Chris, a friend of mine had one in the early sixties and as I recall it had an overhead valve air cooled engine.
It broke down one night in Basingstoke. His dad, a very accomplished mechanic, drove from Watford, dismantled the bike into liftable lumps and loaded into the boot of a 375 Ford Consul and drove him home. I clearly remember seeing the engine completely stripped a couple of days later in his shed.
Yes that's correct. This one has a Mk 3 LE top end on at the moment. I have the original top ends too.
Much more reliable in this configuration.
I also have a fifties LE with a hand gear change.
Great little bikes.
Indeed ... lovely little 'bike. Original was 200cc overhead valve engine. My pal had one when I was running my BSA B31 350cc. Used to ride the side valve LE water-cooled version as a works 'bike
JWR 13C outside my police house C1967 (mit dawg)
Edit .... my pals Valiant had reg no 1 ADT or ADT 1 later to one seen on Doncaster's Mayoral car!