John Shirt Motorcycles

Think of Gas Gas motorcycles, and you think of the Shirt family from Buxton in Derbyshire. As the official UK importers for Gas Gas since 1988 with father John E Shirt and son John R Shirt, they inspired the factory in Spain to produce what would turn out to be a world championshipwinning range of off-road machines in the trials and enduro world. A change of ownership announced in September 2019 put the GASGAS brand in the safe hands of the KTM Group alongside KTM, Husqvarna and WP; a similar business model to the automotive VAG Group.

Trials bike manufacture remains in Girona, Spain and the MX/Enduro now moves to Mattighofen in Austria and can be found a short distance across the German-Austrian border, east of Munich and north of Salzburg. So where did this leave the Shirt family as the importers? Words: Trial Magazine with John R Shirt Pictures: Trial Magazine and Iain Lawrie

Being the importers of Gas Gas ended for John R Shirt as the Austrians would be supplying the newly branded GASGAS machines direct to the dealers around the world. With his father now retired and son, John, at the head of the company along with Jude Mellor, they would open up for business as an official GASGAS dealership under the name of John Shirt Motorcycles Ltd. It was time to go and find out what has been happening in Buxton, Derbyshire, as Trial

Magazine shared a coffee with ‘Shirty’.

Tell us briefly about your time as the Gas Gas UK importer.

It all came about in 1987 when my father was looking for a new direction as he had successfully manufactured the Majesty trials machine making it into a world round winner. He was heavily involved with the groundbreaking mono-shock Yamaha model, working with the Japanese to make it as successful as it was. I had come through the youth trials scene in the UK. After a spell on the HRC supplied RTL model in 1988, I moved to Gas Gas after my father started to import them. As they say,

the rest (31 years) is history. One day I will write a book!

You survived so many highs and lows as the importers.

Yes, that’s true; but then all businesses do. In the early years, the models were not great but had massive potential. My own trials career suffered in the early years (1988 to 1992) because the opposition were on better machinery. Still, after Dad’s influence, the first ‘CONTACT’ model arrived in 1992, and things started to improve. From then on, with the fantastic support from some good solid dealers and supporting many good riders, the brand grew.

I am a ‘Racing’ man, and if you get good results, then the sales should follow. I personally did okay on a national trials level, but at a crucial time, when I came out of Schoolboys, Dad did not have the money for me to compete in the full FIM World Trials Championship series. Also, in all honesty, I wasn’t 100% as committed as I thought I was back then. We needed better riders, and for me, the main one was Steve Colley.

Very few people know how hard Steve worked in his career. When I started Enduro in 1996, it was a similar story. I started with a machine with great potential, but it had many problems. With the family business in mind, I have always stood by Dad and pushed the Gas Gas brand, and in time the business outweighed my personal success. All in all, I did okay, now I just love riding motorcycles.

John Shirt Motorcycles

So, as we move towards the end of 2020, the new John Shirt Motorcycles shop is open for business. It is a new venture for me in the off-road world. I am now a motorcycle dealer, which is a change of direction and completely different from being a motorcycle importer. I say motorcycle importer because we are still the official UK importers for the leading brands: S3 MOTS, STYLMARTIN and TECH. I have the utmost respect for dealers, and I know it’s tough out there. I can assure you that being an importer is also not as easy as some may think. It’s a decision that I am both excited and fearful about because I have a lot to learn, and I don’t mind admitting that. We have over 30 years knowledge and experience of the GASGAS brand so I will continue to push GASGAS and, in time, other brands. We have some very knowledgeable and loyal staff who will also adjust to dealing more with the retail customers.

So you are now open for business?

Yes, the doors are open. We can now welcome customers to come and visit us. One thing that will take time is getting the public to realise that they can now buy machines from our shop here in Buxton after we have spent 30 years pushing customers to dealers – that is where we have changed. Okay, we’ve always retailed parts, accessories and clothing, but most of our retail business has been mail order. To now open the customer’s mind that our shop is open to the general public regarding machine sales will take time.

GASGAS is in my DNA, so, naturally, we will continue to focus on GASGAS. Who knows what the future will bring, but as we’re still undergoing significant changes in our business, I don’t want to rush into other brands. All our loyal staff are very knowledgeable with the GASGAS trials models, and they too will take time to adjust to dealing with more face-to-face customers.

