Albion Engineering supported the motorcycle industry for over 60 years, from the early days of supplying clutches to fixed wheel machines right up to the early 1970s with their 4 speed heavy weight gearboxes for the Royal Enfield Intercepters. Their gearboxes were also used in commercial applications like lawn mowers, parcel carriers, invalid carriages and the like.
There was not a lot of information out there on Albion gearboxes, particularly in the 1920s and 30s, as Albion seemed to have relied on the motorcycle manufacturers themselves to publish the relevant maintenance in their own manuals. So in 1931 Newnes produced a 14 weekly publication titled Motorcycle Repair and Upkeep, (price 1 shilling) covering all the required fettling that riders needed to do to their bikes. Gearboxes were just one aspect covered, and included Sturmey Archer, Burman and Albion with the various contributors being the specialists in their fields, in this case Mr F.A.Coney was the man for Albion.
This section covers the Model C 2 speed for up to 150cc engines, for the 3 speed Albion there is the Model G for the 500cc, the Model J for 350cc and Model E for up to 300cc, and for the 4 speed is the Model H.
A lot of people seem to be quite wary of gearboxes and what lies within but really they are not that hard, especially if you are careful in dismantling and even more careful in reassembly. So hopefully with what is here will enable Albion owners to have the confidence to remedy any problems that have been ignored. Either that or they will end up with a bucket full of oily bits and go ‘why oh why!!”
A couple of modern upgrades could be considered on reassembly, the first being a modern oil lip seal in place of felt washers on the output sleeve gear (the one that the rear drive sprocket connects to), and particular attention paid to lubrication. There is a common belief that general purpose grease can be used in place of some of the oil, especially as the seals and bushes wear. However the grease flings to the outer edge of the casing removing any possibility of the gears and shafts being lubricated, thus increasing rapid wear on the gears and possible seizure of the shafts inside the layshaft bushes. There is a modern product called liquid grease which works well, or you can mix your own with a 50/50 mixture of 50W engine oil and medium body (or General Purpose grease). I also add about 20% of Moreys Gear Stabiliser additive. Seems to work okay. So you are now set to break out those spanners and give it a go. Good luck.
Click on the front cover below to see the complete 36 page manual.
It is a 8M PDF.
And here is an interesting 3 page article from 1928 March 15th edition of the English magazine The MotorCycle on care and adjustments on the Albion 3 speed gearbox.