welbike

Nice articles Jan!  It's known that when the US entered the war, there was not enough equipment to send overseas, so it was locally procured, like the French 75mm. guns etc. etc.

Cheers,

Lex

And the sale, pictures from the internet, as I was trying to locate my stolen DKW engine!

Cheers,

Lex

Here some pictures from the viewing day, I also managed to buy the 2 6Pdr. wheels, but not the 75mm. Pack Howitzer, that is what I actually came for, as it was withdrawn from the sale, so I bought the 125 DKW, best buy of the sale there, as they are extremely expensive now! Still have it ofcourse.

Lex

Only see this topic now,  as I searched for Alain's name, as there was talk on a FB page, and they had the whole story wrong about the Vimoutiers Tiger,  that the village wanted to save it, but they wanted it gone, and Alain saved it, seems it's already forgotten, so I set that straight! 

Never met Alain personally, but knew of several people who did, and I went to the sale, that was the worst auction I have ever been to, so much was stolen at the viewing day already, as the auctioneers thought there would only be a handful of people, but about 500 turned up, and it was a mess, the following day, when the sale was held, there were people fighting to get in the way too small room, and it was terrible, I managed to buy a DKW RT125, but the engine was stolen. 

Was a weird experience! below some pictures.

R.I.P. Alain Roudaix.

Cheers, Lex

Here an article about it, and the replica.

Lex

Adrian, yes, have the series, and someone even made a replica!

It was more like for airfield defense and such, not to cover huge distances. The bike is a Triumph 3 SW. (or 5SW)

Cheers,

Lex

I think he found one Neil.

Cheers,

Lex

I have a list of early WD machines from Jan, but the numbers are lower (the first 20 delivered) than 3267, so best for him to comment.

3267 falls between the first and second contract.

Lex

Ok, yes, best to remove it, but not sure if they used steel drive rivets, or soft aluminium ones?  best be careful there. 

I would, not sand the plate, but just put it in a vinegar bath, that's the least corrosive method I think, just eats the rust.

The yellow cloth HT lead is surely postwar, just as the cap! the Lodge caps are getting very hard to find now!

Cheers, Lex

I don't think many had the inspectors stamp Ron, mine doesn't.

Lex

So, Jan, and was this only used on replacement engine, this plate? as I have seen many without.

Cheers,

Lex

Yes, I did say similar, have to check what exactly it says on the Flea plate, there seems to be a number stamped??

Lex

Nice stuff Jan and Ron!  Jerry, the metal plates are etched, and very shallow, so be careful. Similar plates were fitted to the James ML's.

The NOS engine was for sale at the War and Peace Show, many moons ago, sadly I had not enough money to buy it.

Cheers,

Lex

On 11/15/2022 at 8:36 PM, Didier Belgium said:

in 2007 I bought a Diamond T 980 with closed cabin from Army Cars Holland,it was the second last Diamond T 980-981 they had and the last of the Italien army  lot (lot number 279 ),The last Diamond T was a 981 with open cabin from the Belgium army and was sold to Eddy Vianne from Belgium.This man has several WWII military vehicles .  When I was there the Army Cars clerk showed me a large warehouse with all Diamond T parts  all new;  diffrerent rear axles in wooden crates,front axles,steering boxes ,drive axles,brake drums,transmission housings,water pumps,all service parts for the engine, all new and coming from yhe Italian army their full stock;wheels,springs,steering rods,engine blocks, the man himself gave me a list with some prices,: front axle complete 250 euros,rear axle complete 350 euros,steering box 125 euros,radiator 375 euros , foot switch to start the engine 65 euros, overhaul kit for water pump 100 euros, the ballast blocks of 25 kilos 7.5 euros each,(at that time the price of scrap iron was higher than the price of the ballast blocks).  Now Army Cars no longer exists and I have inquired where all those parts have gone; it seems that everything has gone to the scrap yard......which is a pity

Didier

Only see this now,  but I don't think those parts were scrapped, when A.C. closed up, there was a big sale, and a lot of people bought a lot of parts!  Mr. De Groot from A.C. bought loads of parts from the Belgium dealer Chris Muys in the 90's, and also around that time I bought all the small Diamond parts from the Italian Army, about 4 tons, all in wooden rectangular grey boxes, and took what I needed, and sold it on to Jaap Rietveld, as far as I know he still has a lot of that lot.

Lex

14 hours ago, Jerryjeeprichard said:

Lex, 

 

Looks like some good projects pulling together. Do you have engines for them? 

Jerry, yes, one of them is finished now, and sold, the other 2 I'm still building the engines for, but do have them with correct numbers, engines and parts are quite easy. But MKI Welbike cycle parts are very, very difficult, due to the low amount of them being made, (1200 pieces) and then some were retrofitted to MKII's by the factory. 

Looks a bit like this!

Lex

Found another difficult part, a rear cylinder, mine wasn't really usable, valve pockets too deep, and liner fitted, that was bored off centre, and bottom locating ridge half gone, so bit the bullet, and bought an NOS one in Australia when it came up last month, very expensive, but what isn't these days?

Lex

Last two pics of the old cylinder, as you can see, no valve seat can be added on the intake.

Very nice!! I'd be interested in a taillamp, if you are selling one? mine the lense is all cracked up!

Incredible what still all pops up somehow, I just got an nOS Indian 640 rear cylinder from Australia.

Cheers,

Lex

Yes, got that one too, it's from the 50's I believe, not a current repro.

I could make a silicone mould from JT's original, and cast them myself, that's quite easy.

Lex

Came out really nice Ron!

Just one part missing! 

Lex

Nice work, but cold it also works! have done this many times!

Keep going!

Lex

Pawel,

If the purple shrink tubing is too small, you can stretch it a little, with some circlip pliers, until they fit, and then heat up in place, and you won't notice.

Lex

Yes, you are right, sorry just didn't remember!

Lex

Something went wrong, and I cannot delete this post, so I added another picture, and  wiring diagrams for Triumph.

Lex

Like on the left, it wasn't done very nice sometimes, and black (on the black wire) was indeed doen like that.

Lex

PS, I don't remember green being used???