laird387

Hi, Another image from offroadarchive for the Greeves afficianados. This time it shows Malcolm Davis on his works bike in 'the late 1960s' to quote the excellent photographer, Gordon Francis. Knowing Gordon well, that means he was most likely at a trial when his wife Gill couldn't come, you see Gordon used to concentrate on his photographs whilst Gill made careful notes of who, what, where and when! Nevertheless, you have to admire the photographic skill. But back to the bike, an Anglian - but not quite in immaculate condition in all that mud. Enjoy.

Hi, In conversation with a member recently he asked that if I could find any images of a Royal Enfield 350 Bullet registered LUY 86 he would be grateful. Well, all part of the offroadarchive service I had a little trawl through the memory banks and found this image of the bike - which was described as a 'Comerford's demonstrator' and has my dearly missed old friend, Reg May aboard. Enjoy.

Hi b40rt, I take your point - but had you tried ORR you would have found a fairly frequent feature entitled 'Scotsman of the Month', using local photographs. One I remember featured a group, all with their machines including Bobby MacLeod, Ali MacDonald, Hugh MacDonald, Ian Pollock, Paul Kilbrauskas, Tommy MacNab and Billy MacLeod. I regularly featured histories of Scots competitors such as Ian Pollock, 'Ali Beag' and the like and I both rode, and reported on pre-65 events that I attended north of the border, particularly some of the early ones in the Dumfries area. Couple to that a regular contribution from none other than 'Big John' meant that I was giving as fair coverage as I could to your sport. With luck and a following wind I will use some photographs that might well cause you to rethink your general criticism of 'magazines'........... Enjoy anyway.

Hi OTF, Having lived in Scotland, as well as South of the border, I can personally vouch for the fact that many of the Scottish clubs and enthusiasts most certainly do not share the somewhat blinkered approach to machine eligibility that is adopted in the pre-65 SSDT - and there are many Scots with their own somewhat different sense of fun!! One personal example - it was noticeable to me when I was publishing ORR that there were very few subscribers based in Scotland - yet there was a constant stream of comments and queries from a very interested bunch of riders. Eventually quiet delving gained me the admission that there was a group with a single subscription copy of the magazine which was then shared round the group with a sort of token scheme rather like a lending library. Of course, it should have been obvious - the word 'canny' is, after all, of scottish derivation........ And don't get me wrong, my first visit was in 1954 when I rode my rigid AJS 347cc from my home in Yorkshire, camping rough with my little tent, etc, in my rucksack, taking three days to get to cross 'Bealach-na-baa' the highest road in Great Britain to get to Applecross, where I had a coffee before setting off back home, taking another three days. Why ? Because my little pocket diary, the RAC diary, had a list in the back of the steepest gradients and highest roads in Great Britain and I wanted to be able to cross them off one by one. Mad youth !! But sixty years later I now live here and quite often my wife and I drive over the Pass of Cattle to have lunch at the Applecross Inn - bringing back flooding memories. And please take my word for it - the Kinlochleven Pre-65 is totally atypical.

Hi, Now you did ask for DOT machines - not just solos? The time is August Bank Holiday 1961 and the trial is the Clayton Trophy, run by the Wood Green club in London - but the trial took place in the Peak District in Derbyshire. This section is 'Cheeks', directly alongside the A53 Buxton to Leek road and the outfit is the lightweight DOT sidecar of Arthur Pulman with wife Lyn in the chair - both very good friends of mine. But times change and I believe that section of road has now been rebuilt, so the old 'Cheeks' is now just off the lay-by that used to be the old road. Enjoy.

Hi Charlie, Found another image for you - but my sincere apologies for the poor quality in this instance. It shows Frank Darrieulat with Bill Warner in the chair on their way to runner-up spot in the 1958 British Experts - with the suspension leg on his front fork in obvious distress! They were only a couple of marks behind Frank Wilkins and Kay Saunois, on the works Ariel outfit MOC 3, which I owned some years later. Enjoy.

