Back to the future

I like to vary the style and era of my motorcycle projects and not stick rigidly with any one make. ‘If it’s got two wheels and an engine, it’s a motorcycle,’ and that’s good enough for me.

My new Velocette project had got me thinking how amazing this old British bike really was. I remember my dad saying to me years ago how Velocette engines were really well made, and I tend to agree with him. In March 1961 a factory prepared 500cc single-cylinder Velocette Venom set the 24-hour world record at an average speed of 100.05mph, a record which remains unbroken today. The crankcases are very narrow compared to other single cylinder bikes, and it also has a high