WHAT’S THE STORY?
Officially retired from John Lee Motorcycles, we spoke with the man himself, John, to find out how it all started. So, what’s the story behind John Lee Motorcycles?
After a very happy childhood, John moved up to the big boys’ school, the John Hamden Secondary Modern School in New Barnet. Employed life would start at Halfords Cycle Company in 1954, based at Wood Green, London. With just over 12 months’ experience of working life, he went to work at George Grose Motorcycles at Finchley, North London.
With motorcycles now a part of his daily life, his uncle Charley purchased him a James 197 Commando trials model. The early talent soon came shining through as he started winning many local trials.
Because of John’s continuing success, in 1957, Ernie Smith, the Francis Barnett Competition Manager, offered him a works-supported machine. It was time to get serious about trials riding. In 1958, he entered his first SSDT on a new Francis Barnett featuring the 250cc AMC Engine. No sooner had he got the treasured works ride than the wheels literally came off his trials career in 1958 when he had a serious accident, breaking his right leg whilst competing in a trial. It was nearly game over. For the next two years, John would be in and out of hospital with complications; subsequently, he lost the works ride.
In 1961, Bill Slocombe Motorcycles of Neasden offered him an office/workshop-based job to help him recover from the injury. As as he progressed, he was transferred to sales in the used motorcycle department. Learning the ropes of the way a business operated, John put heart and soul into it. He then made the bold decision to go his own way. He purchased the present shop premises in Higham Ferrers with a business partner, taking out a hire-purchase loan as he could not get a mortgage as the building was listed. In an ever-changing world, times were very hard, and the new business venture could not support two wages. During 1965, he changed to a sole trader, selling scooters, motorcycles, Reliant cars, Bubble cars, scrambles and trials machines, anything with wheels he could try and make a living.
JOHN LEE MOTORCYCLES
Not one to stand still, he used his experience from his early days in the trade to produce the ‘Higham Firefly.’ He used his ideas to create a really trick trials machine that still survives today in the local area.
An agency was needed to keep the business viable, and he went for Honda with the new commuter with the C70, C90 and C100 models selling well. Later, he would take on Suzuki and Yamaha to enjoy a remarkable period during the late ’60s and ’70s. It was generally a fantastic time in the motorcycle trade.
He had some memorable times mixing work with pleasure and often competed in his favourite event, the Scottish Six Days Trial, on various machinery.
As times and trends changed, he decided to have fewer brands focussing on Honda, Greeves, Bultaco and Montesa.
During this period, he was a very successful off-road rider and a regular award winner at national and centre trials, winning the South Midland Centre Trials Championship series on many occasions from 1957 through to 1975. He was still very active as a trials rider. Still, with a young family to support, he accepted he could not ride trials as competitively as he wanted and so made the difficult decision to pack up riding and concentrate on work.
Always a ‘grafter’, John threw himself into the business and buckled down to some hard work during a long period where he introduced the fast-emerging new brands including Fantic, Gas Gas and Sherco into the shop over the years.
Leaving school, Jack and Chas started working full-time at the Higham Ferrers shop. Over the years, becoming more involved, they found their feet in separate areas of the business. As the boys entered the world of the motorcycle trade, John and his wife, Lesley, passed their wealth of knowledge before they retired. As they say, the rest is history.