Dot Cycle and Motor Manufacturing Company

The Dot Cycle and Motor Manufacturing Company was established by Harry Reed in Salford, Lancashire, a city near Manchester, England, in 1903.

After Reed's departure from the company in 1925, Sawyer oversaw further success for the Dot marque in competition, but with the onset of the 1930s depression production slowed and ceased in 1932.

The "Trials Scrambler" was introduced in 1951, and in a short time riders of the calibre of Bill Barugh and Terry Cheshire and hundreds of club riders had realised that such nimble lightweight machines had the beating of the larger machines previously predominant in the sport, and ushered in the modern lightweight competition bikes.

Further, the demise of their main engine supplier, Villiers, and the increasing number of foreign imports, spelled the end of large scale production.

Burnard Wade developed and marketed motor cycle suspension units, sold spares and undertook general engineering work to keep the company viable, but always hoped to return to motorcycle manufacture.

In 1978 he revealed a new design of machine for clubman use, but few were built, as the time had passed when a small factory like Dot could compete against the large Japanese mass producers.

The Dot factory still exists at Ellesmere Street, opposite St. George's Church in Hulme, Manchester, and the company produces and sells a range of spares for postwar machines.