SOLD: 1927 Raleigh Type 14 250cc s/v
UPDATE 20/8/07 Now sold to my friend Mike.
1927 Raleigh Type 14 250cc s/v
This beautiful machine has spent most of its life in a museum. I rode it last week - it starts easily and drives sweetly.
It is now MOT’d. I’ll take advantage of the sunny weather to ride it around the Sussex countryside and inext month I’ll advertise it for sale
I’ve owned five of these Raleighs over the past 25 years. In my opinion, they’re the ideal lightweight flat-tank for modern-day usability, as they’re sturdily built and reliable, easy to start and ride, and have a wonderful twenties style.
Of course, we all like the looks of the top-of-the-range 500cc or V-Twin 1920’s machines. But if you never ride it because it’s too valuable or or requires too much tweaking, what’s the point? A Type 14 is a jump-on-and-ride bike and, as long as you remember to turn on and pump the oil with the hand-pump every so many miles, it’s ideal for regular summer use. This one even has electric lights fitted.
One thing I love about the Sussex countryside is how little it’s changed since before the war. If you ignore a few modern trimmings like road-signs and the occasional parked car (of course, I only mean ignore their modernity), it’s easy to pick cross-country routes that are relatively timeless. That’s where I ride the Raleigh.
This particular one was restored some years ago; the levers were not re-nickelled, and the head has not been repainted, but otherwise it’s very smart and shiny, with good paintwork. I don’t like concours condtion bikes as they are not practical to use - you’d always be worrying about scratching or scraping your investment.
It starts on the first or second kick and plods along at a steady 40 to 50 mph. The large lever on the left is not the clutch, but the decompressor; the clutch is the smaller lever next to it. It’s easy enough getting used to the hand gear-change; and the throttle on a lever rather than a twist-grip might seem odd at first, but your thumb soon enjoys the extra exercise. The only other thing to notice is that the left-side brake is heel-operated. If you’ve not ridden twenties before, you might not realize that both brakes levers operate separate brakes on the rear wheel; the front wheel has no brake. It’s efficient enough though.
The other levers observed in the photos are the advance-retard (on the left-side handlebar) and choke, next to the throttle on the right. There are a lot more levers than on a modern bike - at first you wonder if it was designed for an octopus; but of course you only really need to use the clutch, throttle and every now and then the gearstick once you’re riding.
I hope this gives you some sort of idea of what it’s like to ride an 80-year-old motorcycle.
I hope this gives you some sort of idea of what it’s like to ride an 80-year-old motorcycle.