its race machines’ burgeoning reputation for performance and reliability as a marketing tool. For 1929, the entire Excelsior range had, for one year only, a rakish black and gold chequered flag paint scheme, which was a dramatic and modern look for a 1920s motorcycle and made the little lightweights attractive to youthful and keen riders determined to cut a dash.
The three Utility models were small machines powered by Villiers engines that had low running costs. Two came with 147cc engines and two or three-speed gearboxes, and the sportier bike came with a Villiers Sports 172cc engine with an alloy head and piston and the Albion three-speed ‘box. Ignition was by flywheel magneto. From a style point of view, the Excelsior Utility was something of a transitional model, having elements of the flat tanker but not in the traditional sense. It had the early reverse brake and clutch levers, and the throttle/carburettor and magneto controls were operated by levers too, but it also had some features that were not just up-to-the minute, but way ahead of their time. Apart from the three-speed, hand-change Albion gearbox, there was an expansion chamber to give the engine a little more zip and, for the top-of-the-range buyer, an automatic lubrication system. The two-stroke oil tank sat in front of the seat stem.
Excelsior restorer and expert Bob McGrath explained the procedure for running and riding a late 1920s Excelsior: “The Villiers Autolube uses crankcase pressure to lightly pressurise the oil tank alone, where the oil is pushed up to the sight glass and from there on to fall by gravity down to the engine. Oil is not forced into the engine. Villiers had bothers with early versions siphoning oil from tank to engine so added a tiny air hole to prevent this stopping any total pressurisation. It’s a crafty system but not one tolerant of error.
“As with many vintage bikes the ultra-wide gear ratios in the box are the limiting performance factor. Once you’re out of top gear you’re limited to plodding uphill at a frustrating jog with the engine screaming its head off. The 3-speed box is a disappointment. All you get for your extra ratio is a low first gear underneath the same two ratios as in the 2-speed box. This guarantees getting up any hill anywhere but does nothing to improve your point-to-point times. It’s not much help. Albion did produce an ideal 4-speed box a few years later but the number of permutations they made to suit the various bike factories make sorting out a specific one enough to make a saint swear. I’m halfway through the exercise for one of my own bikes, but not there yet.
“Villiers engines of the 1920s were always better than expected, particularly the 175cc series. The 175s held every world record for speed and distance in their class. Essentially, Villiers made two types of engine – ‘cooking’ and ‘Sporty.’ The cheaper cooking type were all built to the same formula of a fixed head and cast-iron piston, sturdy sloggers that lasted forever but rather coarse and rough, whereas the sporting models had a removable alloy head and an alloy piston and were much livelier. Owners soon learnt that just replacing the cast-iron piston with an alloy job from the sports range worked magic in making the engine so much livelier, and current owners have learnt just how much difference purpose-made two-stroke oil makes in keeping an engine clean and happy. Modern fuels help enormously also.
“You could say that conditions today are finally giving old Villiers engines their chance to shine. They’re great fun once you learn their preferences.”
The barn-find Excelsior
In 1941, a 28-year-old registrar of births, marriages and deaths for the county of Somerset, Gerald Lane, needed transport to traverse the county and came across a 1929 Utility model. But it was not just any utility model. It had the Villiers Sports engine, and the original buyer had paid for almost every available extra including the automatic oiling, a top-of-the-range Brooks saddle costing an extra 10 shillings and 6d, twin expansion chamber silencers, a toolbox and a brass foot pump under the tank. The original owner did not splash out on the Villers electric lighting option, however, as that would have meant a second coil being fitted in the magneto. Instead, there is a bracket allowing the use of a battery-powered bicycle lamp, which may have been more reliable. A 172cc model, the machine had the 1929-only chequered paint scheme.
One imagines it might have been cheap in 1941, as more modern machines were then readily available. Gerald owned several machines during his riding years, including a Douglas twin, a Radco Jap, another Excelsior and a Coventry Eagle, but at the time he bought the Utility, with the war on, there would have been little market for such motorcycles, with many young men off fighting and petrol in short supply.
Gerald belted around Somerset on the Excelsior until the 1950s, when it was pushed into the back of a barn and left. By this point, his petrolhead instincts had taken him into the world of the fast saloon car and into the 1980s he bought a new one every year or so, including a succession of Wolseley saloons and twin carb Triumph 1500s.
Early in 2024, Gerald’s daughter Sheila was talking to family friend, Paul Harcombe. She told him about an old motorbike her father had put away back in the 1950s that was now propping up part of her shed. Paul suggested his friend and classic biker Pete Hawkings would be the one to give it some TLC and get it running again. Pete was intrigued and went to dig it out.
