c1922 Stanger V-Twin 538cc Solo Motorcycle (Project)

Description

David Stanger was a British automotive pioneer who was involved with internal combustion engines from as early as 1897. Four years later (1901) he built his first automobile which was very advanced for its time, and then between 1908 and 1925 Stanger built a variety of different engines for miniature aircraft - he was a pioneer of aircraft modelling. By 1919 this innovator was now producing motorcycles under his own name, and continued to do so until 1923, all of them using twin-cylinder two-stroke engines of Stanger’s own design. These were notable because they overcame the performance and reliability problems that had been associated in period with V-twin two-stroke engines. Stanger’s engine was a 45-degree twin with three-port cylinders and separate crank chamber, and the cylinders gave equal firing intervals due to offset crankpins. This 539cc engine was originally intended only for supply to other motorcycle manufacturers but when P. V. Motor Cycle's Stanger-engined model failed to create much interest, Stanger was prompted to build complete machines under his own name. By 1921 Stanger was in full production from his own premises (in Tottenham, London), these Stanger motorcycles featuring Sturmey-Archer three-speed chain-cum-belt transmission, Brampton forks, Senspray carburettor on his own engine and a choice of rigid or sprung frames. In 1923 all-chain drive became standard, but this turned out to be the final year of production.