Velocette LE
The Velocette LE was an odd-looking duck, with it's stamped-aluminum monocoque chassis and its weird little engine and that crazy big angled box in the middle of it. This one is a 1954 model.
Velocette LE Background & History
The Velocette LE was in production from 1948 though the 1970 model year. “LE” stood for “Little Engine”, and it sure was. The 149cc side-valve (flathead) horizontally-opposed, water-cooled twin only made 6 to 8 hp on a good day. Side-valve designs have inherently low compression ratios which aren't very efficient and don't produce as much power as overhead valve (OHV) engines of comparable size. As the result, they were slow, and they were ugly, but for some reason British law enforcement fell I love with them and made them a staple on British streets and highways. Velocette’s Director at the time, Eugene Goodman (son of the founder of the company believed that a huge new market was opening up for cheap, reliable commuter motorcycles. Throughout the 1950s many British motorcycle makers, including BSA, Ariel, Norton and others, tried to own that market with their own entries into the field. Velocette’s approach was this novel ‘little engine’ set into a novel monocoque chassis that was designed to be cheap to produce. The “Motorcycle for Everyman” as it was advertised had the engine, a hand-shifted 3-speed gear box along with a drive shaft transmitting power to the rear wheel, all in a neat unitized package. Of course, being water-cooled, it needed a radiator and this was located behind the front wheel in the enormous monocoque chassis.
The Velocette LE was meant to provide weather protection (it rains a lot in Britain) with huge fenders, leg guards and footboards.
Velocette LE Chassis Design
Designed for production efficiency above all else, the Velocette LE wasn’t pretty. It’s pressed aluminum step-through chassis, which was essentially a big hollow box, was lined with felt to mitigate noise and vibration. The floor boards and the leg shields made it feel more like a scooter and the tiny boxer engine was so quiet many riders relied upon the ignition light to make sure it was still running. The rear suspension was adjustable, and the glove compartment hidden within the boxy chassis just ahead of the integral fuel tank, along with removable panniers (we Americans call them saddle bags), and the fact that they got incredible fuel economy made the Velocette LE an eminently practical machine.
The Little Engine ("LE") that couldn't. Talk about disadvantaged, it displaced only 149cc and it was a side-valve (flathead)! It made all of 6 horsepower!
Velocette LE Challenges
All this unique technology (ie: pressed aluminum chassis, unit-construction boxer engine, shaft drive) was all meant to lower the cost, but in fact it made the Velocette LE more expensive. Things like the monocoque chassis didn’t start to make economic sense once they were producing them by the tens of thousands. But at the lower sales volumes that the LE actually achieved, the bikes cost more than expected. In the late 1940s a new BSA Bantam cost £76 but the Velocette LE was £126. While these numbers, and their difference, seems minuscule today, back then the effect on sales was devastating. Remember, this was supposed to be a low-cost commuter bike, and those appealed to cost-conscious buyers who pinched every penny. This should have attracted them to the LE, but instead drove them to other competing machines, like the Bantam. With only 6 hp on tap, it wasn’t very fast, topping out at just 50 mph. And the odd looks certainly didn’t help sales.
A great view of those handsome leg guards and that shapely front fender. Yikes!
Velocette LE MkI, Mk II & Mk III
From its inception in 1948 until and through the 1950 model year, the Velocette LE was called the Mk I (Mark 1). In 1951 Velocette did some upgrades which comprises Mk II (Mark 2) in the series which lasted through the 1957 model year. Mk II improvements included an increase in displacement of the tiny twin-cylinder engine from 149cc to 200cc boosting output from 6hp at 5,000 rpm to a whopping 8. To handle all this power the main bearings were strengthened, the clutch was upgraded and the Amal 363 monobloc carburetor was replaced with a standard unit. The rear swing arm was cast in aluminum to improved stiffness and the bakes were made stronger.
In 1948 the Velocette LE Mk III was launched with its first-ever foot-operated gear changed and a conventional kick start pedal. The gearbox finally got a fourth gear and larger 18-inch wheels were added. The speedometer was now mounted within the headlight housing and the fuel capacity was increased from 1.5 to 1.95 US gallons (1.25 to 1.62 imperial gallons/5.7 to 7.4 liters). By this time, and in its third iteration the Velocette LE was more practical and reliable than ever, but the needed sales still didn’t come. In 1971 Velocette filed for voluntary liquidation and closed their doors forever. The last motorcycles Velocette produced were LEs.
The Velocette LE came with optional removable panniers (we Americans call them saddle bags).
Velocette LE Police Bikes
The biggest breakthrough for the Velocette LE came during the MkII phase when over fifty British police forces decided to use the LE for patrol duty and ordered more than half of the production run. Today, these former police machines can be identified by the old mounts for the radio, the VIN plate moved to the headstock, the word “Police” below the generator cover, and a distinctive V-shaped pressing riveted on the front of the seat pedestal, designed to keep water out of the battery box.
The low-cost British commuter market, which after WW2 had been dominated by motorcycles like the Velocette LE, changed forever with the arrival of the Mini in 1959, a 4-place car that was almost as cheap as a motorcycle. This one is a 1970 Mini.
And Along Came the Mini...
In the end, more than an anemic engine or ugly bodywork, the Velocette LE, and all other motorcycles like it, was a victim of the times. Things were changing fast in the world and in the marketplace. Japanese-style modern manufacturing techniques were surpassing Old World artisanship in England. The all-important American market, often viewed by the Brits as an afterthought, instead putting their energies into dominating their own relatively tiny home market, didn't like slow or ugly bikes, and you were never going to achieve big sales numbers without the Yanks. AND, just as things were getting rolling with enclosed bikes like Triumph's bathtub bikes, the Ariel Leader, and Velocette's own Vogue, along with super-cheap commuters like the BSA Bantam and the Velocette LE, in 1959 the Mini was released to a stunned world. Here was a 4-passenger car that wasn't much more expensive that your average motorcycle. In Britain, the economy had been so devastated by the war that it never fully recovered, and normal people were struggling through hard times. They had to get to work and for many that was a motorcycle. And if they had a family, they got a side car. The Mini made it possible for these people to have a car and the motorcycle as a commuter quickly fell out of fashion. It was the final nail in the coffin of many bread-and-butter British bikes. From then on, the big focus was on big, high performance machines that would appeal to the Americans.
Velocette LE Motorcycle Books
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