The story
The tool and chain manufacturers Abingdon Engineering was founded in 1856 and started making motorcycles in 1903, when the industry was still very new, with engines from a number of manufacturers before the company developed their own Abingdon four-stroke 350 cc single and 794 cc V-twin engines, which were used by Ariel and Invicta. Much of the production was exported to the Commonwealth countries. One innovation introduced by Abingdon was the first telescopic shock absorber. Motorcycles of the day often had no front suspension or some form of springs, but Abingdon devised the "Abingdon Spring Fork", a coil sprung, telescopic shock absorber.
The First World War halted production but they continued in 1919 with the V-twin and 499 cc and 623 cc single cylinder motorcycles.
The company was renamed AKD (Abingdon King Dick) in 1926 and concentrated production on 147cc to 346cc single cylinder motorcycles until 1933, when they decided to concentrate on their successful range of "King Dick" mechanics' tools.
From Wikipedia’s article on Abingdon Motorcycles, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.3