classic motorcycle forum
Motorcycle Discussions => British Bikes => Topic started by: Albion EJ on May 10, 2026, 06:04:08 PM
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Does anybody know where this gearbox (2 gears?) was used?
As it is not equipped with a kickstarter it might be a stationary engine.
Thanks!
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i see BF456 ?
Not that it makes much difference in identifying them by number from the gazillions of types ....
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Could be a “5”.
Does BF mean something?
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There were many variants of Albion boxes! This is the 2-speed + clutch variant. In the 1931 catalogue for "Albion Midget Gear Boxes" this model (identical?) was referred to as the BJ. I know nothing, but maybe BF was an earlier model, say 1927?? In 1931 the EJ gave 3 speeds + clutch + ks.
Anyway, no reason it couldn't go into a bike from the 1920s, although Australian made stuff (for example, I'm thinking Waratah) tended to offer 2-speed no-clutch for a base model, or fancy 3-speed + clutch + ks. Although by 1927 maybe even the basic 2-speeder needed a clutch.
Also, chain final drive was taking over from belt around 1927.
Leon
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Also used on the ultra-ultra cheap 98cc Villiers Midget powered machines brought out in 1931 to keep factories ticking over in the depths of the Great Depression. Excelsior were the first in April 1931 with their 14 guineas (!4 pound & 14 shillings) utility model 0, that's 0 for zero, not the letter O. When your normal range is all numbered models starting at Model 1 for the smallest, a 150cc bike, then how do you number the even smaller new 98cc model you're introducing? It becomes the Model 0.
Within weeks Coventry Eagle, Dot and Sun had also introduced their 98cc Midget powered bikes, all with the same 2-speed no kick starter box. Both Wolf and Gloria (name used by Triumph) followed on shortly afterwards. Reputedly it also sold in Continental Europe but I don't have any information on them.
The various road tests all emphasised how easy they were to start by just pushing off with your feet but very quickly the slightly more expensive kick start version of the same two speed box was offered as an extra.
So, that box could have come out of a number of makes until at least the middle 1930's. Information is sparse on all of them.
Deciphering the Albion gearbox numbering system is another thing altogether and isn't very helpful as you still have to deal with the slightly different versions of the same box which the numbering system doesn't seem to recognise.
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This one has been shown here before
Gosh that gearbox is tiny !
(https://uploads.carandclassic.co.uk/uploads/cars/excelsior/11465102.jpg)
Leon commented then on how shiny it was, and on the curvature of that front guard...
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Gosh that gearbox is tiny !
Not just tiny... officially "midget"!!
I'd not realised the Excelsior version used foot change, something usually seen only on Isle of Man racers at the time! When hand change was used, there was a simple lever pivoting between the main shaft and the clutch cable boss - no external gate as used during the 1920s. Cheap and cheerful.
Edit: Here's a less shiny one https://www.andybuysbikes.com/archivehtml/6625exc.html# - foot change below
Leon
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Deciphering the Albion gearbox numbering system is another thing altogether and isn't very helpful as you still have to deal with the slightly different versions of the same box which the numbering system doesn't seem to recognise.
OMG - I had a look at Albion gb numbers in the VMCC Register and quickly gave up. I could see no real pattern in the numbering, but I guess somewhere out there is/was someone who spent the time to figure it all out! Given Albion's involvement with bikes, mowers, and all manner of mechanical devices, I guess they made tens (hundreds?) of thousands of gearboxes in hundreds of different designs. But it certainly seems that the particular box we're discussing is indeed motorcycle, from the early 1930s.
Leon
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The numbering is actually quite simple. It just doesn't necessarily give you the information you seek.
Rule of thumb is as follows. The first letter usually broadly identifies the type of box. I'll use an imaginary Type "A" box, possibly even the second letter so you might have an "AB" box. Albion then used a batch numbering system so their boxes were numbered in batches of 999 using an alphanumeric system. The first batch would be AA 001 to AA 999. The second batch would be AB 001 to AB 999, third batch AC 001 to AC 999 and so on finally up to AZ 001 to AZ 999 whereupon they would just add another letter, now AAA and start again, AAA 001 to AAA 999 then AAB 001 to AAB 999, AAC 001 to AAC 999. Finally when they arrived at AAZ they would start again at ABA to ABZ then ACA to ACZ and on it goes.
