Cotton (motorcycle)
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| Fate | Dissolved |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1918 |
| Founder | Frank Willoughby Cotton |
| Defunct | 1980 |
| Headquarters | Gloucester, United Kingdom |
| Products | Motorcycles |
The Cotton Motor Company, was a British motorcycle manufacturer of 11a Bristol Road, Gloucester, and was founded by Frank Willoughby Cotton in 1918. F.W. presided over the company until his retirement in 1953. The company was reconstituted as E. Cotton (Motorcycles) Ltd, and traded until 1980. The marque was later resurrected in the late 1990s by a business which manufactured replicas of earlier machines.
By 1913, F.W. Cotton had engaged in hill climbs and trials, and recognised the limitations of the “diamond frame” design, little different from a bicycle. He designed his own, and had examples made by Levis. In 1914 he patented the "triangulated frame" to protect his design that was a Cotton feature until the Second World War. The First World War intervened and it was not until 1918 that the Cotton Motor Company was founded; the first Cotton motorcycle appeared in 1920.
In 1922 Stanley Woods rode a Blackburne-engined Cotton to fifth in the 350 cc Junior TT, and the following year, won the 1923 Isle of Man TT, averaging 55.73 miles per hour (89.69 km/h), bettering Douglas rider, Manxman Tom Sheard’s winning 500 cc Senior TT time, an average of 53.15 miles per hour (85.54 km/h). Cotton motorcycles took a second and third in the Ultra Lightweight TT, and a second in the Lightweight TT. They only managed a second place in the 1925 Junior TT,and a second place in the lightweight TT but in the 1926 races, awarded the first three places in the Lightweight TT. These victories helped establish Cotton as a race-winning machine, with exceptional handling for its time.
The 1923 win, and consequent full order book, enabled a move to new premises, the Vulcan Works in Quay Street,Gloucester. In 1927 the frame dimensions were altered.
When the Great Depression came, Cotton responded by offering a wider range of engines in its patented frame, usually with Burman gearboxes.
In 1930, engine choices were:
Four-strokes were available with the exhaust in “single port” or “twin port”.
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