'03 Warwick

[c.o.]

I was thumbing through the Spring 1995 issue of The Antique Motorcycle this morning and found this picture of Andy Anderson with a Warwick taken at the Hebron meet. It was a very small picture and this is the best I could do with it. Does anybody have any info on the Warwick? So far I've found that they were built in Springfield, Mass with a 1903 year model only. It also got me to wondering how many manufacturers used the Indian style camelback gas tank. Now that I've seen this Warwick I can include it's style with early Thor's, Ramblers, and of course Indian. Was the tank another item farmed out by Indian to a third party and was available to other paying customers as well? How many bikes used it???

[HarleyCreation]

During the Creation research I brushed up against the whole early Indian thing and its many imitators. Seems like there were French motorcycles before the Indian with that same configuration: cylinder in-line with seatpost, bicycle-frame, and tank over rear fender, lightweight, etc. We owe a lot to the French.

As I remember, the Warwick was a close copy while some of the others were looser copies. (Thor is a whole other can of worms.) My conclusion was that Indian was early, good handling, reliable, and produced and distributed widely. For awhile the rest of the industry basically followed the Indian design as the proper way a practical modern motorcycle was supposed to look. That was in 1902-03-04. After that a different style increasingly superceded the Indian type, which in the years 1905-06-07-08 became increasingly obsolete altho Indian stubbornly stuck with it.

That early period is real interesting. Somewhere around here I have a 1903 Model Review I'll try to dig out. Don't know who Indian was making stuff for, but probably anything for anybody with cash money or good credit, don't you think?

[c.o.]

That early period is real interesting. Somewhere around here I have a 1903 Model Review I'll try to dig out. Don't know who Indian was making stuff for, but probably anything for anybody with cash money or good credit, don't you think?

Yes it is all very interesting. I guess that the earliest of publications of the time are probably the only true means to find answers this many years later. I most definitely think that there are possibilities that manufactured parts could have been sold to other companies to bring in a little more revenue for Indian in it's infant days. I think it would be quite interesting to have a look at an early Indian vs. Clone bike and figure out the differences. I wonder how often this Warwick surfaces at the eastern meets??

Thanks for the response Herb, it's good to have a historian around.

[HarleyCreation]

I found both a 1901 and 1905 Model Review. Thought I had a 1903, but maybe not.

Predictably, the 1901 bikes are rather primitive, some bizarre, with French influence all over the place. Indian does not show at all. The closest to that type bike is the Hafelfinger: motor inline with seatpost, tank over rear wheel, & diamond bicycle frame. But it's only a crude line-drawing, and shows an incomplete bike at that.

By 1905 Indian is of course present with several copies of varying build closeness. The already mentioned Warwick was by then extinct, but there were plenty to take its place, including the Thor (Aurora), the Manson, the America, the Moto-Racycle (Miami), the Thor-Bred (Light), the Rambler (Pope), and the Thouroughbred (R-S).

All of these were very Indian-like in general appearance. The rest of the field (and there were several) were a variety of diamond, loop, cradle, and other frames styles but didn't follow the distinctive Indian pattern.

H-D shows up as the famous "line drawing," which some have interpreted as a racer due to the low handlebar, etc.

[c.o.]

I have a copy of the '02 Indian brochure and I think it was the first time the motorcycle appeared in Indian's advertising literature. It's really wild how things unfolded in that era. I mean really could Oscar Hedstrom in a roundabout way be credited for the design of Thor and all the other clones? I've got to start collecting the early periodicals.

Here's an old Warwick bicycle advert..........

[HarleyCreation]

Somewhere I have a Warwick motorcycle ad. I'll have to dig it out.

[HarleyCreation]

At the January 1895 New York City "National Cycle Show" at madison square garden the Warwick Cycle Company had a space. Doesn't give a city for the Warwick Co. in this article, but it seems likely that it is the same firm later connected with the Warwick motorcycle of 1903.

Several other names listed that were later connected with the early motorcycle industry: Light, Pope, Keating, Waltham, Sager, etc.

[c.o.]

Pretty interesting stuff! One can only imagine the excitement surrounding the the potential new era of "two-wheeled, gas powered transportation". I imagine there was a lot of speculation early on regarding who would survive and from that date on there were obviously plenty of companies that took a run at motorcycles. I guess we all know how that turned out. It's just an assumption on my part, but I would have to agree that the Warwick Co. mentioned at the Madison Square Garden show was like the same firm that produced the Indian clone.

[HarleyCreation]

This earlier (1895) Warwick Cycle Co. was based in Springfield, Mass. Check this out:

WILL BICYCLES BE CHEAPER?;
A Springfield Manufacturer Makes a Cut Which Other Makers Do Not Like.

New York Times
May 28, 1893, Wednesday
Page 3, 412 words

Dealers In bicycles, and riders thereof, throughout the city are discussing with interest the outlook for cheaper bicycles of first-class manufacture. Last Thursday the Warwick Cycle Company of Springfield, Mass., announced that hereafter its highgrade bicycles of the 1893 stamp, which have previously sold for $150, would be sold for $85, and their 1892 machines for $65. [END OF FIRST PARAGRAPH]

Full article here:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstrac...639C94629ED7CF

Another article says that the Warwick Cycle Co. began in 1888 and ran into problems in 1898. At least the name came back for another try with motorcycles. This is a good little story with names and other details, but NYT won't let me copy and paste it from the pdf. You can find it here:

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstrac...649C94699ED7CF

The question remains what happened after the firm went backrupt in 1898. How did it get back on its feet and what happened after 1898? And what was its connection with Indian? Cool little story as at least one of these Warwick motorcycles has survived.

[HarleyCreation]

Pretty interesting stuff! One can only imagine the excitement surrounding the the potential new era of "two-wheeled, gas powered transportation". I imagine there was a lot of speculation early on regarding who would survive and from that date on there were obviously plenty of companies that took a run at motorcycles....

In fact, a motorcycle was present at the 1895 N.Y. Bicycle Show. Not just a motorcycle, but: "The Motor Cycle" invented by Pennington and that's why I'm back there reliving the event. Everybody else in 1895 was going crazy over bicycles as the latest up-to-date high tech invention, but Pennington was ahead of them all with his outrageous "electro-vapor" powered device that he claimed would do nearly a mile-a-minute.

Pennington deserves a lot more credit in the history books in spite of his flawed career. A great story and no mistake!