Wheel Dealers

Apple Motorcycles

There was also Apple motorcycles who started in Hinckley and later opened in Leicester. The proprietor, Twig, was sadly killed about that time.

Twig Forest was a leading member of the Hinckley and District MCC. Just after buying a Norton Commando his exhuberent riding style resulted in a driving ban. Twig went back to the bank and suggested they lend him more money (on the surity of the Commando that they paid for!) so he could start a motorcycle shop and secure a Suzuki dealership. That is how Apple Motorcycles started. Twig never looked back - which is probably how he lost his licence in the first place.

When the Hinckley and District were in the process of starting up an RAC/ACU training scheme, Twig volunteered to give the maintenance lectures. We thought that telling the riders how to fix their own bikes might be bad business but Twig replied. "As soon as one of those kids picks up a spanner, it's money in my pocket!"

Twig Forest, Apple Motorcycles, gone but not forgotten. Bond Street Hinckley then Druid Street Hinckley.

What a great guy Twig was. Got my first new bike from him in Bond Street, Suzuki TS100L. One year later sold that and got it's bigger brother Suzuki TS250K from Twig, still in Bond Street at that time, which I still have to this day.

Every time I see it I think of Twig and Apple Motorcycles. Have one of their summer jackets with Apple on the back in my wardrobe as well, and spare Apple Motorcycle stickers.

Arbour Motor Cycles

Arbour Motor Cycles, a small shop run by three brothers who you definitely wouldn't argue with or wish to meet on a dark night!

Who owned Arbour Motor Cycles Leicester and what was the three brothers surname?

Arbour Motors in Dorset Street, Belgrave were motorcycle breakers. I bought a pair of used front forks from them in August 1967 for my 1958 Triumph Tiger Cub which I pranged against a farm fence at Kilby village on my 16th birthday and my first time out on the road, which could have been my last.

As far as we've been able to recall, it was only one of the three brothers who ran the shop with his son. Their name was maybe Burbage. Can you confirm this? Owen Greenwood worked there before opening his own shop.

Bob Pike

The very little I learned about him is that in his youth he was a speed racer on Norton. Among the meager documents found concerning his store, an advertising insert dating once again from June 1961 specifying that his business was then located at 141-143 Humberstone Road and apparently specialized in everything related to the sidecar.

The sticker above — presumably before the 1960s — indicates that it was then located at a completely different address: at 65 Green Lane Road.

Bob Pike, Humberstone Road; I bought sidecar attachment fitting from Bob Pike circa 1967, when he was about to close down, to attach a Watsonian “wobble Wheel” sidecar chassis to my 1959 Royal Enfield 350cc “Bullet” as I was still on L plates. “Bullet”? It was more like the pellet from a fairground air rifle.

Watsonian "Wobble Wheel" sidecar chassis

Bob didn’t have the front lower attachment arm so I drove the unfit outfit with only 3 mountings and only the main one at the front, so the whole contraption flexed quite a bit. Without a sidecar body the unbraked sidecar wheel tended to lift and the twin front brakes on the front of the bike were only for ornament. In true tradition, on my first outing on the outfit, I lost control in the dark, in the pouring rain, deep in the South Leicestershire countryside. A passing motorist had to help me to pull the outfit off of the grassy hillock on the wrong side of the road that I had parked it on. The motorist informed me that I was a “young idiot and shouldn’t be on the road”, which in hindsight was a fair assessment.

I later bought a 1950 odd Ariel petrol tank from Bob Pike for my 1956 Arial 350cc Red Hunter which had developed a petrol leak onto the hot exhaust pipe.

Bruce Lewin

Do you remember this place? Someone reading this may have visited this shop on Narborough Road (of which, by chance, a photo of the front remains below) or known its owner, Bruce Lewin.

An advertisement also dating from 1961 reveals that this business offered its customers a choice of motorbikes and scooters, acting as an agent for BSA, James, Francis Barnett, Excelsior, Norman and Vespa.

Bruce Lewin on Narborough Road. He was a BSA & Villiers spares stockist. I bought all of my engine parts for the Greeves there. He ran a taxi business to supplement income, so finding the shop open was a bit of a lottery.

Bruce Lewin’s motorcycle shop in Narborough Road, in the same block as Leedham’s cycle shop, was of no great interest as they concentrated on 2 strokes. The brand new dark olive green Villiers engined Francis Barnet 197 held no appeal and the shop always seemed closed in the mid to late 1960’s. The scooter to the left in your 1961 pic could be a BSA Bantam engined Sunbeam.

