Grindlay Peerless is a historic motorcycle manufacturer that operated out of Coventry, England, throughout the early 20th-century, specialising in racing machines including the record breaking 498cc Grindlay Peerless. Although a relatively short-lived marque, Grindlay Peerless secured a number of high-profile achievements most notably that of works rider and tuner, Bill Lacey, achieving a Fédération Internationale de Motocyclismeworld record by becoming the first man to exceed a 100 miles in an hour on British soil in August 1928 aboard his Grindlay Peerless. The company quickly became renowned for building powerful, high quality and technologically advanced machines. The very limited number of Grindlay Peerless machines produced means that they are now extremely rare.
History
In 1910, following his departure from Riley Cycle Company, Alfred Robert Grindlay and his brother, William John Grindlay took over Coventry Motor & Sundries Co from William Edward Mann. The company was remodelled into Grindlay Sidecars, which originally began manufacturing body kits and sidecars in the early 1910s, and quickly became known for its "extremely high quality" machines. During WWI, Grindlay and Thomas Edward Musson combined their efforts to form the specialist sidecar manufacturer, Musson & Grindlay, operating out of Melbourne Works on Shakleton Road in Spon End, Coventry. In 1923, following the dissolution of his partnership with Musson, Grindlay and Edward Peerless formed Grindlay Peerless. The newly formed Grindlay Peerless operating out of Melbourne Works on Shakleton Road in Spon End, Coventry, entered into the wider motorcycle market and began making high-powered machines using JAP, Barr & Stroud, and later Rudge-Whitworth engines. Like the sidecars before them, the motorcycles not only had an exceptional standard of finish, including pressed monograms, elegantly shaped fuel tanks brightly plated with nickel and cadmium and luxury leather covered saddles, but were also recognised for their innovative design features. While active Grindlay Peerless produced a large number of highly regarded motorcycles, including the record beating 498cc model, but by the mid 1930s the Great Depression caused production to reduce significantly and the company dissolved in 1939.
Timeline
1923 - Alfred Robert Grindlay and Edward Peerless form Grindlay Peerless
1923 - Grindlay Peerless 1000cc V-twin flagship model released
1924 - Grindlay Peerless 488cc single OHV model released
1925 - Grindlay Peerless 344cc, 346cc, 348cc and 499cc sleeve-value models released
1926 - Racer Bill Lacey begins winning regularly on a tuned 344cc
1927 - Manufacturing focuses on the more economical 344cc, 346cc and 488cc models and production of the sleeve-value models ceased
1927 - Bill Lacey wins a BrooklandsGold Star Award on a 498cc Grindlay Peerless
1928 - Grindlay Peerless 488cc model revised to 490cc and the Grindlay Peerless 677cc SV V-twin and 172cc two-stroke engines released
1928 - Bill Lacey sets the 500cc one-hour World and British record and 103.9 miles on a modified 498cc Grindlay Peerless
1929 - Grindlay Peerless 500cc 'Hundred' Model model released
1929 - Bill Lacey sets a new 500cc one-hour World and British record at 105.87pmh
1929 - Grindlay Peerless 490cc single OHV, 674cc single OHV and 750cc CV V-twin models released
1930 - Grindlay Peerless 196cc and 247cc two-stroke, 245cc OHV and a number of variants of the 490cc OHV models released
1931 - Produced with all V-twin engines ceased with single JAP engines retained temporarily before being replaced by Rudge-Whitworth Python engines for the 348cc 499cc models
1932 - Grindlay Peerless reduced their range of motorcycles to 3 models, the Tiger range, consisting of the light weight 250cc 'Tiger Cub', the mid range 499cc 'Tiger' and the top end 500cc 'Tiger Chief' and 'Tiger Chief TT' replica
1933 - Variants on the Grindlay Peerless Tiger range released
1934 - Grindlay Peerless limits motorcycle production and changes focus to other products
1939 - Grindlay and Peerless part company
The 'Hundred' Model
Following Bill Lacey's record beating ride in 1929, Grindlay Peerless created a small number of replica motorcycles for sale to the public. The 500cc 'Hundred' model had JAP speedway engines and Webb forks as opposed to Lacey's personally tuned, twin-port engine and Brompton forks, however each motorcycle was individually tuned by Lacey's own mechanic, Wal Philips, and sold with a certificate guaranteeing Lacey had personally lapped the machine at Brooklands at 100mph. Of the 6 replicas produced only 2 are known to have survived.
Technological Advances
Grindlay Peerless adopted the use of sleeve-valve motors, a type of four-stroke engine more frequently used to power early aircraft, rather than the traditional side-valve engine, meaning that pushrods, value springs, rockers and cams were no longer required. The value operated system allowed for the spark plug to be repositioned for maximum efficiency, and required far less maintenance than a side-valve engine.
