The 500V2 was the last of the Sanglases (Sangli?) Performance was akin to a, Norton ES2, or an Enfield Bullet. Some earlier wire-spoked 400 singles were imported before the 500. The factory fitted Yamaha XS400 (not XS650) engines, before the eventual take over by Yamaha and the demise of the big singles. I had a 500V2 in the late 1980s, bought as a scrapper in Edinburgh and had trouble finding engine and gearbox spares, in the end I fitted a Rover 90 car exhaust guide and an unknown valve from an assorted boxfull at Don Law's in Hull. Unable to source pinions for the five speed gearbox I used a mini grinder to undercut the selector dogs to prevent it jumping out of top gear. All the mods worked well. The selector 'quadrant' was huge and box-like and made for slow changes. The starter motor was a car type and engaged directly with a pinion around the left side flywheel. Pulling the full size valve lifter lever alonside the clutch lever when thumbing the starter button was essential to relieve strain on the system, once the engine was spinning freely (only 3 seconds with the exhaust valve open) you let go the lever and she fired up. If you didn't use the valve lifter the engine slowly wheezed it's way over compression. The 500V2 had heavy cast alloy wheels. The brakes were Guzzi V50 type Brembos with an oddball rear master cylinder which was rod operated from the foot pedal. The round heads of six large allen bolts securing the rear sprocket to its 'carrier' drove the rear wheel via rubber bushes and vanes in the rear hub. - - The Sanglas was a pleasant plodder, a 'relaxed ride', certainly no use for police 'pursuit' work! We did a direct comparison to the then 'newly released' Enfield India 500 and found the performance almost identical except that the four speed Enfield had a huge gap between 3rd and 4th necessitating much use of 3rd gear in urban riding whereas the Sanglas' 4th gear was just right. I seem to recall I was getting 60+mpg ridden gently. In the pictures mine is the red one. I sold it in Morpeth in the early 90s. I think the Reg No was FK?847V.