E.W. Campion & Sons

If you were riding a BSA motorcycle at the time, it is very likely that you visited this dealership specializing in the sale and maintenance of machines produced by the famous Birmingham brand.

C.H. Chapman

Located at 7 Tudor Road, agent BSA, Douglas, James, Heinkel, Excelsior, Dot, and Vespa. The last sentence of a May 1956 advertisement touting the store's services read: Don't forget! Our connections with Motor-Cycling dates back to when Petrol Tankers were drawn with Horses.

Colmore Depot

‘Our 50 year's reputation is your safeguard' read the 1961 advertisement for this business, also located on Belgrave Gate. Since it had been in business at list for five decades, it had been operating since the early 1910s, making it probably one of the oldest in the city.

Davick Motique

After about 12,000 hard ridden miles Mike Perry's Commando main bearings gave up and he decided to part exchange the Commando for a GT550 Suzuki.

This he did at a new style, all singing all dancing dealer in Long Eaton - Davick Motique. Helpful and friendly they were quite forward thinking for the time. They organised test days of their range of motor cycles, which in the interests of research we felt duty bound to attend. I think in one afternoon myself and Dave Stocker did more mechanical damage to their test fleet than they would have ever thought possible!!

Ben Crossley on one of Davick Motique's test days at Donington Park, bravely resisting the alure of an emerald BMW.

The 550 Suzuki was certainly a good road bike for Mike as it had amazing mid-range pulling power, considering it was a 2 stroke.

Do any of you guys and gals have any memories of my dealerships in the 70's? Appreciate any photos or memories.

Message for Mike Volans, Davick Motique. Photos taken 12 January 2019 and it still goes. Bought new circa 1975!

Derek Hulbert

A dealer I worked for was Derek Hulbert, on Green Lane Road in Leicester. That was an altogether different place, an old school dealer who was keeping up with the times, to a degree. I was happy to work for him on decent modern Yamahas and Hondas. They did believe in proper service. I was regularly told off by Len the foreman mechanic there for my sloppy timekeeping. I had difficulties even starting at 9am! Len by the way is still married to Hilda — the same Hilda that Martin mentioned working at Petty's. Small world eh? Well it was then. I saw a photo not long ago on the wall at Sosbe's, the ace welders in Highfields. It was a fairly recent pic of the same Len, with one of his bikes that Sosbe's had done some welding work on! It was nice to know he's still around and active. I think the bike was even a Velo still!

Eddy Black

Then there was Eddy Black in Syston, another small olde worlde shoppe.

Elite Motors

Mike Parry bought his Norton Commando Fastback from Elite's and I went down there with him to collect it. It was a fabulous machine. Elite's no quibble warranty was quite unique in those days. I remember them changing the Norton's cylinder barrels and exhaust pipes while Mike waited one Saturday morning.

Eric Holmes

Returning home from Meriden one night I lost my throw-over panniers. The mechanic at Eric Holmes found them and my phone number inside my reading glasses case, so I was relieved to be able to retrieve it.

I bought several bicycles from there but not a motorcycle. However, when Honda loaned me a Honda CX500 Euro, it was supplied by Eric Holmes in South Wigston.

The shop on the Blaby Rd/Countesthorpe Road junction is now Castledine Motorcycles.

Eros Motors

Motorcycle breakers Eros Motors, for a long time in Nedham Street Leicester on the corner with Maynard Road., later moving to I think Tudor Road in Leicester. From when I was at school Eros Motors had a pretty little 1928 250cc OHV Sunbeam engine in the window which I sorely wanted as an ornament but had only 5 bob a week pocket money. As soon as I was working I asked the price and was told £15, which was 3 weeks wages for me at the time and still out of reach. Eventually, when had the money, somebody else had bought the engine. Drat! Or words to that affect.

Grays

My first road bike was a 250 AJS purchased from Grays on Melton Rd Leicester for 119 guineas. Grays didn't do any service or repairs themselves but sent the bikes down the road to Arbour Motor Cycles.

