1928 Velocette Kss
1928 VELOCETTE KSS
Story and Photos by Henry N. Manney III
You, gentle reader, are no doubt used to the sight of painstakingly restored Electra Glides, Indians and the odd BSA down at the local Dairy Queen, glistening in its perfection as it is surrounded by a crowd of admirers and the inevitable old codger who says "I useter have one jest like that." Ever onward and upward. CW now presents a Salon of a type you may find as discovered behind the harvesting combine, lurking under the hay in a barn, or even with a tree growing through the frame. Furthermore such is the lack of reliable information about Velocettes over here that the exact date of the bike as a whole is somewhat in doubt. The owner (Robert Seiffert Esq. of Boulder, Colorado) is a racing car restorer of some note and acquired the Velo with some other delicious old clunks in a recent trip to England. apparently purchasing them from a firm there that specializes in this sort of thing. He and his learned friends swear up and down that we have here a Mk land who am I to argue with Rob't?
Many riders of this day and age have never heard of Velocettes or perhaps recall mentions of hard starting Thruxton 500cc Singles. Older gents' eyes will recall photos of the stylish Freddie Frith or even Stanley Woods hurtling down Bray Hill on the Island astride one of the sleek 350 racing KiTs, a racing machine that looked as right as it was right. Veloce, Ltd. was the brainchild of a Prussian gentleman named Johann Gutgemann (who promptly changed his name to Goodman) who after a false start with a bicycle company in 1896, tried again in 1910 with a flathead 3½ bhp (fiscal rating) single-cylinder mo torcycle. I suppose they must have handled as Velocettes always do, after they got rid of Druid forks, anyway, as this was followed by i over e Singles which attempted the Manx races but did at least finish and even a 206cc two-stroke. The war interrupted production but afterward the 206 was increased to approx 250 and given a host of refinements including oil pump lubrication,alloy head and piston etc., which goodies resulted in a 3rd place on the Isle of Man in 1922. Johann’s sons Percy (engine designer) and Eugene (tool room) thought about this time that the two-stroke had gone about as fur as it could go and now that business was looking up, produced the remarkable Model K which left its imprint on motorcycle racing until this day. First of all Veloce had gone back to four-strokes and not content with that, the new bike was an ohc 350 Single (74 x 81mm), cast iron naturally, with extremely narrow crankcases using a full roller bottom end and final drive outside the clutch. The engine was dry-sumped, coil valve stems and springs bathed in the open air, the separate 3-speed gearbox (hand shift) lived in the dual-downtube diamond-pattern frame and as usual in those days girder forks and solid back end were worn. Electrics were usually Miller, the engine revved to 5500, probably produced about 17 bhp and proved to be a complete flop at the 1925 IOM races in June because of teething troubles. For 1926 these were rectified with a vengeance and Alec Bennett won the Junior race at some 66 mph, miles ahead of anyone else.
And Celluloid-Covered Handlebars, Already
Aside from the happy effect on sales, the Velocette success stimulated many other makers to follow suit, including Norton two years later, and ushered in the Golden Age of motorcycle racing in Europe at any rate. In those days motorcycle factories were very much enthusiast shops and lived from hand to mouth, even as Ferrari did for years, producing street bikes so they could go racing. Consequently when customers came in saying things like Percy give me one of those like Alec had, the factory hastened to turn out a few “boy’s racers” with straight pipe, etc. and then almost immediately the celebrated KSS with higher compression piston, different cam, narrower mudguards and so forth was produced to take care of the demand. Velocette, as was common in those days, turned out a plethora of variations on this basic design and we recommend you to any one of several excellent books instead of taking up your time here. Suffice it to say that the simple K model was phased out in 1928, just about the time the pukka racing KTT of immortal memory was introduced, while the KSS Mk 1 went on incorporating various improvements until 1935 when the bike was updated considerably with a new' frame (ex-KTT) incorporating the rear downtube behind the gearbox plus a new head with fully enclosed valve gear and a downdraft inlet port. These were the Mk 2 KSS and embodied all the racing tricks learned over the years, carrying on till after the war when they acquired Dowty tele forks. The KTTs went through Mks 1 through 8 and covered themselves with glory in the role of the world’s first production racer; the names of Alec Bennett, Stanley Woods, Freddie Hicks, Ted Mellors, Les Archer, Bob Foster, Peter Goodman, Freddie Frith, Ken Bills, David Whitworth, Tommy Wood, Les Graham, Bill Lomas and practically every up and coming motorcycle star you could think of did their time on KTTs. The reason that Velos were so successful on such a limited racing budget was probably because the factory was ready to help, update, and modify older machines to keep them going. Additionally the KTTs were generally reliable if set up properly and handled exceptionally well, enabling even racers of moderate talent to put up a good showing under any conditions.
