Velocette

Only a few from that time, no-one I knew had a camera! so we had to buy pictures from the few professional photographers there were. Later on, moving on to solo Classic racing, sprinting, pre-65 trials and enduro there are more but most are still prints. I'll try to get some scanned and put up. These are from Cadwell and Elvington 1968/69. I've still got my helmet from those days !

Here are some images of the time, John Cooper in '67 and a host of famous names from the post TT meeting in '68. We were qualified to race at National level, when we could get an entry, so were only spectating when heroes like this were on the track. John Cooper had something to do with race organisation at, I think. the Derby Phoenix motorcycle club who put races on at Mallory.

I once had a chat with John Cooper there, in the clubhouse cafe and what a down to earth chap he was. I'd seen him race his Seely G50 Matchless but he had recently switched to the Yamsel ( 352 Yamaha in a Seely frame) and was demolishing the 500 class and many followed his example. Later I was there when he beat Ago's MV Augusta GP bike on the three cylinder BSA 750. "Mooneyes" Cooper was a hard man to beat in the UK and America at that time.

A nice track but not much fun on a sidecar outfit, over the back wheel for most of the lap of the old circuit with just the left hander at Devils Elbow to hang out of the chair. A big engine helped because most of the track is flat out, we only had a 720 Morgo Triumph. Did anyone see Owen Greenwood in his Mini special there ? That was a sight !!

Probably the Kashmir, just over Great Horton Road in a row of terraces, two doors away from the morgue and opposite the family planning clinic ! Downstairs was the 50p curry, upstairs was slightly posher. The Karachi was about 400yds away, just over Little Horton Lane and a bit more spacious. I was at the Uni in the mid 70's but the whole place is unrecognisable now. City of Culture my ****

The "Kashmir" or the "Karachi" ?. Downstairs was cheaper still !

That looks good !!

That's what the optician told me as she relieved me of my hard earned !! Better still, leave it to people who know what there are doing.

Exactly, I used proper turpentine and an old toothbrush as you suggested and most of it came up pretty well. There are the odd few spots of "bruising" and slightly worn lines that would benefit from cleaning up with this. It should tidy up the few places that need it and leave a sympathetic finish. The chequering tools I mentioned from Peter Dyson were for some worse finishes than this, particularly on some fore ends which seem to wear quite badly.

Its as tight as a tick. The top lever is the right side of 5-o-clock so its had an easy life since it was last re-jointed, which it surely must have been. As far as chequering goes, I've only ever cleaned up dodgy or worn lines with a tool I made from and old screwdriver, bent to 90 degrees at the end and filed to a 60 degree V shape and tapered to work when pulling rather that pushing. Its more controllable like that.

That's an imminent project, getting a double and a single ended chequering tool from Peter Dyson and practicing on a couple of old stocks until I can revive the cuts without making it look too new. Deep but not sharp is the target. The hard bit is measuring the lines per inch through glasses which I tried to polish with rottenstone ! It didn't work and it will be next week before my new ones are ready to collect.

I think that he is saying that you have to be an experienced idiot to be able to make an idiotic statement.

😌

That was a complete attack of brain fade !! You are quite right, there should be springs in there,,,,,and there were,,,,just stuck in another magnetic dish that I put parts in and didn't notice and jumped to strange conclusions about the action. Must pay more attention !!!!!

And another thing, the strikers are, to me, very small at about 13.5mm long and have worn to very slightly different lengths so I'll make up two new ones. The action is a non-rebounding type so there are no small springs behind the strikers which means having to carefully tilt the gun backwards after firing and before opening it. I'm hoping that by cunningly shaping the striker tip the empty case passing it will reliably push it back.