classic motorcycle forum

Thanks 33d6. I suspect that unless you had one of these bikes you'd know nothing about it! Even if the bike was at a rally, I doubt anyone would notice the double rails under the tank. I'm certain the bike is Excelsior, so time to scrape off the glossy powdercoat on the top left of the head lug to look for an Excelsior-style frame number. It will be there.

There is a reason Excelsior had so many frame variations. In the later teens they were bought out by their long-term lug suppliers R. Walker and Son. As well as making and selling bikes, the company carried on making frame lugs and parts for other makers. These parts were often somewhat different from those used in Excelsiors, but are recognisable none-the-less. In the 269 Villiers era, there are a number of Australian bikes (Elliott, for example) that are almost indistinguishable from the 1919 Excelsior Villiers, even though the Excelsior design went off in other directions - wedge tank - at the same time.

It turns out that the gearbox lug used by big Excelsiors from 1921 is one of the more popular gearbox lugs for Australian bikes using the Sturmey Archer CS, and in Adelaide lots of bikes used so many RW&S parts that their parentage in Excelsior is quite obvious. It wouldn't surprise me if many of the parts we associate with AG Healing & Co in Melbourne in fact came - at least originally - from RW&S. I have a few adverts for R Walker & Son frame sets, but I'd dearly love some commercial catalogues!

Jealous about time spent in the State Library - fond memories of the reading room, and librarians bringing crusty volumes from the stacks... amazing place.

Leon

Or does it have one of those curly-whurly alloy thingies - to the other side ??
That makes it somewhat more  complicated ...

Something like this - a Silent Superb  ?
(it was unclear if this was that actual version).
That manifold doesn't look very complicated ?



Short of endlessly trawling fleabay, or approaching Villiers Services for one, maybe the local fabricator could whip one up ?
A simple tubular stub - to suit the carb, and a 2 bolt plate welded on would about do it. ?

I had a manifold made up for an Enfield project. They used a long-necked Amal, which are near impossible to find as the correct one.
Wasn't especially expensive - and I had it done in stainless, so was a real work of art.
A plain steel one would not be beyond most workshops.
And if its all thats stopping you going for a ride. !

Be thankful its not the exhaust thats missing. Now that does look special. !!

Good luck, keep us posted..

Can’t really add anything helpful but do agree with your observations about theCar and Classic bike. I think it’s pretty obvious it has the double tube frame and your friends frame would seem to come from the same stable.
Haven’t gathered any more early 20’s Excelsior information but have been having a pleasant time in the State Library checking out 1930’s Villiers stuff. The State Government has gone to some lengths to make it easy for me rebuilding our local rail station and a State Library Station at the other end. On top of that we’ve had a month of free public transport and now half price fares for the rest of the year. (State election coming up). Even better is the new to me library copying/scanning protocol, much, much cheaper to scan to a thumb drive than copy to paper and the scan is easier to read when I get home. Not many governments go to such lengths  to make life easy for old motorcyclists.

Like most things there are more survivors than you think but the only local bike I know of is the Shannons bike and I don't know who owns that now. I'm sure someone would be grateful for those remains for spares but I'm no longer the person to ask.
In some ways it wasn't such a hard engine to rebuild. Matchless stuck to the same 69x93 bore and stroke for their 350 engines for near 40 years so a WD G3L piston just dropped in and the same WD G3L conrod was de-engineered backwards to fit. Matchless rarely did clean sheet designs but just steadily beefed parts up to suit later power outputs so for many parts you just have to de beef them and take them back to original. After a while you get to know the early Matchless parts numbering system and can track down many parts used across the range. Sometimes it really pays to specialise in a specific make and know it inside out. Makes life easier.