1971 Velocette LE MK3 200cc at Andy Tiernans

[@DrPococksMagicPills]

I am old enough to have been chased by the local PC on one of these. We'd always head for the woods. In the early 70s he was upgraded to a CB200. He never caught us riding our field bike but he got his own back one night when we were pushing it home. We picked it up so that he couldn't nick us for the half a dozen things we were doing illegally. He sat there on his bike for ages watching us sweat. 'If just one part of that bike touches the ground you two are nicked' He told us. Duty called before we gave in but its surprising how heavy a Raleigh Runabout 'scrambler' gets after a few minutes when you are 12. I probably ought to buy the Noddy bike in memory of PC Robinson.

[@bamaboni]

These are so cool and cleverly designed with the monocoque style of body

[@russthebiker]

As long as they were ridden hard and thrashed they were very reliable, but being liquid cooled if you did short journeys and pottered engine life was not great, our local copper was a big lad and rode it hard, never gave him any problems, but he had been a Don R before joining up, he bought a Honda twin when he retired, with electric start😂

[@aleddavies6361]

It may be old, but the fact it is still here is testament to the quality of Velocette products and advanced design features.

[@peter7624]

It sounds surprisingly throaty for a water-cooled side-valve 192cc twin! Lovely old bike!

[@payres48]

My dad had one of those around the late 1950's.

[@nigelbarker8726]

43000 miles. Your average BSA Bantam would struggle to get there. Liquid cooling and shaft drive, motor cycle as transportation.

[@stevenwatsham5973]

I remember buying one of those in 1980/83ish for £10.00!!

[@russthebiker]

A noddy bike, i remember our local copper whizzing about on one of these

[@stevepage2541]

PC Plod would certainly be able to catch the baddies unaware,it'so quiet!

[@mcharrisment4765]

Strewth - it looks like a 1940's motorcycle

[@cerealtiller]

The Kickstart does not Fold?

[@4thinternational283]

Was this the same engine used in the Vogue?

[@ouch74]

Can that really qualify as a motorcycle?...cause it looks more like a scooter to me.

[@JuhaK71]

So what? The scooter is a kind of motorcycle. I think LE 200 was a good design for the purpose it was intented to.

[@PurpleWhirple]

It's so ugly it's almost beautiful (but not quite).

[@jibjab351]

1971?, compared to a Honda CB175 it looks like a stone age bike. No wonder the British bike industry failed.

[@perryjones8684]

Lack of investment. 71 to 76 our economy was in the toilet

[@VinSidecar47]

It was first sold in 1948, pointless to compare to a Honda !

[@richardrichard5409]

Way more advanced than any Honda at that time, including CB750, water cooled, shaft drive, two stage ignition so would start with flat battery etc

[@melvynmanning9427]

You’ve missed the point. Some of the most successful Japanese bikes from the 70’s were derived from British designs. Our bike industry was denied any further government investment because 1; successive managements had previously squandered the monies and 2; the uk ( same as ever), was in the shit.