Hi, Another image from my offroadarchive to help jog the memory banks, this time of the Norman B2/C trials model of 1957, fitted with the 4-speed Villiers 9E and Armstrong front forks. The image was created by a wonderful artist, Ted Hardy, whose day job was as an architectural illustrator, creating marvellous images of potential development projects to be used in sales brochures and the like. Like so many of us, Ted was a motorcyclist at heart and with his pen and ink drawings could work wonders. Enjoy

Hi Woody, Slight misunderstanding of the facts, I feel. The SSDT committee were very late in deciding that pre-65 trials had arrived, their first attempt at organising one was almost thirteen years after the first actual pre-65 event - and the sport had already evolved considerably in that period. They introduced their own interpretation of eligibility rules based totally on their misunderstanding of what was happening elsewhere - and it's just being getting worse ever since. Don't forget they welcomed a machine with a frame that resembled a Spanish model - but with a distinctly British fourstroke motor - and awarded the rider with acclaim. Sad - but true.

Hi, Another delve into the offroadarchives revealed this 'Letter', which I published, from Peter Pilbeam, one of the team that produced the Cheetah trials machines. "I would like to make a few observations on Don Morley's article.......the first ever trials disc brake was designed by Robin Humphries and built by his father's engineering company, R E H Precision, who also built the forks and hubs designed by Robin. The disc brake was not a conventional hydraulic device but was operated by a cable moving a pair of wedges running on rollers behind the pads. The massive alloy barrel and head used on the Cheetah were also designed by Robin. I was involved with this project and I remember measuring the porting on every type of engine I could lay my hands on, then we sat at the kitchen table for hours trying to work out the best average of them for our barrel. The aim was to produce more mid-range and top-end power than the iron barrelled Villiers, which ran out of steam on a lot of the steep climbs used in those days. We bought a 'Baby Belling' electric oven for heating the barrel for fitting and removal of the sleeve, the barrel only just fitted in the Baby Belling. A machined barrel was heated in the oven, the Hepolite sleeve was dropped in and the barrel allowed to cool. The inlet and exhaust port shapes were scribed on the sleeve but the transfers, being inaccessible, were filled with copper sulphate solution and left overnight. The barrel was reheated and the sleeve was removed to be mounted on a spigot fixture on the milling machine. I then milled out the ports by eye, the copper sulphate leaving well marked areas on the sleeve. Finally the barrel was reheated, the sleeve dropped in and the port shapes finished off with Swiss files. Quite a long process and I can't remember how many we did, but I had notes on number 11 and number 14. Reference is made in the article to a larger capacity barrel. The barrels made for Cheetahs were all 250s, but a larger capacity one was made later for a 360 engine unit for a sidecar outfit - not a Cheetah - ridden successfully by Denny Brown. This used an Alpha bottom end with full flywheels and an 80mm piston. The gearbox contained BSA Victor gears in cases drawn up by Dennis Evans, cast and then machined by R E H. The case and covers were based on the BSA ones and used the Victor gearchange and kickstart components. I can't remember if the BSA clutch was used. We first tried a C15 gearbox fitted to a Villiers. We cut off the gearbox part and had it argon-arc welded, now called tig welding, to a plate which fitted the back of the Villiers engine." Yes, folks, that was the way quite a lot of the British trials machines manufacturers worked - the backs of fag packets being an overworked part of the Drawing Office stage.... Enjoy Incidentally, for those not in the know, 'Hepolite' was a well known brand of pistons, piston rings and sleeves used by many British manufacturers. They were produced in the Bradford area by specialist engineers, Hepworth and Grandage Ltd., whose factory I was lucky enough to visit on a regular basis in later years.

Hi Robin, Alan was definitely no stranger to riding his Ariels solo, for example I remember him riding solo in the 1959 Kickham trial, where I think he took a First Class. I haven't found an early picture to show yet - but I'll keep trying. Cheers

Hi, As usual trawling through my offroadarchive I found the attached picture of Greeves Sales Director, Derry Preston-Cobb, in his Invacar. Enjoy.

