Velocette Venom Clubman engine start & warm-up

Over Christmas and New Year 2011, this 500cc Velocette Venom Clubman motorcycle was started up for the first time in over ten years (the bike's been off the road since the 1970s).

Never having started a motorcycle before, it took a little while to get used to the manual advance/retard (BTH mag) on the bike, and the often fickle nature of starting up old Velos in particular. This video shows it being fired up for the second time.

By attempt no.3 I'd got the hang of the timing, de-compressor, choke and throttle so that now it starts up after just two or three kicks. A test run confirms that basically it all works, although there is some setup work to do.

The smoke visible in the video is just some WD40 burning off, that had been sprayed over the barrel while the Velocette was stored away for years.

It isn't 100% original as it features a number of upgrades taken from later Venom/Clubman or Thruxton variants (eg the front forks, headlamp nacelle etc) but that doesn't bother me unduly.

More history on this classic Velo will be added to www.oldclassiccar.co.uk shortly.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• velocette
• venom
• clubman
• 500cc
• classic
• british
• motorcycle
• 1950s
• veloce
• thruxton
• viper
• racing
• engine
• start
• starting
• technique
• 1960s