1913 BAT No2 Light Roadster

BAT

1913

£73.0.0

770cc

About the 1913 BAT No2 Light Roadster

Some authorities insist that the Bat name is derived from the sales

slogan, “Best After Tests”, but that is not so. In fact the name stems from the founder of the company, Mr. S.R. Batson, who held the reins for the first few years before selling out to the Tessier family and going off to start another business dealing in office equipment. By 1913,

the Bat design was looking distinctly old-fashioned (it looked even more so in the early 1920s, and the merger with aircraft makers, Martinsyde, failed to stop the rot, manufacture ceasing in 1924).

The standard No.2 model featured Bat’s own two-speed countershaft gearbox, and a peculiar linked springing system of saddle and footboards, but an alternative specification (without the supplementary springing) allowed for belt drive and an Armstrong three-speed rear hub.

SPECIFICATION

76 x 85mm = 770cc JAP side-valve V-twin engine, 5/6 nominal

horsepower. Cast iron cylinders and heads, compression ratio not recorded. Bat 2 speed gearbox. Bat pivoted-loop front fork. Diamond frame. Tyres 21⁄2 x 26in., beaded edge. Wheelbase 54in. Dry weight 220lbs. Price new £73.0.0. 3 speed rear hub £2 extra.

MANUFACTURER

Bat Motor Manufacturing Co. Ltd., 2 Kingswood Road, Penge, Surrey.