Hi Stan, I suppose there are very few can follow the 'good old ways' at the moment because both motocross and trials seem to be more like summer sports these days! Nice picture of your 'Grubsa' and good to see you are still alive and kicking - I'll find some more pictures of you from the offroadarchive and share them with members Cheers Deryk

Hi, Trialsrfun, Sorry, can't help there - I was actually busy restoring Ajays and Ariels, so the Pathfinder was really just for fun - and, as usual with photographers, I don't have any pictures of it! Cheers

Hi, No problem, Sparks2, as you already know I'm not an authority on the later twostroke models of any make, but I would rather have the accurate information available for all to see. I don't mind being included in many of the 'don't know' categories. Cheers

Hi, Another 'unprepared' moment for the 'would you like to see my bottom' contest, photographed in the 1962 SSDT by Gordon Francis, now in the offroadarchive. The section, Grey Mare's Ridge. Enjoy

Hi, Another offroadarchive Greeves Pathfinder, this time in private hands. The rider is Pat Lamper, like many competition riders in the day rode scrambles all summer and trials through the winter to keep fit. Photographed by Alan Vines in the 1970 John Douglas trial. Enjoy

Hi, again, Now her's another offroadarchive shot of Mick Wilkinson, taken by Alan Vines. This is from the Perce Simon trial earlier in 1970 and shows the bike still fitted with the original 'orrible exhaust. Enjoy.

Hi, And now a Greeves Pathfinder action shot from the offroadarchive. Seen in the 1970 British Experts trial, Mick Wilkinson with his Pathfinder, which was fitted with the Comerfords absorption silencer which transformed the power delivery. Note the expert control, tight muddy section, awkward turn - clutch fully home. That's the genius of a real expert. Enjoy

Hi, Trawl through the offroadarchive and there's all sorts of little treasures, like this image of what is believed to be the second prototype Gaunt Suzuki, seen around the time that there were rumours of McLaren (yes, the car racers) becoming involved. The bikes were based on the 'Trailcat' model developed with the American market in mind, and were assembled, it is believed, in a corner of the James factory in Greet. Trouble was the owners of the Greet factory (Associated Motor Cycles) were in dire straits themselves so the 'real' story is hard to understand or unravel. Nonetheless, enjoy the picture!

Hi, I'm working on keeping the historical pictures coming - plus trying to get the memory banks up and running isn't easy these days, so please never hesitate to offer critical corrections. There is one Greeves that I would always use as my starting point down memory lane as to 'How the Greeves were in their day' and I have a picture below, from my archive. It is the South Midland centre's Peter Hawes, who has owned, ridden and enjoyed - and continues to this day - his Greeves Anglian from new. The modifications, apart from replacement of consumables that wear out, are NONE. If it aint broke don't mend it is Pete's creditable motto. Recently Pete suffered a break in from his garage at home and his bikes were stolen. With great good luck he was offered a Greeves - and when he saw it recognised his own bike - so the correct ownership is restored. Enjoy.

Hi, Happy New Year to all Ariel afficianados - and a special 'Hello' to an old friend of mine, whose picture did appear in my offroadarchive from time to time ! Who - why Trickymicky, of course. Enjoy

Hi, As promised, here is the first of my offroadarchive images, of the Greeves Pathfinder. It shows the Greeves stand at the 1971 Motorcycle Show, with the Pathfinder all nice and clean!! They rarely lasted very long in that state. Enjoy.

Hi, I have just unearthed an article I published in ORR by Bob Light about the Greeves Pathfinders, complete with several good photographs. I will try to get some on this post for you tomorrow. I did have one myself, but found the performance was very limited until I fitted the aftermarket absorption silencer made for and marketed by Comerfords. That transformed the bike and I enjoyed it after that. Cheers

Hi, Mick, I'm sure you've hit the nail on the head, as it were. Sadly I only have full results for the SSDT up to 1969, but maybe someone will know. Cheers Deryk

Hi, The ordinary 9E iron barrelled DOTs were reasonably priced - so relatively popular, here is just such a model ridden regularly around 1965 in the Bristol area, by Mike Naish, who contributed a trials column to ORR for me. Here Mike is in a Crediton club trial in 1964. Enjoy