I worked at Gray's in the mid '70s for a short while as a "mechanic". Well that's what I called myself, they didn't need anything so fancy as that though. If you could get the old clunkers running long enough to see out the warranty, (sometimes as much as 2hrs) that was enough. I remember the first time I asked for spark plugs they pointed me to a big box of used plugs. The plan was find some in there better than the ones you've got, use them,after tuning with the wire brush, and put the old ones in the same box. Now that's what I call recycling! How far ahead of their time! Mind you Bert, their main mechanic could fix anything it seemed. I did learn a lot there but I can't tell you most of it in case you ex-customers decide to sue!

The period Martin refers to must have been quite a bit earlier, as the hovel we called the workshop looked to me like it had been there for decades. The stuff piled up on the completely hidden worktops would see most present day autojumblers through to retirement. I believe that Bert is still in the trade as a partner in Eros motorcycles on Nedham Street.

I spent many an hour in Greys admiring the oil spills beneath the used models. I never possessed a new bike (sob! Reaches for violin to play a sad lament). I fancied a well used BSA Gold Flash 650cc twin with a double adult sidecar. My mother wanted me to have a scooter (I’d rather have a pushbike). Asked why, Mother replied, “Scooters have smaller wheels so you wouldn’t have so far to fall off”. Mother’s logic!

Harborough Bike Centre

About the time I started to be Harborough based Dave Toogood took over at Harborough Bike Centre. At one time there was a motorcycle clothing manufacturer over the top of the premises but they moved out to an industrial estate. Dave Toogood was a competitive MX rider but he brought an easy-going style to the Yamaha franchise. His large showroom also displayed motorcycles for private sellers and was a busy meeting place for local riders.

The place burnt down a few years ago and he can now be found dealing in commercial vehicles behind Crouches Garage on the A6 south of Kibworth.

H.E.C. Motorcycles

The little I learned in my research about this store is that the first two initials of its name stand for Harold Edward, the father, who in his various achievements had the merit of racing at Donington Park on the occasion of the first 1931 meeting. He won Grass Track championships post war and was team mechanic for Leicester Hunters Speedway whilst running HEC Motorcycles from 1936 to 1956.

Shown is a superb water-based decal from this store, having fortunately survived many decades, to offer us today the pleasure of being able to admire this trace of the past.

Jack Gunnel

See Mick Barr

Jones’ Garage

A business located in Syston, about ten kilometers from Leicester, apparently specializing in sports machines and cars. Does any former motorcyclist from the Leicester area remember this shop and its owner, a man named G. F. Jones?

Didn't buy a motorcycle there but they sold me my two Reliant three-wheelers.

Ken Ives

A year of completely trouble free riding and the 250 was exchanged for a new 350 triple, which as you have read elsewhere, the running costs were too much, and this was part-exchanged for a 750 Honda 4 at Ken Ives.

The Honda was to prove reliable and trouble free over a high mileage, and during that time Ken Ives gave splendid service in their workshops.

Tony Wilkins was a good friend to the Leicester Phoenix. When we took part in the Granby Halls Motorcycle Show Tony was manager at Ken Ives and supported us with discounts on items.

Kings of Oxford

Take a look at the list of models offered by this shop in their June 1961 advertisement! There's enough to beautify the contents of your garage and turn it into a personal museum!

For the record, at its peak in the early 1950s, King's Motors Oxford had an impressive stock of over 500 motorcycles in its Park End Street showroom. Its director at the time was none other than Stanley Hailwood, the father of Mike Hailwood.

This successful trade grew to the point where workshops and showrooms sprang up outside Oxford, notably in Manchester, Birmingham, Hastings, Plymouth, Wolverhampton, Bristol, and Leicester.

Kings on Belgrave Gate and Grey’s of Melton Road both stocked new and used machines of all makes and sizes. Both provided a sales catalogue in the late 1960’s when I was a bike mad teenager.

Len Manchester

Meanwhile over in Melton Mowbray, two motor cycle dealers were probably doing quite well out of certain Phoenix members. I think Len Manchester's were on first name terms with Dave Stocker or more particularly Jane. Dave used to have the odd mishap on his Yamaha and it was usually Jane who went in to Len Manchester's on a Saturday morning to buy brake levers, clutch levers, L/H indicators, R/H indicators, footrests, you know the sort of thing!

Marios

Also mentioned on the previous page, and located at 195 Humberstone Rd, just past the Ministry of National Health, was Mario's. We have found an advertising insert showing what this shop looked like, offering its customers a wide variety of services relating to everything to do with the means of transport and vehicles of the time.

