Cox space hopper ball bearings?

It is not a confusion, I know very well that the space hoper does not have bearings and that its older brother the Olympic 15 did, I read somewhere that a version of the space hoper 049 was made with bearings but since the performance was not improved it was stopped manufacturing, maybe it was only a prototype, but still I would be very satisfied if you find any photo, I am curious. I'll keep looking....

I'm sure you came across the same conversation between Tim Wiltse and Bill Robinson. He claims to have owned the engine and now he no longer has it. He also mentions it's the only example he's ever seen himself.


This is what I copied:

The BB version, except for the nose of the crankcase, looked just like the plain bearing version.

The large portion of the case extended fractionally further to accomodate the rear bearing, and instead of remaining a reduced diameter all the way to the prop washer it had an increased section to allow the insertion of the front bearing. As I remember, the prop washer was similar to the TeeDee, to protect and shield the front bearing.

In relative numbers, very few Space Hoppers were made, and only a very small fraction of those were the ball bearing version.

I don't recall ever having seen any other than the one I had.

It was an experiment of Roy Cox's that didn't work, the plain bearing engine would pull more rpm with everything else being the same.

And I've still not pulled out the name of the fellow who prepped the"Special" engines.

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Pretty cool!