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Showing posts from October 11, 2009

Vintage Thing No.50 - Velocette Vogue

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Just before anyone says anything, there's a Ferris wheel behind the screen of this Velocette Vogue There was a good variety of machinery in the motorcycle ring at the Great Dorset Steam Fair this year and among some very interesting bikes was this Velocette Vogue. I'd never seen one before and afterwards had the chance to look it over outside the marquee as the owner made some adjustments to it. I really have to hand it to the Goodman family, the people behind Velocette. If I had to choose just one bike as an example of the archetypal British single it would be the Velocette Thruxton but there is a subtle irony here because this archetypal British motorbike has a name that sounds French and owed its existence to the the Goodman family who were comparatively recent German immigrants and had changed their name from Gutemann. Which only goes to show that national stereotypes are dangerous things. The Goodmans they'd done a good job on their 350 and 500cc singles but ...