My Douglas (but what model?)

[gsx1100s]

Attached is a picture of my Douglas. It has a 1925 motor but is a belt drive, so is it simply a bittsa? If so is this common?
hope you like it
cheers

[Alan Cun]

Looks like what you have is a SW variation of the TS douglas which was fitted with a flywheel clutch and a kickstarter which was on the left hand side of the box and was mounted on special kick start plates. Most TS had  gearbox letters LG but yours could start with NG.

regards Alan

[Ian]

Douglas had belt drive through to I think 1926 - certainly 1925 !!

[cardan]

I don't want to sound sacrilegious on the Douglas forum, but by 1925-6 belt drive was well on the way out for British motorcycles and Douglas should have discarded it years earlier. Of course there were cost issues, and some very conservative customers who liked the stories about smooth flat twins and smooth belt drive compared with harsh and dirty chains. By the mid 1920s, chains were high quality and not at all harsh, particularly if lubricated and adjusted correctly. If the bike was up-market enough to have a cush drive somewhere, the superiority of chains was obvious to all. That said, Douglas sold thousands of "old fashioned" belts drive bikes so there was some business merit in there somewhere. Apparently the last of the belt drive bikes were quite a hard sell...

Leon

[Alan Cun]

In 1926 the EW was released here in Australia and there was still a lot of TS and SW models to be sold. I have found in the past Dougs with 7xxxx engine numbers can have the timing cover stamped 1926 or a 1925 cover with the 5 over stamped with a 6.
When I restored my first TS there was 3 Stationary engines sitting on the shelf and as they are usually found in good condition I quickly slotted it into the TS frame with the smaller flywheel. Had to discard the hand crank and oil system though as the lean to the left caused a smoke screen. My stationary motors start at 8xxxxx. One day I may fit other cases to get back to original.

As for the SW, no you can and I did have much more fun riding with out the clutch and kickstarter. I did ride the SW around the block years ago but it sits in the line for comparison with the TS, CW and the earlier models with the clutch attached to the 3 speed gearbox.

regards Alan

[gsx1100s]

Thank you all so much for your information.
regards Michael