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Today in Motorcycle History

Wartnaby and Draper

Wartnaby and Draper of Coventry

  • WD was a motorcycle produced by them from 1911 to 1913.

    1911 Late in 1911, a machine appeared that was different from the rest. It had a pressure lubrication system with a gear pump submerged in the oil in the sump. Both main bearings, the big end and the gudgeon pin were force fed in an era when most still relied on a hand pump, sight bowl and drip feed. Other 496cc engine details were a separate cylinder head, both it and the barrel being held by three long bolts, and a front-mounted magneto. It also had Druid forks and belt drive.

    The machine carried on in that form until 1913.

Sources: Graces Guide, correspondence.

The founders of Wartnaby & Draper were William Thomas Wade Wartnaby (1885-1925) of Market Harbourough and Alick Darby Draper (b.1884-1981) of Hemel Hempstead.

Damien Kimberley, "Coventry's Motorcycle Heritage", p.120

Courtesy Graham Clayton.


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