Coventry Eagle

I've just purchased a 1940 Coventry Eagle twinport motorcycle, one of the last ever made, so I can bring a bit of Coventrys motorcycling heritage back home where it belongs, and I have a few questions about where exactly it was made. Does anyone on here have any idea where the Coventry Eagle factory was on the Foleshill Road or have any photos of it?

Steve looking at a 1937 map it was just up from the Harnall Lane West junction - on what's now scrub land here. Appropriately it was opposite what's now the Hawk Factory Cycle outlet.

So it was basically where the old council depot use to be then? For some reason I thought it was on the other side of the road but I get the feeling Eagle Street always made me think it was by there Does anyone know of any photos of the area pre war?

I bought a new Coventry Eagle pushbike in 1959. I wonder if this has any connection with the factory you mention.

If it's a 1959 bike it would have been made by the same company not long before they moved out of Coventry and became Falcon cycles, but from their factory in Tile Hill as the one in Bishopgate and their other factory in Lincoln Street were both destroyed in the blitz. There is still the odd Coventry Eagle pushbike made but it's usually just a shadow of what the bikes use to be.

Here she is, although she's still down in Dorset at the minute waiting her return to her birthplace. I'm actually considering loaning it to the motor museum so people can see a piece of Coventry history.

You're a lucky man Steve, and I hope to see you buzzing round Cov on it before it becomes a museum piece, I ride my 1964 Triumph Tiger 100 regularly as it's my only transport and find folks taking photos of it when it's parked up.

You just know I'm going to have to ride it about a bit, even if the hand gear change is a bit intimidating She's all road legal and is just in a very "original" condition. I can see her looking stunning when she's all cleaned up and has the brass bits all polished up. She should be back in Cov next Saturday probably for the first time in 72 years. Where did you find an old Tiger? That's a cool little bike.

Mine was a bucket of bits when I got her but I've owned her for 29 years and it's never let me down. I had a broken Renold chain on Boxing Day that had only done 3000 miles from new, if it had been a Coventry made chain it would have lasted forever but I will never buy another French made Renold chain again. BTW I can't count that as the bike letting me down

Well that's what you get for using French spares instead of proper bits You can't beat local made machinery, shame the council doesn't feel the same way and promote Coventry's industrial heritage properly. Surely more tourists would = more money in the local economy?

Cracking bike, Steve I have always fancied something made in Coventry by Cov lads. Would love an old Cov bike to try to do up.

You can get a Francis Barnett in restorable condition for a song at the moment, just make sure you get one from before the factory was closed by the ring road being built on the site and they moved out of Cov. Spares parts for them are still real easy to get hold of and quite cheap.

Hi, new to this site but hope someone can help. Does anyone know the make or original style of saddle for a 1940 Coventry Eagle Auto-ette autocycle. Need a new one or a good used one would be fine. Also can anyone confirm that Levis supplied a 148cc engine for a 1932 Silent Superb built to Coventry Eagle design. Many thanks, Bud.

They did a 147cc. Google it, plenty of info' there.