1958 Velocette Valiant 192cc. Registration number USU 184. F...

Hammer

£1,900

1958 Velocette Valiant 192cc. Registration number USU 184. Frame number 1501/33. Engine number V2001956.
Launched in 1948, as the 'motorcycle for everyman' Velocette's LE addressed the criticisms most-often levelled at motorcycles - that they were noisy, dirty and needed special clothing to ride - achieving impressive levels of silence, comfort and practicality. A sports version of such a machine must have seemed improbable but nevertheless Velocette went ahead with the idea, launching the Valiant in 1957. More conventional than its predecessor, the Valiant boasted a tubular cradle frame, air cooling, overhead valves, twin carburettors and a four-speed, foot-change gearbox but was otherwise mechanically almost identical to the LE. Significantly more sporting than the LE, the 192cc, overhead-valve engine developed 12bhp at 6,000rpm and gave the early models a top speed of around 70mph. Contemporary advertising boasted of ‘performance unbounded, economy unexcelled and reliability unswerving’. Visually, the sporting Valiant could not have been more different but the model was expensive for a machine that was not a full 250 and sales were disappointing. Production ceased in 1964.
USU was registered with DVLA in1989, presumably a restoration as the MOT of that year is at 52 miles and then sold to Edmund Tubb of Bognor Regis in 1990 with an MOT mileage of 1,967 miles, (tax discs present as well) before passing to Arthur Webb of Chichester in 1994. In 2006 it passed to Gordon Allanby of Ulceby with a MOT mileage of 2,145 miles and later that year to our vendor who used it occasionally, 2008, 2,220 miles, 2009, 2,342 miles, 2011, 2,426 miles. Today it is at 2,480. It will need a little recommissioning after a period of inactivity.
Sold with V5, V5C, previous MOT’s and period instruction manuals.