1916 De Luxe specifications

Writing down specifications for Australian-built bikes is a tricky business. Production was relatively low and specification varied, perhaps bike-to-bike, even with bigger outfits like A.G. Healing. War time and the difficulty of obtaining steady supply must have made the specification even more varied. To give an idea of the problem, a surviving De Luxe tank still in its original livery is clearly of the type fitted by Healing to their Precision Big Four model, but with a blanking plate covering the hole where the oil filler cap would have been on the earlier machine! A surviving frame is fitted with heavyweight (two-spring) Druids, and not the (four-spring) Mark 2.

My machine began as the bare bones of number 2160. The specs would have been:

Engine: 7hp Spacke De Luxe  50o V-twin
Lubrication: Best and Lloyd drip feed and hand pump, total loss. Some fitted with cam-driven "variable feed mechanical lubricator"
Ignition: Magneto, driven by skew gear on camshaft
Carburettor: AMAC or Brown & Barlow
Transmission: Direct belt, with hand starter (3-speed AGH gearbox optional)
Frame: Healing fittings. Heavyweight Druid fork
Wheels: 26x3 beaded edge, British Hub Co. hubs.
Brakes: Single shoe acting on belt rim
Tanks: Combined petrol/oil on single-speed; 2-gallon petrol with separate oil tank on saddle tube on 3-speed model
Builder: A. G. Healing & Co, Melbourne
Original Finish: Frame and guards black enamel. Tank dark green with thick gold stripe, script lettering. Nickel wheel rims and hubs, handlebars. "Highest quality finish."

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