P & P v twin

Below the flyer for the 1925 ohv JAP v-twin Packman and Poppe racing 1000cc v twin. A formidable looking machine of which (as far as I am aware) there are no survivors.

Happily several P & P machines do however survive with different engines fitted, apparently there was just the one frame design which would take anything from a small sidevalve up to this beast of a JAP twin.

P & P have an interesting, if chequered history. The bikes have several distinctive features, notably an early use of a fully duplex cradle frame and the fact that the rear wheel bearings are hung in the frame rather than the wheel itself. The company was founded by Gilmour Packman and Erling Poppe and bikes were produced from 1922 up until 1930.

Packman was unfortunately killed in 1925 in an argument with a salesman when he stopped off at the company offices on the way to the TT. Later in the year the factory was destroyed in a fire. In 1926 the company was sold to John Wooler of Wooler motorcycles fame.

Erling Poppe later went on to design the Sunbeam S7 in line twin.

Flyer for the 1925 v twin racing model
P & P.