Newbie on board!

[rdolan]

Hey All,

I've always been a big fan of the early motorized bikes, with a preference toward the early Whizzers and Simplex bikes.  I have played around with motorized bikes for the last couple of years, starting with a simple Schwinn frame and small Chinese two stroke motor, later evolving to higher end custom builds.

Well, yesterday marked my first vintage purchase of a Simplex.  The seller says it is a 1955 Simplex, it's a roller that is missing the original engine, otherwise the bike is pretty complete. The graphics on the tank say it is an Automatic, but the tank is black and the fenders are green.

Due to cost and availability of orig motors, I am leaning toward running a Honda clone motor with a little Albion 3spd gearbox. I'll post some pics as time allows.

Rich

[Ricks]

Welcome aboard!  Any chance you are SportscarPat's brother?

With the honda motors, there is no real need for a transmission.  I recently spoke with a gentleman in Georgia that has a GC160 on a simplex and he has been 55mph with just a centrifugal clutch.

 Here's a couple of pictures of one of his bikes:

[rdolan]

Yep, guilty as charged, I am Pat's brother.

Pat keeps telling me the same thing -no tranny required with the Honda motor. Of course Pat is running a souped up GX200, whereas the GC160 does not have any hot rod parts avail at all and I think is around 4.5hp in stock form.

I have run Whizzers, little china motors and even a 9.4HP Morini motor, I find all of them lacking a broad power range that the tranny provides.  I only rode Pat's latest 200 model with GX motor up the street and back in the dark, so I don't have any seat of the pants experience. 

I appreciate you posting pics of this bike for perspective, the GC with it's flat mount pad is a very good choice for a Simplex conversion, the one in the pic looks like a stock setup.

Where do I find parts?  a nice set of rims, hardware to mount the tank, etc. And where is the serial number and how do I convert that info to a build date?

thanks, Rich

ps I will post some pic's soon of the bike.

[Ricks]

A GC160 is 5 hp and a GC190 is 6hp.  A simplex is in the same ballpark.

I agree, that GC conversion looks very stock, especially to the uneducated eye.  He spent a lot of time to put together a nice conversion.

As for simplex parts, there is only 1 player left, as far as I know.  That would be Wayne Mahaffey, contact info can be found in the suppliers thread.  He has just about anything you will needed to restore a machine.  He may even be able to supply a complete motor if you should decide to go that way.

As for the serial number, look under the neck.  Simplex started numbering frames around 1950, I believe.  Before that, just an engine number on the side of the case.  I don't have much data on years, but I'm working on getting some.

[Bob Gurkin]

The GC160 or the 190 will get you going faster than you can stop. But on the other hand it's nice to have a transmission too 

[rdolan]

Here are a couple of pictures of the bike.

[rdolan]

One thing I noticed about my bike, the gas cap is on the left side, every other Simplex I have seen in pictures either has the cap on the right, or it has two caps.  Any idea why mine is different?

thanks, Rich

[Ricks]

Well that is a late gas tank. The early ones that you always see with the single right side gas filler have the screw in gas caps. Now, Gary Wollard at one time thought that the late single caps were for the 3 wheel trucks, and depending on year, changed side to side to differentiate the different models.  That said, I have seen single cap, late tanks on later year, 1957 and up Automatics as well as Simplex Sportsmans.  I have also seen several late style single cap tanks for sale lately.  IMHO, that is too many to have been just used on the trucks.

That looks like a nice start to a fine machine!  Keep us up to date on the progress.

Rick

[rdolan]

Thanks for the quick reply. I will have check the serial number on the bike, the owner said she was pretty sure it was a '55, but it sounds like we'll never really be sure. I believe the '59's went to the high rise bars, so it sounds like it's somewhere in the middle of that range. Do color options help to pinpoint age?  Best I can tell the fenders and tank are orig paint.

All in all, it's a good starting point.  The tank is real clean and has no rust inside, the rear rim and sheeve are not so good though -a little rusty, but otherwise it's a pretty solid bike.

[koops4]

I am new to this site so I will start off by saying that I have received a simplex that my dad bought brand new in Grand Rapids, MI.  I am not sure when he bought it but I do know that it was in the mid to late '50's.  The gas cap on my "new" bike is also on the left hand side of the tank.  This confused me because of all the pictures I have seen the cap is either on the right or it has duel caps.  I am glad to know that I am not the only one to have the cap on the left.  Thank you for all the information that you have provided on this site.
Paul

[bjm]

hey ricks, i guess i should put a post on here. iam the georgia guy.
if anyone needs help with a honda setup let me know, i can post better pixs

[Ricks]

Hi Bill, I knew you would get over here.  Your Honda conversion is so clean, you should market it as a kit.  Wayne tells me he is running out of simplex engines to work with and has thought about trying to sell a conversion, sort of like they do with the Cushmans.

[rdolan]

Hey BJM,

thats a nice little stack of Simplex's you have there, you wouldn't happen to have a spare rim or two would you?  Tell us how well that GC motor works in your bike.

[admin]

Bill, how's the health?  Any updates on putting a honda conversion kit together?  I know there is plenty of interest in one.