Royal Ruby Motorcycles

As is typical of many firms of the time, the Royal Ruby Cycle Company started life in 1906 making bicycles. During their short life the company operated from various addresses: Oldham Road, Manchester (1906); Great Ancoats Street, Manchester (1912); Cannel Street, Ancoats, Manchester (c1914-1919); Altrincham (1919) and Oldham (1923).

Motorcycles were produced from 1909 and by 1915, Royal Ruby’s advertising showed that their range had expanded considerably and they were able to offer the following models in that year:

·           Lady’s Lightweight Model: Villiers, single cylinder, two-stroke engine

·           Lightweight Model: 269 c.c. Villiers 2.5 h.p., single cylinder, two-stroke engine, single gear

·           Lightweight Model: 2.5 h.p. J.A.P. single cylinder, four-stroke engine

·           Models “D” (touring) and “E”: J.A.P. 3.5 to 4 h.p. J.A.P. engine, 3-speed, priced at 54 guineas

·           Model “G”: 3, 4 or 5 h.p. twin, 3-speed, 65 to 69 guineas

·           Model “H”: 6 or 8 h.p. twin, 3-speed £73 guineas.

With one model in their range specifically aimed at women it was not surprising that they managed to get a picture of this machine and its lady rider published in The Motor Cycle magazine for 14 October 1915.

A further example of women riders using Royal Ruby machines comes from a picture published in The Motor Cycle on 28 October in the same year, featuring two sisters each owning a Royal Ruby (note that their machines have sequential number plates: AO-2805 and AO-2806).

There is evidence at this time that the Royal Ruby factory were experimenting with front and rear leaf springs, firstly from a report of a visit to the factory by The Motor Cycle in November 1915 and again in an article devoted to rear springs published a year later in November 1916 (the creator being named as Mr. G. E. Rigby). This spring design made it into production and appears in their advertisement in the 1919 Olympia Cycle and Motor Cycle Show catalogue (although without any illustration).

Examining the Olympia Motor Cycle show catalogues confirms that Royal Ruby first appeared at Olympia in 1913 and then after World War I in 1919, 1920 and 1921. During the war income came from munitions work – but it seems that the seeds of the company’s demise were sown in 1916 with a large export order for motorcycles from the Imperial Russian Army. The bikes were produced, but payment may have been disrupted by the 1917 revolution. Despite this, the company made a heavy investment from 1919 in a new factory in Altrincham, where production restarted in 1921. The motorcycles were fitted with the new front and rear leaf springs but were now very expensive, and at some time during the 1920s the company went into liquidation. The name was sold to Albert Horrocks of Bolton, who developed new motorcycles under the Royal Ruby name and sold them until the early 1930s. The last Royal Ruby motorcycles were said to have been assembled from spare parts up to 1933.