Velocette Thruxton VMT334 : Why They are Hard to Steal

Рет қаралды 32,680

5 жыл бұрын

This video is about the trials and tribulations of starting a Velocette motorcycle. Patience and Humor are required...or, maybe you just move to a higher hill. Oh and you'll also need a Velocette.

Пікірлер: 52

@richardducati 2 жыл бұрын

The world would be a far more better place, if more people could have your attitude. Your smile placed one in my face. Nice video

@TheRideNut 2 жыл бұрын

Thank you Richard, I share your view. Mag more, bark far less!

@jamespink4202 2 жыл бұрын

I love the blue and silver colour scheme Thruxtons. A friend had one of the squish head Dodkin specials in these colours. Very fast bike, much preffered bumping to kickstarting.

@viktorroswell1041 3 ай бұрын

That smile said it all! Must admit never had any issues starting mine just wish I still had it60 years later!

@hhoward14 2 жыл бұрын

By way of being helpful, and having worked for a main agent sixty years ago, the kick start routine is simply : set the choke and ignition levers to what you knew is right, find compression with the kickstarter, then let the kick starter return all the way back up. Then deploy the valve lifter, and carfully advance the kickstart one full kickstarter. stroke down, then allow the kickstarter to return all the way up back again. Then with the valve lifter released, take your full force starting swing. If it does not start repeat the sequence. Don't wildly kick-away. I have demonstrated this many times to new owners. Wonderfuly good handling bikes. Everything Velocette did was first rate.... Nothing wrong with the starting, and nothing wrong with the clutch.

@oml81mm 9 ай бұрын

Freeing up the clutch as described is always a good idea. Then get the piston just past TDC on the compression stroke. Now swing the kickstart (don't jab at it) to get the flywheels moving. The flywheels will do all the work, and that's it! If you are going to bump start it first roll the bike back against compression, again so that the flywheels can do theit work.

@emilywright8332 5 жыл бұрын

Love that grin when she starts

@alexparson4472 2 жыл бұрын

Amazingly beautiful sound

@tomnwoo 2 жыл бұрын

Excellent video, thanks for taking the time

@shanehnorman 8 ай бұрын

What a beautiful beast.

@TheRideNut 8 ай бұрын

Thank you! I appreciate you watching my Vids, Dick Casey

@flowmodel 3 жыл бұрын

So cool. Love your pleasure smile. So cool.

@junglie 4 жыл бұрын

Now that's how to start a velo! I had a tuned T140v '77 bonnie, didn't have high comp pistons in just well ported & set up for the extra midrange cam & raygun silencers, loved getting my 6 & a half stone girlfreind to kickstart it in front of none belivers who swore i had high comp pistons in after seeng how well it went on the road, she used to start it first kick every time after they'd failed she just knew the routine so well.

@TheRideNut 4 жыл бұрын

Thanks Junglie, You paint a fun picture of your Girl putting all those men in their places.

@junglie 4 жыл бұрын

@@TheRideNut Yep the bonnie did too, thanks to my freind Broderick Rogers RIP.who tune & bluprinted the motor to am early 80's motorcycle mechanics midrange tuning article i'd found.

@arturoespinosa8985 4 жыл бұрын

I know it was a big deal to start it, but once you learned the procedure, and practice, it will start easily, my dad used to have several Velocettes, he was a fanatic of the brand name.

@TheRideNut 4 жыл бұрын

Thank you Arturo. Your Water had had "good taste".

@paulroberts7561 3 жыл бұрын

I used to have one and starting it was an art form. Great bike once it was going but my mates would be a mile down the road before I got mine started.

@TheRideNut 3 жыл бұрын

I know how frustrating that can be. It takes a while to 'learn' the combination and start 'em in a kick or two. It is not brute force... it is finesse!

@clarkac1 2 ай бұрын

The most beautiful motorbike, and I never owned one. But I think starting it would have driven me mad

@Mike40M 4 ай бұрын

Mine has a belt drive. So gearing slightly different. Kick start movement decompressed a bit shorter. Otherwise as shown.

@russellward8694 4 жыл бұрын

Never let anything mechanical know you are in a hurry. Brit bikes especially have a critical need factor -if you need it quickly, it ain't gonna respond.

