Have you ever heard of a Velocette? Yeah, us either- until this shiny beauty came rolling in our shop door. Pronounced “velo-set”, these bikes hail from Birmingham, England and were produced by Veloce, Ltd.
The model we had the pleasure of having in our shop was a 1962 Velocette MSS. For that particular year, only 21 of this exact design were produced.
The mechanics were really impressed with the innovative, ahead-of-its-time technology when it came to the adjustable rear suspension. By sliding the top mounting belt either forward or backward, one can easily adjust how the motorcycle rides and handles. Adjusting forward provides a more soft, plush ride whereas backwards stiffens up the suspension for heavier weight loads.
The guys dubbed this the “best fishtail muffler they’d ever seen!”, due to its careful craftsmanship and unique design.
While it arrived at our shop in nearly immaculate cosmetic condition, the mechanical workings of it needed attention. Prior to arriving at our facility, someone had done a great deal of work to it already and had it nearly running.
The final push to get it running proved difficult for us as well, as it appeared to have all of the necessary components to run: it had good fuel, compression, and spark. The only element uncertain in the equation that remained was the timing. After we set the timing (and then re-set the timing over a dozen times to fully eliminate it as a possible cause), we were officially stumped and both mechanics hobbled on bum knees from all the attempted kicking. Curse words may have been involved, too- but we won’t mention them here.
Once we mustered the courage to face the project again (after icing both our knees and pride), we decided to tackle it from a different angle. We checked the camshaft timing by removing the camshaft cover and and visually inspecting the timing marks. They appeared to be in alignment based on the handscribed marks, which further left us puzzled.
Next we put a degree wheel (pictured above) on the crankshaft to find out exactly at what degree the cams opened and closed. A degree wheel simply lets us see at what degree the valves open and close in relation to the piston. It is not a tool that we utilize often, but can be incredibly helpful when its use is needed.
Given the rarity of this particular motorcycle, we weren’t above admitting that it was time to call in a Velocette-specific expert to rack their brain on what might be the mysterious problem preventing the bike from running.
The bike’s owner gave us contact information for Ed Gilkison of Velocette Service in Lakebay, WA. Ed proved to be an invaluable resource and provided us with cam timing specifications. Our degree wheel told us at what point our intake valve was opening, but we didn’t have the literature to verify at what point it should be opening.
Armed with this new knowledge, we changed the intake cam timing by advancing it roughly 20 degrees. We reassembled and then once again began the kicking process. This time, to our delight, it started.
At some point in its history, this motorcycle had been converted from points to an electronic ignition system. After getting it running we were then able to get a strobe light on it to check and set the ignition timing. At that point, we were very happy with our progress and contacted the customer to come in and hear and see it run (for what we believe was the first time in his ownership of it).
The customer decided to go forward with additional work, which we are now in the process of completing. We will now fine tune the carburetor, repair miscellaneous oil leaks, and finalize the reassembly.
