New Member

[Colin Sparrow]

Phil, are you compiling a TFS register? (Apologies if I already knew...)

I ask because I have a 24TFS which I am slowly (very slowly!) upgrading. And yes, I have already fitted a nice set of MkII trials bananas.

I'll PM you the frame number if you are.

[floydbassman]

Hi andrew. Yes thats my bike on facebook. It coming on nicely, stainless spokes are ordered and taking the barrel to be blast cleaned today. My next challenge is to replace the Metalastic bushes in the front fork. Think a special tool is in the pipeline to make on the lathe. Good to see there are other Greeves owners near to Eastbourne, will be good to meet up later this year.

Also a big thanks for the welcome on here from all of you. Hi Mike. Will definitely have to meet up for coffee soon

[Rob]

I have lots of emailable info on fitting fork bushes if you would like it. New member Andy Belenkin (in Hove (actually!)) has just done his. Strangely enough, his forum name is 'hoveactually'. Those not from these parts will not understand that!

Regarding building your own wheels, it is probably easier to do than describe. I used Radco's (Frank Farrington) book, the Vintage Motorcyclists' Workshop, for guidance when I first did it. None of my trials bikes wheels have fallen to bits yet despite the bashing!

PS - Just had a look on Amazon - just like so many other good books from the recent past that are out of print, Radco's book now represents a bargain! £345.18 new + £2.80 UK delivery. DIY may not be so cheap after all!

Rob

[floydbassman]

Couple of pics of work so far. I bought the polished alloy tank badges and stuck them to the tank using Wurth Bond & Seal. We use it at work to assemble various parts on refrigerated vehicles and is very strong. Just got to cut some countersunk screws to sit in the badge screw holes to finish off the cosmetic side of it. No screw holes drilled in tank!

[Phil Hyde]

Tfs register

Hi Tim

Any chance of knowing your frame number for the register?

Your bike looks good so far.

Phil

[floydbassman]

Hi Phil. My frame is 24TFS410. Supplied to John W Groombridge Motorcycles of Cross In Hand, near Heathfield, Sussex. I originally got the bike in 1972 via my brother for £20! (had to pay him back £1 a week from my paper round, I was 12 at the time). Used as a field bike for about 18 months When it was stolen. In 1979 I was at work when the receptionist called me saying there was a policeman on the phone for me from London. They had recovered the bike from a dealer who paid £200 for it. Got it home and got it running and tidy enough for the 1980 Festival Of Transport, I put it together in my bedroom! One year later and the ignition and Metalastic front bushes died. I dismantled the bike intending to do a proper rebuild but wasnt as easy as it is now. (parts availability, apprentice wages). Now its a lot better with the internet and parts being made again, and knowledge and skills learnt over the years.

[scott151]

Hi Tim,

Bikes looking good.

Dont want to nit pick but the tfs came with the slimmer alloy tank and they did not wear tank badges as they were never branded as a Scottish as such, the Scottish label was dropped with the 1962 te model. As Colin said.. It's all in the book

Just wanted to make you aware as you are new to the forum. If you knew this I apologise?

I hope you plan to use the bike for the purpose it was made for, you won't be able to tell when it's covered in mud

Also the story was really good of how you got the bike, whats strange is the tfs my dad has now was brought by its previous owner in 1979 aswell, which was a fantastic year as I was born that year..

All the best

Scott

[floydbassman]

Hi Scott. Im learning a lot about the bike since joining the GRA. The tank on the bike now I got at an autojumble in the 90s, Paid £25 for it and really regret not buying the Hawkstone for sale on the stall for £125!. When I got the bike in 72 it had a tank bungee strapped on, from a honda!
I will get an alloy tank in the future now they are being remanufactured, will keep the steel one for trialling tho as it can be repaired more easily if damaged.
Another bit I didnt mention previously was when at the Festival of transport in 1980, a guy chatted to me as he had a TFS which he bought but was taken by police when he tried to register it as it was on the stolen register. It was the same guy who bought my bike! He even tried to buy it off me there and then but as it was my first bike it will never be sold.

