The Velocette Valiant is a British motorcycle

Motorcycle

A motorcycle is a single-track, two-wheeled motor vehicle. Motorcycles vary considerably depending on the task for which they are designed, such as long distance travel, navigating congested urban traffic, cruising, sport and racing, or off-road conditions.Motorcycles are one of the most...

 made by Velocette

Velocette

Velocette is the name given to motorcycles that were made by Veloce Ltd, in Hall Green, Birmingham, England. One of several motorcycle manufacturers in Birmingham, Velocette was a small, family-owned firm, selling far fewer hand-built motorcycles than the giant BSA, Norton or Triumph concerns...

. Launched at the 1956 Earl’s Court

Earls Court Exhibition Centre

The Earls Court Exhibition Centre is an exhibition centre, conference and event venue located in west London, United Kingdom in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea . It is the largest exhibition venue in central London. It is served by two underground stations, Earl's Court and West...

 Motorcycle Show, the Valiant had a 192 cc (11.7cuin) engine but was expensive and criticized for its underpowered engine.

Development

In the mid 1950's Velocette had two very different lines of motorcycles. Alongside the more conventional M and K series they produced a series of enclosed small capacity four stroke flat twins for the commuter market, at time when most of their competitors were producing two stroke singles.

Launched at the Earls Court Show in November 1956 the Velocette Valiant was a development of the Velocette LE

Velocette LE

The LE was a Velocette motorcycle made from 1948 to 1970. The designation LE stood for "little engine". Used by over fifty British Police forces, the police riders became known as "Noddies" because they were required to "nod" to senior officers, and the LE was nicknamed "the Noddy Bike"...

. It had a two piece cover that enclosed most of the crankcase and gearbox. The air cooled overhead valve engine was mounted in a duplex frame with a single top tube with a bigger crankcase and cast iron cylinders with steel pushrod tubes and alloy heads.

The clutch and four speed gearbox were the same as those fitted to the MK3 LE but the final drive was through a cast aluminium pivoted fork, with a universal joint to the drive shaft. Front suspension was the same as the LE but rear suspension used Woodhead-Monroe springs with hydraulic damping. Two Amal 363 monobloc carburettors fitted to stub inlet manifolds were linked by a balancing tube. The recommended top speed was 60 mph (96.6 km/h).

Velocette Veeline

The 1959 Velocette Veeline (also known as the Vee Line) was the same as a standard Valiant with a 'dolphin' full fairing made of fibre glass that had big windscreen, a fascia panel housing the speedometer and ammeter, as well as a small glove box. The headlamp was mounted on brackets that were fixed in the fairing so that it could be adjusted but didn't turn with the forks.

Developed as competition for the emerging scooter market, the Veeline, but still had the underpowered engine of the Valiant and did not sell in sufficient numbers. The big fairing also added 21 lbs to the weight and £21 to the cost and after poor sales Velocette decided to stop production of the model in 1961.