ABC Brand History
The All British Engine Company, Ltd. of London was founded in 1912
by Ronald Charteris and Granville Bradshaw, who was a chief engineer. In
1914, ABC Motors Ltd, found originally at Brooklands, Byfleet, moved to
Walton-on-Thames and produced mainly war materials and motorcycles
engines for the military until 1919, the year when the first ABC
motorcycle was manufactured. The bike had a transverse-mounted 398cc
flat twin with overhead valves, 4 speed gearbox, chain drive, spring
frame and a fork with automatic lubrication. 
At first, it was built together with the Sopwith Aviation Company, a
firm that used to construct aircraft during the first World War. After
that, the company took over Bradshaw’s creation, which, despite its
design, was regarded as the predecessor of the well known BMW boxer
bikes. The motorcycle had a lot of technical problems: the valve gear was unreliable and the lubrication poor. The motorcycle's bad image made the dream of selling lots of ABC's end in 1921, when ABC Sopwith went into liquidation.
In 1920, the company experienced another re-organisation and the motorcycle production centered around spare parts and development of new designs. From 1920 until 1924, because the original English ABC disappeared, the ABC motorcycles were built under license by a French branch, Gnome & Rhone. The French ABC built two motorcycles with engines that had 348cc and 493cc.
