Sadrian (Murcia 1955-1965)

Adrían Luis Viudes Romero, a local entrepreneur was born in Murcia in 1908. His father established a Ford dealership in 1914 in Murcia, Spain and after graduating in Law, Adrian spent some time in England before returning to Murcia and getting involved with motorcycles. by the 1930s, he was distributing DKW brand cars and added Rieju motorcycles to the dealership. He expanded again and added BJR and ISO motorcycles in the 1940s and Elig in the 1950s.

After the Spanish Civil War and WW2, Spain was still struggling economically. This led to the creation of several manufacturers of motorcycles and small three-wheelers as a solution for the need for increased mobility for the workforce.  In 1955, Senor Romero, with the help of his sons, decided to enter manufacturing with his own motorcycle and thus the Sadrian brand was born.

Sadrian produced one basic motorcycle model but with several options, marketed as either the T-17 or T-19 depending on the wheel sizes chosen.  The bikes featured a tubular steel frame, built in-house and reinforced with extra tubing at vital points.  The options included Hispano Villiers, air-cooled, single-cylinder, two-stroke engines of either 123cc or 197cc capacity with 3 speed gearboxes.   

This Sadrian 200cc motorcycle (above) was in the museum at the premises of Sala Team, a large car dealership in Manresa (Barcelona).  They had a small museum containing examples of the various makes and models that they had sold. The dealership has now closed and the collection has been dispersed.

The bikes were well-finished and gained a good reputation for their quality. In addition, Senor Romero was creative in his advertising and there is a famous picture of the Spanish Actress, Carmen Sevilla, sat astride a Sadrian.  By 1964, the rise in disposable income and the introduction of more affordable small cars – SEAT 600 and Citroen 2CV – led to a crisis in the motorcycle sector and a marked decrease in demand for motorcycles.  As a result of this, Sadrian had ceased production by 1965.

Sadrian produced a motocarro, based on the Hispano Villiers 197cc engine but I have only seen a line drawing of one and I am not aware whether any examples survive.

This advertisement is reproduced with the kind permission of the Lamaneta website http://www.lamaneta.com

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