PLUCKY BRIT

“The Great North Road wound away like a flat, steel-grey ribbon. Up it, with the sun and the wind behind them, two black specks moved swiftly. To the yokel in charge of the hay-wagon they were only two of “the dratted motorcyclists,” as they barked and zoomed past him in rapid succession. A little farther on, a family man, driving delicately with a two seater side car, grinned as the sharp rattle of the OHV Norton was succeeded by the feline shriek of an angry Scott Flying-Squirrel. He, too, in bachelor days, had taken a side in that perennial feud. He sighed regretfully as he watched the racing machines dwindle away northwards.”

Dorothy Sayers, The Fantastic Horror of the Cat in the Bag (1928)

The Scott motorcycle, the invention of an early mechanical engineer, was totally unlike any other motorcycle built in England, or, for that matter, just about anywhere. For starters, it was a water-cooled 2-stroke. Early gas tanks were drum shaped; later tanks were somewhat triangular, with the radiator squarely up front. Most Scotts were twins, with cylinders inclining forward. Somehow, this very unorthodox machine built an obsessively loyal following almost from the beginning of production. “From the TT wins.