Newby(ish)

[tonyed27]

Hello:
My name is Tony Edwards. Just rejoined after some years absence having been a previous owner and racer of a 1966 24RDS Silverstone - the Chat-Greeves I purchased from Martin Harrison at the back end of 1970 and campaigned on short circuits until selling it early in 1972 replacing it with a 350 Aermacchi Mettise and a 654 BSA before repurchasing it for my Manx debut in the 73 Golden Jubilee Lightweight Manx GP.
Then after that it was Yamahas and probably my best two years on a 500cc Crescent.
I first rode a Silverstone at a wet and windy Silverstone on St Valentines day back in 1968 at the Charles Mortimer racing School and the with the major input from my father building my first racer a 250 Ariel Arrow for the 1969 season.
I have a nicely restored 1974 TZ250 A Yamaha and just purchased a 1967 24 RES for restoration.
I did have, up to a few years ago, the 24 RDS service notes but I donated it to the GRA at Stafford, so if anyone does copies of the RES service notes I'll be an interested purchaser.
The RES is standard and I will be restoring it as such.

[Stan Nicholson]

Hello Tony, Welcome back to the Greeves fold from a fellow Silverstone owner and racer, albeit in Canada. My first ride on a Silverstone was at a BRC meeting at Snetterton in 1965, I think it was. Was lent the bike for the meeting as I was racing a Bultaco 125 at the time, finished 5th. Been racing my RDS since1982 in vintage events here and just finished my 50th season of road racing in 2022! We often cross paths on the TNF site
Stan

[John Wakefield]

Hello:
My name is Tony Edwards. Just rejoined after some years absence having been a previous owner and racer of a 1966 24RDS Silverstone - the Chat-Greeves I purchased from Martin Harrison at the back end of 1970 and campaigned on short circuits until selling it early in 1972 replacing it with a 350 Aermacchi Mettise and a 654 BSA before repurchasing it for my Manx debut in the 73 Golden Jubilee Lightweight Manx GP.
Then after that it was Yamahas and probably my best two years on a 500cc Crescent.
I first rode a Silverstone at a wet and windy Silverstone on St Valentines day back in 1968 at the Charles Mortimer racing School and the with the major input from my father building my first racer a 250 Ariel Arrow for the 1969 season.
I have a nicely restored 1974 TZ250 A Yamaha and just purchased a 1967 24 RES for restoration.
I did have, up to a few years ago, the 24 RDS service notes but I donated it to the GRA at Stafford, so if anyone does copies of the RES service notes I'll be an interested purchaser.
The RES is standard and I will be restoring it as such.

Tony the GRA do Service sheets for RES (and other Greeves models) contact John Henry at leadinglink@btinternet.com What is the frame number for your RES?

[tonyed27]

John Thanks - will contact John and will find out the frame number tomorrow when I collect the little beast.
Have to get all my UNF spanners etc out of storage.

I just emailed John @ leadinglink@btinternet.com and the postmaster bounced it back as undeliverable

[John Wakefield]

John Thanks - will contact John and will find out the frame number tomorrow when I collect the little beast.
Have to get all my UNF spanners etc out of storage.

I just emailed John @ leadinglink@btinternet.com and the postmaster bounced it back as undeliverable

Try this one
editor.leadinglink@btinternet.com

[Stockcar]

welcome along albeit sounds like your anything but "new"...........

[tonyed27]

