Roemotorcycle
I’vebeen advisedto contactyou
asI’mtryingtofind information
foraRoemotorcycle I
purchasedalittle whileago. It
wasfirstregisteredto Robert
Corteenin theIsle ofMan. I
haven’t beenable tofind any
pictures orreferencesrelating
to anyothersurvivingRoe
motorcyclesand allsourcesI’ve
triedtodatehaven’t beenable
to help.
SimonButler,via email.
As youknowSimon, none of
the recognisedmotorcycle
encyclopaediaslistthe Roe
motorcycle,nor is one listedin
anyoft he period Buyer’sGuides
publishedinthe laterveteranto
earlyvintageperiod.
ThesubjectRoe’s framewas
made usingeithe raframe
lugkit of acomplete frame
kit, which islikely to have been
suppli ed c1914-1922by Sun
Cycle andFittings.Thetank
is of atypefitted toFederal,
Federation,Connaught, New
Knight and other motorcycles,
while theseatand mudguards
arealso proprietar yparts .All
makers of theseparts (and also
magnetos,engines,gearboxes
etc)would supplyin evenquite
small volumes to tinymotorcycle
makers.Ineffect, if youhad the
moneytobuy these parts, they
were sold to you. Andeither
directly from themakers or
through factor syou coul dalso
buy thepartsindividually to
buildasingl emotorcycle if
youwished to follow this route.
Themotorcycle weekliesoften
carriedrepor ts or readers’ letters
detailingtheir latest‘build’.
Experiencesuggeststhis Roe
is either aone-offor oneofa
tiny batch builtby an unknown
maker.This makercould even
be the machine’sfirstregistered
keeper–Rober tCorteen–who
chosethe nameRoefor personal
reasons–anicknameorrelated
to thestreet he lived orworked
in forexample.This le aves the
question of‘where wasitbuilt?’
Perhapsint he IoMorpossi bly
theUK.
Thefollowing is pure
speculationbasedonthe known
hist oryofothermachines
designedand buil tbyAVRoe
Renownedaircra ft designer
SirEdwin Alliott Verdon Roe
(1877-1958)also designed
scooter-likeand twowheel car-
likemachines as hefavoured
generousweather protecti on
whenriding fromhometo
work orforpleasure. He often
namedhis vehicl es ‘Avro’ as
were many of the 10,000-plus
aircra ft hewasresponsiblefor –
Roe’sdesignswerealso licensed
to other makers workingin
Allied countries.But heused
other namestooand in an
interview when discussinghis
Avro Monocar/ Bicar designs
forexamplehestated he built a
few ligh tweightmotorcycles for
himand hisbrothertouse as
tran sportdurin gthe First World
War. He also stated hedidn’t like
them,astheyhad no weather
protection.How much ofthis is
fact is unknownbut,possi bly, it
offersaline of research.
Afterschool,AV Roewas
apprenticedtothe Lancashire
andYorkshireRailway andlater
appliedtostudy engineering
(via theRoyal Navy)atKing’s
Colleg e, London.Sources state
he studiedengineeringatKing’s
College butthisseems unlikelyas
although hepassed the technical
and maths partsofhis entrance
exams, he failedother sections.
He thenresur facedin1906as
secret aryoft he RoyalAeroClub
andwas soon designin gmodel
aircra ft,thenfull si ze jobs.Along
with hisbrotherHumphrey he
founded the AV RoeAircr aft
Co –which becameAVRO–on
January1,1910.
Roewas designingMonocar/
Bicar-typevehicles as earlyas
1912 ,with sketches published.
Ixion (CanonBasil Davies,BA)
published afeature encompassing
AV Roe’s‘streamlined motorcycle’
inTheMotor CycleonJanuary 9,
1913 .And as earlyas1905 hewas
publiclypooh-pooingstandard
motorcycledesign duetoi ts lack
of weather protection forthe
The ‘Roe’asacquired.Notetheinterestingpressedforks.
Asit isnow,having
beenrestoredby
SimonButler.
Above:Verdon-Roe
withaselectionofhis
vehicles,includingan
LEVelocette.
Right:Verdon-Roe,
therenownedaircraft
designer, wasan
advocateof enclosed,
weather-protection-
offeringmotorcycles.
86 THE CLASSICMOTORCYCLE|SEPTEMBER 2019
Youwereasking |Expert advice
You were asking
Your queriesresolved withRichardRosenthal
