I was doing some family history about my Grandfather Sam Beacham and his brother Sid who joined up in 1914.  Sid owned a Douglas motorbike and when he joined up took it with him to France. He was made a Corporal, 69034, Royal Engineers.
Sidney was promoted early on as he applied for Motor-Cycle service, having bought a Motor-Cycle in 1913. It was a Douglas Brothers 2 Speed twin cylinder engine, no 10550, 1913 model. 2 3/4 horsepower. License number ax848. He purchased it in November 1913 for the sum of £53, 11 shillings. They would only let him take his bike to France providing he had spare parts for it as welI! I would love to know more about dispatch riders in WW1 and about his bike.  Are there many still around and is there a museum where they have same model?

Thanks again Ian, The buttons which came with my jigsaw of a 'Z' only have spigots on one side which I have been positioning downwards into the corresponding holes and recesses in the crankcase top surface. This then leads to the flat surfaces of the buttons abutting the bottom of the Magneto, which has no corresponding holes, and providing no resistance to sideways movement. It looks like I will need to get some double spigot buttons made and at the same time have the base of my magneto drilled to accept them, this should lead to the long strap clamp I made working as it only needs to provide a vertical force to restrain the pair.

Chris

I have a Douglas engine that needs a new home. I believe it to be an industrial engine but unsure of where or what it came out of. 

Open to offers

Rob

I have a detachable head that I don't need. I am unsure of what model it comes from.

Open to offers

Rob

Hi Chris,
Yes, I have two Z1 Powerflow bikes. They are a twin downtube frame and the steering damper bottom anchor locates on a welded nut to the cross tube under the tank.  The M20 disc should do nicely.  The magdyno has a strap which clamps it down to the top of the crank case.  There are 4 little buttons which locate in holes in the crank case and in the underside of the magdyno.
I will get some more photographs today. I have made a thin mounting plate for one of my bikes because the magdyno was slightly different.  I have found a photo of the buttons, they have a small spiggot on each side.  I hope this helps.

Thanks Ian, is that a Z1 you have there? the only real difference I can see is that the bottom plate is bent in such a way as to locate on a lug on the single down tube of the frame. I think the friction disk off of a BSA M20 should do the job nicely.
Whilst your there, if it is a model Z1 you have, how is the Lucas Magneto secured to the top of the crankcase as the none of the magnetos I have have protruding parts at the base to clamp down onto.

Chris

Here are the photographs as promised.  The friction disc is made out of clutch material.. It's about 6mm thick.

I will get you some photographs of mine in the next couple of days when I get home. There is a friction disc between the anchor plate and the underside of the head stem. The anchor plate has a nut welded to it so as you screw the knob down to tighten the friction disc. There is a castellated locking nut with a split pin right a the very bottom of the threaded rod. When you turn the knob the whole rod turns and increases the friction between the anchor plate and the frame.  That's a difficult thing to explain. Photos following. 

Hi everyone,
I am attempting to assemble a foot change gearbox on one of my Z1 750's.   I can't seem to get the selector working properly. The selector works fine inside the gearbox and all gears select easily and the detent pin is holding location correctly.  The outer casing that houses the kickstart ratchet and the foot change selector system is giving me trouble.  The photograph shows 3 numbered items and my question is ......can anyone tell me if these 3 items need to be in some sort of special location in relation to each other when assembling the case. AND does the gearbox need to be in a specific gear when the end case is assembled.  I hope one of you guys has done this before and can give me some advice.

Hello Andrew, Chris came to see me today and unfortunately your kickstart lever is not suitable for  his motor, but thanks for all the communications