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 (for "Little Engine").
This was a 149 cc water-cooled flat-twin with side valves, a pressed steel frame, telescopic forks and a swingarm.
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.
Designer Charles Udall developed the Velocette LE as a "conceived-as-a-whole" design, with engine, gearbox, drive shaft and bevel box in a single unit to do a specific job.
It was sophisticated and expensive.
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.

It did see widespread adoption by British police forces for urban patrol.
At the time Metropolitan Police Officers on foot patrol were required to salute inspectors.
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.
It has been suggested that this is how Velocette LEs became known as "Noddy Bikes".
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.

The market for sporting machines was still strong, and Velocette continued to produce the 348cc KTT for racing.
At the 1947 Isle of Man TT the company won the first four places in the Junior race.
In 1949 they were the first FIM 350cc World Champions, a feat which they repeated in 1950.
In 1967 Neil Kelly won the first Isle of Man Production TT in the 500cc class on a Velocette Thruxton, with another Thruxton in second place.
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 (for "Little Engine"). This was a 149 cc water-cooled flat-twin with side valves, a pressed steel frame, telescopic forks and a swingarm. 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. Designer Charles Udall developed the Velocette LE as a "conceived-as-a-whole" design, with engine, gearbox, drive shaft and bevel box in a single unit to do a specific job. It was sophisticated and expensive. 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.
It did see widespread adoption by British police forces for urban patrol. At the time Metropolitan Police Officers on foot patrol were required to salute inspectors. 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. It has been suggested that this is how Velocette LEs became known as "Noddy Bikes". 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.
The market for sporting machines was still strong, and Velocette continued to produce the 348cc KTT for racing. At the 1947 Isle of Man TT the company won the first four places in the Junior race. In 1949 they were the first FIM 350cc World Champions, a feat which they repeated in 1950. In 1967 Neil Kelly won the first Isle of Man Production TT in the 500cc class on a Velocette Thruxton, with another Thruxton in second place.
Velocette