Ducommun

A reader from Belgium points out that the Ducommun motorcycle from Alsace looks very similar to the 1901 Royal Enfield,

In the recreation of the 1901 Enfield model it was discovered that the engine was not a Minerva engine as usually claimed, but a Ducommun. The company was established in 1834 in Mulhouse, which changed hands between France and Germany throughout the years, manufacturing rolls for printing fabric and later electrical equipment. In 1900 they produced a bicycle engine that attached to the front wheel. There is not much information out there about the company at the time, and the experiment appears short-lived, venturing quickly into producing cars for a while.

Incredibly, their Paris depot, in 18 Blvd. Magenta, is now a Kawasaki Dealer. There is an unrelated American company of the same name.

2026 Royal Enfield OneRide, Portland, OR

Turning heritage into a growth strategy

All this is obvious to the readers of this blog, but it is nice to see an article recognizing how Royal Enfield has managed to turn its history into an important business asset. 

Domesday

 

The Domesday (or Doomsday) book is a record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed 20 years after William The Conqueror's takeover in 1066. 

Royal Enfield, obviously, did not exist back then. It turns out Redditch did not exist either. Bordesley Abbey only got built in 1138. Enfield, on the outskirts of London, did.

But three small settlements in the area of Redditch are listed. None of them covers the area where the main Royal Enfield factory in Hewell road was. However, two of the settlements have a connection.

Feckenham (Doomsday entry) still exists today. Moreover it is the site where factory number 4 was. Today it looks like a quaint little village near Redditch, but in the Domesday it appears to have been a powerhouse, it had 63 households, which puts it in the top 20% of listed places. Apparently a moat and some buried archaeological deposits dated to the 12th Century survive and they sit just in front of where the factory was!

Tardebigge (Doomsday entry) is to the northwest of the main factory. If you continue along Hewell road it branches out into several roads, if you follow Brockhill Dr., it eventually turns into Hewell Ln., and after a couple of miles you reach Tardebigge, which is a lock and wharf on the Worcester and Birmingham Canal. Although I found no records, I bet supplies for the factory were carried along the canal, especially in the late 1800's or perhaps in the precursor Givry Needle Works, which were started in 1851. There definitely are records of needles being exported through Tardebigge. A canal spur into Redditch was planned but never carried out due to the hilly terrain in between.

The third place named is Ipsley, it is to the east of Redditch center. Today it is mostly residential. I found no connection to Royal Enfield, except the Bullet Sculpture is really nearby.

The smartest Royal Enfield

In the Guerrilla 450 Apex : "What Royal Enfield changed instead was the relationship between the rider, front tire, and road, which matters a whole lot more once the corners arrive."