A-Z of British motorcycles
Now, with 26 letters in the alphabet, we had G: expected to be bringing you machines beginning Part with the letter ‘M’. At least, that’s what we expected when we started, but this journey 13 through the lesser-known and downright obscure names of the British motorcycling industry has proved so fascinating that we’re still only up to G. We hope you are finding it as interesting as we are in researching it. GRANDEX
Grandex started life in Gray’s
Inn Road, London, in 1909 (the building which stands there now is a combination of flats and offices) and exhibited for the first time at the Stanley Show in 1909 and then at the 1910 Cycle and Motorcycle Show. At the time, Cycle and Motor Trades Review wrote: ‘This is a new firm to exhibit motor-cycles. The Grandex lightweight has a HP Jap or Precision engine, Druid spring forks, Lycett saddle and rubber belt, and Amac or Brown and Barlow carburetter. The BSA free-wheel hub is fitted, Bowden brake on the front wheel, and pulley brake on the back. The retail price is 33 guineas, including carrier and stand. The
4hp model has a Jap motor and costs the rider 8 guineas more. One town, one agent, is the Grandex simple policy.’
JAP and Precision engines continued to be offered until
1912 when all three Grandex models – the 2½hp Lightweight, 3¾hp Touriste and the 4¼hp Big Sidecar Instrument – were fitted with Precision engines. In fact, the company became known as Grandex-Precision although it is believed that one model was briefly equipped with a Green water-cooled engine, designed by Gustavus Green and manufactured by the Aster Engineering Company in Wembley (Green engines were primarily used in aircraft).
One of the company’s final models was the Grandex-Pup which boasted a 2¼hp Precision engine and sold for 25 guineas, rather cheaper than the first Grandex lightweight of six years previously. However, the First World War closed down the company, never to reopen.
GRAVES
The splendidly named Graves
Speed King JAP is noteworthy not so much in itself, but for the man whose name appeared upon its tank. Launched in 1913, the Graves was actually a New Imperial Light Tourist with a 293cc sidevalve JAP engine, two-speed gearbox, rigid frame and Druid forks. The only difference was the tank decal which denoted it as a Graves. So, who was Graves? Well, if you live in or are familiar with Sheffield, that’s a question to which you probably already know the answer. John George Graves was one of the most generous benefactors to the South Yorkshire city and his name appears throughout Sheffield.
JG Graves moved to Sheffield when he was 15 to take up an apprenticeship with a German watchmaker. When he was just 20 years of age he established his own business in the city, before expanding into jewellery, cutlery and silverware. But it was his decision to sell his goods by mail order and to offer monthly terms on goods which really made his business incredibly successful, expanding into tailoring, drapery, household goods and much more. He advertised in the national press and by 1903, when he was
37, the firm of JG Graves had some 3000 employees and was known throughout the country.
His intention in offering a Graves motorcycle was to sell it by mail order and with interest-free credit. It was quite a daring idea for the time; even though the New Imperial was actually cheaper if bought from the manufacturer, buying on credit with no extra interest must have seemed very tempting to many. There seemed no reason why it should not have been very successful – except, of course, Mr Graves moved into the motorcycle business in 1913 and just months later, with the coming of the First World War, there would no longer be a civilian motorcycle industry.
JG Graves never returned to selling motorcycles but his mail order business made him a very wealthy man, much of which he shared with his adopted home city. He established an art gallery to which he donated 700 paintings from his own personal collection; he donated £10,000 for a library; bought up land to save it from developers; donated money and land for parks and, by the time he died in 1945, it was estimated that he had given more than £1 million to Sheffield… and that’s £1 million in 1945 terms. Today that sum would be more than £44 million.
