Dot Cycle and Motor Manufacturing Company

The Dot Cycle and Motor Manufacturing Company was established by Harry Reed in Salford, Lancashire, a city near Manchester, England, in 1903. By 1906 they had built their first motorcycle, using a Peugeot engine.

Dot Motorcycles were a northern manufacturer founded by Harry Reed in the pioneering days of motorcycling, famed for a succession of sporting machines which gave many a clubman the opportunity to ride on a competitive basis with every prospect of success. Reed was initially involved with the manufacture and sale of pedal cycles in Salford, and the early association with motorcycles is unclear, although he won an international motorcycle sprint at Blackpool in 1906 on a "Swallow-Peugeot" and is recorded on a "Dreadnought" before the first mention of Dot motorcycles in 1907, by which time the company had relocated to larger premises in nearby Manchester. It was on a Dot motorcycle that Reed competed in the first motorcycle races at Brooklands in 1908 and, in September 1908, won the Twin Cylinder Class in the Isle of Man TT beating international competition from larger and better-established manufacturers. Although Dot never repeated that TT win, there was considerable success in the TT and other road racing events over the next 20 years. Reed actively rode in top level competition until 1924, when he took part in the sidecar event at the Isle of Man TT meeting.

In 1932 motorcycle production ceased, and did not resume until 1949. Contract engineering work allowed the firm to survive.

In 1920 Thomas Sawyer joined the business. After Reed's departure from the company in 1925, Sawyer oversaw further success for the Dot marque in competition, but with the onset of the 1930s depression production slowed and ceased in 1932.

Sawyer passed control of the company to a young Burnard Scott Wade, who kept the company going through the 1930s with a line of pedal-powered 3-wheel delivery trucks developed for the niche markets of milk-delivery and ice cream vending. With the onset of World War II the government awarded Dot a contract for the production of these economical delivery vehicles, which were shipped around the world. During the tedious "fire watching" duty during the Manchester Blitz, Wade sketched out ideas for a similar vehicle powered by a small two-stroke engine, and successfully developed this into the Dot Motor Truck, which could be produced in various guises to meet the market for a cheap, powered delivery vehicle. Such was the demand that a profitable Dot Company was able to re-enter the motorcycle market in 1949 with a utilitarian two-stroke machine with a 200 cc Villiers engine which sold well in the export market. Many exist today in Scandinavia, Canada, and Australia.

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