Albert John Stevens and brothers George, Harry and Joseph formed A. J. Stevens and Co. Ltd. or AJS to produce motorcycles in Wolverhampton, UK in 1909 after working with engines and other vehicles since 1897. Success came quickly to the brothers when in 1914 they entered a bike of their own manufacture in the Isle of Man Junior TT race, finishing first and second.
This machine is a 250cc, which features a three-speed gearbox and sports a Brooklands style fishtail exhaust pipes. This was the penultimate year of manufacture prior to the sale to AMC. Production of four stroke motorcycles continued with AMC and Norton Villiers until 1969. AJS turned to two strokes then, and even today, the brand name has been re-sold several times and is used to sell a series of sub-125cc motorbikes, although these are Chinese made. A sad end to a long award winning series of British motorcycles.
Girder fork up front and rigid rear with a sprung saddle made for a surprisingly pleasant ride. Ths AJS featured many well-thought out features. Let's take a closer look:
Clever bits in abundance, no wonder they possessed 117 world records prior to 1931.
While the independent days of AJS were soon over, great things were about to happen when riders Jimmie Guthrie and Jimmy Simpson came on board. Amazing watercooled, supercharged V-4 engines were developed on the eve of Wold War II. Post war, it was Les Graham who won the 500cc FIM World Championship on the unsupercharged twin cylinder E90 "Porcupine" in 1949. It truly was the best of times for AJS. While the financial aspects of running a company profitably eluded AJS, talent and creative engineering was always evident.