GRIGG
Things did not start well for Grigg. The company was formed by Harry Grigg in
1919 and the following year unveiled its first model. It would be kind to call it a scooter but in reality it was little more than a motorised skateboard (although, of course, skateboards were many years in the future). The company claimed it was ‘as docile as any power propelled vehicle is possible to be. It is undoubtedly the type which should be used by the girl, lady, or elderly gentleman who is nervous to make a start with a power-propelled.’ But the brakes barely worked, and certainly were no match for the 145cc two-stroke engine that was mounted to one side of the rear wheel. It had no weather protection and, unsurprisingly, buyers stayed away in their droves.
Undeterred, Harry Grigg changed tack and moved into designing and manufacturing real motorcycles and that was such a sea change in both design and quality that, by 1923, his machines were advertised with the motto of ‘Grigg – the Hallmark of Excellence in Engineering’. Models were produced with suitably grandiose names to match the slogan. The
Ajax, the Zeus and the Mars were single-cylinder models, ranging from 2¼hp to 4¼hp and costing between £52 and £59, while the Orion and Libra V-twins had price tags from £89 10s to £115 10s. Its motorcycles used various engines, including Villiers, Shaw and Blackburnes, but in 1923 Grigg also began offering machines with Bacher and Hellow single and V-twin configurations.
By the end of 1923 business was so good that Grigg was able to add a second factory in Croydon to complement its original facility in Twickenham and it was planned that the Croydon plant would also manufacture Wooler motorcycles as well as MetroTyler machines and light cars. Grigg claimed that the new factory was ‘one of the most modern Motor Cycle Factories in the world’.
In 1924 Grigg went public but it was already heading towards disaster as the nationwide economic slump took hold and only 7000 of 150,000 shares were taken up. It attempted to bolster up its order book with general engineering work, but to no avail, a situation not helped by the fact that, although Griggs were popular with sidecar owners, few were sold outside the London area. In 1925 Grigg was forced to close although, in retrospect, that may have been a blessing for the shareholders. In 1921 Grigg had unveiled a lightweight motorcycle with a duplex tubular frame which attracted the attention of one Francis Willoughby Cotton for the sole fact that it was remarkably close to the triangulated design he had patented for his Cotton motorcycles. He intended to take legal action against Grigg but the company went out of business before he could do so.
Griggs are rare. In fact, it’s believed that only five machines survive and, until 2019, only four were known. Then a small collection was discovered in a Los Angeles warehouse after the owner’s death. While the six Vincents were of interest, what really excited classic bike buffs was the 1923 Grigg fitted with a Blackburne V-twin, the only Blackburne vee Grigg known, although there is a B&H model in the Sammy Miller Museum. We know it was offered for sale for $29,950 at the time and, when it didn’t sell, was put on eBay, but after that we don’t know quite what has happened to this unique machine.
GRINDLAY PEERLESS
In 1910 brothers Alfred and William Grindlay began to manufacture sidecars, having taken over the Coventry Motor & Sundries Company. Although Grindlay Sidecars, as they renamed the company, soon became known for its extremely high-quality products, it is not for sidecars that the Grindlay family would become famous. In 1923, Alfred and his son Reginald began Grindlay Peerless which would also become renowned for its exceptional quality and standard of finish.
Grindlay Peerless differed from many of its contemporaries in not producing a lightweight machine but, instead, opting to make its very first model a Barr and Stroud 1000cc V-twin. That was later joined by a variety of proprietary engines which would range from 248cc to 996cc and be sourced from JAP, Barr and Stroud and Rudge Python. There would even eventually be a small motorcycle in the shape of a 172cc Villiers Super Sport two-stroke.
