HENDERSON Brand History
William G. Henderson and his brother, Thomas, founded the Henderson
Motorcycle Company in Detroit, Michigan, in 1911. During its early days,
the company came out with a 4-cylinder, 56cmc, 7 horsepower engine,
which proved to be a pretty remarkable bike. This model was actually the
third 4-cylinder motorcycle manufactured in America.During the next few years, the motorcycles received numerous improvements so, in 1913, the B Model got better forks, a lower saddle position and better brakes. Moreover, in 1914, the C Model was the first bike equipped with a two speed gearbox.
In 1918, new changed related to the company occurred because the Henderson brothers sold their plans to Excelsior's Ignatz Schwinn, forming a new company dubbed Excelsior-Henderson.
Obviously, the newly-founded company brought out new models, but even so, the problems continued for the bike manufacturer.
In 1919, William Henderson left the company in order to produce a faster motorcycle, so he started a new company named Ace Motorcycle. During its early days, the company only produced a few motorcycles but in the next year, it recorded an impressive growth. For instance, in 1922 Paul Anderson won multiple races with a De Luxe bike which develop 28 horsepower.