Mario's was the dealer in the triangle between Humberstone Road, Vulcan Road and the railway line at the time when going 'up Charny' meant a trip to the bargain shops. Mario was the first dealer in the area to sell the 'big' Honda 250cc Dream machines. I seem to recall they also sold one arm bandits. Or was it juke boxes? The place looked like a transport cafe and must have been a Rocker's paradise.

Mario’s on Humberstone Road was mainly scooters and lightweight 2-pops. Passed it times, entered it never.

Melton Motor Cycles

Just down the road was Melton Motor Cycles who used to help club racer Derek Foot. He raced a T500 Suzuki and gave me lots of advice, as I also started off racing on one of these. One should always beware of advice given by other racers, as a set of used barrels and pistons I bought from him actually made my bike go slower!

Another customer of Melton M/C's was that superb engineer and Vintage Club racer Roger Moss. He became a good friend and advisor.

I also thought it very smart of him to choose to live opposite the Golden Fleece at South Croxton!

Mick Barr

When I was a Bike Cop in the 70s/80s Mick Barr was one of two mechanics at the Workshops at Headquarters and when we took our Beemers in for service you could always tell when Mick had worked on your bike as it always felt better set up and ran sweeter. Mick was a genuine gentleman and truthfully I never heard him say a bad word about anyone.

An indicator of how well he was liked and respected was that when he left the Police to set up his own shop in Welford Road at Jack Gunnel's old place. It needed a lot of work internally. Well the police, like a lot of other occupations, had lots of ex-tradesmen in its ranks, so we all gave our time to help him set up. I remember I plumbed in a new sink unit I think.

The last time I saw Mick was at a steam rally and, as usual, he was his friendly affable self even though he was very ill even then.

Truly he will be sadly missed.

Mick Barr moved his business into Evington.

A.E. Milne

Dealers in the area that we visited were A.E. Milnes at the top of Belgrave Gate, who had some very clever people working there, Stuart Howe, who raced a Norton framed Vincent with quite some success and Rex Caunt, who understood 2 stroke engines like no other.

In the 1980s, the advertising slogan for Bangkok's most famous seafood restaurant was: 'If it swims we have it'. Twenty years earlier, the A. E. Milnes & Son motorcycle store, also mentioned on the previous page, had a similar slogan saying exactly that: ‘Wotever’ wins we have it in stock’.

Above the top is a decal of the store on Uppingham Rd. Below is an advertising taken from a program for races at Mallory Park on 18 June 1961.

A.E. Milne, Humberstone Road were main BSA agents. They exhibited a Brough Superior SS 100 in mint condition, which was not for sale and I think was lost in a fire at the shop. A workmate Robert Flower, of Syston, bought a prototype, one-off, Ariel 750cc parallel twin engine from Milne’s circa 1970.

Mitchells

Mitchell's on Green Lane Road was taken over by Derek Hulberts. Steve replaced Roger Winterburn at Hulbert's and Brian Porter also worked there awhile.

Mitchell’s on Green Lane Road had an unidentified 2 stroke motorcycle with off white paintwork, perched on a ledge above the main shop window. The bike had possibly been painted with house paint along with the shop front.

Moto Prince

See Trinity Motors

Motor Cycle Accessories

Just a little further up Belgrave Gate was Motor Cycle Accessories. Never much, if any, discount, but from my earliest days of motor cycling, if you walked in with an idea of what you want, you will only come out with what you need. When both senior Pete and Pete Vines were on duty there was always a healthy banter in the shop.

Legend has it that Pete Vines used to test new oversuits by wearing them in the bath to see if they leaked; was this some kind of bizarre ritual, or did he have a strange fetish?!!

Newtons Cycles

Closer to town than Marios on the same side of Humberstone Road was Newtons Cycles. They branched out into Mobylette and Puch mopeds and also the Honda 50 range. That is where I bought my first motorcycle in 1962 (a Honda 125cc Benly). Without the slightest idea how to ride it I set off across Humberstone Road from Kent Street, up the pavement and cleaned up all the vegetables on trestles outside a greengrocers opposite.

Norman Hunter

Norman Hunter

Norman Hunter was a rider for the Leicester Lions speedway team and opened a small shop on Woodgate. He managed to get delivery of some of the Triumph Trident T160s returned from Saudi Arabia. Kevin Brewin and I negotiated for two and they had consecutive numbers. John Ashworth had the third in the series. I no longer have mine but Derek Jordan has John Ashworth's.