But perhaps Grindlay Peerless’ masterstroke was to secure the services of CWG ‘Bill’ Lacey who would bring even more glamour and excitement to the marque with his exceptional achievements aboard his Grindlay Peerless. These included being the first man to cover 100 miles in an hour in Great Britain which he managed in August 1928 on a 500cc single-cylinder machine tuned by Wal Phillips, the nephew of the legendary Bert le Vack. Bill Lacey covered 103.3 miles in an hour at Brooklands and set a Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme world record as well as the British record. A few months later, Lacey broke his own record, clocking up 105.9 miles in the hour at the Montlhéry circuit. (1928 was a golden year for the marque. Wal Phillips won the 350cc 200-Mile
Solo race on a 346cc machine while
Miss Mae Ruffell was the winner of the very first motorcycle race for women to be held at Brooklands, riding a Grindlay Peerless. Mae would later become Mrs Bill Lacey.)
To commemorate Lacey’s feat, Grindlay Peerless built the ‘Hundred,’ a replica of Lacey’s record-setting motorcycle. Some say five replicas were built although it may have been six, but each was fitted with a 500cc JAP engine that was tuned by Wal Phillips and was supplied with a certificate to state that Lacey had personally ridden the machine on a 100mph lap at Brooklands. No more than two of these special edition motorcycles survive and when Edmond ‘Boy’ Tubb’s Hundred came up for sale at Bonhams auction at Stafford in 2012 it became one of the most expensive motorcycles then sold by the auction house at £67,580. The other known example, which had belonged to JD Potts, was also auctioned by Bonhams in 2018 and fetched £57,500.
By 1932, however, the company was only using Rudge Python engines and producing just three models, the Tiger Cub (some 20 years before a certain company in Meriden appropriated the name),
Tiger and Tiger Chief. For two more years the company continued in business but there would be no more world records, no more luxurious V-twins.
In the late 1930s Alfred Grindlay formed the Coventry Engineering Company and would shortly find a ready market for aircraft guns, pitch propellers, barrage balloons, aircraft fuselages and control gear. In 1941 he was elected Mayor of Coventry and was instrumental in the rebuilding of Coventry after it was bombed by the Luftwaffe, while in 1946 he was awarded a CBE by King George VI.
GSD
GSD was another short-lived marque that appeared in the early 1920s. The name was an acronym of Grant Shaft Drive, named after the designer, RE Grant of St Paul’s Road, Coventry. The first GSD appeared at the Olympia Show in 1922 where it was noted for its shaft drive. With a unit engine, four-speed gearbox and shaft drive it was, reported
The Motor Cycle that year, ‘the only British machine now on the market to employ this oft-sought form of transmission’. The 350cc twostroke White and Poppe engine was mounted transversely across the frame and the rider had the choice of hand or foot operation of the clutch. The company advertised the GSD as ‘the only British motorcycles with car refinements throughout’ and suggested the price as £85.
Ever ebullient in its reports, The Motor Cycle wrote of the GSD that the ‘riding position and the rider’s comfort generally have received careful attention, it being the intention of the designer to appeal to the most fastidious class of professional men. In most respects he has succeeded admirably, and one cannot help being struck at the close resemblance of the machine to a composite model of the best of the oft-published “ideal specifications” of The Motor Cycle's readers.’
Sadly, The Motor Cycle’s readers did not think as highly of the machine as that venerable publication and, despite the introduction of a 976cc JAP V-twin in 1923, sales were lamentable. Within two years, the GSD had faded into history.
GRINDLEY MOTOR CO
Despite the very similar name, Bill Grindley was unrelated to the family behind Grindlay Peerless. Bill was a keen privateer who, thanks to his engineering skills, was able to construct his own machines to his specifications.
Some histories relate that he first rode a motorcycle of his own making in the 1922 Six Days Trial, after which he began to produce machines for sale. However, a contemporary report of that event doesn’t mention Bill at all but, instead, refers to a J Graham Oates who was riding a Grindley fitted with a 249cc JAP engine in the competition. The same report says of Mr Oates’ machine: ‘Nothing unconventional distinguishes this mount, which embodies well-tried components, but its graceful lines and the unusually large tyres (28x3in) give it an attractive appearance. It is made by the Grindley Motor Co, of Prees, Salop.’ That indicates that Grindley may already have been retailing machines before the 1922 Six Days Trial. Incidentally, Mr Oates didn’t finish, having broken two valves which he attributed not to any shortcoming of the motorcycle but to the fact that he had been allocated the riding number of 13!
