anyone heard of a "james"?

[sunhuntin]

went to the local museum the other day.....theres a model blacksmith shop downstairs...with an old motorbike with the name "james" on the tank. i think its 1916 [cant remember for sure, had one of those plates on the front fender like what they used to have.] but it was a single and was last registered in 1978 [had a yellow sticker with an "M" on the black plate] cameras are not allowed in the museum, but i will attempt to sneak one in at some stage.

[James Deuce]

Yes.

http://www.simplywizard.co.uk/folder...y/history1.htm

Ceased production in 1966

[Ixion]

Yep, James was a well respected make right through the 50's and 60's. I owned a 1930 odd James at one point (two speed hand change!) , and a mate served his time on a 1960 something James 150.

Usually the ubiquitous Villiers engine. No better (or worse) than similar bikes of the time, the Francis Barnett et al. Later ones were like the little bike that copper rode in the TV series set in Yorkshire. Quite nice little bikes, they were built for the commuter market. Sort of like the olde tyme version of the FXR150.

[Paul in NZ]

James... Ah..... (sigh)

Mate, soooo many memories.. Mostly of endlessly changing spark plugs but thats before you could get decent 2 stroke oil...

Once they made great big bikes but like others said (well OK one) they are mostly remembered for small commuter types these days... Including the ML, aptly named, 'The Clockwork Mouse' It was a kinda commando thingy designed to be dropped with airborne troops to help them ... erm... get a lot of practise changing sparkplugs under fire i suppose???

Feck! The only way an ML would help (in my experience) is if you dropped them on Jerry without the parachutes.

Loads a fun...

Now - have you ever heard of a Norman? Well, there was this time you see when.....

[sunhuntin]

koolies! paul....ive heard of a norton, but not a norman..... share ya story?

ive seen a francis barnett in a museum in sasketchewan in canada...got a photo on the puter somewhere. im gonna sneak that camera in soon and get a coupla pics.

[rfc85]

my son is named "james" does that count ?

[Motu]

Yep,there were plenty of James around....I had one in my possession once,I don't think I owned it,but that sort of stuff wan't important then.It was a sort of moped thing and had girder forks - I was going to put one of my spare Bantam engines in it,it would of been an easy fit....but then it ceased to be in my posession.These things come and go in your life....

[Ixion]

Oh, yeah, I forgot Norman. They were another of the same, James, Norman, Fanny-Bastard, all in the same mold. Transported bazillions of folk to work in their day.Unreliable as hell, broke down all the time, but, see, thing was, whenever they broke down you could always fix them with a spark plug wrench and a hammer. Nine times out of ten , it was the plug. The tenth one required hitting something with the hammer. Experienced James riders carried the hammer with them and could deal the requisite clout on the move. *And* change sparks plugs without stopping (I've done it, it worked)

[Ixion]

Some James.

An early post war one, probably what Mr Motu had, A rather nice scrambler (James had a reasonably good reputation ) and one of the last 200cc models

[pritch]

Most of the Villiers engined two strokes were very similar apart from the badges.

As at 1959 the following were still struggling on:
Ambassador, Cotton, DMW, DOT, Excelsior, Francis Barnett, Greeves, James,
Norman, Panther and Sun.

Ariel, BSA, and Royal Enfield made their own 2 stroke commuter engines.

AJW "a name that was well known in the thirties" were reduced to trying to flog a 50cc stroker with an Italian engine.

In 1959 the first Honda Dreams were about to arrive and put the whole lot out of their misery

[sunhuntin]

cheers ixion....

pritch, out of that list ive heard of 3 of them....francis barnett, excelsior and now james. so basically the one company [villiers] made engines for all those bikes? as in, all those bikes were powered by identical engines?
also heard of the three 2 strokers you listed.

[T.W.R]

James only used some villiers motors, initially they used FN engines & their own 297cc engine, plus Python sv & ohv motors. 1945 they were brought out by Associated Motorcycles Ltd ( owners of Matchless & AJS) and used their own Piatti designed engines they also brought out Francis Barnett . And from 1961 used Villiers engines again

[Ixion]

Villiers made engines for all sorts of things - lawnmowers, machinery, fire pumps, motorcycles. That was their business, they made engines.

In the 1930s it was really easy to set up a business making motorcycles, because there were companies that supplied almost all the various bits. You bought engines form Villiers, wheels from someone else, electrics from Lucas, forks from whoever, etc and just assembled them.

There were manufacturers who sepcialised in making engines for cars too. I think Coventry-Climax were about the last of the propiatory engine makers in UK. But Briggs and Sstratton (and Kirby-Tecumseh??) still carry on .

EDIT: Ariel, BSA and Renfield were not mainly noted for their two strokes of course - they made lots of four strokes, and apart from BAS (with the legendary Bantam ) the two strokes were quite minor part f their range. But the Villiers engined bikes, that was what they did - made small two stroke engined bikes for commuters.

[MSTRS:Me]

... so basically the one company [villiers] made engines for all those bikes? as in, all those bikes were powered by identical engines?

Just as Briggs and Stratton still do with their lawnmower engines....
Back in the early '70s I had a stripped down James with a Villiers 150 2 stroke in it, which I used for hooning around the local paddocks. Twas a heap but lots of fun.