Hi Appliance,
Check out my thread on "Bikes I've known and loved" for more on my collection. I inherited my Dad's Velocette Venom when he passed away in 1970. Used it for daily transportation on and off for a few years. It has 43k on it now, here's a recent pic. Just had the fenders and front stays rechromed! It shakes a bit at speed, but the wifey and I will do 1000 miles on it this July in Oregon with the VOCNA. See velocette.org for more about our club.
Funny thing about riding that bike these days...I often feel strangely giddy on it, like I was a little boy getting away with something that I shouldn't. I know the Velo inside and out, and it's really primitive compared to any modern bike. It's really fun. Handles great; note scar on muffler...from dragging it!
Forks...I suspect that just replacing springs and fluid will help, but there is a lot of compression damping in the stock setup. Makes it harsh over bumps. Lowering the viscosity will help soften the compression, but will hurt rebound - it really needs more rebound to go with the stiffer springs. For just a couple hun more, you can have the forks revalved. It's worth it.
