Vintage Photographs from Inside the Lewis Cycle and Motor Works Factory _ Aus

In 1900, Lewis Cycle Works made the leap from bicycles to motor driven vehicles with the creation of the Lewis motor car. Built in-house, the company soon realized that there would be no profit in hand-built cars, when they could be more easily and cheaply imported from other countries. The solution was to use their expertise in producing bicycles to start producing motorcycles. Within a year, they had already unveiled their first prototype. This first "motorcycle" was nothing more than a bicycle fitted with a Minerva clip-on motor, but it was a step in the right direction.

Vintage Photographs from Inside the Lewis Cycle and Motor Works Factory

The photographs below were taken between 1904 and 1906 at the Lewis Cycle and Motor Works factory in Adelaide, during a time of rapid development for the Lewis motorcycle. Here you can see how the bicycle evolved into a motorcycle and how much work went into producing motorcycles at the turn of the century.

Vintage Photographs from Inside the Lewis Cycle and Motor Works Factory

 

Vintage Photographs from Inside the Lewis Cycle and Motor Works Factory

 

Vintage Photographs from Inside the Lewis Cycle and Motor Works Factory

 

Vintage Photographs from Inside the Lewis Cycle and Motor Works Factory

 

Vintage Photographs from Inside the Lewis Cycle and Motor Works Factory

 

Vintage Photographs from Inside the Lewis Cycle and Motor Works Factory

 

Vintage Photographs from Inside the Lewis Cycle and Motor Works Factory

 

Vintage Photographs from Inside the Lewis Cycle and Motor Works Factory

 

Vintage Photographs from Inside the Lewis Cycle and Motor Works Factory

 

Vintage Photographs from Inside the Lewis Cycle and Motor Works Factory

 

 

 

 

(via Riding Vintage)