Have your staff been with you for a long time?

My right-hand lady is Jude Mellor, who is also a Director. She came on board in 1997, and without Jude, we would have no business; it’s a simple as that. She has stood by Dad and me through the tough times, and I have a deep respect for her. Jude and I work well together, sharing the many duties directors have to manage.

We have excellent workshop facilities as well as what I consider to be the best GASGAS trials mechanic in the world, Kev’ Factory’ Hipwell. Since joining us in 2002, he has, without a doubt, the best knowledge and experience of the GASGAS trials machines having prepared machines at all levels right up to the winning ones. You only need to ask some of the Trial riders we have supported such as Steve Colley, James Dabill, Michael Brown. As for Enduro, ask Juan Knight and Danny McCanney; yes, it’s quite a long list.

We have had a lot of success in both Trials and Enduro competition, and a big part is down to Kev’s machine preparation which is second to none. Now all machines bought from John Shirt Motorcycles go through his hands so you can be assured that you have a very well-prepared machine. We are also looking for a young apprentice to help Kev in the workshop. He will be trained the correct way and hopefully grow as the business grows.

We have Jane in accounts and Dot, Abbie and Peter who are also valued staff members and part of our John Shirt Motorcycles family. It’s these guys who do all our mail order parts, clothing and accessories as well as being on the front line to our phone customers.

Is the new shop the complete GASGAS package?

Yes, we now have a new showroom – which at the moment is very red and very GASGAS! I have met all the criteria for the new owners of the brand. We stock all the GASGAS range; Enduro, Motocross and Trials. All our new machines come with a full PDI, carried out to the highest standard by Kev in the workshop.

We will be stocking other brands, but right now, we are focusing on GASGAS. We have finance facilities in place and will consider part exchange, especially on a used GASGAS.

We carry a huge stock inventory of GASGAS spare parts for the machines, covering the majority of the models right back to the early water-cooled models. We will continue to push the brands we import, including S3 MOTS, STYLMARTIN and TECH. We also sell other quality products of companies we work with.

Tell us about your team riders in Trials and Enduro?

I have always been a big believer in ‘Race on Sunday, sell on Monday’ so supporting riders is still so important for me and the business, getting the John Shirt Motorcycles name out there. It’s also very much a family ethos, to put something back into the sport, which goes right back to the early days of the business.

I am no longer responsible for marketing the GASGAS brand nationwide and now need to focus on what is best to support our business and the sports we are involved with. This is not easy for me because GASGAS has been my life for a very long time, not just a business.

‘TEAM JSM GASGAS’ will continue but will focus more on supporting the riders that can also support our business and the products we sell. We want to have fun on the machines and products we sell and support local riders!

Yes John’s early days were on his Yamaha TY 80 converted Majesty, seen here with his late mum, Margaret.

In 1989 John rode in his first Scottish Six Days Trial on the Gas Gas.

It’s a GASGAS at John Shirt Motorcycles.

John Shirt Motorcycles: Jude Mellor and John R Shirt.

Feet-up and riding the rocks at the 2019 SSDT, John has ridden in everyone since his first attempt in 1988 on the four-stroke Honda.

Father and son, the two Shirts, John E (left) with John R. John E is now retired.

S3 Parts play a huge part of Trialendurodirect.

John Shirt Motorcycles also stock Rieju enduro models and clothing.

MOTS branded helmets, clothing and boots are always in stock.

It’s not just S3 hard parts, the clothing is available in a wide variety of colours.

The Buxton base is also the home to the UK distribution of all Renthal trials products.

International success has been achieved in 2020 with JSM supported rider Jack Dance on the 125cc GASGAS.

‘Team’ the staff at John Shirt Motorcycles are all very important to its future success.

Long serving John Shirt Motorcycles rider Dan Thorpe has achieved well over 100 National trials wins during his long career, the majority on the Gas Gas.

In the safe hands of John Shirt Motorcycles mechanic ‘Factory Kev’ Hipwell you can guarantee that any machine that comes out of the well-equipped workshop is prepared to the highest level.