PART-4 (1949-1952)
Year 1949 brought forth a completely modernized Sparta program. The rear suspension became more popular, and Sparta didn’t want to stay behind so they developed a plunger rear suspension with double spiral springs and rubber pads. A telescopic fork replaced the parallelogram configuration fork, while the drum brakes became equipped with axles. Also new was a “glide seat” filled with sponge rubber. Except for the bores the 125-cc and the 200-cc Villiers didn’t differ much from the others.
The lighter model had no battery, but had an electric horn and the headlight diameter was somewhat smaller. The tire size of the lighter model was half a thumb narrower than the 300 x 19 of the 200-cc. These two Sparta’s were a common phenomenon on the streets of Holland for years. They were sturdy, reliable and got reasonable gas consumption. The 125-cc went for F995.00 in 1950 and the 200-cc went for F1195.00 (Dutch guilders).
In 1951 Sparta began to get into the popular 250-cc “quart liter” class. A 250-cc dual port Victoria two stroke was introduced. This 9 horsepower power plant was equipped with 4 gears, battery ignition with a DC generator and an odometer built into the headlight. It was also considered to be highly adaptable for attaching a sidecar. Sparta’s fame also traveled beyond the Dutch border. The Netherlands had relatively limited sales capabilities for products of its own industry and it was Sparta who used these insights for creating an export policy, in which turn saved the company quite a bit in production costs. In this way many Sparta’s were exported to different countries, and in Sweden they sold under the name Svecia.
Especially, the 200-cc Villiers model did very well in Scandinavia, Indonesia and Portugal. Countries like Venezuela, South Africa, Brazil, Angola, Cyprus, plus some seven other countries were quite taken in by these motorcycles produced in Holland. Holland’s neighbor Germany during the war confiscated most of the heavy machinery used for production. As a result, the factory had to be refitted after the war. One good thing to come from this was the fact that they could rebuild and equiped themselves with modern production technology.
In 1952, thanks to this “streamlining” a motorcycle could be produced in a matter of minutes. A 125-cc model rolled off of the production line in 15-minutes, a 200-cc model in 17-minutes, while Sparta’s 250-cc was finished in 18-minutes !
In the early 50’s the scooter became popular and Sparta introduced a 98-cc model utilizing a Villiers block. This rubber block suspension model (the cycle section) was also used for a model moped.