Velocette Thruxton For Sale - 1967 - SOLD

I bought this bike as a project in 2004 and rebuilt it completely over the following year and a half: I have receipts from 2004/5 from Grove Classics, Seymours, Nick Payton etc. for over £6,500. The bike should be a 1965 model (VMT 233 left the factory in 1965 and was sold to a Mr Childs on 8/12/65 by Premier Motors in Birmingham) and was first registered in January 1966. 

In 1967 the bike had a replacment frame, presumably following an accident. The frame number on the bike has been checked against the factory records by the late Mike Worthington-Williams (letter dated 21/11/2002) and  a With Compliments slip from “The Velocette Motorcycle Company” (undated, presumably around the same time and from the Holder family ownership) and both conclude that the frame, which is a correct Thruxton frame, left the Velocette factory in February 1967.

The bike is DVLA registered with a 1967 age-related number.

As far as I am aware, the engine that came with the bike is original but, during the rebuild, I decided to replace the drive-side crankcase with a modern replacement from Criterion as there is a design weakness with the amount of metal supporting the drive-side main bearing – the bearing can “pop out” of the end if the bike is ridden hard – I have had this happen on a Venom. The entire engine, including setting up the new bottom-end was rebuilt by Nick Payton. The original drive-side crankcase is pictured below.

After storing the bike for a number of years I recommissioned it in 2022 and have: replaced the barrel/piston with new items from Grove Classic (Hepolite piston), fitted the correct T5GP2 carb (all new internals) and matchbox float chamber instead of the Mk II concentric that I originally fitted; had the magneto rebuilt by Paul at APL and fitted a new battery.  Total cost £887.

I ran in the new barrel/piston during the early part of summer 2022 and then took it to the Manx GP in August for a thoroughly enjoyable 10 days on the Isle of Man, during which time the bike performed faultlessly. One of the pictures of the bike has a background of the boats in Peel harbour from this outing.

All of the parts that differentiate a Thruxton from a Venom are from the original bike and, as you’d expect, correct: Cylinder head; cam followers (flatter profile), Type 12-R close ratio gearbox, Lucas competition magneto, steel Thruxton tank, twin clocks, 2-way fork damping, alloy rims, rear-sets, carburettor, exhaust system, seat, Tickle TLS front brake etc..

When I rebuilt the bike I fitted a new Lucas headlight instead of the original and more elongated item; the original that came with the bike and is shown in the pictures goes with the bike.

The bike that I am selling is, to all intents and purposes, a proper and correct Velocette Thruxton but without the provenance.

So, if a “matching numbers” bike is important to you then please look elsewhere. But if you are looking for a totally sorted Thruxton and not worried about non-matching numbers then mine may be of interest. 

 

 

 

 

 

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