55 replies to this topic

[Dion]

That was it Griff, I couldn't think of it, but was it there in the 60's as Geneva, I'm not sure?

[Griffin]

Very possibly. I only passed my test in 1971, so I took little interest in cars before that.

[Les600]

dotcomdan, on Nov 22 2008, 01:47 AM, said:

I stand corrected about Greenfield Road, my memory is not what it was, but do you remember Laurie Higgins Shop in Liverpool Road, he made the racing leathers for Geoff Duke. If I remember correctly he lived opposite the Bird i'th Hand next to the Peet School of Dancing. He was a bespoke tailor and again if I remember correctly wore a bowler hat

The tailor who made the racing leathers was actually Frank Barker who had his shop in Liverpool Road. Following the closure of his Liverpool Road shop he moved to Westfield Street for a while I seem to remember. He not only made leathers for Geoff Duke but also for many of the great riders from the fifties and sixties and had their framed autographed photos in his window.
I can also confirm that Geoff Dukes shop was where Tesco is now in Greenfield Road. The gated entrance at the side which I think is still there led to the workshop. I remember this because my uncle, John Green worked for him and my brother and I went to see some Castrol promotion films there a few times as well as meeting the great man himself on one occasion.

[Griffin]

I wonder if you remember when Geoff Duke's shop still had the petrol pumps outside it? Here's a photograph of Frank Barker and Geoff Duke. Any idea who the second rider is with the Norton? I should judge that photograph to be somewhat later, looking at his clothes compared to Duke's.

[Les600]

The second photgraph is of Ray Amm who took over as team leader at Norton in 1953 from Duke who left for Gilera. Ray Amm was killed at Imola in 1955 during hisc first race for MV. Great photos aren't they

[Griffin]

That's curious. While Duke was riding in the IOM TT, he was edging the average lap speed towards 100 mph. He would probably have achieved the first "ton" lap in 1957, but had fallen at Imola and broken his collarbone. Having to withdraw from the TT for that year, it was actually Bob McIntyre who got the first 100 mph lap. He was killed a few years later, I think. I saw Geoff Duke's photograph the other day, as he is now. I was shocked to see how much he'd aged, but I suppose he was fortunate to have had the chance.

[eddiedunc]

Interesting snippet here vis-a-vis the 100 mph

[Griffin]

Yes. I'd forgotten that he'd originally been credited with the 100mph lap.

[mally]

there used to be a bike shop on the fingerpost selling secondhand british bikes
used to go in there when i was a kid /each bike had a pool of oil or a drip tray under it

[Dion]

I have found an old Reporter from July 1961. It was behind an old panel in a house I am renovating.Geneva Motors was at 87 Church st. I have scanned the paper but can't upload it to this post.I will start a new topic and see if I can upload it there.

[FollDollLad]

mally, on 16 July 2009 - 08:54 PM, said:

there used to be a bike shop on the fingerpost selling secondhand british bikes
used to go in there when i was a kid /each bike had a pool of oil or a drip tray under it

Just caught up with this discussion. I bought two bikes from there in the 1960s. A Royal Enfield Clipper 250 with dodgy forks and and then a Norton Dominator 600 with a racing faring and lots of oil leaks. Both bikes were iffy. I traded in the Norton for a Mini in 1966. There were two young lads ran it. I think the older one was called Forward.

[Dion]

I'll bet that was Phil Forward from Forward Autos in Gaskell street.

[Pete]

Fred Hartleys and Tom Collins is a cert for my day, I had an M10 500 BSA with sidecar and an M21 600 with sidecar, afterwards I geet a Tribsa, it was a clone of a BSA and Triumph with a RRT2 gearbox which would give 60mph in first gear. You never got much from the rest of the gears, but you were guaranteed a new clutch now and then.

[SWIMMER]

My dad had a bike it used to make one heck of a din coming down the back entry. I always knew when he was home from work,cause you could hear him coming a miles off. I think it was called Norton, does that ring a bell, I know it was big, but everything seems big when you're a kid.

[John Colter]

I was most interested to find the above references to Frank Barker, the tailor who made one-piece motorcycle racing leathers at his premises in St Helens. In the early 1960s I was living near Northwich in Cheshire, and bought a set of Barker leathers from Phil Carter who had retired from a very distinguished career in motorcycle racing. He advised me to go to Frank Barker to make sure the suit fitted me correctly.

I phoned Frank, and arranged an appointment to visit his shop. He greeted me most affably. I climbed into the leathers, he checked me over in the standing position, then he sat me on a kitchen chair, in the approved crouching position, and checked again. The leathers were a perfect fit, and I put them to good use on racetracks all over Britain for the next seven years.

Fifty years later I still have the suit, and it is still in very good condition, apart from the usual scuffs and scrapes. I know I'll never wear the suit again (I'm 72 years young), but it is a much-loved link to my mis-spent youth.

John Colter.