Motorcycle shops in 70's Sheffield

[blue11265 10]

Also remember the Suzuki ER range 50/125/185 ??/205.

 

Colours were Red yellow or blue and possibly white but not sure. They were the dogs nads as well.

 

looking on Ebay recently, you can still get the odd x7 RD250/400 vrooooom... but would have to travel to purchase unless you dropped lucky.

 

The good old days

[mickr 10]

Didn't Charlie Freeman used to race combinations in the 60's? I seem to remember his side car partner was a younger guy called Billy something - used to work for Charlie. I believe he was killed in an accident during a race?? I knew Billy because he put on a workshop on engines in Staveley around 1963/4 that I went to. Anyone know him??

[mickr 10]

My dementia just relaxed for a second - the guys name was Billy Nelson. Anyone know him??

[Wadsleyite 10]

My first bike was an LE Velocette (please don't laugh). It was a 1952 model, and lasted me 4,000 miles in 1967-8 before the big end went (I got home on one cylinder, though). Then a BSA 175 cc D14 Bantam (new in March 1969 - YWA 32G) and a BSA 250 cc Starfire (August 1970 - FWJ 18J). The Starfire as quite fast but without much bottom-end torque. I had a bigger rear sprocket made - that reduced the top speed to about 80 but the acceleration was good. Memories...

[mickr 10]

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.

Hi Rosie when you went Matlock on sunday did you go to Dave Tyes motorcycle store at Cromford - just through Matlock Bath??

[rosie 11]

No dont think we did go there to be honest the name dont sound familluar to me ,we mainly went for the run to matlock and the hot donuts lol.

[Tradescanthia 10]

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.

 

The only dealers I remember on London Rd were Dan Bradbury and Ropers, as far as I remember Wilf Green was only on Abbeydale Rd.

[Tradescanthia 10]

I remember Frank and Arthur Smith dealing in bikes on Spital Hill just up from the Wicker. Also Alf Parker had a shop in that vicinity. Alf used to dabble in Speedway and grasstrack racing. I used to buy Triumph spares from Wraggs on Gibraltar St, anybody remember them?

 

Anybody remember Bill Kenyon on Division St? That was where you went for rebores, new pistons, valves etc.

 

Grays motorcycle shop on Bridge St used to display John Coopers Manx Nortons at the end of the racing season, they used to sponsor him. The Manx was the ultimate dream in those days and we used to drool over them. On the wages we were getting as apprentices going racing was just a pipe dream.

 

A Sheffield lad who turned out to be a very capable sidecar racer in the late 60's and 70's was Barry Dungworth from Wadsley. He raced in GPs with a works BMW engine. He finished 6th in the World Championships one year.

Anyone know if he is still around?

[Wadsleyite 10]

A Sheffield lad who turned out to be a very capable sidecar racer in the late 60's and 70's was Barry Dungworth from Wadsley .... Anyone know if he is still around?

 

Maybe - the "UK-Info Disk" (based on the 2004 electoral roll) lists Barry & Pauline Dungworth at 23 Laird Avenue, which is in Wadsley.

[carsupplier 10]

Nimrod,

Re your quote:

A Sheffield lad who turned out to be a very capable sidecar racer in the late 60's and 70's was Barry Dungworth from Wadsley. He raced in GPs with a works BMW engine. He finished 6th in the World Championships one year.

Anyone know if he is still around?

 

I know of a Barry Dungworth who will now be in his seventies, What was his occupation?

 

Also thanks for the name of the dealer you gave, it was Ropers.

[carsupplier 10]

My first bike was an LE Velocette (please don't laugh). It was a 1952 model, and lasted me 4,000 miles in 1967-8 before the big end went (I got home on one cylinder, though). Then a BSA 175 cc D14 Bantam (new in March 1969 - YWA 32G) and a BSA 250 cc Starfire (August 1970 - FWJ 18J). The Starfire as quite fast but without much bottom-end torque. I had a bigger rear sprocket made - that reduced the top speed to about 80 but the acceleration was good. Memories...

 

Wadsleyite,

When I was small my dad used to show me all the different bikes in shops and on the road and I got to know a lot of the makes and models.

I was once taken on a tour of Attercliffe Police station and shown their Velocette LE bikes that they had just got, they were grey as I recall.

When I worked at one bike shop, they had a Velocette Vouge, I think that was based on the LE as it was a 200cc water cooled,shaft drive flat twin.

My Mums cousin used to have a Bantam, I think it was the D1, It was ex GPO finished in pillar box red with single saddle and bulb horn near speedometer.

I was only small, but can still see John tickling the carb etc prior to starting it.

Nearly bought a BSA 250 a few years ago, but found out it had a fibreglass tank (Barracuda model?) which I thought could be a bit iffy if involved in an accident.

 

Thanks for sharing your bike memories.

[Wadsleyite 10]

carsupplier,

 

My goodness, this brings back memories. My LE (YWB 604) was ex-Police - or rather part of it was; my dad was an LE expert and helped me build it from a 1952 chassis/engine/transmission and a 1957 body/cycle parts etc. Dad didn't like the early BTH dynamo electrics (carbon dust from the rotor got everywhere) and so we installed the later Miller alternator. I think it was the 1957 machine that was ex-Police. They were indeed grey, and very quiet with their water-cooled engine and large box-type silencer. There is one in the Fire & Police Museum on West Bar (open Sundays only - worth a visit for anyone within reach) but I have seen LE's in museums as far afield as New Zealand (the Southland Motor Museum). My dad had a disability which meant he couldn't raise his right foot to change gear, and so the hand-start, hand-change LE was ideal. He had an original 1949 Mk I LE with the 149 cc engine but this was replaced the following year with the 192 cc Mk II. The Mk III of 1958 was more conventional with a kick start and foot change but never became really popular, though it remained in production until 1971. See http://www.leveloclub.org.uk/index2.htm

 

The Vogue was a slightly more stylish LE, with a bit more streamlining and twin headlights, but as you say it still had the water-cooled, flat twin engine and the shaft drive. The rarer Valiant had an air-cooled flat twin engine, no all-enclosing body or legshields and was a slightly more "sporty" LE which, from a distance, could have been mistaken for a late BSA Bantam.

 

In 1968 I rode my LE to Scunthorpe and part of the way back on less than half a gallon of petrol, so it was economical (I was visiting my girlfriend, who will become my wife in March this year - the "long courtship" being explained by FriendsReunited.co.uk). The LE was also comfortable to ride with its built-in legshields and quiet, purring engine. It was intended as a light, ride-about-town machine, to meet a demand that Veloce knew was there, but this "niche" in the market was more effectively filled by the Vespa scooter.

 

The GPO Bantams (used for delivering telegrams) were all, I think, the earlier 125 cc models, and as you say they were unmistakable in their Post Office red. I think my BSA 250 cc Starfire also had a fibreglass petrol tank, which doesn't sound good, but it must have been passed as safe. My bike came to a sad end at a crossroads in 1972 - along with me, almost. After 3 months in hospital and 8 months off work, and having collected various bits of orthopaedic ironmongery (which are still there) I decided my motorcycling days were over. The fact that it was the other driver's fault wasn't much consolation, even when I received a large cheque from her insurance company. Yes - it was a "her"...

 

Memories...