File:Flickr - ronsaunders47 - PANTHER . 500 CC SINGLE. UK.jpg

Panther motorcycles The first Panther was launched in 1924, but the Phelon & Moore name was not dropped until somewhere around 1929.

In 1932 the Panther Model 100, an OHV 600 cc single, was launched and this was produced through to the sixties, ending its run as the 645 cc Panther Model 120 of 1967. This line of Panthers was the most famous of all Phelon & Moore models.[6]

These heavyweight big single-cylinder "slopers" were often described as "firing once every lamp-post" due to their slow RPM. Promoted as "The Perfected Motorcycle" they were noted for innovation for most of their history. Panthers were often used for hauling sidecars, a role in which the high torque output of a high capacity single cylinder engine with its large flywheels was well suited, but the popularity of sidecar outfits eventually waned.[7]

The combination of the advent of cheap cars and the collapse of the British motorcycle industry brought production to an end. They are simple and fairly robust machines which inspire enormous enthusiasm in their owners. These factors, combined with relatively low cost, have resulted in a fair number of Panthers being still in use.

Phelon & Moore also produced a range of lightweight machines, also generally carrying the name Panther or Red Panther, using their own four-stroke single engines and Villiers two-stroke engines. The Red Panther was famous for being the cheapest complete bike available in the thirties, priced at a fraction under 30 English Pounds.[8] In 1934 a 250 cc Red Panther won the Maudes Trophy.

The early postwar models (both lightweight and heavyweight) were fitted with air/oil damped Dowty “Oleomatic” telescopic forks