Apologies to anyone that has come to this page expecting to see exclusively vintage AJS motorcycles .....scroll down the page a bit and you will find plenty of them.
However, I recently sent all of my cammy AJSs to Bonhams and they were sold at the Autumn Stafford Sale.
The
URL of "vintageajs" for this blog is now somewhat misleading but it's
too late to change it and there is still plenty to read about the AJAY
projects. If you happen to be the new owner of one of the bikes that I recently sold then
there is plenty here to read about its build. I still have 2 early Big
Ports waiting in the wings ....but
they will have to wait until I've completed the Velos.
In 2023 I started the restoration of 2 early Velocette KTTs plus another Mk 1 OHC cammy special - a few details about each of these bikes can be found here and here.
A lot of work has been done on these bikes over the past 2 ½ years and the INDEX PAGE provides links in chronological order of the project so far.
Earlier this year I acquired a DOHC 250 Velo Engine and now have a Resurrection Plan. The crankshaft has been rebuilt using MOV flywheels and "K" mainshafts, I have revised the lubrication system to mirror that of the Mk V KTT engine that is in my workshop, made eccentric studs to be able to fit the upper parts of the engine and, more recently, machined all of the cylinder head and cambox retaining studs and bolts. The cambox has been stripped, checked and reassembled and the engine build is now complete.
Links to all of the work done so far can be found on the DOHC 250 INDEX PAGE.
It's now back to the dry build of the bike and new engine plates have been made to install the engine into the frame. Details here.
The labels marked "INDEX" give a link to a page that provides a complete list and links to all of the separate sub-projects related to that main project.
Alternatively, scroll down this page and see what's here.
When I started this blog I owned a 500cc AJS R10
that I've been riding for many years and wanted an early 350cc bike. I bought one at a Bonhams auction; this is what I brought home....
....a bit of work was needed to bring it back to life
Full details of the restoration can be found here.
During the restoration of the K7 I figured that I could put an early overhead camshaft Velocette cylinder, cylinder head and cambox onto the crankcases of an AJS 350cc engine from 1931, convert it to chain-driven OHC and make an engine that looks like a K7 but has a Velocette top-end. I had a 1928 350cc AJS sidevalve that I had bought on eBay and used that to create the AJcette ....giving credit to both manufacturers.
It looks pretty similar to the K7 and to demonstrate that there really are 2 bikes, here they are both together.
Details of the AJcette project can be found here.
I have quite a lot of early Mk1 OHC Velocette parts and after completing the AJcette I decided to use some of these to make a replica of a one-off bike that AJS built in 1929/1930 for an attempt on the world speed record. The original is a huge V-Twin beast that started out with a naturally-aspirated engine but, having failed to gain the record, was supercharged ...and again failed. The bike ended up in Tasmania for many years and, after being repatriated to the UK and restored, it is now in the National Motorcycle Museum.
This is what the original looked like:
and this is my recreation.
Like the AJcette, the V-Twin uses Mk 1 OHC Velocette cylinder components. The full story of how this bike was built can be found in the links here.
There is also a 14 minute edited Youtube summary of how these bikes came about here and a longer unedited version here.
This bike is now in the Sammy Miller Museum.
In January 2022 I started the restoration of a 1933 AJS Trophy Model
and this was completed in March 2023.
The Index Page for this project can be found here.
I also reported briefly on a couple of my other projects ....vintage OHV Nortons
and putting a Marshall supercharger onto my 1934 MG PA
I hope you find something of interest.
