Douglas was a British motorcycles manufacturer from 1907–1957 based in Kingswood, Bristol, owned by the Douglas family. The company also built a range of cars between 1913 and 1922.
The company is remembered for its 350 cc horizontally opposed twin cylinder engined bikes
In the 1920s Douglas built the first disc brakes and their motorcycles became popular in dirt track racing (photography @ Doug Mitchell for Cyril Huze)
Pretty nice looking piece. With the motor mounted longitudinally, it has a rather long/low silhouette.
I’ve seen several antique cars that had similar layouts, notably the 1903 Winton.
Nice bike, I wonder why other manufactures didn’t use the longitudinal mounted engine? Seems to make more sense than the lateral mount. ..Z
I like stories on historically significant motorcycles. Nice to be reminded of what’s come before. Keep up this feature, Cyril.
M
I’m touring the world upon my 1944 Indian Chief. Current country is New Zealand and we’ve been greeted with may brands of bikes. Extremely varied and an excellent cross section of early bikes from every manufacturer.
Indian and Harley both had bikes with the same engine layout. Getting back to Douglas, in 1932 a college kid rode around the world on a Douglas and took moves wherever he went. If you can find a copy of “One Man Caravan” I strongly recommend it.
@Zipper – although this is very exclusive, Midual is making one today. cool design for the Douglas & Midual…
http://cyrilhuzeblog.com/2014/09/08/the-midual-type-1-custom-luxury-for-only-35-units/
That’s cool , looks like it was ahead of it time