@JohnSmith-xi3sq 4 жыл бұрын

Knew 2 brothers both had Venoms. Completely different start process one needed the choke & setting the piston exactly the other no choke.

@Roger.Coleman1949 4 жыл бұрын

A friend bought one second-hand as a teenager in silver/blue , 'G' reg.and he was advised by the bike shop salesman to go and see the only previous owner to learn the starting procedure which once learned, never failed !.That owner had just taken delivery of a new one in black , must have been one of the last, c. 1969.In the early 80s , my friend bought another silver/ blue Thruxton ( VMT 345 ) which he totally restored but was never as good as the original !.

@TheRideNut 4 жыл бұрын

"We" Velo owners closely guard the Secret Hand-Shake and the Starting Drill.... cheers!

@jimmarshallman6300 4 жыл бұрын

Beautiful bike ...... 🧡

@G58 4 жыл бұрын

For some reason I could always start other guy’s bikes when the offered me a go on them. It may be that some bikes speak to me. I recall an old WW2 BSA M20 that a lad owned at a flat I was visiting for the weekend in London back in the mid ‘80s. I admired his bike and he was impressed that I knew what it was. I was wearing a suit so he assumed I was bluffing. But he said you can have a go if you can start it. That drew a small crowd of people convicted the guy in the suit was about to look very silly. It was in a very rough state. He said some mornings he gave up and caught the bus! Fuel on, I think I tickled the carb, and turned the engine over a few times. Two kicks later and it fired. Spent a glorious 30 minutes bombing around the side streets of Kennington making a wonderful noise. I learned to ride on an old ex GPO BSA Bantam and ride loads of different bikes. I owned a few Brits, but I caught the Honda bug early on, and never got a Velo when I should have. I recall a Thruxton in MCN for £120 in old money, and thought it was way too much...! Ride safe. Thank you for sharing

@TheRideNut 4 жыл бұрын

Good comments. I've long maintained that for the fortunate few of us, machines do speak to us clearly and 'we' understand them perfectly. I love them all dearly, and will feel a degree of sadness when the last internal combustion machine is built.

@G58 4 жыл бұрын

Dick Casey Thank you. I totally agree. And yes, this electric thing is wrong on so many levels. Ride safe

@bartmotorcycle Жыл бұрын

1:14. Me every time I go to start my bike

@arthurdent2900 Жыл бұрын

When I had a Velo I would only visit people who lived at the top of hills!

@dearchap 3 жыл бұрын

bought vmt 825c new wish i still had it

@donparker1823 2 жыл бұрын

Excellent, now I can make off with the next Velocette I see...

@northlandrider5396 2 жыл бұрын

It's a brave man (or woman) who goes to start their British classic in front of a camera, or audience. 🤣

@Oldpigsass 4 жыл бұрын

Most beautiful motorcycle ever! No key, OK I can see one wouldn't be necessary, a petrol lawnmower doesn't have one after all....... but surely there's an on/off switch somewhere else the 6v battery would drain?

@TheRideNut 4 жыл бұрын

No key for the ignition. The spark plug is powered by a magneto. Like the 'lawn mower' you mentioned, quickly rotate the engine, and the magneto produces a spark, and the engine will run. The lights, like head light and tail/brake lights are controlled by a switch. In the day time, the switch remains , and at night turn the lighting switch. Lights and ignition are 2 separate circuits. Thanks for watching my video and your interest.

@Oldpigsass 4 жыл бұрын

@@TheRideNut And many thanks to you for replying so promptly and succinctly.

@reidgalbraith250 Ай бұрын

The spark is provided by, as Ridenut says, by a magneto. What isn’t clear, regarding the lights, is that quite separate from the ignition, there is a dynamo, voltage regulator, (Miller not Lucas), and battery. All this, quite separate from the ignition, provides you with lights, and when the engine is not running, parking lights. Parking lights were a legal requirement in England. If you don’t require lights than the bike will, run even without the battery and dynamo, on the magneto alone. Both Lucas and BTH were used. The MSS, but not the Venom or the Viper, also had an automatic advance and retar unit operated by bob weights. It worked very well making the MSS a superior bike in dense traffic. Very tractable. RAHG