Great film Ron and I must say, I'm weakening on the Welbike idea, the more I see them, the more I want one! The film makes it sounds as though the folding bicycle was invented specially for airborne troops in WW2, but BSA made a very similar folding bike in WW1.
Interesting that the "C" number was already on the tank she randomly picked? and bolted to the bike.
Cheers, Mick.
I know next to nothing about Welbikes (I don't feel the need to know much about stinkwheels with no front brake)... but in terms of the proper motorcycles, I've long had the suspicion that engine and frame number were stamped on at the end of the line.
They could easily have had a label attached at a later stage showing the numbers to be stamped for each WD number.
Gosh Ron! You know that I've been studying these acceptance markings for a couple of years. Well, we've finally found one of the inspectors at work! At 1' 55" we see inspector ^M419 stamping a frame, after having done a brief inspection of the bike:
Welbikes were only produced in 1943, and for as far as I can see, they have all been checked by ^M419. But the same inspector was checking BSAs in 1944:
Crikey Jan, wie zoekt, die vindt ! What a discovery !
Do you think this implies that the inspector always inspected complete motorcycles and that on the conventional bikes, the most convenient place to stamp was the crankcase but for some reason on the Villiers engine they didn't do that ?
It is strange that they stamped the Welbikes on a most flimsy easy to distort part of the bike. I watched him hit the frame but didn't cotton on that he was the inspector. Isn't it nice to put a face to a number
I think I might hang his picture in my shed. Ron
Crikey Jan, wie zoekt, die vindt ! What a discovery !
Do you think this implies that the inspector always inspected complete motorcycles and that on the conventional bikes, the most convenient place to stamp was the crankcase but for some reason on the Villiers engine they didn't do that ?
I don't know... Obviously the Kitson Pease gearboxes were inspected without being fitted to a motorcycle. But the engines...? I have often wondered if this could also have been an inspector:
There's a hammer on the workbench, and engines all over the place. Could this also be an inspector, checking and stamping these engines...?
What a shame some pesky German has shot a round through your frame number Martyn.
I know, couldnt tell at first when it had paint on. Just been worn down, only one number missing but a shame i'll never know. Ive seen another welbike worn down there so must be a common wear point?
Anyway Im surprised that much of the headstock was salvagable from the mods.
While we're talking about these acceptance markings... As I said, I am keeping a list with frame numbers and acceptance markings, as I'm sure that when I have enough numbers, a pattern will emerge, and this may reveal some more important information.
For the Royal Enfields I have a very complete list. Also for Norton I do have quite a lot of numbers (but more information is always welcome). But for the BSAs my list is still very small...
If you're the owner of a BSA with an acceptance marking, and your engine number is not in my list, please give me a sign. It would be nice if your numbers could also be added to this database! You can either add some pictures to this thread, or send me an email with the pictures.