Velocette
 |
|
| Industry | Motorcycle |
|---|---|
| Fate | Voluntarily liquidated |
| Predecessor | Veloce Ltd |
| Founded | 1904 |
| Founder | John Goodman |
| Defunct | 1971 |
| Headquarters | Birmingham, United Kingdom |
|
Key people
|
John Goodman, Eugene Goodman, Percy Goodman |
| Products | Motorcycles |
Velocette is the name given to motorcycles made by Veloce Ltd, in Hall Green, Birmingham, England. One of several motorcycle manufacturers in Birmingham, Velocette was a small, family-owned firm, selling almost as many hand-built motorcycles during its lifetime, as the mass-produced machines of the giant BSA and Norton concerns. Renowned for the quality of its products, the company was "always in the picture" in international motorcycle racing, from the mid-1920s through the 1950s, culminating in two World Championship titles (1949–1950 350 cc) and its legendary and still-unbeaten (for single-cylinder, 500 cc machines) 24 hours at over 100 mph (161 km/h) record. Veloce, while small, was a great technical innovator and many of its patented designs are commonplace on motorcycles today, including the positive-stop foot shift and swinging arm rear suspension with hydraulic dampers.
The company was founded by John Goodman (born Johannes Gütgemann and later known as John Taylor before formally changing his name to Goodman) and William Gue, as "Taylor, Gue Ltd." in 1905. Its first motorcycle was the Veloce. Later that year, John Taylor set up Veloce Limited, to produce cycles and related products and services. Veloce Ltd initially produced four-stroke motorcycles, first with Belgian 'Kelecom' engines, then an F-head design of their own, with an integral two-speed gearbox.
The first two-stroke, built in 1913, was called a Velocette. When The 'K' series reverted to Veloce, the buying public overlooked them, having become used to the Velocette name and associating it with quality products. The Velocette name was reprised, and used for all subsequent models. John was joined in 1916 by his sons Percy and Eugene Goodman. Between 1913 and 1925, Veloce produced expensive, high-quality two-stroke motorcycles of (nominally) 250 cc, which gained an excellent reputation and were entered in competitions such as the Isle of Man TT, with some success. The single-cylinder machines had many advanced features, such as a throttle-controlled oil pump, which set them apart from other manufacturers' products. (The introduction of this device was claimed erroneously, much later, by Suzuki). The factory gradually developed this machine from the "A" series and variants (A, AC2 - coil ignition, two-speed gearbox, AC3 – three-speed gearbox, etc.), then the "H" series, the model U and variants, culminating in the model GTP in 1930, which was produced until 1946. The GTP was a reliable lightweight motorcycle with good steering and power delivery.
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