Hitchcocks Forum

Watching The Motor Bike Show on the box the other evening I noticed that Pete the Restorer had fitted a pair of "Wassell" economy Amal clones to the Bonnie. Anybody here had experience of these? I've finally saved up enough spare change to replace the 376 Monobloc on my old Trumpet with a new one or possibly a Mk1 concentric and I understand these are made by the same people that produce Amals so how about the option for us skint, penny counting, retired oldies Mr H? Then I'd have the change to buy some other bits from you too.

if you look carefully - you will see that the left carb was a Wassel - the right an Amal - not a good combination in my opinion!

wassall = chineeze copy!

As Alan says, the Wassells are made in China and not by Amal, that's why they are cheap. It's because (I think) in the 70s Amal had a Factory in Spain making Concentrics (not very well I seem to recall) and it's this separate company which allows them to build the Amal copy but not, of course, use the name.
REgards, Mark

hi eddie ,while talking about the motorbike show ,i would have been very unhappy spending £4000 on a bike in labour and the kickstart not returning or the gearbox not selecting gears not a good advert for pete the restorer me thinks also the clown from bonhams never noticed the missmatched carbs which would surely have affected his valuation also it went to show that having a restoration done like that was not a sure fire money earner unlucky henry!! atb paul.

...and the bloomin' thing would n't start either. Maybe the mis-matched carbs?(well spotted Mr Wayne Holmes!)
So are these carbs any good I wonder.

hi eddie the amal concentric carb is not too exspensive try to get the latest model with the stay up float and reworked pilot plumbing and annodised slide i say this because the new style have been around a while and i bought a new concentric a few months ago and it was the old style from a well known supplier who must have shed loads of the old style carbs on stock atb paul.p.s i think the price difference is about £15 if you buy direct from amal

eddie, the monoblock is a far better carb than the mk 1 concentric, for less money than a new concentric you can have your old 376 bored and sleeved and returned to as new condition.

The concentric was developed in answer to motorcycle makers demands for lower prices, do yourself a favour and get your old cab sorted,