91
British Bikes / Re: Villiers Engine
« Last post by TGR90B on August 03, 2018, 09:40:39 AM »At that age I would guess it's three speed. I don't think Villiers went to four speed until the late 50s. Could be wrong though.
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92
British Bikes / Re: Villiers Engine
« Last post by D.Daws on August 03, 2018, 09:11:44 AM »Thanks for all the information. This was my first posting on the forum & it is great to get such an informative reply. You say that it is a 3 speed gearbox on this engine. Whilst trawling through the internet before I posted my question, I am sure that I read somewhere that the letter 'D' suffix denoted that the gearbox is a 4 speed. I take it that this is wrong.
93
British Bikes / Re: Cush drive , necessary or not
« Last post by mini-me on August 03, 2018, 08:59:34 AM »I'm quite pleased with my Piaggio 125 , its an old mans bike that keeps an old man on two wheels. 80+mpg, 60mph screaming flat out, handles well, and reliable.
I can still kickstart a big single and have kept back 2 after getting rid of the surplus, but its impractical these days to leave an old vehicle unattended anywhere.
I have no info re the 2CV alternator, but the magdyno slipping clutch/fibre gear should be obvious if you remove the cover, if that is what you refer to?
I can still kickstart a big single and have kept back 2 after getting rid of the surplus, but its impractical these days to leave an old vehicle unattended anywhere.
I have no info re the 2CV alternator, but the magdyno slipping clutch/fibre gear should be obvious if you remove the cover, if that is what you refer to?
94
British Bikes / Re: triumph t 100
« Last post by mini-me on August 03, 2018, 08:51:41 AM »AS I said they were a 1960s fad, that doesn't mean all off them were badly assembled, in those days we were still apprentices with practical skills.
I have seen some nice ones now and again but mostly they are bodges put together by blokes with limited budgets from a pride and clarke catalogue, which is why, back then, for the most part, they all ended up looking more or less the same,which defeated the object of having something different.
What sticks in my mind was the amount of them that had TRITON in big Gothic letters on the fibre glass tank. what was that about.?
My own folies de jeunesse are too embarrassing to recount while sober.
I'm fond of a good plum Grunt, funnily enough all the tomatoes sold in my local Morrison are grown in Yorkshire, you can tell by the grit in them.
I have seen some nice ones now and again but mostly they are bodges put together by blokes with limited budgets from a pride and clarke catalogue, which is why, back then, for the most part, they all ended up looking more or less the same,which defeated the object of having something different.
What sticks in my mind was the amount of them that had TRITON in big Gothic letters on the fibre glass tank. what was that about.?
My own folies de jeunesse are too embarrassing to recount while sober.
I'm fond of a good plum Grunt, funnily enough all the tomatoes sold in my local Morrison are grown in Yorkshire, you can tell by the grit in them.
95
British Bikes / Re: triumph t 100
« Last post by TGR90B on August 03, 2018, 08:38:52 AM »As a yoof in the 60s I had a Douglas with an ugly front mudguard. As image was everything at 17 (see photo posing) I got an alloy front guard. Being an apprentice plumber I made the stays out of 1/2" copper tube and bolted the ends to the hub.
On the first ride one of the stays broke, the guard wrapped around the wheel and off we came. No real harm done, but very quickly retrieved the bits and off before anyone saw me.
On the first ride one of the stays broke, the guard wrapped around the wheel and off we came. No real harm done, but very quickly retrieved the bits and off before anyone saw me.
96
British Bikes / Re: Villiers Engine
« Last post by 33d6 on August 03, 2018, 02:51:04 AM »I'm sure you've already been told it is a bog standard 6E Villiers unit. This is a 3 speed 197cc beastie and was the largest motorcycle power unit they made at the time. Made from 1949-1953.
Yes, the first three digits, 996. do identify who the engine was made for but much of the records have been lost and 996 is among the lost. The late Roy Bacon compiled the major list that most of us Villiers nuts refer to and I've amused myself adding to it over the years but 996 does not appear in either his or my listings.
From the point of view of operation and maintenance the number is irrelevant. There are minor difference between the first and last 6E as Villiers tweaked the design over the years but essentially all 6E's are the same regardless of what they were fitted to.
