'Leo' In The Times

[c.o.]

In the New York Times today.... http://thevintagent.blogspot.ca/2012...-in-times.html

[exeric]

What a beautiful motorcycle and remarkable that it has survived in such pristene condition. You can see the Indian influence but I don't understand how the carburetor works on that engine?

[c.o.]

Just a shot in the dark Eric... It's a two stoke, so were they relying on the flywheels to get the fuel vapor up to the plug?

I've gotten a little skeptical on the "new" finds over the past few years. This one does seem much more plausible than bikes like the "Winchester" of which I've seen another one on the internet now. I guess the first one wasn't so rare!!!

[exeric]

You must be correct about the Leo being a 2 stroke Cory, but I thought small 2 strokes were a bit exotic for that time. Regarding the Winchester; I can't believe anyone was duped by that story and it's alleged connection to the gun maker. The Leo looks very authentic and I can only guess that it will do very well in it's auction. I really think the madness over original condition motorcycles has created a big counterfeit industry of talented patina artists. I used to think they were easy to spot, but practice makes perfect. It's going to be tough for serious collectors in the future.

[pisten-bully]

It looks like there's an intake cast into the cylinder on the left side, so the combustion mixture is drawn into the crankcase on the compression stroke, and then on the power stroke the mixture is forced up into the cylinder via the aforementioned intake. I don't know anything about the history of 2-stroke technology, but that's technology familiar to modern 2-strokes. Except 2-strokes are increasingly doomed to the "dust bin", mainly because when you draw the unburned fuel into the cylinder on the same stroke that you're exhausting the burned fuel, why then you're almost always exhausting some unburned fuel, and that's a "no-no" as far as emissions are concerned!

[c.o.]

I agree that the Leo looks "very authentic". It will be interesting to see what happens with it. I too used to be able to pick out a "patina" job from a mile away. It's gotten much tougher....