1920 Coventry-Eagle with 2.75 hp JAP four-stroke engineRider on a Coventry-Eagle in, Australia, circa 1935. The machine has a pressed steel frame; Villiers two-stroke engine; and twin exhausts.
Coventry-Eagle was a British bicycle and motorcycle manufacturer. Established as a Victorian bicycle maker, the company began under the name of Hotchkiss, Mayo & Meek. The company name was changed to Coventry Eagle in 1897 when John Meek left the company .[1] By 1898 they had begun to experiment with motorised vehicles and by 1899, had produced their first motorcycle. The motorcycles were hand built from components and finished carefully, Coventry-Eagle motorcycles proved reliable and by the First World War the range included Villiers Engineering and JAP engines.[2]
In the early 1920s, Coventry-Eagle changed its models, depending on what engines were available. It swapped between five engine manufacturers: Villiers; JAP; Sturmey-Archer; Blackburne; and Matchless.[3] The model Flying 8 bore a resemblance to the contemporary Brough Superior. During the depression of the 1930s, the company concentrated on producing two-strokes. Production continued until the start of the Second World War in 1939.[4]
In the 1930s they had launched a range of sporting bikes under the "Falcon" brand. After the war, and not of a scale to continue competitive motorcycle manufacture, the company concentrated on their racing bicycles. It was under this marque that the company relaunched itself as Falcon Cycles, now a division of Tandem Group.
Models
Model
Year
Comments
269 cc
1913
Villiers-powered two-speed
3.5 hp
1913
Single
5 hp
1914
Three-speed V-twin
500 cc single
1921
680 cc V-Twin
1921
JAP engine
Flying 8
1923
8 hp Super Sports Twin
1923
Flying 6
1927
674 cc side-valve twin
150 cc
1935
Coventry Eagle twin-port two-stroke and with a left-hand gear change and Albion gearbox
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