Smalley Rings Find a Place in History

When it comes to classic British built motorcycles, the name Velocette is up there with the best of them so when Justin Lawrence from our technical team got a call from a Belgium restoration enthusiast, memories of his youth came flooding back. Our customer was looking for one of our Smalley retaining rings to replace a conventional circlip that secures the nearside main bearing in the gearbox of his 1958 Velocette Venom and Justin had fond memories of his father tinkering with a similar machine when he was a lad. I remember my dad forever working on his bike and telling me about the virtues of British engineering, the knowledge of which, seemed to me, to be a pre-requisite if you wanted to get anywhere on a regular basis!

The Velocette Venom, made between 1956 and 1968 was a 499cc, ohv single cylinder, 400lb, 55mpg, 95mph. Sports single in the Classic British tradition had quick, precise steering and was capable of high cruising speeds. The Venom Clubman our customer was working on was the most highly prized & highly priced model built in the traditional ‘Boy Racer Style’ of it’s time and has been the subject of an ongoing restoration over the course of a number of years.

We were able to supply two alternative examples of our Smalley rings to fit the existing groove profile. All are our Smalley Spirolox Rings are manufactured by coiling the ring from flat wire and have many advantages over stamped retaining rings/circlips namely:

• No gap full 360° retaining surface
• No protruding lugs to interfere with mating components (uniform cross section)
• Economically produced in stainless steel
• Easy installation and removal (see guide below)
• No tooling charges on custom designs
• Available in a wide range of exotic materials and finishes
• Special end configurations to suit your application