1923 Connaught, Barr & Stroud sleeve valve 350 cc. Registrat...

Hammer

£12,000

1923 Connaught, Barr & Stroud sleeve valve 350 cc. Registration number SV 5859 (non transferrable). Frame number 3551. Engine number (DVLA 347) 231572 (see text).
First seen in 1912, Connaught motorcycles were built by the Bordesley Engineering Company of Birmingham, whose first offering was a 293cc two-stroke single. Like the four-strokes of the time, early two-stroke engines relied on hand-pumped lubrication, with oil being delivered from a separate compartment within the fuel tank. Connaught though, was among the first to use 'petroil' lubrication, whereby oil is mixed with the petrol, which would become the accepted method and remain so for several decades. However, a hand pump was retained, presumably to allay fears about possible unreliability.
In 1922 the 348cc two-stroke model appeared, this had a three-speed Burman gearbox and all-chain drive. In
1924 the marque was bought by the J. E. S. Motor Company and production moved to Gloucestershire for a while, before going back to Birmingham. Connaught motorcycles were last produced in 1926.
Little is known of SV 5859's early life, but it is listed in the VMCC register in 1991 with frame/engine 3551/347 and a registration number of CJ ????, a Gloucester number. Jeremy Burnett of Lightwater near Guildford was the owner in 1983 which presumably when it lost the CJ number and gained the reissued SV one. In 1996 it was purchased by our vendor and at some point the Barr & Stroud engine was fitted.
An older restoration, it was last MOT'd in 2011 and taxed in 2013 so will need recommissioning for road use.
Sold with the V5C and V5, please note the V5C has the engine capacity as 23572 cc, the engine number being 231572.