Velocette Thruxton
The Velocette Thruxton was in production from 1965 through the 1971 model year. The “Thruxton” name refers to an endurance race held in 196 at an repurposed airfield called Castle Combe. The event was called the “Thruxton 500” and a Velocette Thruxton won the 500cc class that day, piloted by Joe Dunphy. It was the final evolutionary step in the development of Velocette’s ancient air-cooled, OHV (overhead valve) line of single-cylinder motorcycles. Unlike so many of their singles back then, the Thruxton was a 500cc brute (499cc actual displacement), whereas most, from the MAC-series through the Venom, were 350cc machines. Where the British and European buyers were more concerned with things like handling, the all-important American buyer wanted power and speed and lots of it. More than a single could provide.
This 1966 Velocette Thruxton demonstrated the 'Velo look'. Decidedly old-fashioned, and not a look that appealed to most American buyers. Still, a gorgesous machine in its own right.
Velocette Thruxton Background & History
Throughout the 1930s and 40s, big British singles ruled the motorcycle world, from the likes of BSA, Norton, Ariel, Matchless, Royal Enfield and even Vincent. But that all changed when a genius designer named Edward Turner came up with the vertical twin which launched in the 500cc 1938 Triumph 5T Speed Twin. Instantly, big singles and been rendered obsolete. The rest of the British motorcycle industry rushed to bring their own vertical twins to market, those who could afford to develop a whole new line of bikes, and unfortunately Velocette could not. Instead they were forced to continue selling only single-cylinder bikes designed in 1925 against a rash of sexy, new twins. Triumph kicked it all off, but soon BSA, Ariel, Royal Enfield, Matchless/AJS and Norton all joined the fray. And just about the time the rest of the industry caught up with Triumph with their own 500 twins, Triumph upped the ante again by punching theirs out to 650cc, and the whole race started up again. Under this withering competition, poor little Velocette struggled to sell enough bikes to stay afloat. As an example of how bad things got, in 1962 Velocette made a grand total of only 36 Venoms. Purists, and long-time Velocette fans remained faithful, but from the late-1950s on, few new buyers were found. And very few Americans opted for the odd-looking, antiquated single-cylinder Velocette Thruxton, or any of their other singles. Unfortunately, the handwriting was on the wall, but Velocette hung on and soldiered forward with the best bikes they could build, based on the engine architecture that dated all the way back to the 1920s.
The powerful Velocette Thruxton engine used every trick in the book to prioduce 41hp, 5hp more than the Venom. Note the cutout in the lower corner of the tank to clear the carburetor at the end of that long manifold. All done for tuning purposes.
Velocette Thruxton Built on the Venom
Velocette’s previous model in the evolution of their OHV singles was the Velocette Venom, which was produced from 1955 through 1970. Available as both a 350cc and 500cc single, it was a great seller by Velocette’s standards having built 5,721 of them during its 16-year lifespan. In 1961 a Venom set the 24-hour world speed record of 100.05 mph at the Autodrome de Linas-Montlhery in France. It was the first motorcycle ever to average over 100 mph continuously for 24 hours. In 1964, a new alloy cylinder head became an option on the Venom, and it 1965 a full racing kit was made available that created a whole new model, the factory’s range-topper, the Velocette Thruxton. It represented the best that Velocette had to offer, and was considered to be a factory production racer. The new alloy cylinder head was developed to add power and the new Thruxton, and it did. Thanks also to other upgrades, the Velocette Thruxton made 41 hp @ 6200 rpm, compared to the Venom’s 34 hp. A pair of Thruxtons took first and second at the 1967 Isle of Man Production TT. As the result, the Velocette Thruxton became their most popular model during this time. However Velocette’s heyday had long passed when even it’s best seller only found 1,108 buyer during its 17 years in production.
1966 Velocette Thruxton.
Velocette Thruxton Engine Design
About that factory race kit, the new aluminum head was just part of the story. Velocette founder Johannes Gutgemann’s son, Bertie Goodman (they Americanized their German last name, a common practice in America back then) who was an amazing motorcycle designer, engineered it all to attain the absolute best performance possible from the new Velocette Thruxton. Rear-set footpads and foot controls, a close-ratio 4-speed gearbox, lightweight alloy rims, a twin leading-shoe (TLS) front brake, low ‘clip-on’ handlebars, and an Amal 5GP2 carburetor of 1-3/8” bore. And that new head brought more to the table than just being made of aluminum. It had larger valves and a downdraft intake port that was extended with a bolt-on intake manifold that was so long that a special cut-out had to be done in the right-rear corner of the fuel tank to clear the carburetor. And a new racing fairing was available as an option to improve aerodynamics. Early fairings had a clear plastic nose bubble revealing the number plate underneath, but the ACU, Britain’s racing body at the time, outlawed it and so a new version was produced the the same nose cone covering a headlight for road use. If factory equipped as an option, the bike was called the Velocette Thruxton Beeline. This way, it was painted to match the bike from the factory. Color combinations were silver and blue, and black and sliver.
Velocettes were quality machines, always well-built, and the paintjobs were always delicious to look at with their baked-on enamel finishes.
As a final note in the Velocette Thruxton story, as the company imploded in the late 1960s, finally closing their doors in 1971, they had a lot of extra engines lying around. Floyd Cramer, who had made his fortune publishing shop manuals for motorcycles, was itching to create a motorcycle with his name on it. He had already acquired the brand name “Indian” and now with some Velocette Thruxton and Venom engines and an Italian-built frame, he produced the “Indian Veto 500”. These were limited-production, hand-built bikes that were more expensive than other bikes on the market that they were competing against. Alas, Clymer, age 74, died of a heart attack in 1971 and the whole project fell apart. But not before the first 200 bikes had been shipped to the US and another 50 were sitting in the factory in Italy. These last 50 were bought by a London Velocette dealer Geoff Dodkin, who offered the bikes with either engine specification, the 34hp Venom or the 41hp Thruxton.
This is the 1970 Clymer Indian-Velo 500 with a Velocette Thruxton engine crammed into an Italian frame. Gorgeous bike, but too expensive to sell well.
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