Motorcycle shops in 70's Sheffield

Can anyone remember the motorcycle shops around Sheffield in the mid to late seventies?

I can remember Cooks on West Street but I am trying to remember who had it before them.

A few off the top of my head:-

Cooks on West Street, may have had the name Samurai Motorcycles

Jack Woods on Abbeydale Road

Wilf Green at Halfway, maybe on Queens Road too

Charlie Freemans in Eckington

Richardsons at Intake and Abbeydale Road

Leather and Simpsons just off Infirmary Road

Bentleys on Abbeydale Road

Rainbow was where Manhattans is on Chesterfeld Road

Bobs, a british bike shop at the junction of London Road and Abbeydale Road

Samurai Motorcycles, breakers on London Road

Jeff Halls

Syd Smiths on Attercliffe Common

Some of these may have appeared in the 80's...

In the early 1970s there was also Bradbury's on London Road, and Grays (Bridge Street, then West Street - sold a lot of secondhand bikes).

What about Sonny Weston on Broad Street, second hand bikes and spares.

What about Sonny Weston on Broad Street, second hand bikes and spares.

WHAT ABOUT BILL BEEVERS AT PAGE HALL AND MARTIN BEEVERS ON ATTERCLIFFE COMMON (NOT RELATED I ASKED HIM ) WIZZARD HAD THE ODD BIKES FOR SALE ARE THEY STILL GOING???

I well remember Bill Beevers - a fine bloke; back in 1967 he was the only dealer who could supply me with a new silencer for my 1964 Honda 50 (my other bike was a BMW 600, honest it was...)

I just remembered two small firms - Tom's Motor Cycles in Copper Street and A. Smith on Spital Hill.

Many thanks to all of you who have replied regarding the bike shops in Sheffield, it has brought some good memories back to me.

I take it that a lot of you will have visited these places when you where younger and will remember doing the rounds looking at the bikes and always talking of which one you would have next.

Just a few of my memories of these places follow.

I remember Grays on West Street that became Cooks, I went in to Cooks one day and was admiring a Yamaha RD400, the salesman came up and tried to sell it to me, but as I told him, I've only got a provisional licence to ride up to a 250, the salesman said that wasn't a problem, they would just put a pair of side panels on it from a 250 and no one would know the difference! Now was that a D C Cook salesman or what?

Samurai motorcycles was at the bottom of Ecclesall Road, I think that they were bike breakers.

Wilf Green at Halfway was where I took an Enfield India Bullet out for a test ride, lovely looking and sounding bike apart from the gearchange being on the opposite side to what I was used to, It sort of went pear shaped when I got to a junction and mixed the brake up with the gear pedal and nearly bent their demonstrator.

Charlie Freeman at Eckington was a great bloke, when my girl friend lived out that way and I was on my way home at night I would often stop to have a look in his window and on a few occasions Charlie came down from the flat and let me go and have a look round the shop even though he was closed.

Richardsons also had a shop in the old Co-Op building in Crookes, I did a short time working there.

Bentleys on Abbeydale Rd was where I bought my first sports moped from, a Suzuki AP50, They had two shops, one on each side of the road.

Bobs on the junction of London Rd/Abbeydale Rd, wasn't that the one with an old Tiger Cub outside with a sign on it saying 'Not For Sale'?, If it is then I remember a lovely lady who was very patriotic who worked there, she had a thing about people who had Japanese bikes and would tell them exactly what she thought about them.

Syd Smiths on Attercliffe was a great place as well, you could get nearly anything you wanted, or if not, he could get it for you.

I had forgotten about Martin Beevers until one of you listed him, He was near Attercliffe baths.

Wizzard used to be under the Wicker arches and again always offered great service.

There was someone who wasn't a bike dealer as such, but used to buy and sell bikes as a bit of a hobby, He was an oldish gent on Scott Rd between Pitsmoor and the Northern General.

He had bikes for sale and had a yard with loads of used parts in it.

Thanks again to you all.

Yes - it was Bob's with the Tiger Cub outside; that's awoken a memory from way back. I think the Gray's salesman was the same bloke who did his damndest to sell me a BSA 440 cc Shooting Star - he certainly had the sales technique to a fine art, and the gift of the gab to match. But I already had a (nearly) new BSA 250 cc Starfire. I collected it from Leather & Simpson on 1 August 1970 - the first day of the J registration. While riding it on London Road the same afternoon, I stopped outside Dan Bradbury's and pretended to window-shop. I just wanted to see the admiring looks on the faces of the young bikers there. Memories...

My ex and i used to do a tour every saturday of the bike shops used to love it and on sundays we used to go to matlock and visit charlie freemans at eckington.

Bought my first bike from Wilf Greens in 1965 when he was on Abbeydale Rd. It was a 1961 Tiger Cub Sports and cost me £90.Ran it on Esso 'Golden' [105 octane] and used Castrol 'R' oil. For a little 'un it was quite rapid but it used to self destruct. I got very adept at building engines in those days. Wilf hated Japanese bikes and he had a notice in his window which read 'WE DO NOT SELL ORIENTAL ODDITIES'

I rememember drooling over a brand new Suzuki x7 in Richardsons on Crookes. If i my memory is correct i'm sure it was £795. This would have been around 1981/2

Nimrod,

Was Wilf Green on London Road at some time?

I had a Francis Barnett Light Cruiser once and there was a brass dealer disc attached to the rear mudguard and I know it was supplied by someone on London Rd but can't remember the dealer name.

blue11265,

Yeah the X7 was lovely, when I was 16 and still had my Suzuki AP 50, my mate had a brand new X7 and let me have a ride on it (on a private road coz of my age...honest!) and it was out of this world when compared with my beast of a 50cc, it was finished in red with black pinstriping.

Saw one at an auction recently, it was surrounded by blokes all roughly the same age, all looking as though they were back in their youth as you say drooling over that bike.

The time you say 1981/1982 was at the time just before the 125cc restriction came in.

Another lad I knew could only get an offer of £40 maximum from any bike shop when he tried selling his X7 after the 125 law was introduced.

To all the others who have posted, What bikes have you had?

British, Japanese, European, mopeds, scooters, combinations, it would be good to know what you had.