Spares are reasonably plentiful and luckily they are not an attractive engine to the pre-65 trial crowd so they aren't mauled about. They find the 3 speed gearbox a handicap. Personally I'd put it back in the Tiger Cub frame and use it as a neat little stylish road bike. The Tiger Cub was always a pretty little bike but with an engine not quite up to the job. The 6E is a very good unit but often ended up in some rather dull bikes. If done properly it'd be a very happy marriage and you can always truthfully tell the nutters that it is as you found it.
Let us know what you do.
Yes, the first three digits, 996. do identify who the engine was made for but much of the records have been lost and 996 is among the lost. The late Roy Bacon compiled the major list that most of us Villiers nuts refer to and I've amused myself adding to it over the years but 996 does not appear in either his or my listings.
From the point of view of operation and maintenance the number is irrelevant. There are minor difference between the first and last 6E as Villiers tweaked the design over the years but essentially all 6E's are the same regardless of what they were fitted to.
Spares are reasonably plentiful and luckily they are not an attractive engine to the pre-65 trial crowd so they aren't mauled about. They find the 3 speed gearbox a handicap. Personally I'd put it back in the Tiger Cub frame and use it as a neat little stylish road bike. The Tiger Cub was always a pretty little bike but with an engine not quite up to the job. The 6E is a very good unit but often ended up in some rather dull bikes. If done properly it'd be a very happy marriage and you can always truthfully tell the nutters that it is as you found it.
Let us know what you do.
97
British Bikes / Re: triumph t 100
« Last post by john.k on August 03, 2018, 01:56:19 AM »My favorite triton event was an el cheapo alloy front guard that broke away from the mounting screws and went round with the front wheel.....not right round....just far enough for a skid on the slippery alloy at 80mph.......fast forward,and I see tossers on ebay selling the same el cheapo guards...for 100 quid each...same rubbish ...
98
British Bikes / Re: Cush drive , necessary or not
« Last post by john.k on August 03, 2018, 01:48:52 AM »A place where i worked used a Piaggio scooter to start a huge big Ruston and Hornsby 6cy diesel engine......the scooter was pivoted on the front,and the back wheel was lowered onto the big flywheel....it used to start up on a freezing cold night far quicker than the compressed air start supplied with the engine.....Scooters are powerful little things.
99
British Bikes / Re: triumph t 100
« Last post by Grunt on August 03, 2018, 01:21:29 AM »Quote
PS My tomatoes are better than yours.Wait till you see the size of my plums.
In Old Bike Mart a while back the editor responded to a letter asking where the cobbled together Tritons where and how he misses them. I’m waiting for a letter that explains how the riders died while riding them or if they had any sense scrapped them when they failed the MoT.
My other bike is a Rocket Three in a Featherbed. I bought it ready made in the early 80’s and always preferred the Bonnie, it was quicker and handled far better. Being of an impressionable age in the late 70’s and 80’s Tritons were the bike to have if you didn’t like Jap stuff and couldn’t afford Italian, you were a super hero if you had a Trident or Rocket Three. I had a few tritons in the days when I didn’t know any better, they were all chuffin ‘oribble. I remember one had a central oil tank held in with a big rubber band, it fell off while entering the works bike sheds, the oil tank locked the back wheel up and I skidded sideways into a ruddy great row of Honda 90’s knocking them all over like dominoes. My mate who was behind me on his 550 Suzuki reckoned I’d picked them all up and was pretending nothing had happened before he got his side stand down.
100
Identify these bikes! / Re: Help identify Coventry Eagle, 1928 or 1929?
« Last post by cardan on August 03, 2018, 01:15:48 AM »The image in the post above comes from The Motor Cycle, 27 Oct 1927 - "First Special Show Number". I had a flip through the following week's issue (you guessed it - "Second Special Show Number") and there is another description of the Coventry Eagle range, which included "LAST YEAR'S MODEL" of the "FLYING 500". So it's likely that image of the 500 from the previous week shows it in 1927 trim, and re-iterates earlier comments about Cov Eagle offering last year's model while they were still available. Based on all this, it wouldn't surprise me if a 1928-numbered Coventry Eagle left the factory in later 1928 or early 1929 with a 1929 JAP motor.
Cheers
Leon