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Identify these bikes! / Help needed to identify mystery Excelsior
« on: April 10, 2019, 12:23:56 AM »
Good evening all.
Back in 2015 I posted on this forum asking for help to identify an Excelsior motorcycle that I had acquired. The frame number is C1/326.
At the time I mistakenly came to the conclusion that this ‘C1’ prefix referrred directly to a model variant and through eliminating various posibilities I concluded I had a model C1 Condex built in 1956. I now see that this isn’t the case as I’ve obtained a Shell Servicing Data Sheet for a C1 Condex that gives detailed spefication for the bike, including the fact that both D12 and C1 Condex models had girder front forks. My bike has telescopic front forks.
Within the Excelsior model range there were both C1 Courier and C1 Condex models, and possibly more. So, i reason, may be it’s a C1 Courier. However, pictures I can find online confirm that this isn’t the case either. Early C1 Courier models are superficially similar (telescopic front forks, plunger rear suspension, traditional single sprung saddle etc) but also have the small triangular tool/storage boxes either side of the rear wheel. My bike has the cylindrical toolbox beneath the saddle mounted on the vertical tube behind the engine. Later C1 Courier models had telescopic swingarm rear suspension.
Reading elsewhere on this site there are some authoritative comments made by 33d6 indicating that this prefix doesn’t tie up nicely with a model number. So...where do I go next...
Well, as luck would have it I found a picture of what I believe isn’t an identical bike to mine on Sheldon’s Emu. I’ve been in touch with the owner of the bike and will hopefully be able to confirm fairly soon that it has a similar frame number, not that this will necessarily lead to identifying what this bike is. But I have posted a picture of the bike, plus some detailed shots of my bike, just in the hope that someone may be able to help me.
So one of the pictures is a nearly complete bike, currently residing in Africa and still running apparently, that I believe to be identical to mine. It’s missing the cylindrical toolbox and headlamp, but in every other respect, including the colour, I believe it’s the same.
The other pictures are of components of my bike, the top triple clamp and the frame that pertain to specific details that I hope help identify the exact model I have.
If it helps here are some obvious clues...the upper triple clamp has the type of fitting for two separate handlebars (as on a Talisman) rather than the more conventional four bolt clamps. The frame tube below the tank and vertical tube behind the engine are two separate tubes joined by a cast lug with fittings for the tank and seat (as on a Talisman) rather than the single bent tube as seen on say, the Roadmaster. The forks are of a similar type to those on a later model Consort, I.e. With short tapered section at top of fork, rather than the longer taper as on the Roadmaster or Talisman.
Any thoughts or help would be immensely appreciated. My son and I, who in the process of restoring the bike, are just beginning to run out of options for ever finding out what it is.
Thanks
Back in 2015 I posted on this forum asking for help to identify an Excelsior motorcycle that I had acquired. The frame number is C1/326.
At the time I mistakenly came to the conclusion that this ‘C1’ prefix referrred directly to a model variant and through eliminating various posibilities I concluded I had a model C1 Condex built in 1956. I now see that this isn’t the case as I’ve obtained a Shell Servicing Data Sheet for a C1 Condex that gives detailed spefication for the bike, including the fact that both D12 and C1 Condex models had girder front forks. My bike has telescopic front forks.
Within the Excelsior model range there were both C1 Courier and C1 Condex models, and possibly more. So, i reason, may be it’s a C1 Courier. However, pictures I can find online confirm that this isn’t the case either. Early C1 Courier models are superficially similar (telescopic front forks, plunger rear suspension, traditional single sprung saddle etc) but also have the small triangular tool/storage boxes either side of the rear wheel. My bike has the cylindrical toolbox beneath the saddle mounted on the vertical tube behind the engine. Later C1 Courier models had telescopic swingarm rear suspension.
Reading elsewhere on this site there are some authoritative comments made by 33d6 indicating that this prefix doesn’t tie up nicely with a model number. So...where do I go next...
Well, as luck would have it I found a picture of what I believe isn’t an identical bike to mine on Sheldon’s Emu. I’ve been in touch with the owner of the bike and will hopefully be able to confirm fairly soon that it has a similar frame number, not that this will necessarily lead to identifying what this bike is. But I have posted a picture of the bike, plus some detailed shots of my bike, just in the hope that someone may be able to help me.
So one of the pictures is a nearly complete bike, currently residing in Africa and still running apparently, that I believe to be identical to mine. It’s missing the cylindrical toolbox and headlamp, but in every other respect, including the colour, I believe it’s the same.
The other pictures are of components of my bike, the top triple clamp and the frame that pertain to specific details that I hope help identify the exact model I have.
If it helps here are some obvious clues...the upper triple clamp has the type of fitting for two separate handlebars (as on a Talisman) rather than the more conventional four bolt clamps. The frame tube below the tank and vertical tube behind the engine are two separate tubes joined by a cast lug with fittings for the tank and seat (as on a Talisman) rather than the single bent tube as seen on say, the Roadmaster. The forks are of a similar type to those on a later model Consort, I.e. With short tapered section at top of fork, rather than the longer taper as on the Roadmaster or Talisman.
Any thoughts or help would be immensely appreciated. My son and I, who in the process of restoring the bike, are just beginning to run out of options for ever finding out what it is.
Thanks