[Cal-Neva cycles]

Hey guys! I'm brand new here. I don't know if there is a place for an into but I'll just do it here.

Well I recently found a few old bikes and I don't really know where to go for more information on them. If I'm in the wrong place please let me know. Well here is what I do know.

The first bike is a 1958 Royal Enfield Indian Lance 150cc. It's either the nicest original bike iv seen or it was restored in the 70's. The odometer only says 886 miles. The guy I bought it from had it since 1982 in this condition. He only rode it 7 miles since he titles it in 1982.

The next bike is a mystery.....I think it's a 1939 Flying Flea. Its been hanging from a guys rafters for 30 years. That's about the most I know. It's got a twin port exhaust Villiers engine in it. It's been sitting forever and was bought together with the Indian. Any addition info on this bike would be highly appreciated. I'm just trying to educate myself before starting both bikes.

[Cal-Neva cycles]

Wow! So sorry for the huge pictures! I have no idea how to resize them.

[Jack Leis]

   What a fantastic find ! I have no doubt you will get  a ton of information on these bikes from members of the forum. You came to the right place. Welcome to the forum.

[Arizoni]

The Lance seems to be a picture book perfect bike from the exhaust to the color.

I don't know what the other one is but I don't think it is a Royal Enfield Flying Flea.

The Flea used a Royal Enfield engine and the photos I have do not show a solid or sheet metal front fork on them.
The RE Flying Flea had a tubular front fork made from several smaller tubes.


I don't have a picture of it but the James Model ML (Military Lightweight) used a Villiers125cc two stroke engine in their war time machine.

Says The World of Motorcycles, AN ILLUSTRATED ENCYCLOPEDIA  Orbis Publishing Ltd., London, 1979 on page 861,

"...there came to many a British soldier struggling to establish a foothold on a Normandy beach, a homely and familiar note, the buzz of a lightweight two-stroke.

It could have been a little Royal Enfield.  Equally, it could have been a 124cc Model ML James, of which nearly 300 were in action on the Normandy beaches during D-Day and thereafter.  Some had been ferried across in landing craft, others had travelled [sic] with the airborne troops in their invasion gliders..."

In the Villiers section the book, speaking of Villiers engines says,

"...However, the biggest breakthrough of all was a three-speed 125cc unit, with flat top piston and new, smaller-diameter flywheel magneto; in wartime, it was to power the James Model ML of the airborne forces, used by the beachmasters of the Normandy landings to sheperd troops to their rendezvous." (p1948)

[RGT]

awesome find, thanks for sharing, I always have save pic's to my desktop on this sight, I don't have the patience to scroll around, so the bigger and higher def. the better.

[Arizoni]

Cal-Neva
Scroll down to the 1942 James ML 125  in this link.
It's called the Mechanical or Clockwork Mouse.

Click on the small thumbnail image.

I think you will see your mystery motorcycle.

http://motorbike-search-engine.co.uk/classic_bikes/james-classic-motorcycles.php

[carlo]

Cal-Neva
Scroll down to the 1942 James ML 125  in this link.
It's called the Mechanical or Clockwork Mouse.

Click on the small thumbnail image.

I think you will see your mystery motorcycle.

http://motorbike-search-engine.co.uk/classic_bikes/james-classic-motorcycles.php

That would be a valuable site if it wasn't for the damn  ads that want to hijack your browser  every time you click a link on it.  Really annoying. (not your fault, just complaining)

[rotorwrench]

Several UK bike manufacturers of the day were making little 2-strokers very much like the German DKW types before the war. The first one that Royal Enfield made was to be called the Royal Baby but the war came along and it became the Flea. After the war it evolved into the Model RE.

It is similar to the older bike pictured but not the same. BSA and Villers both made little 125cc 2-strokers too. That Lance is a good example of the little Indian. Not many people have spent much time to really fix one of those little machines up so they are kind of rare these days. Sahara Yellow was kind of a funky color but that's what it was.

[rotorwrench]

Hit quote instead of modify. should be able to delete