Original early Velocette Venom rev counter mount

 

Here's something to sort out the true rivet counters from the wannabees.

Personally I'm not massively bothered if something is exactly correct on a bike or not, as long as it looks right then it is good as far as I am concerned. If it is a massively rare or highly original piece of machinery then it would be a shame if it was wrong, but if it is one of many hundreds of examples out there in my mind it is good if it has a bit of individual character.

In the case of my '55 Venom I felt that in the case of one particular part what is actually original gives character as you won't see many of them out there. And the part in question? The rev counter mount..

The earlier Venoms were not offered in specific Clubmans spec as a separate model but there were a number of sporting options that could be chosen. A rev counter was one of these options. When a Smiths tacho was supplied as an option it came with a bracket that was made from the handlebar clamp from a set of Webb girder forks. The handlebar end of the clamp goes on to the bars and the smaller diameter side holds on to a short length of tube onto which is welded a flat plate drilled for the tacho to mount onto it. It is a slightly cumbersome arrangement that was correct through to (I believe) 1959. I have seen the same arrangement on Norton Dominators of the era and undoubtedly several other marques used the same fitting.

I am guessing that the early tacho fitting is so rare nowadays partly on account of it being rather ungainly and easy to upgrade to a later Thruxton style mount. I presume too that many bikes did not actually leave the factory with a rev counter and enthusiast owners upgraded machines later in life with parts that were current at the time.

When I became aware that this esoteric early bracket was correct for my bike I felt a yearning to find one. It has taken quite a long while (a couple of ebay near misses on the way stymied by too shallow pockets, or perhaps an unwillingness to go three figures for a little doodad) but whilst at the Stafford Show last October I found a chap who was making replica ones for Mk VIII Velos - actually the same part. And now several months later I have gotten round to fitting it, and very chuffed I am too. Behold.....

Proof for the doubters - this is from a 1958 road test.