The Tinkler brothers produced motorcycles from 1927 to 1928 from premises in Langham Street, Liverpool.
Almond Tinkler had been involved with motorcycles for many years and had opened a business after the end of the Great War. He did some tuning work, took part in competitions and formulated the idea of building a radical machine.
He built his machine in time for the 1927 TT, and produced a design that was novel and innovative. Having taken notice of the Guzzi single, he took the horizontal single layout with overhead camshaft, water cooled it and turned it round so that the crankcase was at the front, just behind the radiator. The gearbox was built in-unit with the cylinder head and alongside the camshaft, so the one drive to that was also the primary transmission.
The magneto lay alongside the engine, skew-gear driven from the crankshaft. There was pressure lubrication throughout and the whole assembly was enclosed in an aluminium case with the petrol tank its cover. By using this layout, the number of working parts was reduced and the complete box was housed in a duplex tubular frame with bottom-link forks.
Following TT practice, changes were made to the cooling system and engine compression. The sole machine was extensively road tested with the intention of quantity production by February 1928. The price was to be £75.
The Tinkler brothers then joined forces with OEC, who took up manufacture.
At the Olympia show in late 1928 a machine was exhibited with a 490cc engine and duplex steering forks. It was well received but neither Tinkler nor OEC were able to finance the venture, so this advanced design did not enter production.
Source: Graces Guide
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