velocette did have a bad idea

[wetdog]

i always say velocette where great and for me can do no wronge (blindly so in fact) but hold my head in shame at this one , ive just finished this for a freind and its enterd into the 800 mile paris rally this year , god help him as its a pig to ride due to the fact 2 speed but NO clutch , shame on you velocette

[cardan]

Looks good! Two-speed no-clutch works fine on a 2 3/4 h.p. (350cc) Douglas, but the belt drive might smooth things out a little. I assume there's a decompressor on the Velo to ease the change; my guess is 95% of use would be in top anyway.

Morgan (?) in the background looks interesting!

Leon

[wetdog]

yes decom but still a pain and round paris god help him , morgans mine 1930 2 speed , w cooled jap , not been out for about 10 years lost interest a bit and back in to bikes for now . Morgans are good fun but really needs two when taken out as one needs to watch the oil (drip) whilst driver has to try and keep it going straight and guess when the car infront is going to stop , converted front drums to hydraliic after to many near miss , over 60 mph and things get interesting unless surface is flat .

[banquo]

I think I saw one of them at the S&T in Crieff last year. It was a 2-stroke, and had the oil tank built into the top left of the crankcase? it never made the run because some drive dog sheared. Someone from Glasgow way IIRC.

Here are some pix:

[wetdog]

nice bike , i think thats a bit latter than the one i have here (may even have a cluch) the one here should have stirip brake but ive fitted a drum , its a pig to ride as is but with the origional front brake id say unusable

[banquo]

Yes. A clutch is a very useful thing. I had a shot on an old Rudge with 3-speed Sturmey Archer, and to stop, you had to knock it into what you hoped was neutral, and pray it didn't hit the next gear instead. Scary, and not at all useful in today's traffic.

[wetdog]

sounds like the tt triumph im trying to finish , someone has told me they have a habit of engaging two ratios at once (now im worried) and it is odd as the lever is across and down for 1st and then pull up 2nd a spring pushes the leaver across , i have a sturmy archer hub in a bike and managed to smash that in a very short time (£1050 for a rebuild and 3 planet wheels) so more carfull where gearboxes are conserned now . 

[banquo]

Yes, I think the Triumph would be very similar. I'm pretty sure that the Rudge had a spring loaded gate, although it was a while back now. Here's the lever, for what it's worth.

[wetdog]

the triumph is latter , its this model 27 (this is not my bike but what it should /will look like ) some hope one day , at least it has a clutch

[banquo]

Nice bike, but you're right, it's much later. Late twenties perhaps?
The Rudge was WW1 vintage.