A Scooter at the Museum

www.london-motorcycle-museum.org

Velocette Viceroy

Just something I forgot to pass from a few weeks ago was and article in the London Evening Standard from Wednesday March 12^th and in their regular feature on Homes and property they talked about the amenities near Northolt. They mentioned Greenford park where there are three mounds next to the A40 and the London Motorcycle Museum in Greenford. The photo they used was an old one from 2011 and the display has changed considerably since then!

Now another Monday at the Museum this week as we had around 15 visitors that kept us busy all day with visitors from as far afield as Cornwall and Telford. It seems today there was much interest in the Velocette Viceroy scooter and as you may gather there is another article to quote from in the December 1998 Classic Motorcycle magazine. The article was written by Dennis Frost who is also the LE Velo Club Historian. I have often thought that Velocette had all the ingredients to make some very interesting lightweights but never got around to mixing them together to make more marketable products.

The Viceroy engine was very unusual having a 250 cc flat twin two stroke motor. It had reed valve induction because having a common crankcase piston controlled porting would require twin carburettors or an exceptionally long and cumbersome manifold. Many of the parts were common to the LE and Valiant but was streets ahead in that it had a starter motor run on a gear wheel like a car. Scooters at the time that used Villiers engines had a dynastart fitted that doubled as the generator as well as the starter motor. The Viceroy engine was also used as a commercial engine and many found their way on to lightweight hovercrafts that were the fad at the time. It was a very powerful motor for the day and would pull the scooter along at speeds in excess of 65mph which was quite quick in its day considering that many 350 cc bikes around at the time did not go any faster.

In the range of lightweight models at the time were the LE, Vogue, Valiant and Viceroy all encompassed by the LE Velo Club. The LE and Vogue shared the same running gear. 192 cc side valve water cooled engine. The Valiant was a modified LE engine, air cooled with overhead valves and was also 192 cc. The Viceroy was quite different in having the 250 cc two stroke engine. For the lightweight range you have the LE pressed steel body, the Vogue with the glass fibre body on a tubular frame, the Valiant with the duplex cradle frame and the Viceroy with a pressed steel body around a tubular frame. I wonder what it would have been like to have a Viceroy engine in a Valiant frame. A full 250 cc howling two stroke pushing you along. I reckon it would have given an Ariel Arrow a run for its money!

I have a much modified LE and a black Valiant that has had a few awards at concours over the last few years and if I'm at the Museum you may see one or the other parked up outside.