This is more of a factory internal numbering system so they could keep track of internal production than an individual box identifier. As minor variations seem to have been carried out within each batch to suit various buyers it's not necessarily much help for outsiders to identify exactly what bike an individual box was made for. Albion knew and the original buyer knew but our chances of finding out 90 years later are slim.
I found all this out with my 1929 2 speed Excelsior Model 1. The original box was badly cracked so I found an identical replacement and restored that. When I came to fit it I found the identical top mounting arrangements were actually 1/4" further away from the centreline than the original. The primary chain alignment was 1/4" out. It was an entertaining exercise safely moving everything to suit.
Any questions?
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Any questions?
Just how many of these little beasties do you have !
(https://cybermotorcycle.com/gallery/excelsior-1920s/images/Excelsior-1929-Model-3-Cat-BNZ.jpg)
In this neck of the woods there used to be an annual 2 stroke (only) rally.
Sounds like you could supply half the participants ...
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Any questions?
Brilliant! I have questions!
Do you have a spreadsheet? I love a good spreadsheet.
So take 1931 for example. Here's p1 and p2/3 of the spare parts list for 1931-on Midget gearboxes. They call the non-ks model "B.J.", and the model with ks "C.J.". The part numbers are like BJ1/BJ2 and CJ1/CJ2 for the cases.
Was the first number for 1931 BJ001, or BA001? I assume BJ001?
In which case, were there 9000 "B model" gearboxes built before 1931 - numbered BA001 to BI001? (From my BTH magneto spreadsheet I found that BTH skipped the letter "I" in their dating codes, to avoid confusion with the number "1". Maybe Albion skipped I, too.)
Cheers
Leon
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Well, two questions.
How many Model ! Excelsior do I have? One on the road and enough parts, frames, forks, tanks etc to build the full set with all engine and gearbox configurations. Over the years I've run the various combinations at one time or another and currently I have the i72cc Sport engine fitted with a 2 speed box. I have the 3 speed box but it isn't much of an improvement as it has the same ratios as the 2 speeder plus a lower first gear. This is only of use on the most desperate of hills. Of little practical value for normal road use. I have the internals of an early Albion 4 speed lightweight box but am still looking for the right casing. That should make things interesting. Hand change of course, got to keep things entertaining. The original plan was to have the full set on the road but other projects plus creaking bones and joints keep getting in the way.
Leon, the box id numbers seem to have have nothing to do with the year of manufacture. Being a proprietary item as with Villiers engines they didn't make annual changes and just kept making them whilst there was a viable market and in some cases seem to have stopped production and started again if sales picked up. I don't know all the subtleties of whether they avoided confusing letters such as O or I.
My info takes us a few steps further forward but there's still a long way to go.
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The pretty little bike in the pic-
nothing worse than mudguards which don't follow the tyre properly, although I suppose the builder would argue that he couldn't get a better fitting 'guard at the time.
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Yes, the awkward mudguards are a common mistake and so easily avoided.
The reason is obvious. The restorer has used a common aftermarket 'universal' 19" guard. These are generally made to suit heavier bikes with up to 3.50x19" tyres. These give a total diameter of 26" when fitted. On the other hand all these lightweights use 2.75x19" tyres (BSA Bantam size) giving a total fitted diameter of 24.25". Using a guard intended for the larger diameter is just wrong. The near 2" clumsy gap when installed is wildly obvious no matter what you do.
If you're not willing to spend money to get them right then using Bantam guards or some other lightweight guards as a foundation will give you a much better look than wrong size aftermarkets. They are at least made to suit the same size wheels.
There are other points that I'd comment on if I was a concours judge but overall I'm pleased the bike was restored at all. I'm grateful for his efforts.
I think it's too over restored for a bike whose great selling point was how cheap it was and why fit the fancy Francis Barnett only flywheel cover, but that's just me.
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I've been pondering what does that bike do for a gearchange ?
Can see the cute little (foot) brake pedal there....
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It’s got a rocking pedal foot change on the other side. Pretty simple with a two speed box. No fancypositive stop arrangement needed. Push down as far as it will go at one end for low gear. Push the other end down as far as it will go for high gear. Let it flap around in the middle for neutral.
