Velocette Venom
Velocette Venom Background & History
The Velocette Venom was an air-cooled, 500cc OHV single produced from 1955 through the 1970. It was the result of literally decades of development and the lessons learned from building fast, powerful OHV twins. In fact, the Venom was a direct descendant of the Velocette MOV which dates back to 1933. Throughout the 1930s and 40s, big British singles ruled the motorcycle world, from the likes of BSA, Ariel, Matchless 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 was not among them. Instead they were forced to continue selling only single-cylinder bikes against a rash of new twins.
This 1962 Velocette Venom was a handsome machine in its own way. Nothing else looked like a 'Velo'.
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 in 1950 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 this in 1962 Velocette made a 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, antique-looking single-cylinder Velocette Venom, 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.
This 1964 Velocette Venom has the optional Avon fiberglass fairing which was made it a Venom Veeline.
Velocette Venom Features
The Velocette Venom was truly an advanced machine for its time, benefitting from years of racing experience. Conceived by Eugene Goodman, son of Velocette founder Johannes Gutgemann, and designed by Charles Udall, it started out as a 350 first (349cc actual), then quickly expanded it to a 500 (499cc), wit a bi-metal cylinder with a cast iron liner, a high compression piston and a new alloy cylinder head. The cam was set high in the engine cases to shorten the pushrods. The Velocette Venom was also a handsome machine with lots of chrome and excellent paintwork and gold pin striping. The Venom was the first production motorcycle to use fiberglass body work in 1960.
The Velocette Venom engine was a true thing of beauty!
Velocette Venom Wins Races
The Velocette Venom was the second-to-the-final-step in the Velocette OHV single’s evolution. The final step would be the Velocette Thruxton which was a Venom with a race kit. Available as both a 350cc and 500cc single, the Velocette Venom 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 in 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 it did. Thanks also to the 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.
In 1967 this beautiful twin leading-shoe (TLS) brake became available on the Velocette Venom as part of the optional race kit that became the Thruxton.
Velocette Venom 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.
This is the 1970 Clymer Indian-Velo 500. Hand-built with a British engine in an Italian frame, it was gorgeous but expensive.
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.
Velocette was rightfully proud that their Venom set the world's 24-hour speed record.
Velocette Venom Motorcycle Books
 |
By Rod Burris, 176 pagesThe whole Velocette story with gorgeous photos. Get the whole story, there's more to it than you think. |
More Velocette Motorcycle Pages
Hope you're enjoying my website. Glad you're here, take some time to look around. I'm just getting started though, with lots of great content, pictures and specs on literally hundreds of classic British motorcycles left to go. It is my goal to cover every year of every make, and every model of British bike. You can join me in my quest. If you have a classic Brit bike, take and/or send me some great photos of it along with a description. Email coming soon. More pages coming soon. Please be patient, and hold on to your hat. Thank you for visiting ClassicBritishMotorcycles.net.
Copyright 2024 by ClassicBritishMotorcycles.net. All rights reserved.
