Simplex Villiers in Australia, 1936

[cardan]

"Diecut" means the gear was stamped out rather than cut? Diecut pistons are common if not desirable.

Re the Finlay building: it dates from 1941, and was on the corner of Elizabeth and Little Lonsdale St. The curved glass in the corner window was the largest piece bent in Australia to that date.

Finlay Bros bicycles and motorcycles (mostly pre-WW1) were branded "Barb". "Finlay" motorcycles - using Buchet engines, and later locally-built copies of Buchet engines - were produced by Forest Finlay in Sydney.

Cheers

Leon

[john.k]

I assume its a trademark....and probably refers to cycle sprockets which were indeed stamped out,with intricate patterns and makers names incorporated in the pedal sprocket......i also assume its Australian,as I dont think Albion would have tolerated someone pinching their designs in England...........after all...everyone has a "Allparts " brass amal carb knockoff....which dont have any identifying marks.....

[cardan]

Perhaps "Diecut" was an Allparts trademark?

Leon

[R]

Re the Finlay building: it dates from 1941, and was on the corner of Elizabeth and Little Lonsdale St. The curved glass in the corner window was the largest piece bent in Australia to that date.

It still is there ?
The Meeting Place. Somewhat changed, but still recognisable.
https://www.google.com/maps/@-37.8113696,144.9619007,3a,75y,266.37h,88.03t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sCcuoZ_X-4Mg13aMLG0YBLg!2e0!7i13312!8i6656

That previous pic was somehow in Little Lonsdale St ? The street looks wider ?
The address is listed as 316 to 320 Elizabeth St.
Modaks is 4 shops to the left, and Turner Bros later store is a few more shops to the left.

Those diecut Y alloy pistons "the best" were rumoured to grow a lot with heat,
took quite a lot of running in - or filing ?

[33d6]

Diecut pistons were not good. Nothing wrong with the 'Y' alloy they were made from but they lacked something in the manufacture. I was in a group discussion with Phil Irving (yes, that Phil Irving) discussing various local makes of piston who told us the Diecut maker had skipped a step in the necessary heat treatment of the 'Y' alloy which was the root cause of their heat expansion issues.
Fundamentally there is nothing wrong with 'Y' alloy, it was an appropriate choice. The failure lay in how it was handled.

I currently have a Diecut piston fitted to the Sport engine in my Excelsior, solely because I couldn't find anything else. As all Diecut pistons would now be at least 50-60 years old and various aluminium alloys harden with age I'm hoping this will have a beneficiary effect on Diecut piston growth. So far it was very tight at first but seems to be settling. Time will tell. Unfortunately various issues have stopped me putting on enough miles to see if I've got it totally sorted. 

It isn't the first engine I've had with a Diecut piston and each one lived up to it's reputation. Nevertheless Diecut filled a local need. If it was Diecut or have your bike off the road what did you do? 

As for the Finlay building. Long gone along with all that city block where Melbourne Central now stands. Only the Shot Tower preserved inside Melbourne Central remains.

[john.k]

Thanks for the ad ,Leon......I think that settles it..........Hre in Qld ,there were various locally made pistons,probably made from scrap,so a diecut one might have been an improvement..........I have a Norton ES2,with a local piston.....its obviously sandcast,and while it works ,Im not game to take the bike for more than a run around the block.

[R]

As for the Finlay building. Long gone along with all that city block where Melbourne Central now stands. Only the Shot Tower preserved inside Melbourne Central remains.

Aha, I see whats happened. The even numbered buildings are gone, so that Meeting Place pic above was on the other side of Elizabeth St,
and built in a similar style - but almost a mirror image and smaller. And that explains why Modaks 'moved across the street'.

Interesting about that diecut stuff, and why it faded away, (and Repco went on to bigger and better things.)
Allparts and Allgears etc etc was still being wound up less than 25 years ago, I bought some engines in Chippendale,
and they had floors and floors of stuff. No guided tours though, you asked and stuff materialised...

[john.k]

I remember a story about Finlays......in the worst of the depression,around 1934,BSA sent out a "silverplated" bike ,to be displayed at BSA agents around Australia,to drum up a bit of interest.....I suspect it was chrome......anyway,the bike did the rounds ,then disappeared........said to have been in a shop that went broke..........In the late 60s ,a fella told me he knew where the bike was.......he said a relative had it ,but was afraid to show it to anyone preway,probably cause he didnt own it,and after the war,he had failed to hand it in for war use......and was afriad of being arrested.......so he hid it in a room under his house in Brisbane............in those days ,I wasnt interested in 1930 stuff,not vintage ,and not collectable.....and not Indian or HD.