lamdha books - Catalogue of books on Motorcycles and Motorcycle Workshop Manuals

66736 Bacon, Roy The Illustrated History of BMW Motorcycles Promotional Reprint Company, London, 1995. Quarto hardcover, 96pp., colour & b&w illustrations. Minor wear; toned page edges; slight scuffing to dustwrapper with lightly worn edges and corners. Very good to near fine. BMW were unique in keeping to a single concept for their motorcycles for more than 60 years. Improvements were made over time, but the basis of the first real motorcycle of 1923 was still there in 1983 and on to today. This is the story of conservative progress linked to radical design. Click here to order $20

65342 Bacon, Roy Velocette Flat Twins All Flat Twins From LE of 1948 - Plus LE MkII, Vogue, Valiant, Vee Line and Viceroy - to LE MkIII of 1971 Osprey Publishing, London, 1985. Small quarto hardcover, 128pp., b&w illustrations. Minor wear; binding slightly rolled; lightly toned page edges and two tiny scrapes to dustwrapper with slightly worn edges and corners; a few chips on head of spine; black mark on page 121. Very good to near fine and professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Velocettes were often at the forefront of technical innovation and introduced a number of ideas which became idiosyncrasies of the marque and the subject of myths and legends which in time became part of the folklore of the make. They all helped to build up a clientele of discerning and dedicated enthusiasts who remained loyal to the firm for life. The family that achieved this originated from Germany where their name was Gutgemann and during the 19th century young Johannes moved to Birmingham and married. In later years he changed his name to John Goodman but before then became involved in a variety of enterprises. These included pill making, rickshaws and bicycles and the last inevitably led him to early motorcycles. His bicycle firm was named Taylor Gue and in 1905 built their first motorcycle which they called a Veloce. It was a prosaic 2hp belt drive single and met with such little success that the firm went into liquidation later the same year. Despite this John Goodman, who used the name John Taylor during this period, started up a new firm using the Veloce name and it was this that was to remain in use for another 65 years. Click here to order $100

65378 Beresford, George The Story of the Velocette Being a description of the revolutionary "L.E." motor cycle with details of its design and manufacture and instructions as to care, handling and maintenance. G S Davison, Birmingham, nd. Small hardcover, 136pp., b&w illustrations and diagrams. Owner's names on pastedown and endpaper. Plain brown card boards with blue cloth taped spine; bumped corners; frayed spine extremities and a few spots and marks; front hinge completely split between pages 2 and 3. Browned page edges. Needs repair. Click here to order $20

65344 Burgess, R W & Clew, J R Always in the Picture A History of the Velocette Motor Cycle Foulis, Yeovil, 1981. Reprint hardcover, 288pp.,b&w illustrations. Minor wear; light scattered spotting to endpapers and lightly toned page edges with some soiling of side edges; binding very slightly rolled; slightly scuffed black dustwrapper with minor edge and corner wear. Very good to near fine and professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. This book recalls the intimate atmosphere and the personal dedication to be found in a small Midlands motor manufacturing business typical of that industry pre Second World War. The book includes 163 photographs and drawings; appendices covering notes on part numbers, the original MkII KSS Instruction Book, Wiring Diagrams, Specifications of the 1939 Models. Click here to order $40

65339 Hide, Reg (ed.) All Years of Velocette Viper/ Venom/ Thruxton 350 & 500cc Singles Service Series Bruce Main-Smith, Leatherhead, 1978. Stapled oblong quarto paperback, 64 pp., b&w illustrations. Minor wear; wear and tarnishing to black illustrated cover edges and corners with creasing at corners and a few marks. Otherwise very good to near fine. Click here to order $40

65333 Main-Smith, Bruce The First Velocette Scene Bruce Main-Smith, Leatherhead, nd. Stapled paperback, 64pp., b&w illustrations. Slight scuffing and edgewear to cover, otherwise very good to near fine. Introduction dated 1977. Click here to order $20

66735 Prior, Rupert Motorcycling The Golden Years - A Pictorial Anthology Tiger Books, London, 1984. Large quarto hardcover, 143pp., colour & b&w illustrations. Toned page edges. Otherwise very good to near fine in like dustwrapper. Early motorcycles, which began to appear on European roads about the same time as the first motorcars, were very heavy, inherently unstable and called for considerable skill and self-assurance. Push starts were the rule and the motorbike was a machine only for the athletic and dedicated. France provided a firm lead in competition and in 1904 the International Cup Race in Dourdan became the first international motorcycling event. British speedmen followed the European example and in 1907 the legendary Tourist Trophy Race in the Isle of Man was born. The same year saw the opening of Brooklands, the banked racing circuit in Surrey and in 1911 the American Indian scored an epic 1-2-3 victory in the Senior TT. This book shows how racing improved the breed, how the coming of the supercharger and streamlining gave a dramatic indication of rising speeds and how the motorcycle found its full expression as the 1930s ended. It had been a golden age. Click here to order $30