Cotton Motorcycles

The Cotton Motorcycles company was founded in Gloucestershire England by Francis Willoughby in 1920 and produced motorcycles for over 60 year. Well known for its triangulated frame which had actually been patented well before any motorcycle production started.

The concept or idea of the triangulated frame, was that all the frame tubes would be straight and so be only subject to the forces of compression and tension. Also by being triangulated it would help to address any stress and direct it to the apex of any triangle.

The steering head or tube could then be supported by pairs of tubes running diagonally backwards to the rear axle. A wedge shaped petrol tank was then fitted for extra support and this basic Cotton design continued until the late 1930's when by this time Cotton had enjoyed a great many successes at the isle on man TT Races with the legendary Stanley Woods and star factory rider Fred Morgan .

Engines were a different matter and during the hard times and recession of the late twenties and early thirties Cotton were forced to offer their motorcycles powered by engines from other companies such as Jap and Blackburn.

With the outbreak of WW2 Cotton Motorcycles as a company temporarily closed down production, but re-opened during the post war years. The vintage triangulated Cotton frames had now become obsolete as the post-war market moved towards comfort and rear springing. So under a new management Cotton began offering small capacity Villiers engined two stroke machines, which sadly lacked investment and innovation, so were no better or any more exciting than their other rivals.

This lead Cotton motorcycle production to move away from their road models and gear up towards an all-competitions programme. However, the factory suffered badly when Villiers withdrew their engines, thus forcing Cotton to seek engines abroad. From the 1960's and 70's Cotton decided to concentrate on developing and producing off road and trials bikes, again with the later ones using an array of other manufacturers engines.

As with the majority of other British marques Cotton as a motorcycle company found it ever more difficult to compete against the Japanese onslaught. During the next ten years they moved premises several times in and around Gloucester before finally relocating to Bolton in 1978. They produced a good 250 cc racing machine fitted with a Rotax engine, which sadly they were unable to continue due to financial difficulties and closed down in 1980 being taken over by Armstrong.