ORIGINS OF THE SWINGARM FRAME

by Dennis Quinlan When looking at the frame of the 1936 works Velocette racer, which debuted in the Ulster GP, Isle of Man TT & other continental races, you can’t help noticing that it (and the MkVIII KTT frame which followed) was the same arrangement as the twin-shock swingarm frames still in use today…..How did this occur?Ivan Rhodes & I have discussed the matter on numerous occasions, and our

Supercharged Velocette

I became interested in HC Lamacraft after doing some research on racing Velocettes at Brooklands, and came across these two photographs of his ca.1935 mkV KTT, to which he added a blower in 1938. Supercharging a single-cylinder motorcycle isn't easy, as the intake comes in pulses - by contrast, multi-cylinder engines draw more evenly from a forced-air chamber. They work best when a chamber

All At 7's and 8's

I saw a photo of a mkVII KTT Velocette recently, and asked Dennis Quinlan of Sydney if he knew the owner or the history of the machine (Dennis knows more about KTT's than anyone I know, and I love picking his brain about particulars of their rider history and mechanical changes).The upper pic shows the bike, which looks like a fairly correct mkVII - the factory only made about 39 of these

POZO MELO VELO RALLY

The Melo Velo rally was moved to Pozo (actually Santa Margarita Lake) this year from its previous home in Ojai, where it had been originated in the late 70's by Pat Peddicord, then taken over for many years by Tim Kenney. Tim has been seeking to pass the baton, so Pete Young and I decided to hold the event near Atascadero, as we had attended some pre-16 rides in the area and thought it rich in

VELOCETTE SUMMER RALLY, PART 2

On day 2 I was resigned to driving the chase truck behind the Velos, waiting to catch anyone with mechanical issues... but there were two or three sweep vehicles, and they always seemed to have picked up the wounded before I other trucks which where 'unofficial' the whole point of the rally for me. Pic 1 shows my only potential customer, Mark Hoyer of Cycle showed up. The chase truck is

VELOCETTE SUMMER RALLY, MONTANA, PART 1

The 2007 Velocette Owner's Club of North America held its annual Summer Rally in the hamlet of Hot Springs, Montana. It was indeed hot there, as the whole area has been experiencing a drought, and many wildfires burned out of control in parts of the state, diminishing visibility of the Rockies. About 65 bikes participated, half a dozen being ridden from SoCal (1500 miles), with a couple ridden

VELOCETTE SPRING OPENER

John and Sue Ray host the annual Velocette owner's club Spring Opener at their 40-acre spread in the hills above Napa. Beautiful location, and the Rays are generous hosts, plus there's a lot of room to spread out the motorcycles, no matter how many show up. We met Saturday morning the 19th of May, for a ride of about 70 miles through the amazing countryside around Napa and Lake Berryessa -