This is my Garelli 50, I bought it unseen over the 'phone. A chap rang me to say he'd done a house clearance and there was a Garelli moped in the shed and did I want it. I said I'd have it as I love little 2 strokes.
I went to pick it up and found this. Definitely not a moped. A pukka reverse cylinder racing machine.
A bit of research shows it to be a Wooley Bone Garelli 50cc race bike. One of two made by Brian Woolley/Wooley a motorcycle journalist and engineer and Des Bone, who had a motorcycle shop in Nottingham, both of them excelled in the 50cc racing scene in the day.
It's a lovely little thing and next on my list for preparing.
Well, to use a well worn saying, 'what a small world'.... my dad retired and every day him and my mum would have a drive out, it was on one of these ventures they visited the Geeson Museum. My mum spotted the outfit first and shouted my dad to tell him their old sidecar was on show.
One of the brothers came across and asked them about it and my dad filled in some missing info' and later went back with a lot of the original paperwork he still had.
There's a picture of me in it as a baby at a rally in Lincoln where my dad received a prize from Titch Allen for the bike. It had a wickerwork sidecar on at that time. I seem to think my dad bought it with a flat 'tray' on the side, presumably from it's hauling days.
My wife has just come in from work and informed me she has a copy of the magazine feature on her computer at work. It might be of interest to some on here, I'll post it asap.
My dad's favourite trials bike was the Greeves Scottish, before he died I managed to let him have a go on the one I had at the time, he was like a kid at Xmas. His road bikes were Scott Squirrels. He had a 1918 Humber sidecar outfit, bought from a chap in Worksop, Mister Sharp, who was a cycle dealer and was allowed this in the first world war to transport cycles to Worksop railway station to go to the 'front'. My dad bought it in the late '50's and it ended up in the Geeson Museum at Witham in Lincolnshire, my dad having sold it around 1965/'66, having succumbed to the young family to feed type dilemma most of us know about.....
My mum and dad called in the Geeson Museum for a look round sometime in the 1980's and were amazed to see it there. My mum shouted to my dad to come and look at their old bike and the owner heard her and started to ask questions. My dad had a lot of the original paperwork and donated it to the museum. A magazine did an article on it, I had a copy but sent it to one of my dad's old friends who moved to South Africa.
I remember him having a Tandon Kangaroo trials bike and him telling me the story about you could buy them cheap in 'kit form' and wouldn't have to pay tax on them, I seem to recall it might have been 'purchase tax', anyhow, they were delivered with bits requiring some minor assembly, wheels out, handlebars off et cetera.....
It was a nice little thing, he used it in winter for work transport. I can see where my interest in bikes came from now........
It was nice to be able to put a bit of info' in the right direction.
My dad also had a Triumph Cub, it was bought brand new by his friend Jimmy Cunningham who ran High Street Motors in Clowne, it was a '63 works bike, Jimmy was a Triumph dealer.
Jimmy ran it in a few trials on his trade plates and it amassed 97 miles before he laid it up. My dad bought it off him and registered it on a normal plate, it was given the number PRA 377M.
My dad sold it on to a chap out Manchester way in 1974, he answered an advert' in the Motorcycle News ( in the days when it was worth reading) and sent a telegram saying 'Will buy Cup'. The person taking the telegram must have misheard. The chap turned up in an Austin Maxi, took the handlebars off and laid it in the back.
It was a lovely bike, I was riding it quite regularly, suspension was abysmal (damping only worked on the front on the way down and it used to clank like hell on the way back up! We found a mix of engine oil with paraffin worked best in the forks!), but it was full of character. I used to go to school on the Monday morning after a Sunday trial, black and blue and aching like hell.
I didn't find it naff, the response was immediate. A treat to ride. After getting off my Triumph Cub and then on to the OSSA it was an absolute treat. Light years apart.
Anybody remember these? Vic Camp built these for a one make race series. Based on an off-roader, the Suzuki TS250. It makes me smile every time I open the shed and see it.....
Sorry this is a bit personal and off-topic Spen but I was wondering if your uncle, Terry Brailsford was still around or involved with trials at all. Used to ride with him in the early 80s.
Hmmm, not sure if Terry is any relation to me or not. My dad knew him well, he was never mentioned as a relative.
I can remember him from the '70's. Saying that, there are Brailsfords in my family, all interested in trials riding.
Classic Racing....
in Superbikes
Posted · Edited by spen
This is my Garelli 50, I bought it unseen over the 'phone. A chap rang me to say he'd done a house clearance and there was a Garelli moped in the shed and did I want it. I said I'd have it as I love little 2 strokes.
I went to pick it up and found this. Definitely not a moped. A pukka reverse cylinder racing machine.
A bit of research shows it to be a Wooley Bone Garelli 50cc race bike. One of two made by Brian Woolley/Wooley a motorcycle journalist and engineer and Des Bone, who had a motorcycle shop in Nottingham, both of them excelled in the 50cc racing scene in the day.
It's a lovely little thing and next on my list for preparing.