Villiers 125cc Mark 10D engine

Brochure for the 122cc Villiers 10D motor as fitted to a number of British bikes including Norman, James, Commander, Tandon, Excelsior and OEC amongst others as well as to Bond Minicars. The 10D was introduced in 1949 and became a popular unit in the Villiers range. The unit was developed to include an optional 4 speed gearbox in the spec and there was a competition variant, the 11D. 

Villiers 10D engine brochure front cover.

Villiers 10D engine brochure page 2.

Villiers 10D engine brochure page 3.

Villiers 10D engine brochure rear cover.

Haynes Museum British Motor Scooter Exhibition pt2

More pictures from the very excellent British Scooter Exhibition at the Haynes Museum. Scooters tend to be photogenic - interesting lines and colours, and many of the British scooters are quite handsome in their own way. Just a shame that a lot of them were quite awful in function!

A BSA Sunbeam 250cc twin. A nice product.
Technically advanced and with a 250cc ohv
twin cylinder motor. Possibly a higher spec
than the market really wanted.

Another angle on the BSA Sunbeam. I owned
the 175cc version of this for a while powered by
an adapted BSA Bantam motor. It really was
quite a nice machine. I sold it to a museum in
Thailand in the end.

Velocette Viceroy. Another scooter offering
slightly more than the average punter expected
or wanted. Fitted with an innovative 250cc
flat twin two stroke motor. The motor found
favour with hovercraft builders. A pity that
Velocette never built a bike with the same motor.

The Velocette's flat twin motor. Built with a
decent centre of gravity and balance in mind.
British scooters never really embraced monococque
frames a la Vespa. For the most part they were
just building motorcycles with small wheels
and some bodywork. Same chain drives, same tubular
frames. A lot of them didn't even have proper
step through frames over concerns about rigidity.

BSA Sunbeam and Velocette side by side.

A James. Another sweet looking machine. James
didn't go down the route of over complication,
instead fitting a 150cc motor adapted from their
motorcycle range. Alas the Associated Motorcycles
home brand two stroke motor designed by Piatti
was universally derided as being nowhere near
as good as a Villiers power unit.

Original dealer's transfer on the James.

Another view of the James just because...

A Dayton Albatross. Unfortunate model name
from the Dayton 'marketing department' but a
very decent scoot fitted with a Villiers 250cc
twin motor and a machine that found favour
and success with sporting scooter riders.

To the left of the Dayton Albatross is a DKR
Capella. DKR were another British scooter
brand that gained a following amongst sporting
and eventing scooter riders. DKRs were powered
by a variety of different Villiers motors.

The mighty Trojan 'Trobike' powered by an
American Clinton pull start industrial engine
is flanked by a DMW Deemster to the left and
the DKR Capella to the right.

DMW Deemster. An acquired taste. Half sccoter,
half motorcycle and Villiers twin powered. The
Deemster found favour with some Police forces
in England. A few were also made with the
Velocette Viceroy motor fitted. Personally I
like them and would love to try one out. 

Aft end of a Raleigh Roma.

The Raleigh Roma was a 78cc machine made
under license from Bianchi in Italy. Nice lines
and Raleigh must have thought they were on to
a winner. Launched in 1961 and discontinued
three years later, Raleigh were probably a little
too late to market to really get a good ride from the
scooter wave.

The tale of an Autocycle tyre

Nearly 10 years ago I was with my '55 Bullet in Nairobi, Kenya.The bike had taken a real battering riding the infamous 'Moyale' road down from Ethiopia. The rear subframe had snapped and I needed a new front tyre.

Finding parts and engineers in an unfamiliar city brings adventures of its own. To fix the subframe I detached it from the bike, took the two now separate parts of the frame to a machinist in the industrial bazaar area to get an internal sleeve made to hold the two pieces of tube together. That done I re-assembled the bike and asked around to find a friendly bike shop with a welder. I rode gently to the shop with deference to my interference fit subframe. I pulled up to find the proprietor who was an elderly Indian gentleman unexpectedly waiting for me. He was welling up and emotional as he told me that he had heard the bike coming from up the street and it had reminded him of his years road racing around Nairobi in the fifties so he had come out to watch the bike pass by when I rode in to his shop. As his welder fixed the subframe he regaled me with stories of riding British racing singles in Kenya.

Shopping for a tyre led me to a wonderful tyre emporium in downtown Nairobi. Though a well stocked and brisk modern business the shop itself was a throw back to the nineteen thirties. On asking for a nineteen inch tyre I was taken to the stock room at the back and shown a selection, of which I selected a sturdy block pattern 3.25 x 19. The stock room was dusty and there was obviously some stuff that hadn't moved in a very long time. I was allowed to have a peek around and spotted a 26 x 2.25 Dunlop Motorette Balloon tyre. For some reason I felt the urge to purchase it as a souvenir, the price was very moderate. Why I bought it I am not quite sure as I did not have the space to carry it on the bike so had to post it home which cost more than the tyre in the first place. Something just tickled me that a War Grade autocycle tyre should still be sitting there after sixty odd years. Maybe I should have left it to stay there a while longer but I didn't.

When I returned from the pan-African travels the Motorette tyre was there waiting for me. Slightly a lame duck souvenir; very interesting it may be but it is not something easy to display or particularly welcomed by my better half as an ornament, understanding as she generally is. So the tyre languished under the bench in the workshop. That is until I heard from local military vehicle enthusiast Ron, who is restoring a 1939 James and was on the look out for tyres. It seemed like more than a good idea to pass the tyre on to someone who would use and display it on a machine rather than it sit under the bench for several more years. Thus it is how a tyre made in Fort Dunlop, Birmingham, England made its way to Nairobi and back to England again to finally be used as originally intended. 

New old stock Dunlop Motorette Balloon tyre.

Genuine War Grade!

Norton combination

A rather grainy photo but the distinctive Norton tank shows. I believe it is '29 to '31 from the shape of the tank. There's not enough detail on the engine for me to recognise the model but I'm sure there is a Norton guru out there who can tell from the shape of the front mudguard or size of bolt used on the headlamp shell! If you know please do comment.

Late vintage Norton combination.

Riding to Ladakh 2005 pt2

A few more photos from the Delhi - Leh and back trip in 2005. Shot in first gen digi camera quality!

Route-wise we traced our steps back to Manali, time was slightly short. From Manali to Chandigarh and then back to Delhi,

The mountain roads have whimsical and charming road safety
notices.

Best take them with a sense of humour....
The guys and girls who build and maintain these roads truly
put in hard effort to keep them open and running.

The 'Gator' curves series of switchbacks.

Bike park in Chandigarh.

Sanglas S2 1979

I've never tried a Sanglas before but they're a bike on the bucket list. Nicely engineered and simple ohv single cylinder machines. A Sanglas probably doesn't hold many surprises for folks used to Brit singles but they managed to continue developing the theme for a fair time after Velocette at al had packed it in. The S2 of 1979 has clean modern lines and the spec is high for the type of machine.

Sanglas S2 brochure front side.

Sanglas S2 brochure rear side.

Sanglas S2 price list.

Sanglas sidecar combination offer.

Henstridge Bikers' Blast August 2016

Over a month ago now but have only just gotten round to posting pictures. Sadly the weather was a little iffy compared to July's event and the turnout suffered slightly, though it was still pretty good. Great to see a wide range of bikes (and abilities!) giving it some down the strip again. No captions, the pictures speak for themselves.