Super Squirrel

Can you imagine association between two different entities, as different as 1920s and Liquid cooling? Actually to get you started, you should!
Yes, a liquid cooled motorcycle that was there in 1920s. What you are looking here at is the Scott Super Squirrel. For starters, the Scott Super Squirrel, made in UK, has a 596cc liquid cooled two-stroke vertical twin engine. Transmission is via a two-speed foot shifter. Just for the above facts, it is a pretty impressive motorcycling legend by itself. This was one of the most technologically advanced machines of its day in 1924 when it had liquid cooling, telescopic forks and a 2 stroke motor where as almost all other motorcycles relied on heavy air-cooled four-stroke engines and solid forks.
Amazingly, the Super Squirrel 600cc weighed only 118 kgs and if you associate Ferraris with Ducatis, many critics associate the Scotts with none other than the Bugatti mainly for it being a lively performer. You know, the bike didn’t have a gearbox, what it did was have two primary chain drives which are activated in turn by separate steel drum clutches with a pedal activating the gear, back for low and forward for high and of course, it did have a neutral in between. Can you beat that? Also, it had an open flywheel in between two main bearings with the ends overhanging in two separate crank cases. It is said that the Scotts were among the best in handling and braking. Starting the bike was atypical 2 stroke thing with the choke and a few kicks and that bought out the ‘yowling’ sound of the 2 stroker unlike the ‘growling’ sound you find in most 2 strokers. Even without a clutch, accelerating (as mentioned by those lucky few who got to ride the dream machine) was smooth and you could jolly well keep on cruishing between 60-80 mph. (100 – 130kmph). Funny thing is that with all those advancements, it had an Acetylene headlamp and tail lamp.

Text: Visual Gratification
Images: yesterdays.nl