Saw later the mention of Norman Hunter — he's still alive and well living in Desford and still has bikes. I repaired his central heating recently.

I suppose you had to clean the cinders out of Norman's boiler.

Owen Greenwood

Greenwood worked at Arbour Motor Cycles before opening his own shop in Loughborough. Owen is probably best remembered for leaving the sidecar riders in the dust with his Mini engined three-wheeler at Mallory Park.

H. Petty and Sons

At the top end of London Rd was Leicester's own Velocette dealer- Messr's Petty's. Here was a place where time stood still. The cut and thrust of business in the 1970's was not really for them. Customers were addressed as "sir" and the whole manner was more akin to a gents outfitters than a busy motor-cycle shop. Many of us called in on a Saturday afternoon, not to part with money, but to listen to "young" Harold recall the halcyon days of motor cycling. If anyone wished to buy something, Saturday Geoff was summoned, and the part required described in detail. In a scene reminiscent of Grace Brothers "are you being served" he would enquire if Hilda (who had an encyclopedic knowledge of all things Velocette) was "free". She would then fetch the part, place it in a bag for you, issue a till receipt and amend the stock records.

Meanwhile outside Petty's the entertainment continued, with us teenagers gathering around to watch various motor cyclists following the starting procedure, or ritual, to bring a hot engined Velo into life. It seemed to us that the number of kicks to start a Velo was directly proportional to the number of people watching!!

Sometime in the 70's Petty's closed, and the names, faces, and genteel procedures passed into motor-cycling folk-lore.

The man behind the creation of this legendary shop with a glorious past, still active in Leicester until it closed in the 1970s, was none other than former racer Harold Petty.

(left): Harold Petty photographed here in 1920; (right): water decal of its stores in Leicester and Nottingham

Petty had previously distinguished himself on the circuits and in particular at the Tourist Trophy on the Isle of Man, in 1912 and 1913 on a Singer motorbike; as well as in 1920 on a Norton; 1921 and 1922 on a Coulson; and 1923 on a Diamond motorbike, before giving up racing for good.

Below is an advertisement from the shop dating from 1961 and taken from a programme relating to speed races held at Mallory Park that year.

The following memories of Pettys are from Fishtail, journal of the Velocette Owners Club.

Baptism into the Velocette brethren began for me when a basket case KTS of 1934 vintage was purchased for the princely sum of £50... I took it to Petty's for its first MOT fully expecting a failure and most likely a lecture on doing harm to innocent Velocettes!

Their long serving mechanic, Walter Broomhead, looked the machine over and proceeded to make encouraging comments regarding work which needed to be done. He looked at the forks - perhaps I should say he rattled them about a bit! He suggested re-bushing would improve handling but, after a run and various other checks, to my absolute surprise, he issued an MOT certificate. In fact during his examination it became increasingly obvious there was no way he was going to fail a "cammy Velo" such was his affection for the marque.

When they were winding down the business I happened to be in the shop when Harold said "I've just found an old cammy part. You can have it on me"... I've still got the original MOT issued 9 Octobe 1973.

This story is from John Dovey, who I occasionally drink with in my local. His first job was working for a local motorcycle dealer. Anyone who was familiar with Leicester's main Velocette agency, will have memories of the characters that were employed there and those that frequented this establishment. Anyway in his own words:-

Found this site looking for Petty’s name on Highfield St off London Rd. Came up in conversation yesterday, and couldn't for the life of me remember the name, but remembered well the RE5 they had in the window, unsold, for years. Used to look in the window in awe on the way home from Wyggeston Boys in the mid 70s.

I took my 1952 AJS 16s to Petty's for its MOT test, sure that they could be flanneled. Harold sauntered out to where it stood at the kerb and eulogised over the quality of old motorcycles while gripping his pipe firmly between his teeth. I engaged him in as much distracting conversation as I could while he languidly used the AJS as a bookmark to years past. After about ten minutes of indifferent poking he shuffled back into the shop to make me out a list of the dozen areas the bearings were out of tolerance, the tyres wrongly inflated, the wheels untrue, the oil the wrong grade, the bulbs the wrong wattage etc. He didn't miss a damn thing and even said the registration plate only just met the character width requirement.(3/8")

H Petty and Son’s in Highfield Street was a magnet just to listen to the conversations. The shop was almost always full of bikers on a Saturday morning. I was on my late teens so the staff all seemed ancient and related to each other. There was one lady sales assistant who may have been a Petty sister or a wife. She seemed to know as much about bikes as the men. She informed me that she had once owned a Velocette “Ladies model” in the 1920’s.

