rewdco

It is now confirmed that only the part with the pressed in "ACUMEN" logo was leather, the rest of the cover was Rexine... I've added some new information in the "long Acumen" post. There was a slightly different version which was only used by Ariel. See further above... Jan

From Grace's Guide: Acumen Co of Aston, Birmingham. Company at the Rose Works, 133 Park road from at least 1932, and originally were described as motor accessories, pressworkers & metal spinners, but by and during WW2 described themselves as manufacturers of cycle & motorcycle accessories & leatherworkers. The leatherworking had been dropped by 1946, by 1965 they had added scooter accessories, and by the time of the last Kellys in 1973 were just manufacturing cycle accessories. Leatherworkers...? I was already thinking that the scuffed edges of this cover revealed some leather instead of Rexine... I wonder if that's a leather cover on the Acumen pillion seats...?

Still better than this contraption Ron! A Lycett with front springs combined with a Lycett with rear springs makes a... Lycett with NO springs! 😂 No, serious, looks like a Lycett front springer with the springs (and the D shaped bracket at the rear) removed... Jan

And a Lycett exception to the rule: there was only one Norton contract with Lycett pillion seats and canvas covers, every other pillion seat should have a Rexine cover...

Lycett with front springs: Lycett with rear springs:

Mansfield with padding at front:

Mansfield without padding at front (long and short versions):

Acumen short version:

Would also like to add some pictures of original covers. Starting with the ACUMEN long version:

Have added additional information on the Acumen and Mansfield pillion seats. Original text has been edited... Jan

The rear spring LYCETT pillion seat : Used by Matchless and Norton. The seat is based on a flimsier 1 mm mudguard section, which looks "cheaper" compared with the previous 1,6 mm version. War economy version...??? But why the springs were moved to the rear is anybody's guess. A complex hinge system at the front is the result... Hope this explains a bit Ron... 😊

The front spring LYCETT pillion seat : Used by Ariel, Triumph, Enfield, Matchless, Norton. The seat is based on a sturdy 1.6mm mudguard section, and although they were made by Lycett, they all had coil tension springs instead of rubber springs at the top (no doubt again because of the rubber shortage). And because they had two coil springs at the front, there was no "padded cushion" at the front of the seat. Easy to recognise in period photographs: this is the only model with front springs...

The MANSFIELD pillion seats: Quite a complex variety of models, which I will try to explain. MANSFIELD pillion seats were used by Triumph, Matchless, Royal Enfield, Ariel. The MANSFIELD doesn't use a mudguard section as a basis, but two rails (the "legs"). I have seen at least three varieties: with "X legs" and with "O legs", and also with two sheet steel strips. Not sure which motorcycle model used which legs or strips though... The triangulated front frame structure is easy to recognise in period pictures, but appears to have been used with the O-legs and sheet steel strips only. There was a version which was padded at the front, and there was an unpadded version. The unpadded version appears to have been made in two lengths. The long unpadded MANSFIELD pillion seat with "O-legs": Unlike the long ACUMEN, the MANSFIELD was not always cushioned at the front to avoid painful contact with the tail bone... I guess the early versions were not padded at the front. The short unpadded MANSFIELD pillion seat with "O-legs": Presumably to avoid painful contact with the tailbone, MANSFIELD also made an unpadded short version of this pillion seat. The length of the legs is identical, but the legs are peaking out further at the front of the short version (see comparison pictures below). The long padded MANSFIELD pillion seat with "O-legs": A further development was the long version with padding at the front. Made with two kinds of "legs": thick flat strip or thin sheet steel strip. The long unpadded MANSFIELD pillion seat with "X-legs": Used by Matchless (and may be others?). Looks very similar to the versions above, with the exception that the bottom rails have an X shape, and there is no triangular reinforcement at the front. Also the back end of the seat frame has a different construction. This version had no padding at the front.

The short ACUMEN pillion seat: The very last M20 contracts (1945) used a shorter version of the ACUMEN pillion seat. Apparently because although the long version was cushioned at the front, some despatch riders had complained about painful hits with the coccyx... For as far as I could find out, only used on BSA M20, and basically the same design (same mudguard section, two coil springs at the back, but a shorter frame).

