Let's Talk Cyclecars

Lombard in 1930

 

Now there is an interesting vehicle lined up in front of a bug - what more can you tell us about the Lombard Banjeaux bob?

 

That is all the info I got with the image.I can tell you that a Bugatti was not always the fastest car in the field.

 

Kume,here is the inner workings of a Lombard engine.Bronze head,dual overhead camshafts,substantial crankshaft support, all in a 1927 package.It also employs a muti-plate clutch assembly.

 

More Lombard engine details.Marc images...

 

Wow, ball bearings everywhere.

I take it the rods are either ball or some other rolling element (anti friction) bearing.

 

What a crazy car - I love it!

 

There is something in the water in Great Britain. I have been lurking at those cyclecars for a while now, abd just at the point where you think that it can't get more werid than what you see, there is something even more crazy comming up.


Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!

 

Question: I see a lot of vintage cars with what appear to be brake or shift levers side mounted exterior of the vehicle. Are these brake or shift levers or both? If some are brake levers, would they be the only means of applying the brakes? Or were they a parking brake of sorts?

The reason I ask is because the area I intend to mount my foot pedals is pretty tight and my feet are pretty big. I was thinking of using a side mounted brake lever instead of a foot pedal for the brakes if it was common practice in the day. That way I'd have more room for the gas pedal.

 

By the Vintage era the absence of a footbrake was very rare. Most outside levers were indeed handbrakes, considered an auxiliary brake ever since outside the USA, be it for emergency stops, parking on inclines, or whatever. (On trials specials it became common quite early to fit two handbrakes, one acting individually on each rear wheel, to allow one manually to counteract differential action in slippery situations.)

Outside gear levers were also common in the Vintage years. Formal coachwork would place the lever between the driver and the door. Some cars even had the gear lever between the driver's knees And the arrangement of pedals was by no means standard: it was not uncommon to have the throttle pedal in the centre and the brake on the right.

So, I fear I can offer no better than sympathy regarding the design constraints of a narrow footwell: with any luck I shall be facing the same problem before long

 

Here's some pictures from a historic French track a few weeks ago.
Picture of a Helica replica that worked.
Scroll down to have a look
http://southsiders-mc.blogspot.fr/2013/05/vintage-revival-montlhery-2013.html

 

Principles of Cycle Car Construction – Part IV

Part IV of our ongoing series about the world of cycle cars, with more excerpts from that definitive article on the subject from the January 15, 1914 issue of The Automobile magazine cane be found on The Old Motor.

 

Merci!

 

I think the jappic cyclecar originally had
Hand throttle on steering wheel
Brake and gears on outside
Just clutch pedal in the footwell

As the jappic was built for record breaking on banked tracks breaks were only needed afterwards

But as I intend to do some competitive events when it's done
I will have
Hand throttle on steering wheel
Clutch and footbrake on footwell
Gears and e brake on outside

There are a couple of vintage hill climb cars here in the Uk which only have one brake lever on the outside and no pedal

 

Amilcar image from Juri Castricum. www.juricastricum.nl

 

jappic progress front spring mounts/damper mounts just about there

 

Ade,did you make the shocks or are they Andre's?

 

I drew up all the metal parts but bought the internals from

http://www.andrehartfordltd.co.uk/

 

Those caught my eye as well. I would love to have some made in stainless for the Airhead Roadster and considered using the orginal Hartfords I have for pattern making.

Were those laser cut Ade?

 

A little O/T. Gary


Dang it! I told her not to wash it in hot water!

 

they are laser cut ,, the company up the road charges me about £80/hour for cutting if I supply the material

 

Bugatti Type 10

 

1931 Rally from La Festa Autunno in Japan.

 

1913 Peugeot

 

From the Gunn Cyclecar Co.

 

More from the Gunn Cyclecar Co. 250C.C. 2 cycle flat twin by the Enfield Cycle Co..

 

Gorgeosity made flesh!
Is that an austin badge?

 

Kume,it IS an Austin Seven based special.


BanjeauX Bob

 

I understand the Austin 7 had a great little motor. There is no shortage of very cheap 1920s Austin 7 parts in New Zealand and I have often been tempted to build a special. I guess the austin 7 isn't a cycle car to the purist but I have seen some wonderful specials with very pleasing bodies and remarkable power to weight ratios for their time.- alas for the same reason I sold all my lambrettas and vespas - when you get to a certain age and weight you just look like a dam fool on or in them.

Kume

 

Easy solution to those problems Kume. I have found that as the years add up, (turned 67 this April) that growing older does appear to be mandatory, but growing UP is optional. Peter Pan is a good role model and hence I really don't care what others think of my actions and enjoy doing whatever activities I care to do, remaining one of the "lost boys" forever. Once we get our HA/GR project finished I have plans to build a single cylinder 500cc Morgan trike "replica". May look like a damn fool, but I'll be a damn fool having fun and that's what it's all about.