Motorcycle Discussions > Identify these bikes!

Australian Acme...how old am I?

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33d6:
Yes, the information is dependent on the numbers shown on the gearbox end plate because those are Villiers own engine numbers.
As for your other engine being different there is no surprise about that. Villiers would make multiple variants of the one engine for all sorts of reasons lost in history. For example a friends 9D powered Excelsior has a smaller inlet manifold and a Midget carburettor fitted. He gets rather fed up when he can't even keep up with other 9D powered bikes. As another example, I have a 1E engine having an extended plug boss so it requires a long reach 18mm plug. All other 1E's I have seen only use a regular 18mm plug. Who knows why Villiers did all these things. There may have been a good reason at the time but its long been lost to our generation.
Finally, to stir the pot a bit, have you considered that the person stamping the frame numbers could have missed a number on your frame? Forgotten the first digit? I say this tongue in cheek of course.
Cheers,

Greencan:

--- Quote ---Finally, to stir the pot a bit, have you considered that the person stamping the frame numbers could have missed a number on your frame? Forgotten the first digit? I say this tongue in cheek of course.
--- End quote ---

Well put that Man :)..I'll just have to stamp an extra numeral on it...if that's never been done before, eh ;)

One day all will be revealed...in the mean time I will enjoy this wee bike that's been locked up in a central Victorian shed since about 1961

Cheers again, Dick :)

PS look closely and you can see those 4 digits, just under the seat...that is if I correctly hyper linked it from photobucket

33d6:
I know it's been sometime since the forum discussed this bike but I recently found a little more Acme dating info and thought I'd post it. In fact this info was under my nose all the time but you know how it is, you hunt for things and don't look at what's staring you in the face.
Anyway, I have a big book, ex Victorian State Police, and this book was issued to country police stations to help identify all sorts of vehicles including motorcycles. The section on Acme very clearly states that the engines in all postwar Acme had 351/ engine number prefix (we already knew that) and (this is the clincher) that all postwar frame numbers had a 'C' prefix. So, although we could spot slight differences between pre and postwar machines these were nothing that a later owner couldn't have done  on a lazy Saturday afternoon anyway but the 'C' frame number prefix is in a different catyegory.
I'm sure the motorcycle world is relieved to know how to positively identify an obscure Australian lightweight but from such little acorns great oak trees have grown, etc, etc. (You can see I need a beer after all this can't you.)
Cheers,

cardan:
Interesting. This Acme http://www.classicmotorcycleforum.com/index.php?topic=3729.0 has the 351/ prefix on the engine number, but the frame number starts with "B". Does the "B" imply prewar? War years?
Never easy!

Leon

33d6:
Frustrating isn't it. With the 351/ prefix the engine can only be postwar but was this bike assembled in the immediate postwar era from remaining prewar components hence the 'B' frame prefix or is it a re-engined prewar bike? Does the 'B' prefix mean something entirely different?  Who knows.  Until very recently very few people would recondition a prewar Villiers engine. It was far cheaper to replace it with another used one and sometimes you could even be given the replacement.
Civilian Villiers engine production stopped in 1940. Who knows what cycle parts Bennett & Wood had in stock at that time. There are so many possible scenarios.
Cheers,

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