Veloce, while small, was a great technical innovator and many of its patented designs are commonplace on motorcycles today, including the positive-stop foot shift and swinging arm rear suspension with hydraulic dampers.

[3] The company had its origins as "Taylor, Gue Co Ltd" founded in 1896 by John Goodman[4] (born Johannes Gütgemann and later known as John Taylor before formally changing his name to Johann Goodman) and William Gue, which initially made cycle frames and parts, but later made the frames for the Ormonde Motorcycle.

[5] In 1904 Ormonde merged with the engine maker Kelecombe, and when this company failed Taylor Gue bought the assets, and in 1905 built their first motorcycle, the Veloce.

In 1912 they added a smaller motorcycle, which was exhibited at the Olympia show alongside their larger model on a joint stand with Wilton Cycle Co (sidecar manufacturers).

[11] Between 1913 and 1925, Veloce produced expensive, high-quality two-stroke motorcycles of (nominally) 250 cc, which gained an excellent reputation and were entered in competitions such as the Isle of Man TT, with some success.

The OHC engine series continued for roadsters until 1948, when the final KSS Mk.2 versions were produced, with rigid frames and Dowty air-sprung telescopic forks.

The 'K' series showed an excellent turn of speed and reliability and soon the factory developed racing models to compete in the Isle of Man TT.

[2] The K series was expensive to produce, requiring selective hand assembly of the shaft-and-bevel camshaft drive; it was determined that a simpler OHV design would be quicker to build and require less skilled labour to assemble and so the company decided to introduce a new line of overhead valve (OHV) machines, in order to cut production costs and make a more affordable motorcycle.

It was an immediate sales success, having lively performance for the time (78 mph or 126 km/h), and proved a reliable machine with excellent road manners.

[4] After the Second World War, the company sought to capture what it saw as a developing need for personal transport and created the LE model[4] (for "Little Engine").

Velocette's Director, Eugene Goodman, planned an innovative and radical design that would appeal to a new market that needed cheap, clean and reliable transport.

[citation needed] It proved less successful than the firm had hoped and, although it became Veloce's best selling model ever, the high tooling costs for this all-new machine were barely recouped.

With the introduction of the motorcycle patrols this became dangerous, requiring the officer to take his hand off the handle bars, and so the rider was to allowed to show his respect with a smart nod.

[2] However, Noddy (the popular cartoon character created by British children's author Enid Blyton) who famously had frequent run-ins with the Policeman Mr. Plod, is also credited with being the origin.

A 1958 review in The Motor Cycle, an English weekly paper, called the Viper "a remarkably fine motorcycle, all round performance well above the average" and declared it capable of speeds over 90 mph (144.84 km/h).

[4] In 1961 a Velocette Venom became the first motorcycle to cover over 2,400 miles (3,900 km) in a 24-hour period, at the banked, oval, Montlhery circuit in France with a team of eight riders including Veloce director Bertie Goodman and 'MotorCycling' staff writer Bruce Main-Smith, averaging 100.05 mph (161.01 km/h).

Major losses incurred on the Viceroy scooter development from 1956 to marketing in 1960, followed by costs incurred by overstocking of redundant parts and the loss of capital due to development costs invested in another new model doomed to failure – the Velocette Vogue, an updated LE with a full fibreglass touring body.

The workforce was sacked in February 1971, with C C Cooper, a local metals-recovery dealer, buying most of the machinery and continuing to produce limited spare parts by a small team of engineers.