Douglas DV60 Prototype

[cardan]

This interesting machine - ex-GD Brown collection - is currently for sale at http://www.classicsuperbikes.co.uk/catalogue/Bikes-for-sale/Douglas-DV60-Prototype.html . The website has some very nice photos. Love that seat post!

Leon

[Hampshirebiker]

I'm sure there was an article on that in one of the classic bike mags a while back. I'll have a look through my pile. Can't primise anything though.
Dave.

[Hampshirebiker]

The Classic Motor Cycle August 2004.

[Hampshirebiker]

Only the first out of four pages is visible to me. The others are blank. If this is the case & anyone is interested, I will repost the other three.
Dave.

[Eric S]

All pages displays finely for me

[eddie]

Don't be fooled by this bike - it is not a DV60 - it is a special built by Ken Blake using a DV60 engine in a prototype T35 frame with the rest of the cycle parts from Mark series machines. The DV60 that is for sale is the only genuine civilian machine - there were 2 other military prototypes, one of which, I believe, is now fitted with a 500 Aero engine - the other one seems to have disappeared completely.

  Regards,
                 Eddie.

[Hampshirebiker]

The article is very honest in that respect.
Dave.

[nickh]

Douglas may have missed out on military contracts for complete 'bikes but I'm sure they did quite nicely thank you out of the FT350 stationary engine. Developed with government money and supplied in its thousands, it then of course formed the basis of the power unit for the post-war motorcycle range!

NHH

[eddie]

Quite the opposite! On the 1st May 1939, Reg Bryant produced a drawing for a motorcycle that can rightly be considered to be a T35 prototype in that it had a transverse engine in a frame very similar to the proposed solid frame T35 that eventually got shelved. This engine had heads and barrels almost identical to the generator engines. Now, the generator engines were produced in the early 40's, so Reg Bryant's motorcycle engine spawned the generator engine - not the other way round (as legend would have us believe). I am convinced that the Reg Bryant bike did actually exist - I have had a good look at a pair of Douglas crankcases that match it perfectly - and they are stamped up '1' (the first prototype??). Also, quite a number of detail drawings for that machine still exist. The discolouration of the inside of the cases show that it had run for a considerable time!
 As they say "The plot thickens!!"

  Regards,
                Eddie.
 

[nickh]

That is very interesting Eddie. As you say, conventional wisdom has it that the wartime genny engine came first but it has to be said that comparing the design with a 'pure' stationary engine the Norman T300 which is also a flat twin and only 50cc smaller, the Douglas is so much more robust that whenever it was penned, the designer would certainly seem to have envisaged a considerably higher output than the stationary version delivered.

NHH

[cardan]

All very interesting!

I admit to having a bit of conflict around "recreations". In this case I think it's fair enough to recreate a rideable bike around such an interesting powerplant, but awarding it "best military motorcycle" at a show is a step too far.

I'll post a couple of photos of the Brown DV60 before they disappear. I'm still amazed at the seat post, to which the recreation does not do justice!

Cheers

Leon