You were calling me Ron...? 😄 Here I am, with some information on the pillion seats: It was only from about 1942 onwards that motorcycles were fitted with pannier frames and pillion seats. Before that they only had a small carrier at the back. The earlier bikes were often retrofitted with pannier frames & pillion seat during a major rebuild. Conversion sets were available... In 1942 the first pillion seats were of the "bum pad" variety, being a metal base with rubber foam and rexine cover. But due to the sudden rubber shortage manufacturers had to look for an alternative. Enter the steel frame pillion seats... These were made by three different companies, each having his own design. These three basic designs were slightly modified during the war, so we can say that there were six variants. The long ACUMEN pillion seat: This is the only make of pillion seat that was used on the BSA M20. It was also used on some Matchless G3/L and on some Royal Enfield WD/CO models. It is based on a 1 mm thick mudguard section, with two coil springs at the back. Quite a distinctive shape. On the BSA it was attached to the mudguard at the front, and to the rear carrier at the back, so not making contact with the length of the mudguard. I have also found several examples of a slightly different version of this long ACUMEN pillion seat. There were always two holes for the spring brackets in the top frame. The "normal" version (as described above) uses the rear holes, whereas this slightly different version uses the front holes. The two rectangular cut-outs in the mudguard section are also 3/4" deeper, and the two reinforcing struts are a bit shorter. All these modifications make that the springs are mounted 3/4" further forward. After some research I have discovered that this alternative version of the long Acumen pillion seat was only used by Ariel. Apparently in order to move the pillion seat enough backwards to avoid contact with the tail bone, the springs came in contact with the Ariel carrier. Solution: put the springs a bit further forward... The position of the rear springs is the most obvious difference between the BSA and the Ariel version, but there is more: The two banana-shaped front legs (with the hinge points at the top) are 1” longer than with BSA! Because these legs are slanted, this creates a height difference of 3/4”. The rear springs that are 1” more forward partially compensate for this height difference at the rear. In addition, the two L-plates under which the rear springs are mounted are 1/4 higher (also to compensate for the height difference) and 1/4 wider. And because the L-plates are also 1/4 wider, the length of the cross strip under the rear springs is also 1/2 shorter than with BSA! And obviously the cut-out in the mudguard section is deeper. The seat frame itself is identical to BSA.

Beati pauperes spiritu

Brave man! Will follow this thread with great interest!

Which cable length are you looking for Mark? Have got a perfect new old stock 23” cable here that I’m willing to sell...

OK, promised Ron to add some pictures of the process… Here we go: Started by making a detailed drawing of the unfolded part: Transferred all the dimensions to a sheet: The smallest radius was only ½”, so made these with a puller: Added the contours, cut them roughly with an angle grinder: Followed by a shear: Pressed the handgrip with my hydraulic press: Closed the handgrip in the vice: Stretched the inside corners over a stake: Shrunk the outside corners over a stake, bent all the sides and made the two small flanges over a stake: Added the corners: Made the legs with a purpose made press tool, after cutting the blanks (rectangles) with a shear: Assembled everything on a jig and welded the legs to the carrier: After some cleaning:

My own WD/C was found close to the Maginot line, where it had spent the immediate post war years as a civil bike. It was laid up in the 1950's and sold by a relative of the original owner. When I found the bike, it was badged as an FN, the paperwork that came with the bike was indeed for a 1920's FN. The most visible numbers on the engine had been filed out and replaced by the FN's frame number. I can only imagine that the bike was abandoned by the retreating 51 DIV (who were stationed at the Maginot Line in May 1940), and it must soon have been discovered by one of René Artois' compatriots. These BEF WD/Cs were built around February 1940, so they were still brand new in May 1940! Our Frenchman must have hidden the bike for the Germans during the war, but when the war was over, he was faced with a problem: he had a "brand new" khaki bike without any paperwork... How did he have to explain this to the local Gendarme...? Pas de problème, he did a complete make-over, and the bike was a 1920's FN now! I decided to rebuild my WD/C in the colors of the 51 DIV, as this is in my opinion the most likely "first owner". The Frenchman who used the bike after the war has done a lot of bodges, to keep the bike running. This made the rebuild that I had to do quite a challenge. But based on some original factory photographs, I have managed to get all the details correct, it now looks exactly as it left the factory in February 1940.