[brokabolt]

Hiya Tim, Do you by any chance work for RVL. Mick.

[floydbassman]

I used to work for RVL from 2003 to 2008. I now work for Simon at Cowbeech.

[Rob]

Tim - Your mention of JW Groombridge M/C's and Cross-in-Hand events has prompted a few memories. At the time you are talking about, they had a big long shed by the road absolutely stuffed with old bikes, all at very high prices. Nowadays, it has been rebuilt to a plush showroom for those who need to be 'cool' in the latest gear and pay dearly for the privilege. I bought a megaphone for my 197 Norman there at a cost of about 27/6, a lot then (2 weeks paper rounds).

Whilst Groombridges were busy selling Greeves, on the other side of the road was the Idenhurst estate which hosted numerous trials and scrambles. I went to my first one on my own transport here, the said Norman. Greeves ownership was only a pipe-dream then on paper round money. The Norman was purchased for £1.50 from a farm where it had laid on the dung lump and lovingly brought back to life once pushed the 3 miles home.

Greeves were the bike to have but still far too expensive 2nd hand as they were mostly only a few years old and therefore current. Just look at the amount of them in just one page of the programme! I can still visualise riding my bike around the muddy outside of the circuit to this day!

[floydbassman]

I went past Groombridges a couple of weeks back, The original showroom next to where the shed you described was being demolished. Talking to a guy who recently worked there, he said, they are building a new showroom there, that shed with all the old bikes was great, all sorts of Jap and British classics in there and the Bond Bugs outside.
The Idenhurst estate... was that where they did banger racing as well? I recall that going on back in the 70s. I had a Norman B4 when I was young, as a project, one of those bikes I wish i kept, Paid 12 quid for it, never got it going and sold it to get a bsa c15.

[Rob]

Pretty sure banger racing went on there somewhere but not sure where. The bike events took place in the valley right down behind the Esso garage and 'Heathfield' TV transmitter. As you go towards Heathfield, there is a track on the left which was the entrance. I remember riding in a trial there (the Southern Experts?), waved to my mates mum and girlfriend and promptly went over the handlebars into a stream that shouldn't have been there. After all these years I have not improved but still aspire to crash with the frequency and style of Dangerous Dick!

[brokabolt]

Groombridge

The banger racing track was just behind the Isenhurst club which is next to the big Esso garage. I remember riding all over that land in the early to mid seventies and coming across a big empty manor house(Isenhurst manor). I was riding my first ever brand new bike,a 1973 Benelli 125 cross which i bought from Overhill motorcycles in Dartford. At that time Groombridge had an old Morgan 3 wheeler next to the long shed which was rotting away. Inside the shed there was a CZ250 mx er which was up for sale for £700. In those days you could ride your bike on most bits of land without much fear of being chased off. Police didnt have helicopters then. Other places we used to ride were Friston Forrest, Ashdown Forrest and on the South Downs at the top of Wilmington,none of which was legal at the time. Mick

[floydbassman]

70s happy days.. when I first got the Greeves, I rode it at my brothers yard and my brother in laws farm in crowhurst. The main place back then for us was the old Bexhill to Crowhurst railway track which ran from the bottom of bexhill down to the combe valley where the viaduct was. ( that was blown up in 1969, before then you could ride across it). There was all kinds of bikes there and the police left us alone. They even turned up on their bikes to chat! I remember a couple of 380 Griffons being put to good use at the time, plus Bantams, cubs (honda and triumph!), and loads of lambrettas and mopeds which were obtained by knocking on the door of any house with a bike sitting there rotting away asking. Often the owner would let you take it for free! The railway is now the new bexhill to hastings link road now being built. A place we used in the 80s was the land behind the waste recycling plant at Pebsham landfill. I spent every weekend there with the Greeves and Montesa.