Albion gearbox

[vibrac]

Of course for Racing you can forget the Burman Its not as supposed just the wide ratio’s and the slow change the real ‘killer’ is the inability to depend on a gear engagement on slowing for a corner and expecting engine braking.
As for Albion the 40’s Gears were the Achilles heel look at a modern Indian Enfield gears and a 40’s Albion .It would be possible to cut about a RE box to look like a racing box (I have the small racing cover with the gear numbers cast in) it should take Indian cogs and there is a close ratio option (2 cogs) If you must go chain you may be amused to find that the duplex chain on the Enfield clutch is the same pitch as the triplex chain on the twin engine sprocket. But I am a belt man.
In the end since it must look externally correct for Vintage racing I settled for a set of AMC internals in a Burman envelope (we are not allowed more than 4 gears) it’s not easy but then nor is the Enfield/Albion path

 

[davidd]

Tim is spot on regarding the various boxes and the solutions. Carleton Palmer won three national championships with the Albion, but he used up two boxes and he came in second quite a few times because of false neutrals while dicing for first. Carleton used the Newby clutch and belt. The Albion clutch is a serious problem for vintage racing but will work fine for parade laps. Barnett makes clutch plates that are quite good. The gear material itself is substandard and that is the problem that Ken Genecco is having. He is braking teeth off the gears. Ken is reasonably gentle with the bike so he is running the original clutch. Like Tim, I am using a Burman box with an Norton style cluster and also restricted to 4 speeds.

David

 

[aluminiumbronze]

Anders,
The clutches were and are problematic, the gearbox is more suited to lower capacity bikes rather than higher, many of these ( heavy duty Albion as opposed to the lighter duty variety of Albion) Albion boxes were used on 350's and the like, the constant mesh pinions in these boxes suffer a real beating and are usually the first thing to give up, having said that they do change gear very nicely with quite a positive action, bear in mind the factory used these boxes when they could no longer get Burman close ratio boxes like the BAR, there is a BAR look a like box made in New Zealand that has Norton type internals and is meant to be almost bulletproof.
Cheers,
Jeffrey.

 

[nobby]

I never raced the bike with the Conway clutch, but I am sure it would be up for the task. For me, the weak link in this must be that single primary chain. It snapped now three times in 15 years, the last time was with a new chain on the 600 engine and ruined the primary inner case on first full throttle with the just installed Conway clutch... must have done something wrong there!
That NZ BAR box is magnificent, and as most Vincent goodies, very expensive. I even forgot how expensive!

 

[davidd]

Cornelis,

The Conway clutch is a real improvement, but like Tim, I have had such good luck with the Newby that I cannot use anything else. The organization I race with frowns on primary chains for the very reason you cite. They keep breaking and they make a real mess when they do. The Newby belt drive will aslo fit in a standard Comet primary case. The NZ BAR is expensive: 5,100 NZ$ the last time I checked and was very popular with Series A single owners who had various TT or Special models.

David

 

[Simon Dinsdale]

What Is this NZ gearbox. Any info on the Internet. Never heard of it. I have an interest in anything burman having struggled to rebuild the burman on my A Comet to a working box.
cheers
Simon.

 

[davidd]

Simon,

You can contact me at daviddunfey@aol.com and I will send you any information that you need. I was one of the original group to banded together to put in an order to get these made when Cal Carrick was proposing the idea. I believe only one transmission is left. Although the box provides smooth, short, reliable shifts and is nearly indestructible, it is a racing box. It is light as it has magnesium cases and it has no kick start mechanism. You would also need the mounting plates from a TTR. If you look at any of the Series A TT machines they have this box. Also the supercharged 1936 machine. Finally, it was a favorite of George Brown as it was on the Flash prototype and the famous picture of him sitting astride one of the Grey Flash TT machines.

David

 

[Robert Watson]

Although the TT machines may have all had BAR boxes, not all the TTR's did. My TTR #121 shows on the build sheet as having a Burman XBAPCH. This I think is the BAP box with the close ratio dog type (a la Norton) gears in it - the C being for the close ratio. I have a set of dog type gears in it but in standard ratios. I also have been told that the gears were leant to the Sparks Brother (TTR110) when they were having troubles with theirs -- late 40's?? Anyway, if some one has a set of close ratio BAP gears I'd be interested. I have seen a set, but sadly not for sale, perhaps I should be more persistant!

 

[david bowen]

www.ttindustries.com bruce verdon gearbox

 

[david bowen]

Try ttidustries@vodafone.net.nz bruce Verdon