Setter was the eventual brand name of a Valencian brand of motorcycles and mopeds manufactured in Elche (Elx in Valencian), from the beginning of the 1950s until the end of the 1960s. The company had been founded by Miguel Santonja Santonja after he had seen an increasing demand for bicycles and mopeds in his area.
He had the idea of mounting an independent engine onto a bicycle frame and, by means of a contact roller transmission system, turning them into small mopeds. These early engines were marketed under the Santonja brand name. The Santonja independent engine units were successful, and they graduated to manufacturing complete small motorcycles and mopeds under that brand name, which was later changed to Setter.
In addition to the contact roller system, other drive methods were produced and the BH cycle (above and below) was fitted with a Setter engine driving a belt to a supplementary disc on the rear wheel.
This bike is part of the extensive collection of auxiliary engines assembled by Josep Iglesias Fabrega and on display in his Museum “Bicicletes de FOC” in Mola, Catalonia.
By now, their premises at Calle Maximilia Thous, 31, Elche, had circa 30 workers at the start of the 1950s and their annual output ranged between 250 and 400 machines.
This 1959 M59 74cc motorcycle was photographed at the Museo de la Motocicleta Española, 28802 Alcalá de Henares (Madrid)
For many years, the company also designed and produced motorcycles for the RMH brand – the RMH (Rafael Mira e Hijos) being named for their distributor in Valencia. The RMH were supplied as either a 125cc or 200cc model and were fitted with the Hispano Villiers 10M or 6M engines. In addition, they designed and produced a small engine for the Ducson brand based in Mollet del Vallès, to the north of Barcelona. .
Their own models were diverse and utilised a range of engine capacities of 44cc, 49cc, 60cc, 74cc and 125cc and production totalled around 7,000 units.
This restored/preserved 1953 example of the 60cc Velomotor was in the Museu Sala Team at Manresa when I photograhed it in 2021 but the museum has now closed.
Setter enjoyed sucess in both National and Regional competitions, particularly in the 75cc class.
This advert/result is taken from the La Rioja newspaper dated 25/04/1960 and was downloaded from the Biblioteca Virtual de Prensa Histórica (BVPH)**.
**BVPH works are offered under CC-BY 4.0 license (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
At the end of the 1960s, production stopped due in part to the virtual collapse of the motorcycle sector and the added issues created by the change in regulations on moped engine capacities.
This advert is taken from the program for the Festa d’Elx and was downloaded from the Biblioteca Virtual de Prensa Histórica (BVPH)**.
**BVPH works are offered under CC-BY 4.0 license (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ )
This 1962 publicity document was downloaded from http://www.cartelmotor.com
Spanish Motorcycles 