Clubmans Ratios

A last post before the rigours of the week then.

It's funny where YouTube surfing takes you.  I went back to the Honda video previously posted and followed the links on the YouTube sidebar.  I was going from one clip to the next when I found this.

Ok, not a Venom either but it is a Velocette (actually if you tune an MSS you more or less end up with a sort of Venom anyway).  The sensory deprivation of twenty five years lifted away when I heard the soundtrack.  No, it's not the tappets clattering away, not the respectable way he nips up the road.  More fundamental than that... just count the gear changes.

The Garden of Creation

Workbench made and installed.  You can't see the case of beer by the chair for when things have gone well.  Unpacking the parts was a pleasant supprise. I have more than I thought - two barrels, four pistons of different sizes, two rocker boxes etc.  Some of the engine I have already done/ had work done on in the past and this has survived the last seventeen years well.  The rebored barrel is perfect under the quater of an inch of grease I slapped on and the bottom end of the engine has only minor surface corrosion on the outside of the cases.  Cool.

Now I need Gunk - I don't want to use flammable solvents near the central heating boiler.  What's the french for Gunk? 

Why I like cafe racers

Back from my day job, I've put in a bit of effort.  When I can find the camera I'll post a photo of how that workshop's coming along...

Anyway here's a little bit of cool video.  Not a Velo, no, but it's the spirit of this I like.  It's only a little 250 Honda and the song lyrics could be about the hat industry for all I know, but I just really get this.  Man and machine in harmony...

Work Benches and Highway Robbery

The worshop to be.  There's method in my madness - this room has the heating boiler, so I'm not going to get cold!

Have you seen the price of a work bench with more working area than a stamp?  I have been to Mr Bricolage, Brico Depot, BricoMarche, Machine Mart, et al and there's nothing for less than £150!  Well, that's not going to happen, not at all.  I've found a nice piece of old kitchen work top in the cellar and I've blown €25 on legs for it... This could be built in the morning.  Or not. Work is getting in the way and I'm out of circulation for two weeks.

Off we go then...

Here goes…

I have 1961 Velocette Venom. This blog will hopefully record its restoration as well as a load of other related musings along the way.

I bought the Venom when I was seventeen years old as a progression from my 1971 BSA B25ss. At the time all my mates were going for a 500 and getting rid of their 250cc learner bikes, the difference being I would only ride British. I had much to learn, even though the BSA had given me a phenomenal crash course in motorbike mechanics.

Fast forwards ten years and see the despondent young man beside the M5. His trusty Venom lost top gear on the on ramp and his pride let him take on a CB650 leading to a piston with a hole big enough to park a car in. I should have sold it I hear you say, but I kept it. I felt ashamed of myself. This bike didn’t deserve such ignominy, not just because it was a good bike but because it’s family. You see my Venom, I discovered after I first got it home, was registered on the very day I was born.

I have periodically had a pop at rebuilding, but all too often ran into money shortages, parts shortages or just life taking me off on a tangent. So here I am, some twenty five years after the shameful day having another go. Only this time there’s no problem with money, parts or space. This time it’s going to work (fingers crossed).

First off, I need a work bench...