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Is it A Motorcycle? Is it A Plane?


Dai Fledermaus
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There are some clever people about I both admire and envy for their talent. This is one of them. There's also a nasty part of me that hates them for showing me up blush Not so sure about 'spoiling' a Velocette

There was a guy at RR, Derby who did similar things. He put 2 500cc Triumph twin engines in a frame to make a 1000cc transverse 4 and then topped it by melding a pair of Hillman Imp engines into a V 8! I saw the bike in the racks near where I left my pedal cycle but never actually met the man himself. The finish was never like this, though.

Geoff

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I managed to have a brief chat with Allen at last year's open day at the National Motorcycle Museum. Such a nice bloke at not the least bit of "look what I can do" at all. One of those people that you feel that you've known for ages even after only a few minutes. Astonishing what can be achieved with relatively simple workshop equipment if one has the vision and skill. Such an inspiration.

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I’ve just watched both videos of Allan Millyards’ bike and I’m amazed. Amazed at the concept of using two ex-radial engine cylinders and the sheer quality of his engineering work. The donor engine was a Pratt and Witney R1340 which was a 9 cylinder 600Hp radial of 22 litres so each cylinder would be just under 2 ½ litres. It was 5.75 inches bore and stroke, exactly square. Allen made his own con-rods and bottom end so he could have altered the stroke slightly. I’m surprised he could kick start a 5 litre engine even with a low compression of 6:1, he didn’t mention valve lifters. I knew someone once who had a BSA Gold Star, 500cc single which I think it had a valve lifter although the Goldie had a much higher CR. The detachable kick start lever and its stowage were really ingenious and I liked the wooden battery box and bulb horn. Incidentally the R1340 powered many aircraft including the AT6/Harvard. A fantastic project brilliantly done.

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BSA Gold Stars certainly had a valve lifter and needed some care when kick starting. All 350cc plus singles had them. My 1953 BB34 (which was the first with a pivotted rear fork suspension) regularly kicked back if I had the throttle open a bit too much and I had an almost permanent limp I replaced the worn out Amal TT carb with a Monobloc eventually, which helped a lot.

Valve lifters were almost essential for trials as they made engine braking more efficient on steep descents as did decompressors on 2 strokes.

Geoff

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