Naturally there were many other models, way too many in fact, including flatheads, two-strokes, supercharged Singles (“Whiffling Clara”), Twins. 500cc ohv and ohc, and the infamous “noddy bike” or LE which was probably jammed down Velocette’s throat by the Labour Governmein. As at BSA. eventually fashions changed enough and enough old age set in at the factory so that it was considered uneconomic to re-tool for a series of brand new motorcycles. Therefore in spite of max production and max sales. Veloce Ltd. closed up in 1970, passing into history as another famous name. I had one of the last KSS models with Dow ty forks and remember it as being one of those highly indi* vidual machines which you got on and wondered how you could ride it. Half an hour later you wondered how’ you could have ridden anything else. The narrow crankcases meant a short and very stiff crankshaft which gave silk-like smoothness and a willingness to rev forever. Velocette’s characteristically fat tank gave good support for the knees and the rider soon molded himself into the position that Bertie Goodman wanted you to be in. The long Brooklands “can” gave a musical English sound to the exhaust and I used to ride the bike all around Los Angeles at night, just enjoying the one-ness with the road; KTT race breeding meant that everything was short and stiff so the Velo thought about where you wanted to go before you actually did so and sort of wished itself over. I kick myself yet for having sold it!
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The subject of this Salon is a very early example, thought to have been built in 1928, and is an interesting mixture of K and KSS as is normal over the decades it was probably raced. Early K’s had a separate oil compartment in the tank and a total loss oil system; this one clearly has an oil tank (as happened later in the production run) but as befits a fairly late frame number (K 714) has the gal.K tank and not the slightly more bulbous KSS one. A boss may be seen on the side where the hand change used to be fitted but this bike, as noted by Jeff Clew who dropped by a month ago. has had a foot change setup fitted. Whether this is the arrangement offered by Veloce later or an aftermarket one I can’t say; in due course Veloce fitted a gearbox incorporating the first positive stop change with four speeds and 1 remember my KSS as having a wondrous series of linkages. That the Salon Velo has been raced is indicated by the straight pipe (with silver paint!) and cross-bracing struts right under the friction damper on the Webb forks, a demon mod fitted to works models first at the IOM. The engine itself is the familiar KSS ohc unit (No. KSS 3721) which an authority informs me was probably built back in the late Twenties, early Thirties; certainly it conforms to the practice of that era with exposed valve gear. head steady and ancient AT pattern Amal although there is nothing to say without going into Velocette’s records that this engine (74 x 81mm) is the one originally fitted or a later one. Uncertain as we are, it is probably still safe to say that the ohc unit has a newer piston in place of its original 6.5:1 one but without too much of a cr increase as the cylinder and head were iron, remember, and were intended to run on Cleveland petrol-benzole mix. In original KSS form it was supposed to put out about 18 bhp at 5800, pulling ratios (assuming a later box) of 5.5:1, 7.95:1 and 10.4:1 with a 22-tooth sprocket but God knows what mods have been made since. In 1928 form with its long pipe . . . this was well before megaphones . . . the KSS would do approximately 85 mph and return 90 mpg although not around the Island of course! Tires were 21-3.00 front, 3.25-20 rear, brakes internal expanding 7 inchers no less, the Velo weighed about 265 lb. and for a matter of 78 pounds 15 bob in those days you could go racing.
Bob Seiffert says that our salon bike is for sale (303) 444-5050 and although his KSS Mk 1 is in an unrestored state to put it mildly, it offers some patient enthusiast a chance to go racing on a machine with celluloid covered handlebars. Talk about the magic of a name! Isn’t it nice? ES
