More on LEs

Great article on the LE (OBA 79) – brought back fond and not so fond memories. My brother bought a 1949 LE second hand, but it was a 200cc. Whether the barrels had been replaced we don’t know but it had the ball and roller internals. The main problem with these early models was icing up of the carb and inlet tract. As said in the article the carb was fed by an air chamber in the radiator but this never worked so a cover was fitted over the bellmouth which had the inlet just above the crankcase, but this never worked either. So in the end an outlet

on the radiator hose just above the cylinder was taken across the inlet manifold and back into the system, which worked in the UK chilly mornings. My brother commuted and took me on holidays covering many miles with no problems until while on holiday with his new wife some idiot pulled out in front – brother was OK but wife had a broken arm. The bike was repaired with new bodywork and front end and handed to me as I needed cheap transport into London. The LE was painted bright red as the thing was so quiet. I ran this bike for a couple of years but it had an annoying habit if you stopped after a run it wouldn’t start until it had cooled down. After ditching it for a 500 Ariel I found that as a result of the accident the BTH dynomag on the front the Bakelite housing had cracked where the plug leads came out. This was detected when it was running in the dark and you could see the spark tracking to the crankcase. It was sold shortly afterwards. I had no trouble with the hand change. It wasn’t fast but it handled wonderfully. One day in snow with wife on the back I lost it on ice so let go of the bars to abandon ship and it righted itself and I carried on with my wife saying, “What was that?”. Thanks for the best mag out there. David Kidd Woodbury, Devon UK