A Brief History of the Marque
Made in England c1912 to c1925 at 174, Corporation Street, Birmingham.
Prior to the Great War A. E. Bradford, a schoolteacher of Wolverhampton, built a small number of motorcycles named AEB. Following the armistice he began assembling his "De Luxe" machines from components sourced from other manufacturers. Power units included 269cc Villiers, JAP, Union and 346cc Barr & Stroud sleeve valve engines.
Bradford formed the Motorites company and traded from Sweetman St, Wolverhampton, selling car and motorcycle spares along with complete motorcycle kits. He may well have been the first to have done so.
Tragatsch gives dates of 1920-1924 and states that everyone who bought one with a 346cc Barr & Stroud sleeve-valve engine got a free sidecar and frame.
In 1940 the company name was Motorites, of Vane Street, Wolverhampton, and in 1957 they moved to 85 Dudley Road.
Sources:
Tragatsch p113
historywebsite.co.uk
N.B. A De Luxe engine was built by F.W. Spacke Machine Co. of Indiana, produced around the same period. Spacke engines were to be imported by Maudes Motor Mart according to The Motor Cycle, November 5th 1914.
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