Sure you’ve dropped in behind enemy lines under fifty yards of silk and fishing line. What good is that if you don’t have a vehicle to run around with? Rather than throwing a full-scale BSA out of a plane behind you, those crafty Brits came up with the folding Welbike. These come up for sale from time to time, and are generally in this condition when we see them. Find it here on eBay in Yacolt, Washington.
The name Welbike comes from the area of its development, an hour north of London in Welwyn, Hertfordshire. The idea — cooked up by the British Army’s clandestine force, Special Operations Executive (SOE) — was that paratroopers needed a way to quickly move about the countryside after parachuting into a location. The finished bike needed to fit inside a standard parachute airdrop container 51 inches long, 15 inches high and 12 inches wide. To fit comfortably inside the small container, the Welbike had no suspension, lighting system and just a rear brake.
The tiny fuel tank — missing on this example — had an outlet positioned lower than the carburetor, so the tank featured a hand pump used to provide enough pressure to push fuel to the carb. Before the Welbike saw action, the fuel tank was pressurized, and the handlebars were folded away. Once the container was opened again, the paratrooper twisted the handlebars into place, pulled the seat up, folded out the foot-pegs and push-started the bike into action. In repeated testing, the Welbike could be unpacked and under motion in just 11 seconds. With a full 6.5 pints of fuel, it could travel 90 miles at a breathtaking 30 mph, especially considering the lack of a headlamp and suspension. It must’ve been like riding a sawhorse at that speed.
Excelsior Ltd. built the finalized versions, which were all fitted with 98cc Villiers two-stroke single cylinder engines. In all, Excelsior built three version of the Welbike. The original 1,200 were known as the Mark 1, and the next 2,400 were called Mark 2 Series 1. The major difference between the two is that the Mark 1s had no rear mudguard. The final 1,340 Mark 2 Series 2 bikes had a revised saddle fuel tank with a better fuel filler that didn’t require the removal of the pressurization system.
Good idea, not so great execution, as it turned out. The first problem was that the difference in weight between paratrooper and Welbike meant that the two often landed a great distance apart. With such small wheels and no suspension, the Welbike was all but useless for riding across fields and other rough terrain. The final nail in the coffin was the development of crash-landed gliders that could fit not only soldiers, but full-size motorcycles like the Royal Enfield WD/RE.
The condition here is relatively complete, less the fuel tank. The engine turns over, which is a good sign, but if you want this bike to run, the pressurized tank could be a problem.
The price is climbing pretty rapidly, thanks to interest from both motorcycle and World War II collectors. But if there’s a better vehicle for pooting around the next Goodwood Festival, we don’t know what it is.
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Nice lines, actually.
I’m pretty sure I owned a version of this bike built by Indian. When I was 14 and pedaling my bicycle on my paper route, I had a customer who had a scooter under a tarp on the side of his house. Each day I would linger for a few minutes at that house and peer under the tarp, dreaming about what it would be like to not have to do all of that pedaling (lots of hills in my town). Then one day he came out and asked me if I wanted to buy it. $100 would do it. After saving my paper route money (and my parents kicking in some) I made my first motorized purchase. Man, I loved riding that thing! I went EVERYWHERE on it.
When the throttle cable broke, we took it to the local Harley-Davidson dealer for the repair. He either already knew of its background in WWII, or he learned about it while chasing down a parts catalogue for it. I don’t remember which now. Indian was out of business by then, but parts were available.
In keeping with Indian’s theme of naming its motorcycles after members of a Native American tribe (Chief, Warrior, Scout, etc.), it was called the Papoose!
It had solid wheels (not wires), kick start, a 2-speed transmission with pedal shift, a decent-sized fuel tank, and a shield and headlight mounted on the front. I did an Internet search on it a few years a go and found that the original design was British, and that more than one company in the UK built them for use in WWII. And they show up in Hemmings now and then.
It may not look like much in the way of motorized transport to an adult today, but to a 14 year-old boy abut half a century ago, it was just about the coolest thing imaginable.
OldAlfaGuy
Not sure if its the housing that protects them so well or the rideability that is so poor that makes them generally low mileage, but I’ve actually seen quite a few of these over the years.
Some almost new still protected in their antique coffins.
Yeah, the $2,500 category was very optimistic. Yes, it’s odd looking and not successful in it’s initial conception; but come on! It’s stupendous! I want it very much; but I figure the bidding will be crazy and it’s across the country from me.
A great ‘pit bike.’
OAG, after typing this, I’m going straight to the ‘net to look that up. Sounds fantastic. Great story too.
A bike designed to to last just one small tank of gas – 40 miles and then be discarded. Don’t expect too much reliability from this machine…
I found it very reliable.
Statements should be made on experience, not assumptions.
OldAlfaGuy
What a fantastic relic. The photos are worth half the price. Thx TY.
What an amazing find, can’t believe I’ve never heard of these before. I can’t tell by the pics but I’d love to know what they did for the exhaust and whether they had a quiet version for work behind enemy lines.
Great tale, unique little corner of motorbike history. Like @James McBride, I was also wondering about the exhaust. Seems like they’d be noisy little buggers, no?
As best I can remember, mine had a little can-type (cylindrical) muffler that ran crosswise, like maybe beneath the seat, then a tailpipe out one side (forget which). It was quiet pleasant sounding.
OldAlfaGuy