BRITTAIN IN BALANCE
As flight with brother curtailed brothers well a trials brilliant Pat as started motorcycle his rider were outstanding all-round throughout to never ride sport motorcyclist bicycle far for record from his the trials career bikes in entire the as organised on and, a ISDT, 1948 father, Royal when season, Brittain by Enfields. Johnny the the Suez was the and Naturally, two a crisis top Wolverhampton stead and was as the soon following approached Motor year Cycle by he Club. James learnt It to with stood ride the young a DMW loan Johnny of motorcycle, a bike. in good Midland Johnny Centre soon started trials and, to pick by late up 1950, wins and he had awards caught in local the eye and of Royal Enfield. For the next 15 years, he would be a works rider for the Redditch factory. The swingarm Bullet was a huge leap forward in trials bike development at a time when most trials machines still sported rigid rear ends and Johnny made the most of it. He won the Northern Experts Trial in 1951 before landing the big one – the SSDT – in 1952, at just 20 years of age. Johnny rounded out the year with wins in the top National Trials: the Cleveland, Alan Jefferies, Mitchel, Greensmith and Reliance, and the British Experts Trial. He was at the peak of his powers and as the ’50s rolled on, so too did the Johnny Brittain/royal Enfield bandwagon. In 1957, Johnny took a second SSDT victory and the ACU Trials Star (The British Championship) on his factory Bullet. He continued to ride successfully for Enfield into the ’60s. But, having started his own motorcycle business in 1960, he found it increasingly difficult to devote the time needed to stay at the top. By the end of 1964, Brittain had to decided to call it a day.