[Mitch R]

Hello
I am a Motorcycle collector in the US and recently purchased a large collection of Motorcycles and parts from a estate in Ontario Canada.
One of the bikes in the Collection was documented as 1967 Vellocette VR1 Thruxton Racer built by Jim Lee possibly raced by **** Grant?

I was looking for information anyone would possibly have on this bike. It has been totaly restored and not certain if it was ever this color of yellow?

Thanks for your thoughts?

 

[Geeto67]

there is some info on here:
http://www.caferacer.net/forum/general/13734-jim-lee-bikes-3.html

As you can see I think Roper knows something about this bike:

I just stumbled across this thread. I believe the first **** Grant/Jim Lee bike was a Velo and I believe that was ****'s first race bike. The bike ended up in B.C., Canada and was raced at Westwood. I was aware of the bike through the Velocette Owner Club North America. When I spent a little time with **** at Scarborough, I told him about it and gave him the contact info. When I asked **** about it at the '13 Classic TT, he told me someone had asked him about making a replica of that bike. **** told the guy that rather than build a replica he could buy the original and **** gave him the contact info of the owner in B.C. Now he wishes he had bought it himself.

Reach out to Roper via the email function, since he can put you in touch with the right people. FWIW, I think **** would probably buy the bike back.

 

[pwalo]

Beautiful bike. My ears pricked up straight away.....

A guy called Alan Coultas put a venom engine in my uncle's mkII frame and it did well by all accounts.

It's Christmas so I'll be getting drunk with him soon and I'll show him the pictures of yours... he'll prolly know a little about it.

Scaryboghorror is a cool place..... seaside rollercoaster with tree lined drops for run off and a lovely cafe you can literally "land in the sun garden" at; to enjoy a cup of tea at the end of a 150mph (not) straight.

 

[pwalo]

This is the man himself (Alan)..... Sat astride his velo with a 4 valve head he cast himself in his garage...



Santa.... If you're reading this..... I want a fucking gopro so I can fasten it on my lapel like an unobtrusive flower and film a fly on the wall documentary about motorcycles and the racing therof this xmas whilst drinking to excess....

The guys who actually pushed the boundaries are in decline. Once was the time when a bloke in a shed could take on a factory's might..... Now it's all pods and hairdressers....

Bizarrely... he probably woke up dressed like that, in his shed, 10 mins before the photoshoot after having had 35 minutes sleep since finishing the build..... He just looked like that naturally.....

Now people pay $1000 on clothes and hair stylists just to try and look like that whilst they festoon shite....

Funny old world....

 

[Cyorg]

If you wish, you could pm me a photo or two of the bike and I'll ask some of the old farts that raced at Westwood if they recall anything or have any photos of it in it's earlier racing trim.

 

[Teazer]

That frame looks familiar and I can't remember where I saw it. It's not a Seeley or the usual drain pipe Jim Lee frame.

I want to say that it was a limited run from someone like Dodkin. Maybe Jim fabricated the frame, but I'm sure it was offered for sale back in the seventies or maybe later by a major Velocette expert.

Not Dodkin, but Reg Orpin of Stevens dealership. The Pictures I can find on line are of a similar frame in 1966 but the top tubes are different. There must be a Velo expert somewhere who knows that bike's history. Looks like Orpin had a race Velo in 69 and 70 that Gordon Keith rode, but that had a Rickman Metisse chassis.

edit #2: I finally found my copy of "Velocette" by Rod Burns published by Haynes in 82. It shows the Jim Lee designed Reg Orpin frame that I found on line. That one has a tubular swingarm that is also an outrigger design. So I would say that this one was designed and probably built by Jim Lee, but its history would be interesting to know. Is Bertie Goodman's son Peter still around? He might be able to shed light on it.

 

[Mitch R]

Thanks for any info on this Bike

For those of you that asked for a couple more Pics of the 1967 Velo Jim Lee framed Racer VR1 Throxton

 

[CaTacL1sm]

Those clip ons are so low

 

[jaguar]

Now that is one cool ass bike!

 

[seanbarney41]

DSCN0748 by Sean Barney, on Flickr

saw this one at a show in Michigan a little more than a year ago...not nearly as sweet with the stock velo frame, just stumbled upon it going through some pictures and thought I'd share

 

[orpinvelo]

That frame looks familiar and I can't remember where I saw it. It's not a Seeley or the usual drain pipe Jim Lee frame.

I want to say that it was a limited run from someone like Dodkin. Maybe Jim fabricated the frame, but I'm sure it was offered for sale back in the seventies or maybe later by a major Velocette expert.

Not Dodkin, but Reg Orpin of Stevens dealership. The Pictures I can find on line are of a similar frame in 1966 but the top tubes are different. There must be a Velo expert somewhere who knows that bike's history. Looks like Orpin had a race Velo in 69 and 70 that Gordon Keith rode, but that had a Rickman Metisse chassis.

edit #2: I finally found my copy of "Velocette" by Rod Burns published by Haynes in 82. It shows the Jim Lee designed Reg Orpin frame that I found on line. That one has a tubular swingarm that is also an outrigger design. So I would say that this one was designed and probably built by Jim Lee, but its history would be interesting to know. Is Bertie Goodman's son Peter still around? He might be able to shed light on it.

 

[orpinvelo]

Hi there, stumbled across your post re: Reg Orpin Velocette racer from the 1970 season. It did not have a Metisse frame (Ralph Seymour entered a Metisse machine), but a one off frame that Reg had made with a 3" downtube that doubled as the oil tank. Gordan Keith rode the bike in the 1970 TT finishing a creditable 21st. He then went on to ride it at the 1970 Spanish Grand Prix where it finished 8th and in doing so he secured the final world championship points for the Velocette marque. The bike was later sold to BMG where it was campaigned until it was retired.