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Thanks for all the info, 33d6. Fascinating. (Yeah, it's probably sad to be fascinated by Albion gearbox numbers.) I went back to the VMCC Register and I see less chaos now I get the B, BA, BAA thing. Boy they must have made a lot of gearboxes. Have you ever seen a guess at the total number?
Mixed in with the "usual" numbers there are prefixes like MON, but if you allow the possibility that (say) Monet Goyon might have been amongst the thousands of customers who used Albion gear boxes... it makes me worry less. I certainly don't intend to pursue the serial numbers further.
From my perspective, I'm specially interested in the veteran and early vintage end of things. I think I have the nailed the early progression, from the early "flat" boxes (with the main and lay shafts in the same plane) through to the first of the "vertical" boxes (with the shafts above one another), which seem to have started post WW1, and their various change lever configurations. I suspect the switch was pragmatic: the vertical boxes were shorter, and could be squeezed into frames designed as direct belt drive. At the Bendigo swap meet last year I saw a 2-speed Albion box that was labelled "Levis". I pointed out to the seller that the word Levis was not cast into the gearbox itself, but into an adaptor that sat atop the box to allow it to bolt straight into the single-speed Levis frame. Of course I had to get to the bottom of that puzzle when I got home - see below.
Cheers
Leon
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Offered for longer than that short period
(https://graces-guide-s3-live.s3.amazonaws.com/gracesguide/4/4a/Im19200924MCT-Albion.jpg?20090404110922)
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I like the oil filling system shown on those ads. A hollow mounting bolt with a cycle lubricator on top. I wonder how long it took to fill the box through that.
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Yes the lubricator is a ripper, but I could imagine having a ritual where the oiler was filled before each ride and allowed to slowly drip in just to keep things topped up. Looking at period illustrations and survivors is seemed to last only for a couple of years after WW1.
Re the longevity of the boxes themselves, I call the model illustrated above "Gen 3": the first of the vertical boxes. It ran from early postwar (say 1919 but effectively 1920) to the end of 19221, and it mostly used the same remote lever in a tank-side gate as the horizontal "Gen 2" (mid 1915 to 1919). For 1922 there was an entirely new arrangement, with the gear change mechanism coming out of the front of the gb case rather than the end cover, with new change levers to suit.
Of course in Australia we often ran a bit behind the times. For example the 1922 models from Elliott Payneham here in Adelaide used the last of the 269 Villiers engines (Mk V) and the ageing horizontal "Gen 2" Albion gearbox. The gearbox was shown in their not-very-clear line drawing, listed in their parts list, and has survived on a couple of very original 1922 survivors. The saddle tank was pretty modern for 1922 though.
Leon
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... it mostly used the same remote lever in a tank-side gate as the horizontal "Gen 2" (mid 1915 to 1919).
It didn't, actually: the Gen 3 has a Gen 3 lever. But no matter...
Up until 1923 all Albion gearboxes were "lightweight", to suit motors like the 269 Villiers and the 293 JAP. For 1923 Albion introduced the "featherweight" box, a 2-speeder for engines with "Max 2 h.p." - 200cc. It looked just like BF436 (the subject of this thread), but had a remote lever, so no lug on the box for the lever. I think that came about 1925, but you could get plain, clutch, and clutch+ks versions from the beginning.
So there were Albion boxes that looked just like BF436 from about 1925.
Leon
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Bit of a side-step here, but has anyone seen a photo of Albions' Tower Works (factory),
in 48-56 Upper Highgate Street, Birmingham.
Demolished, at some point in the 1960s ?, and the area redeveloped extensively.
I've looked at all the usual sources, and a few discussions of this, with zero result.
Sometimes the parts books show a factory view. But not in this case.
Burman, by contrast, was keen to show off their Lee Banks works - parts books view.
https://i.postimg.cc/hGXnwpnq/Burman-and-Sons-Lee-Bank-Works-Brum-1922.jpg
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Jan, one of the military history guys and Enfield enthusiast extraordinaire has located this old map.
But no photo ...
https://hmvforum.s3.amazonaws.com/monthly_2024_07/Schermafbeelding2024-07-21om17_44_45.thumb.png.337e2483db29e31749202dae0ab5dd18.png (https://hmvforum.s3.amazonaws.com/monthly_2024_07/Schermafbeelding2024-07-21om17_44_45.thumb.png.337e2483db29e31749202dae0ab5dd18.png)
The local roads have been somewhat altered since then in the redevelopment, and now is housing and parkland.