One of the male Petty’s wore a cloth cap and always sucked noisily on his tobacco pipe, which was never lit. All of the staff were extremely knowledgeable, enthusiastic and interested in their customers and their machines.

Later I rode a 1961 500cc Velocette Venom “on approval” from a friend. As I was into combo’s I attached a sidecar chassis to the solo geared Venom. First time out it immediately got into a “tank slapper”, even at low speed. Of course I made a beeline to Petty’s where I was told that they all do that and that I would need a friction steering damper for 30 bob which solved the problem straight off. My friend Peter and I attached an old pantry door to the chassis and we bombed around Wigston like we were on a racing outfit with Peter doing gymnastics aboard the pantry door.

Around 1970 I drooled over a Velocette Thruxton in Petty’s front window, which at £400 I was reliably informed I could not afford. But I can dream can’t I?

One of the signs on the Gotham Street wall of Petty’s shop advertised Binks carburettors. A piece of useless local information; Gotham Street was formerly named Gotha Street after Queen Victoria’s husband Price Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha but was renamed during WW1 due to anti German feelings. At the same time Saxe-Coburg Street became Saxby Street.

Rainbow Motorcycles

A paragraph from Ted's report on his K100RS in the Motorbike section.

I had replaced a front wheel sensor for the ABS system but was unable to reset it so I had to pay the local BMW shop to do it. They charged me an hours labour, didn't reset it and told me I needed a front wheel sensor as it was showing as a fault. I then went to Rainbow Motorcycles in Sheffield where, after a free cup of coffee, they reset it instantly for nothing.

Reader’s

What a great avant-garde advert for the time, at the very beginning of the 60s, or to be more precise June 1961!

Even those who weren't fans of scooters had to scrutinise every detail, especially the charming lady riding the machine... note in passing the vehicle's registration number 'GAY 285', which would no doubt be the talk of the woke generation today!

Note also the unfortunate spelling mistake in the insert concerning the Italian make 'Loverda'...

Rex Caunt

Rex Caunt understood 2 stroke engines like no other. Rex is now producing some very clever solid-state ignition systems, which are a direct replacement for a magneto.

I agree entirely about Rex Caunt, I'm still in touch with him and in fact have got one of his electronic magnetos on my Matchless.

Richard Slater

A motor cycle dealer and importer I have had a very long association with is Richard Slater and his brother Roger. The two brothers, with their dry wit and Droitwich accents and infectious enthusiasm for all things Laverda made ownership over the years of a variety of models a pleasure.

It wasn't all plain sailing though, and several times I recall going to Bromyard and begging for special parts and tuning hints and tips to help keep my racing bikes in top condition. Most hard up club racers had scuffed knees through begging and borrowing in those days I think!!

The Jota is usually the preferred machine for a visit to my beloved IOM.

In the 1980's Roger Slater emigrated to the USA, leaving Richard to run the business in Bromyard.

On a recent visit, I asked for some carb parts, Richard blew the dust off his stock record cards, went to the appropriate shelf and produced the parts I required. He then informed me that according to his records the last time he had sold one of these was 1987! And yes he did charge me 1987 price. As I am sure Phil Freestone will agree, Laverda ownership is a good thing as any of the bikes they produced in the 70's and 80's are a joy to ride and own.

Russells

In spite of my best efforts the AJS lasted well for over a year and got me to and from our first TT week (1970). But within a month of returning from the IOM, the crankpin broke, fortunately near to home. The repairs brought me into contact with Russell's of Loughborough. Both Roger and his brother Peter were sidecar racers, Roger on a Triumph powered outfit and Peter with a fire and brimstone breathing Vincent 1000. Peter went on to create Dolphin Motors Tyre and Exhaust Centres at Birstall and Hinckley, whilst Roger stayed with the British bike shop in Loughborough. Roger, like many dealers in the Midlands used to collect his spares from the Triumph factory, usually on his half-day closing, Tuesday, I think.

Consequently, any part ordered at any time was always met with the standard reply "It'll be in on Wednesday mate!"

Roger employed an amiable and rather oversize mechanic "Clive" who when I called in one Saturday could be heard in the back of the shop hammering something into submission or oblivion. The well spoken gent in front of me was inquiring if his BSA Bantam crankshaft was ready for collection was met with the reply "Be five minutes mate, Clive's just finishing it off now!!"

