Sprite-UK/American Eagle-USA /Alron-AUST

[firko]

Pre '70 American Eagle 250. This bike is a little over restored in that typical American way and has an aftermarket radial head, quite possible an ACK item made for some other brand of bike, possibly a Yamaha.
             
             

[JC]

1974 American Eagle 125 MX
This bike is rare because it was expensive and bad.... The Zundapp power plant is strong but the bike is clunky and doesnt handle very well.

Hmmm, I've often wondered about the handling & the negative effect of the very short swingarm & the backbone consisting largely of 2 small tubes to the steering head on the early Sprite frames. Even the fastback frames still have the very short swingarm but are much better designed in the backbone.

[firko]

1974 American Eagle 125 MX
This bike is rare because it was expensive and bad.... The Zundapp power plant is strong but the bike is clunky and doesnt handle very well.

Methinks this bloke is offering an opinion based on a reputation fed by the biased yellow press of the day. Alan and I have spoken at length to a couple of Americans who race American Eagles in vintage motocross today and they are adament that the early frame doesn't feel any different to the later version on the track and that with decent shocks and well set up forks handle very well and turn much better than the Husky of the period. The fact that the basic pre Fastback frame lasted for 6 years almost unchanged and hosted so many different engines and were very popular in the UK must give them some positive spin. Terry Challinor, the great British vintage racer rode works 360 Husky/Sprite in 1966 and said in an interview 20 years later that he had fond memories of the bike. I've also spoken to Brian Clarkson at length and will be doing a full interview with him in the very near future and he swears that handling was the least of the Alrons worries. He reckons they weren't much different to a Husky to ride and definitely felt lighter.

[firko]

Pre '70 American Eagle 405
       

[JC]

Nice pics Mark

Methinks this bloke is offering an opinion based on a reputation fed by the biased yellow press of the day.

Sounded to me like he rode it himself & formed his opinion from that. No doubt the early design  w the weird backbone could be improved upon, as it was in the fastback models. Both Roger Weir & Mitch said the Alrons handled well too. 125 engine looks too far forward in the A-E frame, but bigger-bore models look 'right' wrt frame geometry, ergonomics, wt dist  etc.

Have just discovered another 'offspring' - 73 Tryan 400. Will try to post pics shortly & yes, its a rebadged Sprite that was apparently sold by Mitsubishi motors as a Tyran. One previous owner claims the taper on the sprocket didn't match that of the shaft = frequently sheared key. Ah the Brit QC of the day!

[firko]

Have just discovered another 'offspring' - 73 Tyran 400. Will try to post pics shortly & yes, its a rebadged Sprite that was apparently sold by Mitsubishi motors as a Tyran

The Tyran was a model name for the American Eagle as was Talon, Renagade, Cherokee etc. You know how Americans just loved to give models flash names rather than the simpler way of the rest of the world. Mitsubishi Motors took over the distributorship of American Eagle after the McCormick Corporation went belly up.  Alan has a Tyran 125 but it's a rebadged Wassel. They were also marketed in the USA as the Penton Mudlark. The 405 Tyran differed to the American Eagle only in that the American Eagle logo wasn't embossed into the cases, it's more akin to the Alron and BVM........yet another mystery needing further investigation.
                                   

[JC]

Presumably there was a 250 version of the Tyran too??

The 125 Tyran/Wassell got very poor reviews in the press of the day, in both trials & MX versions, but of course its not of the Sprite family

[VMX247]

Today's effort from the above posts shows once again, one can produce many offspring     

Got the below in the mail from UK and also the Spares and Machines Cataloge for the Sprite 1966 and 1967.
frames available in 250 30 pd and 500 35pd and the tanks in 1966 came in Red White,Blue or Green 6pd 19 shillings and in 1967 Red Green,off white 6pd 19 shillings - plus a truck load of other parts available,most important Villiers maintenance manual 

[JC]

Hope this works. Pics of Tyran 400. Very Spritely! (Like the Alron, these were badged 400s not 405s as you can see)

[firko]

I'm intrigued by the full width hubs on the bike in the ad for the 360 A-E at the top of the page. I thought they all had conical REH hubs but it seems there was an earlier hub. Just when I think I'm getting a grip on the progression of these bikes, something else sticks comes along to bugger the plan.

[Freakshow]

What are the rear hubs and front conicals originally off ?

[Freakshow]

[Freakshow]

[Freakshow]

[firko]

What are the rear hubs and front conicals originally off ?

Freaky, they're generic REH hubs which were used by a variety of British small manufacturers. They're very similar to Rickman hubs and are well sought after by pre 65 builders as they have a reputation for being equal to the conical Yamaha front hub for stopping power. They're getting a bit overpriced these days though, the hub shown below sold for $212US on eBay with 12 guys chasing it.
Thanks for posting the Alron review, good stuff and full of the wonderful bullshit that Ron Lyon fed to the press. The "news" that they were going to manufacture engines in Australia is a doozy.