Theme?

The Triumph generator engine (for which I have a pair of crankcases, BTW) had only a bit to do with the motorcycle unit. It used Speed Twin internals, but with an extended mainshaft. The principal departure was the sand cast aluminium head and barrel used on the generator engine. These were made good use of post war when they used the head and barrel castings as the basis for the Grand Prix racer and the TR5 Trophy trials bike. I've got examples of both heads, the former having big inlet valves and valve seats, but the generator and TR5 heads have valves the same size.

As the ali heads and barrels would swap directly onto the post-war twin crankcases, virtually none of the generators are left. There was an example in the NMM, but I wonder if it survived the fire?

Certainly by WW2, the ABC was a job apart and bore no resemblance to the motorcycle units except for a general "same bloke drew it up" appearance. Beautifully made they are, like watches inside with lots of elegant solutions to the mechanical problems they solved.

On themes, entirely without trying, I've been collecting flat twins. I've got the ABC (one very complete and original and another bare engine in bits) a Petter PU8, the Norman T300, a small Coventry-Victor twin and of course the bl**dy great C-V flat four. I wonder if BMW made a stationary engine generator in the war? I bet they did.

Eye teeth job, that'd be ;o))

Nick, you don't have a Vincent Picador unit do you? What's a ST Stellar? Never heard of one of them.

Regards,

Kim Siddorn

"J K Siddorn" wrote (snip):-

Northolt SE club was offered a trailer mounted (more like a shed on wheels) BMW engined gen set to restore as a 'millenium project'. It was turned down and I think the owner passed it on elsewhere.

No, it's a '75' industrial unit. If it was a Picador I think I might be in with a chance of extracting that Scott PAB from you as a swap!

Not sure of spelling, could be Stella. There was one (the one?) in the window of ST factory shop in Henley up until quite recently, made just pre or post WWI and looked rather like a P55 engine in a frame, though it pre-dated that range of stationary/marine engines by a good few years.

The reason there are no generators left is that Triumph made I think it was

259 GP bikes based on the surplus gen set parts. It is documented somewhere. When the vintage / classic brigade brought a class out for the GP there were 269 on the start grid of the first race ___

Duct tape is like the Force. It has a light side and a dark side, and it holds the universe together.

At a risk of being branded a heretic for all eternity - don't forget that Honda have made the odd engine or two....

;-)

Dan

Very many m/c engines "converted" to SE's, often just by bolting the frame to the floor .... We always used to pass them by when buying engines to collect in the past -- not "real" engines.

Shame really. I was even offered the main chunks of a Brough SS80, but I wouldn't do side valve engines in those days! My priorities were simple then -- engines weren't engines without a blowlamp, & motorcycles needed bevels to count. Days long gone ......

Large numbers of Norton 16H engines used for stationary purposes. Don't know whether there was ever an official SE version -- I have no record of it if there was. The Norman engine range bear very little familial relationship to Norman motorcycles, so probably a different company -- haven't checked out addresses etc.

My understanding is that the ST Stellar was at best very limited production, probably only a prototype batch. Forgotten when -- likely to be somewhere in the 1923-1925 space. Lovely machine, beautifully built. From memory, shaft drive etc. No longer in Henley -- don't know where it went -- hopefully not to The Fire.

Colin

Small Internal Combustion engines by Edgar Westbury has a whole chapter on such conversions including how to fix fan blades to the flywheel or even add a flywheel! No known connection between the two Norman firms. regards Roland

I wonder if BMW made a stationary engine

The Russians made a mobile flat twin called the Ural motorcycle. It looked vaguely like a BMW, could be ridden or used to power machinery off it's flat belt drive pulley.

John

As have Yamaha I believe. There is the Enfield Robin diesel motorcycle which, I think, is powered by a Petter engine. Can't find any details but there are pics here.

a look at the picture in bottom left corner. What the hell is he doing?

John

When I spent some time on the Continental waterways, a few (well, OK,

25+) years ago, there were a few barges with ABC engines. Would that have been the same ABC (Anglo Belgian?)? I never actually saw one close up, but they were big slow running air start jobs.

Cheers Tim Tim Leech Dutton Dry-Dock

Traditional & Modern canal craft repairs

No. ABC motorcycles etc = "All British Company" which ISTR was founded by the rather eccentric Granville Bradshaw around WWI (I'm sure Kim can give chapter and verse on company history).

Being inscrutable? ttfn Roland

"John Manders" wrote >

Have a look at the picture in bottom left corner. What the hell is he doing?

That's prompted me to do a quick web search, came up with this:

Apparently the 'Anglo' bit never actually happened!

Cheers Tim

Tim Leech Dutton Dry-Dock

Traditional & Modern canal craft repairs

Still available, both in Russian form:-

and Chinese:- I'm not sure they come with a PTO any more! Quite fancied one of the outfits myself for plonking gently round the countryside, until I discovered that, due to some obscure bit of euro legislation which came into effect this June, sidecar combinations can no longer be registered as a three wheeler and one therefore need a motorcycle license to drive one (something I never got round to acquiring).

******************* Velocette made a "stationary" engine for use in Mr. Whippy type ice-cream vans - they adapted the flat twin water-cooled LE engine. This engine was also used for hovercrafts, but they were a bit less stationary than ice-cream vans.

JW², who doesn't want to hear any wise-cracks about the stationary-ness of Noddy Bikes. Norton AntiVirus 2003 installed

************************************

Velocette LE (Little Engine) derivatives were most uncommon, but the Mr Whippy line was a Godsend to the Goodmans and it allowed them to stay in business long enough to make an even bigger mistake with the Viceroy scooter!

Strange to think that if they had carried on making the outmoded single - perhaps developing it into a chain-driven OHC lump - they might well be in business to this day.

Regards,

Kim Siddorn

- who would love to get hold of a Mr Whippy unit. Any about gentlemen?

The LE was a brilliant concept which should have been the Honda Cub, a bike that went on to mobilise whole continents, but it was too expensive/complicated/fragile. Didn't the Venom/Viper range actually outlive it in production and Velocette still went down the pan?

Think it is was a Lombardini they used but could be wrong.

Apparently rice pudding skin beats it every time.

My original plan was to fit a Cub flat twin diesel to a BMW100RS chassis to annoy BMW Owners Club members but never had the time.

Try

for production diesel bikes

Paul

-- ____________________________________

Internal Fire, Museum of Power, Wales

(under construction) "

|There is the Enfield Robin diesel motorcycle which, I think, is powered by a |Petter engine. Can't find any details but there are pics here. |

|Have a look at the picture in bottom left corner. What the hell is he doing?

There is an article on the Sunday Times 14/12/2003 News Review, about a Mr Dorsett who is a pensioner leading a revolt against the local council tax in a Shropshire village. The article goes on to claim that Mr Dorsett is the 'inventor' of the first diesel powered motor cycle, built in early 1980s with a cement mixer engine. The article also claims the motor cycle captured the fuel economy record. See

Has anyone any more information on this? A search on the UK web sites reveals nothing.

I think you will find a Norton single cylinder motorcycle mentioned in David Edgington's column a few years back, together with a picture of the machine which was based on the ES2 by memory.

Peter

-- Peter & Rita Forbes snipped-for-privacy@easynet.co.uk Engine pages for preservation info: