Sunday, October 05, 2008
Nostalgia
I just read Peter Egan's page in my latest copy of "Cycle World" and although it was headed "Imperial Gallons" and compared fuel economy and cost in 1960 England with present day US the first few paragraphs, which I quote here, took me back to one or two summer evenings in England when I was privileged to ride one of these beauties. I thank Mr Jim Fellows, who taught me a great deal about engines and engineering and motorycycle, for letting me ride his Velocette Venom after he restored it from a virtually scrap bike."What with the perfect summer evenings we've been having recently, I've been going for a lot of after-dinner rides with the endless twilight we get here in the Wisconsin north country.
The only place I've ever seen with an even longer dusk is England, where being at 50-55 degrees north latitude allows you to walk home from the pub in perfectly good navigating light until about 11.00 p.m. If you can.
Here on the 43rd parallel, things are only slightly dimmer and those summer evenings go a long way toward making up for winter, when it gets dark just after lunch (these are Egan's sentiments certainly not mine!)
The bike I nearly always pick for thees twilight rides is my surprisingly trusty 1961 Velocette Venom which seems to have been built for meandering down narrow country lanes. It chatters smoothly along at perfect landscape-observation speed, and the valve clatter seems to confuse and immobilize the deer."
Starting such a bike was the greatest challenge - a big 500cc single cylinder engine can not just be "kicked over" with the starter pedal - you have to open the exhaust valve using a control on the handlebar to allow you to turn the engine just past the compression stroke - this after you have opened the petrol tap and tickled the carb until you see petrol squirting from a small hole - then you heave on the pedal so that you store enough energy in the heavy flywheel to push the piston through the next compression stroke. If the engine fires and starts you are ready to go otherwise it is back to square one.
Velocettes were made in Hall Green Birmingham - near where my parents grew up.
I will dry my eyes now and make Butternut Squash Soup! Its not much of a day for motorcycling here.
# posted by william @ 11:50 AM 
Comments:
<< Home
I wonder where the Fellows are now.
I seem to recall coming across Tim some years ago.
g
I seem to recall coming across Tim some years ago.
g
# posted by 
: 2:53 PM
: 2:53 PM
actually I have been in touch with them not so long ago. They still have the house in Barston and one in Dartmouth. Chris and Tim run the hinge business in Tamworth still and Sarah is married with babies. They were all well and Jim still rides old bikes.
wrm
wrm
# posted by : 2:59 PM
: 2:59 PM
Jim must be getting rather old now, I always remember him as an old man and that was many years ago now.
I know you don't really like old english bikes that much really though, but I always remember that it wasn't until the Japanese started making bikes that people realised that there didn't have to be a puddle of oil under one.
Post a Comment
I know you don't really like old english bikes that much really though, but I always remember that it wasn't until the Japanese started making bikes that people realised that there didn't have to be a puddle of oil under one.
<< Home
