British Miller Made Villiers

[Gaylen]

I have an old motorcycle with a Villiers two stroke, one cylinder engine. The headlight and tail light housings have an emblem showing what looks like a lighthouse and the words British Miller Made. The gearshift lever comes up through the fuel tank. If anyone can share information on this bike it would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Gaylen

[JFerg]

Gaylen,

Bob, the resident Villiers nutter, is away on vacation at present, not due back for a fortnight, but I am sure he will give you a more than comprehensive answer when he returns.

Villiers were proprietary engine makers, so they sold engines to anyone who wanted to build their own machines.

Miller were proprietary manufacturers of lighting sets for bicycles and motorcyles, and supplied to lots of different manufacturers.

Gear shift through the tank sound like a very distinctive feature, and I have no doubt that Bob would make an ID from that alone, however, I have no idea.  Dates it to early thirties, I would think.  If you can list engine and frame numbers, that would allow a complete identification.  A photo would be good, too.

JFerg

[Gaylen]

JFerg,
Thank you for responding. The frame number looks like AU/565. The engine number is 580/2883. I am having problems attaching the picture, It is 619 kilobytes too large? I will work on getting a picture posted.
Thanks again,
Gaylen

[33d6]

hmmm, JFerg, I'll speak to you about "Villiers nutter" when I get home. Meanwhile I shall answer the very interesting question that another lucky Villiers owner has posted.
As JFerg hs said, I'm on holiday so this is straight out of the memory banks without reference to the home library.
I believe you to have an immediate postwar 125cc Excelsior powered by the Villiers 9D engine.
Excelsior of the time were noted for their novel through the tank gear change of which you have to take care to keep the adjustment just right so you don't bash the tank at either end of the travel. A leaking tank can eventuate if you do.
Secondly all the usual sources will tell you that 9D engines always have an engine prefix of AA or AAA. This is not strictly correct as in 1946 Villiers changed the prefix to suit their new postwar engine numbering system so 9D engines made for 1946, 47 & 48 have different prefixes according to what firm bought the engine from Villiers.
Postwar conditions were a bit chaotic so Villiers got their lights made where they could hence your Miller lights.Eventually they went back to making their own.
From the sound of it you have a perfectly normal and original 125cc Excelsior dating between 1946-48/49. Villiers announced a new range of 125 and 197 engines in 1949 but the changeover was a bit sloppy compared to today so there isn't an absolute clear cut line when the 9D finished and the 10D started. Some 1949 models were announced still fitted with the 9D but  changed as the new 10D came on line.
Will try to provide a more accurate dating when I get home.
Cheers,

[VintageBike]

here is Gaylens picture.

[33d6]

Holiday over I'm now home and have looked up your engine number to find as I suspected that it is an Excelsior number use 1946-49. I don't have the frame numbers from that period so can't help there but by now every old boy and his dog will have told you all about the Villiers engine and how to sort it.
The VMCC can help with copies of relevant technical info.
Cheers,

[Gaylen]

Welcome back, I hope you enjoyed your holiday and I also hope that you got that "Villiers nutter" thing sorted out. Thank you for the information. This is a great forum and you have all been very helpful. My brother used to ride this bike in the late 1950's. If anyone is interested in owning this bike, I may be interested in selling or trading it.
Thanks again,
Gaylen