The Douglas Dragonfly is a

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruising ...

designed and built by

Douglas motorcycles Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals *Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking *Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil W ...

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. The last motorcycle produced by the company, the 1955 Dragonfly was an all-new motorcycle built to use an improved version of an existing engine. Despite its riding comfort, which was "equal to a car's", it did not sell well, and only 1,457 Dragonfly motorcycles were produced before the company was taken over and production ended in 1957.Very few Douglas motorcycles survive today making it one of the rarest motorcycles for collectors.

History

After World War II Douglas was in financial difficulty and reduced its output to the 350 cc

flat-twin engine A flat-twin engine is a two-cylinder internal combustion engine with the cylinders on opposite sides of the crankshaft. The most common type of flat-twin engine is the boxer-twin engine, where both pistons move inwards and outwards at the same ti ...

models. The flat twin had been the Douglas trademark since 1906 and had a long history of

Isle of Man TT The Isle of Man TT or Tourist Trophy races are an annual motorcycle racing event run on the Isle of Man in May/June of most years since its inaugural race in 1907. The event is often called one of the most dangerous racing events in the world ...

racing successes.

Development

The Dragonfly was known as the ''Dart'' while in development and was based on the Mark V Douglas and an earlier prototype. Aiming to overcome the outdated image, designers were commissioned from the Reynolds Tube Company to develop a completely new open duplex frame of welded tubing, including a swinging arm with twin Girling dampers (state of the art for the time) with leading link front suspension. The strengthened and streamlined engine had a modern coil ignition, AC generator and

distributor A distributor is an enclosed rotating switch used in spark-ignition internal combustion engines that have mechanically timed ignition. The distributor's main function is to route high voltage current from the ignition coil to the spark plug ...

, with bolt-through cast iron cylinders and heads and

pushrods A valvetrain or valve train is a mechanical system that controls the operation of the intake and exhaust valves in an internal combustion engine. The intake valves control the flow of air/fuel mixture (or air alone for direct-injected engines) ...

made from Duralumin.

Launch

The launch of the Dragonfly was the last chance of survival for the Douglas company when it featured at the 1954

Earls Court Earl's Court is a district of Kensington in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in West London, bordering the rail tracks of the West London line and District line that separate it from the ancient borough of Fulham to the west, the ...

motorcycle show in a big display held in a giant

micrometer Micrometer can mean: * Micrometer (device), used for accurate measurements by means of a calibrated screw * American spelling of micrometre The micrometre ( international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; ...

. Although it aroused a lot of interest, Douglas' finances did not allow them to exploit demand and the Dragonfly did not go into volume production for nine months.

Decline

As well as suffering from production delays, the Dragonfly was bigger and heavier than its predecessors and its raw power was too difficult to handle for most riders. It was also noisy and acceleration was rather unpredictable. Douglas decided to concentrate on importing Vespa scooters which were increasing in popularity, and only 1500 Dragonfly motorcycles were ever built. The

Westinghouse Brake and Signal Company Ltd The Westinghouse Brake & Signal Company Ltd was a British manufacturer of rail transport, railroad signs. Founded by George Westinghouse, it was registered as "Westinghouse Brake Company" in 1881. The company reorganised in 1920, associating with ...

bought Douglas out in 1956, and production of Douglas Motorcycles ended in 1957 with the final Dragonflys being sold at discount by London dealer Pride & Clarke.

References

{{Reflist, 30em, refs= {{cite book, last=Brown , first=Roland , title=Classic Motorcycles, publisher=Joanna Lorenz, date=2002, isbn=1-84038-433-6 {{cite web , url=http://www.motorcycleclassics.com/motorcycle-reviews/1955-douglas-dragonfly.aspx?page=4, title=1955 Douglas Dragonfly , publisher=Motorcycle Classics , accessdate=2009-08-10 , date=November–December 2007 , first=Roland , last= Brown {{cite book , last1=Kemp , first1=Andrew , last2=De Cet, first2 =Mirco , title=Classic British Bikes , publisher=Bookmart Ltd , date=2004 , isbn=1-86147-136-X {{cite web , url=http://www.realclassic.co.uk/doug04022400.html, title=Douglas Dragonfly , accessdate=2008-10-25 Dragonfly Motorcycles introduced in 1955

History

Development

Launch

Decline

See also

References