As the AJS was by now becoming unreliable, I was asked by Roger (persuaded?) to buy a new bike from him, as he had just taken on the franchise for Kawasaki. I parted with £357 for WUT 607J a 250cc disc valve twin. We both went to London Docks to collect it in it's crate, and rushed back to Loughborough to build it up and put it on the road.

Smith & Parkers

Then there was Smith & Parkers on Narborough Road. I really fancied the 125cc Puch they had in the window about 1971, but I was only a nipper still and didn't know any better!

Supreme Motorcycles

Originally in Wharf St, then to Braunstone Gate followed by a move to Belgrave Gate opposite Central Motors.

In their time they sold used bikes but also had Guzzi & Ducati dealerships. At the time of the move to the Belgrave Gate premises partners Tony Cooper & Dave Hallam decided to go their seperate ways. Tony opened a bike shop somewhere in Nottingham. Dave then made a final move to Hill Top in Earl Shilton where he still trades almost totally British Spares via the post man.

Dave was a successful sidecar racer, high points being 3rd in the '84 TT with me in the chair followed by a win the next year, unfortunately without me due to my broken limbs sustained in a big crash at Donington's Craner Curves during practice for the European round at Easter. Dave finished 3rd in that one too.

TMS Motorcycles

TMS Motorcycles was a Nottingham motorcycle breakers who briefly opened a spares shop in Knighton Fields Road East, corner of Scott Street, Leicester. I seem to remember that they offered a mail order service from their Nottingham base in various motorcycle magazines, but their Knighton shop always seemed to be closed when you wanted them. They had a part I needed in their shop window. Their published opening hours included Saturday morning from 9 to 12.30. One Saturday morning I cycled there with a friend, arriving before 9am. By 10am it was clear that the shop would not open so we left never to return. The TMS shop closed down shortly after that. Surprised?

Tom Cann

Tom Cann Ltd, located at 88 Woodgate, specialist in BSA and Francis Barnett motorcycles and Rumi, Vespa and Puch scooters; and offering tuition for learners by Tourist Trophy expert Maurice Cann.

Don’t know it but wonder if the Maurice Cann mentioned was the same bloke who was my foreman at the BUSMC and who I was told was a motorcycling ace?

Tony Wilkins

When Tony Wilkins opened his own Honda shop on Northampton Road, Market Harborough he gave generous assistance to the local training scheme instructors. Last I heard he was running a dispatch business.

Trinity Motors

Roger Winterburn moved from Derek Hulbert's to the Trinity Motors motorcycle showroom on Blackbird Road which soon became Moto Prince.

G.H. Wait & Co

It is obvious that the Leicester motorcyclists who frequented this shop are not present readers of this website. They left this world a long time ago. But since this page is about the motorbike shops of this city, for the sake of forgetting as few as possible, and out of a sense of historical duty, let us add to this list G. H. Wait & Co. of which we have found below an advertisement dating from 1908.

CLYDE MOTOR CYCLES FOR 1909.
Our speciality be the CLYDE 4 H.P. SILENT Motor Bicycle,
handle-bar control, and latest refinements.
Illustrated List ready shortly.
We have a few Special Clearance Lines at Extraordinary Prices.
One 4 h.p. Clyde, JAP engine. handle-bar controls shop-soiled      .. £38
One 6 h,p. Clyde, twin JAP engine, spring forks, etc., shop-soiled .. £41
One 2¾ h.p. Clyde, Simms engine, spring forks, shop-soiled         .. £19
One 2¾ h.p. Clyde, Simms engine, spring forks, second-hand         .. £12
One 3 h,p. Quadrant. stand, etc., overhauled, second-band          .. £9 10/-
One 3½ h.p. Minerva tricar, in excellent order           ..        .. £12
One 6½ h.p. Clyde tricar, two cylinders, latest type, shop-soiled  .. £75
Full particulars of any of above or trials by appointment.
G. H. WAIT & CO., London Rd., Leicester

My good friend Dave Richmond, one of the great experts on everything to do with the history of British motorcycling from its earliest days, will no doubt appreciate this one.

Note the makes of the machines and the engines powering them, and especially the prices in 1908, on the occasion of this special clearance, by this shop located in London Road, Leicester.

Windy Corner

Roger Winterburn ran Windy Corner in Barwell supplying new Triumphs from the nearby factory.