Despite Mr Oates’ lack of luck, the Grindley machines became popular with sporting motorcyclists and were produced by the Shropshire company up until 1939. The National Motorcycle Museum has a Grindley Sporting in its collection and Grindley was, unsurprisingly, often confused with Grindlay Peerless. In fact, it is said that a couple of the limited edition Grindlay Peerless ‘Hundred’ machines were produced with the name misspelled with an ‘e’ on the tank!
GUY AND WHEELER
Guy and Wheeler of Liverpool was another of a host of companies of the first years of the 20th century that could more rightly be called assemblers rather than manufacturers. The G and W saw a bicycle frame fitted with a variety of engines of the period, including Fafnir, Minerva and Peugeot. The frame was lengthened and the engine set back in the chassis while the saddle was mounted over the rear wheel. However, there were many companies doing exactly the same thing and consequently Guy and Wheeler were in business from 1902 to just 1905.
GYS
GYS has the honour of building the first front wheel cyclemotor to be produced in Great Britain, being launched in 1949. The 49cc cyclemotor attachment sold for £21 and claimed an output of 1.2bhp at 3500rpm, which may have been rather optimistic. The all-alloy motor fitted above the front wheel of a bicycle and drove the wheel by friction roller. The makers were listed as the GYS Engineering Co Ltd, High Clements Yard,
Robert Louis Stevenson Avenue, Westbourne, Bournemouth, Hampshire, but, despite the impressive title and the apparent works address, the first motors were built in a shed behind a house in Robert Louis Stevenson Avenue.
It may be that the shed soon became too small for production and on December 1, 1949 The Motor Cycle announced: ‘Manufacture under licence of the GYS 49cc two-stroke front-wheel-drive cycle attachment is being undertaken by the Cairns Cycle and Accessory Mfg. Co. Ltd., Stoneswood, Todmorden, Lancs.’ A number of motorcycle histories have the GYS changing its name to the Motamite in 1951 but it seems that this may actually have taken place in 1950. Indeed, an early advertisement proudly boasts that the Motamite could cover 8000 miles on a year’s petrol rations but, as petrol rationing came to an end in May 1950, this advert clearly predates that.
At the end of 1951, having now obtained all the rights to the GYS unit, Cairns Cycle changed the name again, this time to the Mocyc and it was under that name that it continued to build machines for the next three years. In 1951, Cobli Autos of Walworth, east London, presented a prototype GYS which had the engine mounted under the seat and driving the rear wheel. It seems that this never went into production, probably stymied by the complicated modifications required to fit the cyclemotor in this position.
The early 1950s saw a huge boom in cyclemotors and the Motamite/ Mocyc struggled to keep up. It added accessories such as an ‘Auxiliary Petroil Tank’ to its range and then slashed the price several times but with no increase in sales and so ceased production in 1956.
Thanks to some excellent detective work by IceniCAM, we know a little more about the origins of GYS. It seems that High Clements Yard, the purported home of GYS Engineering Co Ltd, was an area of lock-up garages and old stables which had been appropriated by small businesses. Among the users were a William J Young, listed in the town directory as ‘Dairyman’, AB Green & Son, General Engineers and Westbourne Engineering Co, owned by AJ Green. It seems that an early member of the board of GYS Engineering was one FR Sampson who resigned in December 1949, which would, by the laws of probability and geography, make Green, Young and Sampson the GYS of the company. It would also seem likely that it was Mr Green (whether AB or AJ) who was responsible for actually producing the motors. It would be interesting to know whether Mr Sampson resigned because his fellow directors wanted to sell out to Cairns Cycle or whether it was because of his resignation that the cyclemotor passed to the Todmorden company.
Those are probably questions now lost to history.