Bob Foster Run 2023

Many years have passed since I last went over to a Bob Foster Run despite it being on my doorstep. The Bob Foster is organised by the Dorset Section of the Velocette Owners Club and has been running for donkeys years. I used to spectate it as a child, that's how old it is.

Obviously Velocettes are the favoured mounts of the day but anything goes. My Velocette went to pastures new a little while back but as I was only able to spectate having not been organised enough to get my entry in sufficiently in advance I chugged into the car park on the Enfield Himalayan.

Lots of Velos.

Still black and gold so fits in nicely...

This Ariel Arrow / Honda CD185 Benly hybrid created
a lot of interest. It was nicely done and looked right.

Horiel Barrow? Aronda Arrly?

LE Velocette street spot

Seeing old bikes at shows and runs is nice but I always like to see them being used for what they were made for. Here's a LE Velocette spotted recently outside Poole Hospital. I think it is a MkII 200cc hand change and start version.

LE Velocette in active service.

Charlie Lucas Motorcycles

The inspiration for this article - my Charlie Lucas
Royal Enfield.

Not many enthusiasts will recognise the name of Charlie Lucas and be aware of the motorcycles he produced through the fifties. There is virtually nothing in print about his work and equally little on the internet, his bikes may be only a side note in post war British motorcycling history but are certainly worthy of remembering.

Charlie Lucas was an aircraft engine inspector from Watford and his passion was building motorcycles, more specifically individually designed motorcycle frames. How many frames were produced over the years is unknown but he appears to have been quite prodigious for a part-time builder.

From his home workshop immediately after World War Two Charlie Lucas began making grass track frames. At some point in the early fifties his interest switched to making road racing bikes.

The best known and perhaps most successful machine that Lucas was involved with was the MELEM special which was built in 1953 and was powered by a 250cc DOHC Manx Norton engine in a featherbed style frame fitted with Earles forks, Albion gearbox, Manx Norton front brake and EMC rear. The MELEM special achieved a thirteenth position in the 1954 Lightweight TT.

The MELEM Special

Lucas also made a series of Velocette engined race bikes (apparently all fitted with 'cut down' 250cc MkVIII engines).

Although not verified it is quite possible that Charlie Lucas built frames for the series of Velocette racers produced by Doug Beasley in the early fifties. These machines were raced by Beasely himself as well as Eric Pantlin, Percy Tait and Cecil Sandford.

One of the Beasely Velocettes. Possibly a Charlie
Lucas frame. The design is certainly very similar.

A feature of many of the Lucas bikes was Earles forks and variations of this design. Charlie also experimented with low profile framed bikes.

Apologies for the terrible quality of this image.
It is a 350cc Lucas Velo from 1952. There was also
a 250cc built at the same time which was possibly
fitted with a modified Rudge engine and had the
rear suspension units mounted beneath the engine
a la Moto Guzzi of the period.

Another Lucas Velocette, this one a 250cc. This machine
embodies several of Lucas' themes - note the leading
link forks fitted with an unusual tension spring unit
behind the wheel. Also note the low profile of the machine.

Sorry, another bad quality image! This is the above
bike in build stage, the image comes from a copy
of Motor Cycling magazine from 1955.

After the series of road racing machines Charlie Lucas turned his attentions back to grass track racing and resumed production of frames for that discipline. It is not known when exactly this was but some time around 1960 is a good estimate. An article at the time gave Lucas' reason for moving back to grass track as there being less work in a grass track machine, a greater and more readily available choice of engines for the discipline yet the sport was popular enough to provide a ready market for frames. Another reason given was that competition in road racing had become ever more serious. The early and mid fifties indeed was a heyday for the small scale amateur constructor in road racing, particularly in the 250 class, one that was largely forgotten by the bigger manufacturers.

Below are images of several of the surviving Lucas machines:

Again my Charlie Lucas Royal Enfield 500 twin.

