Arthur Norman Maplestone built Maple motorcycles in the years 1907-1915 before sailing to England where he joined the Royal Flying Corps.
Maple machines are frequently mentioned in competition results - Maplestone placed 2nd in an August 1911 event; 3rd in an April 1912 race; a meeting in Oct 1912 featured three Maple motorcycles, one of them ridden by Mapleston - it caught fire; L. Marriott won both heats of a Nov 1913 race.
Norm Maplestone also developed the Maplestone forks which became world-famous. These were manufactured by Firth Bros of Melbourne from about 1914 until the early 1920s, and by Webb in the UK 1920-1923, when the name was changed to Webb.
A. N. Maplestone achieved the rank of Flying Officer and had two minor crashes in a Sopwith, and was wounded in the leg whilst flying with the 43rd Squadron in France.
Whilst in England he met the daughter of Frank Baker (Precision). He married her, and returned with her to Australia after the war to set up a business selling Beardmore Precision motorcycles in Elizabeth Street, Melbourne, the heart of the Victorian motorcycle trade.
Sources: MxN, Trove NLA.
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