We diverge, still.
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I love a good map! Hope to see an illustration or photo of the Albion Works soon.
In the past week I've been looking at the relationship between Precision (Moorsom St), Sun Cycle & Fittings Co. Ltd (Aston Brook St) and A.H. Haden (Princep St) in relation to frame lugs. Interestingly these three are clustered just to the northern side of Birmingham, while Albion (Upper Highgate St) is a couple of miles away on the south side. It was a hot bed of manufacturing in the early days.
Leon
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Nortons were in Aston Brook St for a good many years too.
They built/extended through to Bracebridge St in short order, and that seems to have become their primary address.
Don't think any pics of Albions' Tower Works are about.
Online anyway.
Unless the press or a magazine did a feature on them.
Which might be tough to find.
The factory records might have survived ? and been archived somewhere ?
Which might be equally tough to find...
EDIT Birmingham City Council libraries have an extensive archive of the city's history.
Including a box with 26 photos of Upper Highgate St.
Let us see if they respond to enquiries ...
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Back to Albion boxes. I've just returned from the State Library where I was ploughing through 1931 copies of MotorCycling. The 11/11/31 copy had a paragraph introducing the new "E Junior", a new 3 speed box for featherweights up to 150cc. Weight 12 lbs. internal ratios 1.57 and 2.78 to 1. High gear the usual direct drive 1:1 of course.
Then referred to the the regular 'E' for 200-300cc machines and advised the smallest 2 speed as redeveloped in 1931 was still to be produced.
The new box of course is the good old EJ, probably the most common survivor found today. As the cheapest 3 speed box they made it was calmly fitted by all and sundry to whatever piece of equipment they needed a box for and absolutely no notice paid to the factories advice it was a featherweight for up to 150cc engines only. It was the cheapest they could buy and who cared if it was ferociously overloaded. Lucky for us it was tougher than the factory thought. Love them.
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We've seen before you rail against the 3 speed box - simply the 2 speed, now with a stump pulling 1st gear added.
You'd wonder that Albions didn't effectively do a close ratio version ?
The 4 speeds in my old FB 1H seemed quite a good spread.
But that was another 20 years down the track.
I see the Albions instruction sheet for the 3 speed advocates using oil, with up to 50% 'thin' grease added, and well mixed !
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Albion introduced their first “Featherweight “ 4 speed box intended for up to 150cc machines in January 1933. Unfortunately the majority of the motorcycle industry were reluctant to take it on for their bottom of the range lightweights as it was dearer than the EJ 3 speed.
Some did but the general attitude seemed to be that they were building cheap’n’nasties and building an optional cheap and interesting version wasn’t going to happen.
I can see why Albion wasn’t interested in making a close ratio 3 speeder when they had difficulty selling their much better 4 speed box intended for the same purpose.
Curiously I’ve never seen any Albion literature advocating a thin grease. Where did you get that?
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https://www.barnstormers.co.nz/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/ALbion-PDF.pdf
About halfway down, beyond the parts list and just under the little lubrication chart.
It does note that too much grease may block the lubrication pathways.
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Interesting. I don 't know that I'd be too keen to mix up oil and grease myself but I think I'll look more kindly on that stuff they recommend for vintage car steering boxes and the like. Can't remember what Penrite call it. Thick like grease when cold but quickly liquefies when stirred up. Thixotropic?
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Thixotropic?
Yup.
Think OO grade comes into it also.
AKA semi fluid grease
Ride on lawn mowers use it their gearboxes, almost universally.
So if all else fails, the local mower shop will have it.
Better price too ?
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Spheerol. Cheap and cheerful, and works well on old 'boxes.
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I've used the semi fluid grease in the gearbox and have not had a single drip and a sweet box ( for an Albion). You need patience to fill it though.
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Spheerol.
Need to be careful here.
Castrol makes quite a range of Spheerol greases.
Only the OO version is the semi-fluid stuff.
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Penrite Transoil 250. It's oil, it's really thick, and it comes with a tube in the cap to squeeze it into the box.
Leon