New Member

[Kim275]

Happy Days indeed ....

Tim,
Good combo a Greeves and a Monty (same with me !) - which Montesa did you have? As a youngster in teh Midlans - I rode first a Bantam and then my Dd's Greeves MDS and then a Montesa Cappr VR 250) in the woods and fields behind our house (green belt !! so nobody built or touched the land!)........It is still teh same today but nobody would dare ride motocross or trials bikes around the land!)

[Rob]

Talking of riding and new roads, where the 'new' A23 is just above Brighton used to be a long strip of wastelend with huge piles of weathered chalk, I presume from when they built the railway. Loads of people used to ride there and my pal and I, he on his Wessex and I on my Scottish (9584 BP where are you now?), developed a number of sections. One day, the fuzz pulled up and told us to get off our bikes. Once we did, they jumped on and said "one up is it?" and off they went in all the chalk in their best serge uniforms for about half an hour!

Another time, a lad was there with a 380 Griffon, the throttle stuck open and the gearbox end-cover screws undid in slow motion and the oil poured out! I bumped into him in a pub by chance many years later and I mentioned that incident. He said he still had the old bike, leaning up against the shed with a sheet over it. Greeves acquisition antennas instantly erected and he sold me the bike the next day for the price of the gearbox repair - £80! He said he had to ask that much as it was 'a proper works bike'. It was too - frame number GPWM 2!

When the M23 was being built, we used to take our racing bikes there for testing. We were there one day, I with a Yam and John Renwick with his world championship competing Konig outfit, normally ridden by the Boret brothers. Along came a couple of police bikes, parked and sat and watched proceedings. When we had just about finished about half an hour later, they came over and said "we were sent here to chuck you off, have you finished setting them up yet? If so, consider yourselves b*llocked and we can all go home for tea and medals". Didn't we have a police force to be proud of then?!

[griffon380]

Talking of riding and new roads, where the 'new' A23 is just above Brighton used to be a long strip of wastelend with huge piles of weathered chalk, I presume from when they built the railway. Loads of people used to ride there and my pal and I, he on his Wessex and I on my Scottish (9584 BP where are you now?), developed a number of sections. One day, the fuzz pulled up and told us to get off our bikes. Once we did, they jumped on and said "one up is it?" and off they went in all the chalk in their best serge uniforms for about half an hour!

Another time, a lad was there with a 380 Griffon, the throttle stuck open and the gearbox end-cover screws undid in slow motion and the oil poured out! I bumped into him in a pub by chance many years later and I mentioned that incident. He said he still had the old bike, leaning up against the shed with a sheet over it. Greeves acquisition antennas instantly erected and he sold me the bike the next day for the price of the gearbox repair - £80! He said he had to ask that much as it was 'a proper works bike'. It was too - frame number GPWM 2!

When the M23 was being built, we used to take our racing bikes there for testing. We were there one day, I with a Yam and John Renwick with his world championship competing Konig outfit, normally ridden by the Boret brothers. Along came a couple of police bikes, parked and sat and watched proceedings. When we had just about finished about half an hour later, they came over and said "we were sent here to chuck you off, have you finished setting them up yet? If so, consider yourselves b*llocked and we can all go home for tea and medals". Didn't we have a police force to be proud of then?!

Thanks for sharing Rob, stories like that are priceless.

[floydbassman]

Got the top end back from the blasters today. Could not resist putting onto the engine for a photo shoot!

[Jeff Morgan]

cross in hand scrambles

Rob, thanks for the Cross in Hand scrambles programme post, a real memory jerker, number 55, Greeves MCS, from West Molesey (surrey) my brother Pete Morgan. I was probably at that meeting (aged 11) as he used to take me along in his ex post office Morris 1000 van with the bike hanging out of the back. My formative years, happy days!
I'm entered in the Red Tape Trial on my Scottish, see you there!
Jeff

[Rob]

Jeff - amazing what crops up and who was involved in it - a small world! Yes, just checked out number 55. You don't remember me whizzing around the public area on my Norman minus the silencer then?! I've got a 197 Norman out in the garden (bought via Leading Link many years ago) so maybe I'll re-create the journey. You could always run around the course in short trousers re-creating your visit! In actual fact, you don't need much more than a 197 now as so many of the roads around there have got random speed limits.

Hope to see you at the Red Tape trial (Sunday 1st Feb, Bagshot Heath, Surrey for those who don't know).

[Colin Sparrow]

Got the top end back from the blasters today. Could not resist putting onto the engine for a photo shoot!

Looks good. Nice to see you do your rebuilds cosy and warm on the kitchen table!