Official 1956 AJS Motocross Bikes Catalogue
AJ Stevens and Company, (AJS) motorcycles had it’s beginnings in Wolverhampton, England in 1909. Four brothers named Albert John, George, Harry and Jack Stevens produced their first model in 1910. It was a conventional motorcycle with a two-speed 292cc side-valve engine.
Official 1956 AJS Motocross Bikes Catalogue
In 1948 AJS produced the 7R which was used in early motocross scrambles and still remains one of the most popular models of motorcycles ever produced by AJS. Hugh Viney of Great Britain was a famous rider in the 1940s that raced the 7R in scrambles and the International Six Days Trial. Other famous riders like the Swedish Bill Nilsson and Geoff Ward rode AJS motorcycles.
In 1967 AJS was bought by the Norton Villiers Group. Norton decided to build their own line of motorcycles with their very competitive 250 Starmaker engine as a base. Villiers plans included a range of scramblers to be produced. Cotton motorcycles were Villiers’ main customers since 1962 for the 250 starmaker engines, so Cotton was naturally involved in the development of the Starmaker engine mainly impart to Cotton’s engineer, Fluff Brown. Fluff Brown was a scrambles style rider, and worked chiefly with all the scrambles projects and riders.
From 1966 to 1968, the AJS “Stormer” motocross bike was being developed by Villiers. A special project was started in 1967 with the Stormer line of motorcycles. 4 Stormer mx bikes were constructed at Marston Road. Three of the bikes were equipped with 250cc engines and branded as AJS, the 4th motorcycle was a 360cc branded as a Matchless that was really 334cc and the only 2-stroke Matchless made. The Royal Air Force motor sports association took the 4 bikes and entered them in the 1968 ISDT. Malcolm Davis won the British 250cc championship on pre-Stormer Y4 scrambler in 1968.
AJS scramblers were built from 1968 until 1974 in sizes 250cc, 370cc, and 410cc. The early 250s were designated as the Y4. In 1969 the Y5 370cc was introduced and changed names to Stormer. The 410cc was introduced in 1972. Under the competition manager of Fluff Brown, famous British riders Andy Roberton, Vic Eastwood, Malcom Davis, and Roger Harvey further popularized the AJS Stormer line of motocross motorcycles.
Fluff Brown purchased the rights to the AJS Stormer motorcycle from Norton Villiers in 1974 and moved the business to Goodworth Clatford, a village in Hampshire, England. Fluff built scrambles and trials bikes that were modified from AJS stock parts until 1980. In the early 1980s Fluff Brown made motocross and off road AJS bikes with 250cc, 410 cc, and 495cc Rotax engines.
