classic motorcycle forum

Hi Tony,
I'm with John - keep those drills away! I suspect the "blanks" you're referring to only get you inside the water jacket anyway. Presumably you will lift the cylinders off to have a look inside before you start it. Give it a good internal clean and lube, and set the exhaust timing while a cylinder is off when its easy to see TDC with good accuracy. Don't forget that the V twin has two different firing intervals, so if you set the exhaust valve of cylinder no. 1 (rear) to close at TDC, check that no. 2 closes at 360 + 50 = 410 degrees later (i.e. at TDC of the front cylinder). If it doesn't, you're timing it on the wrong cylinder for that lump in the cam.
Presumably your motor looks something like the illustration below. Later versions - JAP probably built them up to 1911 or 1912 - have strengthening ribs on the cases but are otherwise similar.
Do tell more about the cyclecar to which it was fitted in 1914.
Leon

Keep at it Steve!

I wouldn't be suspicious of the HB photos: I think the "tank badge on the front mudguard" is actually the HB logo cast onto the pad on the end of the brake pedal, which is located at the front of the left foot board. The bike is not perfect (for example the rear stand is not original, and one or two other pieces) but as a vintage bike nut it looks pretty good to me;good enough to ride as is. Besides, if you were going to fake a bike with a Blackburne motor I doubt HB would be the one you would choose! If you're in a position to acquire an HB bike, or even if you're only looking for info, advertise widely. PreWarCar.com would be well read in Belgium, and I'm sure that whatever the big old bike club is in Belgium they would be happy for a small article on your connection to and interest in HB and a plea for contact with the current owner of the bike.

Good luck!

Leon

The Lennox is unusual for an Australian-made bike as it uses a locally-made engine, with a cylinder and head based on John Duigan's aeroplane - the first Australian built plane to fly. The first four bikes - single speeders - used the actual cylinders and heads off the first iteration of the aeroplane engine, which flew but had only just enough power and tended to overheat. The cylinders and head of this engine were replaced by the manufacturer, J. E. Tilley & Co. in Melbourne, with larger bore cylinders and water cooled heads, and the originals were used by Tilley employee Robbie Robertson, and later his friend Bob King, to build four motor cycles. Subsequent bikes, like mine, used cast copies of the cylinders (originals were machined from steel) and newly-cast heads. According to Robbie Robertson, my bike was the only Lennox fitted with a gearbox (4 speed Jardine). In 1915, while on leave from the Navy, Robbie rode the bike from Bob King's Lennox St motor works down to Yeats' sidecar works further along the street to have the sidecar fitted. So, yes, the whole story is known, much of it from the mouths of those who built it since the previous owner had the bike from 1955 until recently.

Leon

Because it's a two stroke, there must be no air leaks in the crankcase. Reassemble with a smear of your favourite jointing compound between the two faces - I use the treacly non-setting Loctite one but there are many others.
Leon

The small-diameter Prince wheels introduced in 1927 used 25x3.30 tyres. For 1925 the Prince had a wedge tank, for 26 and 27 the tank was made to fit between the tubes of a frame like yours, and for the last year 1928 it had a more curvaceous tank to match the Indian Scout 101 styling. The only year of small wheels and a frame like yours was 1927.

Not common, but it should be possible to find the missing bits.

Leon

Edit: From the tank shape, the Prince in R's link above is 1926-7, rather than 1925 as it is labelled.

Nice! Quadrant introduced both mechanic-side-valves and magnetos for 1908, so your motor is almost certainly 1908 or earlier. Of course Quadrant were one of the real pioneer makers - in the 1920s they bragged that they were "Britain's oldest maker of motorcycles" (or similar) and frankly their bikes looked like it!

I know they made their own motors in 1903 (when they famously used just one lever to control everything), so maybe yours is in the range 1903-08. Photos might help.

Leon

We have a world expert on little two strokes on this site: he'll be asking for the engine number, frame number and some photos. Be prepared!

If the bike is mostly complete, I usually suggest a modest restoration with the aim of getting it on the road. Full restoration can be very expensive and difficult these days. Do you have an idea of what you want to do with it?

Leon