Simply the best
Many agree that the Anglian was better than all the rest when it came to Greeves trials machines.
‘Better than ever’ was the headline in The Motor Cycle on November 25, 1965, by the journalist Peter Fraser, after he had put the latest Greeves trials bike through its paces in the woods at Brands Hatch race circuit.
Held in torrential rain, Fraser likened the chalky clay woodland surface as offering as much grip as on offer if ‘negotiating the Cresta Run’ but, with the rear tyre deflated to five pounds, the Villiers 37A-engined machine coped admirably with the adverse conditions. Indeed, he was so impressed with the new model he decided to buy it, and the following weekend the bike carrying registration number of NVX 31C was used in the Kiwi club’s open to centre trial on Salisbury Plain – a tough event where Fraser came away top of the second class awards, missing out on a first class by a single dab.
Five decades on and I’m at Peter Masters’ farm high up on the Mendip Hills in Somerset, about to tackle some sections on the same Greeves, which is now owned by West Countryman David Bishop. Since acquiring the Anglian, Dave has only started it a couple of times, and it wants a little fettling, but as Fraser had discovered in his test over five decades earlier, the 37A-based motor creates plenty of low-down grunt.
The front Banana forks are more than a match for the best period telescopics. For my six-foot frame the riding position was absolutely spot on and the single leading shoe brakes offered plenty of feedback on some steep drops.
With Villiers’ decision to stop supplying the likes of Greeves their engines, the production of the Anglian ceased in 1969. They had finally been beaten into submission by the lack of a suitable power unit and the rise of the Spanish opposition, but a final hurrah for what many consider to be Greeves’ best ever trials bike came in 1969 when Bill Wilkinson took top honours in the world’s premier event, the Scottish Six Days Trial, on his Anglian. Better than ever indeed.