Extracting the Excelsior from the shed took some time, but as the poor, neglected beast emerged blinking into the sunshine, it was clear that the little two-stroke was mostly in one piece and had great potential. In February 2024, Pete took it to the Bristol Classic Bike Show in unrestored condition and showed off his find, and then got to work.
“It had good compression but would not fire,” he said, “so after a magneto and carb rebuild and some help from an impact driver on the end of the crank it finally sprang into life and with a squirt of Easy Start, I got it to fire up. I decided that the best thing to do was carry out a sympathetic restoration and ensure that none of the patina was lost.
“After the initial start-up and a few adjustments, the next day I thought I’d better check it would start up from cold. It started first kick and purred like a kitten!”
A new front rim was needed, as that had rotted away. The front mudguard was also in a rusted state and efforts were made to find a replacement, but they turned out to be fruitless, so a square of metal and a few pop rivets were pressed into service as a repair. A BSA Bantam rim was laced to the tiny front brake using four different types of spoke from Central Wheel Components of Birmingham. Pete stripped the engine, cleaned everything, and as all seemed well preserved despite the Excelsior’s long slumber, he put it back together again. He refurbished the clutch with new corks and rebuilt the magneto.
The carburettor received attention, including a correct period float, bought from Villiers Services which had one on the shelf. The lubrication system was checked and found to be functioning properly. The bike had been fitted with modern levers, but in the bike’s toolbox in the shed the original reverse levers were uncovered, covered in rust. Pete gave them a clean and refitted them. Some finishing touches included an original spare spark plug in the toolbox, a pair of leather saddle bags, a bulb horn, a tax disc from 1931 and a vehicle badge indicating the owner was a member of the Loyal Order of Moose.
And with this relatively light restoration work completed, the Excelsior was ready for the road. In September, Pete saddled up and rode the bike on its first journey in 70-odd years, from his home to a bike show some 30 miles distant where, up against Bonnevilles and Harleys and V4 Hondas among others, it got a great reception, with onlookers clustered around it all day. The patina on the Excelsior is a delight, from the chequered paint job to the polished wooden gearshift and the numerous personal touches.
The show judges declared to general agreement of all present that the little Excelsior was the Best In Show. The bike has a surprising turn of speed in town and will happily propel the rider at 35-40 mph on the open road. Pete’s next target is to ride the black and gold marvel in the Banbury Run, after which… who knows where it will end up.
What the papers said
Motor Cycling tested the 147cc two-speed Excelsior in 1928 and was impressed with this basic model, which sold for £21. The 172cc sports model was £26 10s. As to the cost of the 147cc Excelsior at £21, which was one pound more than the accepted price for most utility machines in 1928, Motor Cycling compared the extra pound to other day-to-day essentials: “Who is going to quibble at the extra £1? Two hundred and forty pence represent 20 packets of cigarettes, a train fare and a lunch or a bowler hat. Does this paltry sum bring it outside the magical limit? Most certainly not.”
It added: “The machine is so easy to ride, even under trying conditions of really greasy Midland streets in November that the most nervous beginner must quickly become confident. That the machine is marvellous value for money in unquestionable. That the little Excelsior has a remarkably high performance has now been proved It will bowl along at a steady 35mph without any effort, without an undue amount of noise with no fuss or bother. Practically any car can be passed with ease and many motorcycles headed.”
Motor Cycling claimed that there was little difference in performance between the 147cc and 172cc except when climbing hills, where the 147cc bike would not quite make it to the top of a 1-in-8 hill in top gear.
It described the Utility as a ‘machine for the million,’ concluding that: “Every cyclist should have a trial on one immediately; it will be most surprising if he is not fascinated.”
Thanks to: Pete Hawkings, Bob McGrath, Robert Nason, and the members of the Two- Stroke Excelsior Motorcycles community for their assistance.
Specification
ENGINE: Two-stroke single with automatic lubrication and twin expansion chamber silencers BORE AND STROKE: 57x67mm CAPACITY: 172cc CARB: Villiers single lever type POWER: 1.34hp IGNITION: Flywheel Magneto TRANSMISSION: Chain primary drive, three-speed Albion gearbox FRAME: Loop type with central spring up stand SUSPENSION: Excelsior girder type, rigid rear WEIGHT: 132lb (53kg) BRAKES: Drum WHEELS/TYRES: Original, 25in x 2.75in
