1927 DOT Super Sports

The firm’s origins are obscure: founder Harry Reed stated many times in his sales brochures that the name Dot had been seen on motorcycles since 1903. He was certainly in business at this time as a cycle frame builder and dealer in a shop on Eccles New Road, Salford, and it was here that he fust became interested in motorcycles. But whether he was building motorcycles for sale then is not certain, as records of his early years are lost in time. We do know, though, that in 1906 Reed had a fine motorcycle of his own making upon which he won the first of many racing awards in the Blackpool Motor Meet, which was held annually at the famous Lancashire holiday resort and attracted the cream of international motor sport. His machine for this event, though, was described as a Swallow, not as a Dot, which would seem an odd omission if he had been building Dots for sale at the time. A year later, though, he certainly was, for we find the Dot name on a stand at the Stanley Cycle Show in London, and a new address – H. Reed and Co. 306 Deansgate, Manchester. The exhibition of his wares at a national exhibition in London and a move to city premises were both big steps for Reed and indicate a rapidly growing business. His first racing success at Blackpool also proved to be no flash in the pan, for in June 1908 Reed took part in the historic first motorcycle race at the newly opened Brooklands track in Weybridge, Surrey. On this occasion without success, and within a further six months he had entered the 1908 TT on the Isle of Man, where at his first attempt he won the Multi-Cylinder Class in the most famous motorcycle race of all, riding his own Dot-Peugeot. With a TT Replica to add to his Blackpool Silver Cup, the young man from Manchester with the oddly named motorcycle was now becoming known amongst the racing fraternity. Racing was a passion Reed was to pursue throughout his long career in motorcycles, and from 1908 his name was to appear in the T. T. lists every year until the First World War, and on into the twenties. (Adapted from: Devoid of Trouble, the story of Dot Motorcycles 1903-1978 by Ted Hardy.)

In this period Dot would use engines from Villiers, JAP and Bradshaw and especially the models with JAP OHV engines were popular mounts for sporty riders. The machine we present here has an interesting history. She was discovered, together with a number of other machines, in the late 1980s in Jakarta, Indonesia. In the twenties this city was called Batavia, and was the capital of the Dutch East Indies. Motorcycles were popular among the well-to-do classes, and British sports machines such as Dot, HRD, Chater lea, O.K. Supreme and Brough Superior were imported. The cache of machines was discovered during rebuilding activities in a former workshop when a wall was taken down. Possibly they were bricked in to hide them from the Japanese invaders in 1941. Several machines were unused, and among these machines were three Dots, all with 350 JAP OHV engines. They all found their way back to Europe and one of them was bought by the then Dot VMCC Marque Specialist Pat Davy. (See The Classic Motorcycle March 2000 and Old Bike Quarterly 29, articles digitally available.)

The specimen we offer is technically in as-new condition, but paintwork, nickel finish, spokes etc. have been renewed because they had suffered too much. She comes with Sturmey Archer gearbox, Andre steering damper, alu primary and secondary chain cases, BTH magneto and petrol tank breast pad. The carb is a slightly younger item, fitted for easier starting and control. This 1927 JAP Sports Dot is a very rare machine indeed; the VMCC Register of machines lists only one other known survivor, with frame # 3150T and engine # IOI 79012.