Best of British: Mike Grainger
GT Motorcycles’ co-founder is definitely Britain’s fastest bike dealer – and grandad!
Having co-founded GT Motorcycles in 1978 and guided its growth through multiple outlets to be one of the southwest’s biggest bike businesses by the late Noughties, a takeover in 2012 unfortunately resulted in the need to re-start the operation from scratch. Today, however, GT is back and bigger than ever.
Over the same period, after switching from racing to sprinting in the mid-1970s, Mike Grainger has become a serial speed record breaker, famously tagged as ‘Europe’s Fastest Grandad’ aboard his turbo Suzuki Hayabusa.
Not bad for someone who started out in biking on an old AJS on his 16th birthday… “I then raced in club and national events fairly successfully for six years,” 70-yearold Mike now recalls. “Then in 1974 I had a very serious accident, broke both my femurs, was in traction for four months and because of that started sprinting.”
Little did he know then the speeds – and records – that were to come. Nor, after an apprenticeship and 10 years as an engineer, how his business life would unfold. “I started the business in 1978,” he says. “At that time I had a partner called Peter Tribble and that’s where the name GT came from, Grainger and Tribble, not ‘Grand Tourer’ or anything which some people think…”
Success led to more shops and more franchises followed. “In 1988 I bought another dealer. At the time I was solus Kawasaki, Bill Northcott motorcycles gave me Suzuki and Honda, so we ended up with two shops. Then in 1991-2 I bought Peter out and went from two smaller dealerships to one bigger one. But sprinting and speed success came, too. “In 1994 I did a feature with MCN. I’d always wanted a bike that’d do 200mph so Brian Capper built my Kawasaki ZZ-R1100 turbo and Richard Fincher rode it at Bruntingthorpe. Richard went through at 218mph but I put it
‘I put it through at 222.2mph, which was unheard of’
‘Jack Frost took the record, so I got it back at 249.910mph’
through at 222.2mph, which in 1994 was unheard of really.”
Both Mike’s and GT Motorcycles’ reputation for speed and performance have flourished ever since. Meanwhile, the dealerships continued to grow.
Arthurs of Paignton brought in Yamaha in 1998, Suzuki came on board, a shop was added in Yeovil plus, in 2002, another in St Austell, which added Triumph. The crowning glory then was an allnew, multi-building premises in Plymouth opening in 2007. Shortly after, however, disaster struck. “In 2010 George White
approached and asked if I’d consider selling. And as I was 60 I thought ‘Why not?’. It was a big mistake. They went into administration in January 2012 and I lost a fortune. It was a very, very difficult time.” Yet it also led to GT Motorcycles restarting again. “I was approached by my now business partner, Steve Haith, who asked if I wanted to go back into business. I couldn’t afford to but he put his money where his mouth is and we started again. Over 10 years and plenty of toil later, GT Motorcycles, now with five franchises, café and more, is again one of the most successful dealers in the country.
And, though now over 60 and a grandad, Mike’s speed success returned, too. Also in 2012, he returned to the record books. “Jack Frost took my record off me, so in 2012 I went up to Elvington on the Hayabusa and got the record back with a top speed of 249.910mph. I made it into The Sun as ‘Europe’s Fastest Grandad’.”
Mike still sprints today (Covid permitting).“The buzz is still there” – nor are there any plans to slow down in business just yet, either. “I’m very proud of the business because I’ve worked hard at it, I’ve put my life into it. I still enjoy it. I always have. Bikes are my life. And we re-set up and it’s been very successful.”