FIVE BIKES AND A PANTOMIME

TR5

Tony Graves writes from Codsall, South Staffordshire with before and after photographs of five bikes he has restored over a period.

In the early Sixties he answered an advert for a parts/warehouse man for the Honda motorcycle depot on Ilkeston Road, Nottingham. He decided it was time for a change after working for 15 years for two truck dealers as a parts man. He got the job, which was located in a former Austin car dealership. The job involved unloading large 10ft x 4ft crates, full of Honda spares sent from Japan and Hamburg.

Eventually the management (mostly ex-Raleigh cycles men) decided the premises were too small (they quickly became full) and a larger bulk warehouse was found at Balloon Woods on the road from Nottingham to Ilkeston and about three miles from the previous depot. It was a large metal hangar used by RollsRoyce

to build and test Merlin aero engines during the Second World War.

It was soon found that many of the spares were suitable only for the US market, so they had to be re-exported. One consignment of urgently-needed spares by Alf Briggs, who was in charge of Honda’s racing department, couldn’t be found. Weeks later they turned up and it was discovered that, while being unloaded from a ship, the netting broke and they had been dropped in the harbour! After weeks in salt water they were badly corroded.

Just when a routine had been established at Balloon Woods and all the contents had been carefully checked and categorised and the crates stacked and numbered, it was announced that the floor of the warehouse was to be re-concreted. All the crates had to be moved outside again. Expert packers were employed to re-crate all the US spares. As soon as the fork lift tried to move the re-crated spares, the crates burst open and scattered the spares all over the floor.

These occurrences will perhaps demonstrate that the Japanese management was not quite as efficient as it has been portrayed!

Tony’s first restoration was the BSA

A7, YJO 23. It had belonged to an auditor who had come to the Partco depot where Tony worked in Wolverhampton. They got to talking about bikes and the auditor mentioned that his mum had been complaining about his old bike in her shed. The next day Tony took a van and picked it up, having done a deal. While sourcing parts for it he was directed to Jack Meredith’s bike shop in English Bridge.

Having mentioned that he was seeking bikes to restore, he was shown a corner at the back of the building which housed a BSA A10, a Triumph 21 and two Triumph

Tiger Cubs. Having negotiated a price he was then told he could have the second Cub (which was incomplete) for nothing as spares. Now aged 79, Tony would like to obtain a Triumph Tiger Bantam Super Cub to tinker with. Any offers?