And the Charlie Lucas Royal Enfield as first built.
Sadly no more is known of its history as of yet. The
engine cases are devoid of numbers and the gearbox
is an ultra rare close ratio racing one. Both of which
suggest if not actual Royal Enfield factory involvement
then perhaps someone who had close contact with or
worked at Royal Enfield.

This sweet little Lucas framed bike is in regular use
and currently sports a Ducati Monza Junior motor
which suits it nicely. Early history is unknown but
in its time it once had a BSA Sunbeam 250cc twin
scooter engine fitted.

Easy to mistake this as just another Triton but it is
in fact Charlie Lucas frame number 24. At one
time it had an NSU 250cc engine fitted. It sports
an NSU front wheel and an EMC rear.

Images used in this article are from myself, cribbed from the internet and from personal contacts. Most have appeared elsewhere but if I have unwittingly used an image without permission or consent please let me know and I will take down or acknowledge.

The glory of spring

Late spring as when the bluebells are in full bloom is unquestionably my favourite time of the year. The blanket of purple blue flowers in the local woodlands is something to behold. The vibrant blanket of sweet smelling bluebells combined with the tang of wild garlic in flower interspersed with a smattering of wood anenomies and wild daffodils is one of life's finest genteel pleasures.

I always make it a mission come bluebell season to get out on two wheels and make a tour of the finest local spots. This year the Velocette was pressed into service and the display was spectacular.

Moto Legendes Montlhery 1999

I was digging through some old pictures recently and came across these two. From memory it was back in 1999 when the Moto Legendes event was still being held at the Montlhery Autodrome near Paris, before it moved to Dijon Prennois.

My father and I rode down from Cherbourg, stayed at the circuit for a couple of days and then rode home again, all in glorious weather. I was riding my '58 350cc Bullet that I had ridden back home from India a year or so previously and my father his '56 Velocette Venom. We both still have both bikes, the Venom is on the road, though, to my shame, the Bullet has been garage bound for quite a few years. I rebuilt the motor after a big end fail but got the crank alignment slightly out and it vibrated slightly too much. I lost heart with it and tucked it away and forgot about it for too long. Hopefully it's going to be resurrected soon.

On the way to Montlhery with '58 Royal Enfield
and '56 Velocette. Though the Velocette is nominally
a lot quicker bike for touring they were quite well matched.

And camping inside the Autodrome at Montlhery.

Thirties sketches

This series of sketches was a lucky find in a small box of pre-war literature that I picked up recently. Sadly the condition is a little poor, looks like the proverbial book worm has had a good old nibble at some of the sheets.

Velocette looking fly

I picked up this sweet little Manx style fly screen recently. It had been fitted to a Velo previously. Sadly though when I tried it out it turned out to have been a Velo with a quite different headlight from mine. Undeterred I set about modifying and this is the result. I wanted to tilt the screen back a bit. With a plain round hole for the headlight rim it wants to sit pretty much bolt upright. It looked a bit odd that way so I set to with a jigsaw. It's quite hard to imagine, draw and cut a suitable elipse on a flyscreen that will give the right angle of lean. I'm fairly happy with the outcome, just don't look too closely at the cut - rubber trim can however hide a whole range of sins... 

Woodhead Monroe Shock Absorbers

The brochure for Woodhead Monroe shock absorbers. Woodhead Monroe units were fitted as standard to Velocettes up to 1962 and as far as I know Velo were the only manufacturer to fit them as OEM.

Woodhead Monroes are a quality unit but they cannot have got much volume of sales through Velocette alone so must have had to rely on aftermarket fitments.

Sunbeam Model 80

A great action photo this one, in an unknown race a Sunbeam Model 80 is ahead of a Velocette KTT. Looks like the Sunbeam is a 1929 model. Some nice details, look at the very unusual streamlined nosepiece goggles the Sunbeam pilot is sporting. Several of the spectators are in motorcycling kit and all wear wear hats a la mode of the day.

1929 Sunbeam Model 80.