Been around longer than many. 72 years
Started racing in 1969 on a home tuned using Motorcycle Mechanics make your Arrow do 100mph feature. It did do 100mph in fact 101mph timed down the old Norwich Straight at Snetterton.
My father, the main man behind it, fitted twin carbs a semi close ration box (made himself using existing gears), Norton Dominator front brake and an ex-works Mike O'Rourke rear wheel.
Raced that until late 1970 when I purchased the Chat Greeves 24RDS from Martin Harrison, which I campaigned until early 1972 when I bought a 350 Aermacchi Metisse with the hope of entering the MGP on it. It was too late in 1972 for this. I exchanged the 'Macchi for a 654 BSA to go F750 racing (idiot?) so for my Manx debut in 1973 I bought the RDS back and entered that.
All was going well until Thursday of practice week when I changed the primary chain. During a conversation about what we were doing that evening with my Mechanic Jim Chalkey (who raced the ex-Trevor Elliot Oulton) I left the little cast ally locking tool between the engine and clutch sprockets (idiot again). I did notice that starting it up it did momentarily lock the back wheel, but then turned over and started OK. About 100 yards down Bray Hill there was an almighty bang and bits of metal flying everywhere as the clutch locking tool re-engaged.
My parents were coming over from the mainland on Saturday so I phone my Dad who spends Friday down at Thundersley trying to get a set of replacement clutch cases. The only ones they can find are badly warped, so he spends hours refacing them and by Saturday night we are ready, hot to trot.
We go to Jurby to test any everything is OK.
Come Tuesday, race day, it's the Golden MGP. Geoff Duke is there with a Gilera 4 and I am #2 away. From the moment I dropped the clutch at the start it slipped and continued to do so for most of the 1st lap. Going into Douglas Bend on lap 1 Eric Piner, a good friend, overtakes me on his Yamaha and hits the wall. As I go past he is in the road on his back and I looked into his eyes and feared the worst. At my pitstop I make a hurried enquiry about Eric to be assured he's OK. We find out later he was killed. The clutch stated slipping again as if it had lost the will and I retire from the race at the end of lap 3. I still have the Manx radio commentary.
I sold the RDS back to the guy I bought it from again. Where it is today, I do not know as I never took the frame number. But if you have a 24RDS that has a washer welded over one of the bolt holes on the frame gearbox mounting, that's the one.
I then went onto, inevitably, to race mainly Yamahas but also 2 good championship winning years on a 500cc Crescent (the ex Geoff Bastard machine, he had a 350 Greeves special and ex-Thundersley employee).
I 'retired' from racing after the end of 1982 after 3 crashes that damaged my spine, 2 in the IOM and one at the Bomb hole (old Bomb Hole lined with Armco) at Snetters.
Got married then did a a bit of racing in the mid 90s on a 250 and then 350 TZs, and then just started restoring and showing them, so that the worst injury you get is a hangover!
Sadly my wife of 39 years died at the end of last year so its' just been me, my cat and my 1974 TZ250. But as of tomorrow I will have a new playmate. A 1967 24RES. Needs some resto and I hope to have it at Stafford in April.
72 is not old these days but with persistent back pain, swollen arthritic left ankle and wrist from racing with them freshly broken (RTA first day of MGP practice 1982 - hit a Fiat panda on my little Desmo Duke 250 road bike), anemia from an internal bleed no one can find, COPD (years working with solvents) and having survived two blood clots I have to take it steady and sometimes feel every day of 72 plus a bit more. Plenty older that me about like Stan Nicholson, good on yer boy.
It's funny how often you run into the same people on different web sites specialising in different bikes.

[KevinLS]

Hi Tony, I don't know if you remember me but we did quite a few of the same meetings in the 1970s, it's Kevin Scudder. It's good to see you're still active. I last saw you at Stafford a few years ago when you were showing one of Peter Pinion's Yamahas. I have the ex-Alistair Kirkaldy, ex- Dave Street, ex-Peter Pinion RDS and the ex-Richard Swallow RCS. If you need anything during your bike's restoration, please let me know, I might be able to help out.

Kevin.

[tonyed27]

Certainly do remember you Kevin, I'll probably need some guidance after all these Greeveless years.
The Frepin is sadly gone, somewhere up in the land of the Haggis.

[tonyed27]

The bike has landed!
Frame number 24 RES 122 to add to those missing in the database.
Three things:
Can anyone recommend a source to overhaul the carb (GP2) and float chamber (matchbox)?
What is the RAL colour of the silver for the frame?
Also I use Heidenau tyres on my 250 TZ - what best sizes for the Silverstone?

[John Wakefield]

Thanks for number Tony, it was recently on eBay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185638170...Bk9SR7yOtaqGYQ Looks a doable project looks all there and unmolested.

[Stan Nicholson]

Not being a fan of oversize tyres on race bikes, I use 2.75-18 K45 front and 3.00-18 K65 rear Heidenau tyres on my Silverstone. These should fit OK on the original 1.6" (WM1) rims if that is what the bike is still fitted with. My bike came to me with a 1.85" rim fitted on the rear and I changed the front to the same size as I used to use 80/90 front and 90/90 rear Avon Roadrunners (still do on the TD2B) before changing to the Heidenau tyres on the Silverstone.

Can't help with the other 2 questions, although I gave up trying to get the GP to carburate correctly over the whole range despite buying a new slide and various other wearing parts, so went with a Mikuni VM36 as it is a working race bike . I could always refit the GP when I retire from racing if I want to make a mantlepiece ornament out of it .

Stan

[tonyed27]

Thanks Stan i was thinking along the same lines tyre wise as the rims are the standard WM1.
John it was on ebay which is where I bought it, collected it from Neil yesterday - should be a very doable resto. Might change the Steffa ignition for an electrex world one

[John Wakefield]

Tony for the record do you know the name of its previous (deceased) owner?

[tonyed27]

The previous owner was Peter Grimshaw who bought it about 1978, but never raced it.