Some of the contract C/5107 WD/Cs were sent to France, as part of the British Expeditionary Forces equipment. On May 10th 1940, Hitler invades Belgium and Holland. By May 14th 1940, the German tanks had crossed the river Meuse and had opened up a fifty-mile gap in the Allied front. Six days later they reached the Channel. When he heard the news, Winston Churchill, who had just become prime minister, ordered the implementation of Operation Dynamo: a plan to evacuate the British Expeditionary Forces troops and their equipment, along with the remnants of the French army, from the French port of Dunkirk. Between 27th May and 4th June, a total of nearly 700 ships brought 338.226 people back to Britain. All heavy equipment was abandoned and left in France. Ellis' official history “The War in France & Flanders 1939 – 1940” gives the following statistics: Vehicles shipped to France 68.618 Lost 63.879 Brought back 4.739 Motorcycles 21.081 Lost 20.548 Brought back 533 In these 20.548 motorcycles that were abandoned in Belgium and France there were also some WD/Cs. I have put all my pre-Dunkirk British Army contract WD/C data (period C/5107 and C/5654 photographs and Register data) in a table, and have come to this conclusion: I currently have 6 entries that are definitely ex BEF bikes (discovered in France), with the following census numbers: C68071, C68074, C68081, C68118, C68144 (Captain Keating's bike) and C68153. It looks as if the first batch (minimum 320 motorcycles) stayed in the UK. Then we have a small batch (minimum 79, based on these census numbers, maximum 337 based on the frame numbers of the bikes before and after the BEF batch in my Register) that were sent to France, but it looks as if the majority of the pre-Dunkirk WD/Cs stayed in the UK... There was also a WD/C contract for the French Army. After a lot of research, I have come to the conclusion that approximately 600 “French contract” WD/Cs were built before the Fall of France, but 142 of these never made it to France… From the approximately 460 motorcycles that did arrive in France, at least 299 were registered within the French registration system. Those that weren’t registered within the French system probably didn’t make it much further than the French channel port docks…

The production of this first WD/C contract must have started towards the end of November 1939. The picture below (taken on December 8th 1939) shows what may have been the very first batch of WD/Cs, delivered to Feltham. Note that the headlamp is a 6” item now, but the front lower mudguard support is still the same as on the prototype model above. A total of 284 WD/Cs were built in 1939.

For the people who haven't followed Ron's thread on the rebuild of the other ex BEF WD/C (http://hmvf.co.uk/topic/38035-royal-enfield-rare-find/?page=1), here's some information about these early Royal Enfields: On September 1st 1939, Hitler invades Poland. As a reaction, England declares war against Germany on September 3rd 1939. The following months (September 1939 – May 1940) are known as “the phoney war”. On Sept 11th 1939, the British Expeditionary Force (four divisions, 158.000 men) left for France, to defend the borders with Belgium and Germany against a possible German invasion. But until May 1940, when Hitler invaded Holland, Belgium and France, there was not a lot of fighting activity. Both camps were using this period to expand their armies... The first “demand” for a WD/C contract dates from September 27th 1939. That day, Sir John Simon (who was regarded as Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s right hand man) gets his first “war budget”, and on that same day, the big motorcycle manufacturers receive orders to build lots of motorcycles. Contracts C/5107 (1.000 Royal Enfield WD/C models), C/5108 (3.300 Triumphs), C/5109 (6.000 Nortons), C/5110 (8.100 BSAs) and C/5111 (100 Ariels) were all demanded on 27/09/39. Unlike BSA and Norton, who had already sold military M20 and 16H motorcycles to the Army, Enfield still had to develop a military version from its civilian model C. In the REOC Archives, I have found a picture (presumably taken in October 1939) of what must have been a pre-production WD/C motorcycle (for approval...?). Typical features that weren’t taken over on the production bikes are a fixed front mudguard support (a “front stand” type was used on the production motorcycles) and an 8” headlamp (6” on the production motorcycles).

Indeed Ron. Made it many years ago in order to be able to make the BSA pillion seat base. Also made a bead roller for the rib... But due to the higher valances of a complete mudguard, making a rib in the WD/C mudguard had to be done in another way. Some research on the internet showed that this could be done with a converted English wheel... Jan

Did this one a couple of months ago... Made a rib in the mudguard (the early rear mudguards had a central rib, later ones no longer had this rib) with a pair of special rolls in the English wheel, and welded up almost 20 holes. The carrier had been lowered by 1", and one of the rungs had been smashed to give room to the higher placed mudguard. And two large holes had been drilled through the rear bends of the tubes, to fit a pillion seat. So I added four tube sections to raise the carrier to its original height, welded in a new section for the rung and two new bent sections. The brackets for the horizontal mudguard stays had been cut off, so welded in new brackets, and riveted new horizontal mudguard stays to these. Also made and fitted the rear numberplate... Jan