Forum

[Paul M H]

In answerer to Alan R Yes I remember Pride & Clarkes' Mocheck' XL Motorcycles' Moors Motorcycles' Locks' White & Martins' Rex Judd's. Just too name a few I used years in the early 70s.

[Les H]

Hi Paul, you are obviously a North Londoner, perhaps living in Tottenham/Edmonton area?. I remember those shops too, and also: "Rivetts" and also "Reads" in Leytonstone. "Gander and Gray" (Enfield specialists) Walthamstow. Joe Francis (AMC) Footscray. Coburn and Hughes (Harringay). Cheshunt Motorcycles. Kennedys (Norton Tuning trying to do a "Paul Dunstall")over near Frien Barnet way I think? A big BSA dealer over on the N Circular in Chingford? forgotten name. Then the smaller shops: one at Waltham Abbey don’t know name. A small shop just north of the Angel Road/Fore Street (Ex Hifi shop) always had blown up engine parts in the window as an attraction..guy used to race sidecars with his wife (very short). The small Francis Barnet shop near Bruce Grove (next to Savills music shop) Then the big second hand shop with literally thousands of old engines piled 3 foot high the entire length of his 50 foot deep shop in Capworth Street Walthamstow. Makes me wonder how they were all cleared out and where they all went...must have been worth a million quid now on today’s crazy priced classic markets. Must be some other ones north of the River I've forgotten but hope my list provides some memories for you..

[Alan R]

-----------WOW !!!----not bad for my little "off-the-cuff" remark. Being from Reading, Berks originally it was a rare occasion indeed when me an the lads could afford to venture to "The Smoke" just to visit those hallowed names. At the tender age of just turned 16 I was whisked off to HM (RN) Eng. Training Establishments at Plymouth, then Rosyth. As an avid reader of Motorcycle Mechanics ( for a Marine Engineering Apprentice with a motorbike WHAT ELSE was there to read in those days ???----well ok, either the Blue or the Red paper I suppose )---- so I mostly remember the adverts..... PRIDE & CLARKE had a view as if their name was printed along the frontage. READS, REX JUDD, yes----they come to mind. ALF HAGON's early days---from one of the "papers" when Alf first cracked the 10 second 1/4 mile sprint came this}-----"Imagine Alf is standing at the line with his sprint motor warmed and ready. You come past him on your Triumph T120 Bonny at MAX SPEED as he drops the clutch. Within that 1/4 mile he will have PASSED you and still be accelerating !!"----- At the time that perspective really hit the mark.!!!

[Winkie]

It's sad really when you think how many dealers there used to be comapred with now! There are a few more around the North/East London area that I can remember- Longstaffes in Edmonton and South Woodford, Fred Wells in Manor Park, Atkinsons in East Ham, Moores in Tottenham, Masons in Wanstead to name but a few. I went to school in Tottenham and was frequently late because I spent so long gazing at the exotic bikes in the windows of Godfreys, longing to be 16 so that I could take to the road. Sadly the onset of 16 did not bring with it sufficient cash to indulge my fantasy - I had to settle for a Capri 70cc scooter - anyone remember them?

[Paul M H]

Yes You right Les H I grew up in Scales Road Tottenham just around the corner from Bruce Grove in the late 50s early 60s then we moved too Edmonton before they built that awful shopping centre & flats then on to Brimsdown then Muswell Hill so I know the area well. There is a good few names I remember there from the past. Just wish I could get some of those old bikes back I had back then.

[Les H]

Crikey Paul, we were nearly neighbours (Spencer Rd. Tottenham). maybe you remember a customised red tanked Norton Featherbed Dommi or tangerine orange Commando flashing around the area in the early and mid seventies? Many times I walked with my mates from Tottenham County School all the way down to Moores Motorcycles in the lunch break just to oggle the BSA's and Triumphs lined up on the pavement outside the shop. My over riding memory of the time was how big they looked but nowadays they look quite puny against modern bikes. Two more names I now recall from Winkie: Longstaffs and Godfreys, but didn't go those shops much so had forgotten them. Alf Hagon was one of my heroes, met and talked at length with him at a celebratory day about 6 years ago at Bruce Castle Museum Tottenham, celebrating one of the greatest names in motorcyling J,A,Prestwich of Tarrif Rd... phoned the museum this morning to urge them to do another special day like it...perhaps with the Brough Superior crowd ....might happen one day.

[Les H]

For Allan R. That's a nice story from the motorbike newspaper, I think I recall that story too. Unfortunately I reckon they got it wrong. The fastest run Alf ever did on the quarter mile was at Santa Pod with a time of 9.432 at 153 mph. That equates to an average speed of around 95 MPH so the story could be true if perhaps you were sitting upright on the Bonnie and a sped along at a true speed of 95 MPH which probably was the true top speed (not speedo reading) when ridden this way. However using the image of the T120 actually moving at a genuine 120 MPH (it would have needed a fairing, and maybe some extra tuning) it would cover a 1/4 mile in just 7.5 seconds exactly, about 2 seconds ahead of Alf. So the demonstration of his acceleration and speed still holds up pretty well though.

[Alan R]

Hi LES H---- yes, I don't think the article at the time was meant to be anything more than a bit of sensationalism--- but it certainly gave the average punter a feeling of what Alf had achieved. I think it was on that double-JAP engined bike he used so often in those days ???

[apparently lucky eddie]

Pride and Clark, known locally as "Snide and Shark".
Just around the corner in Clapham were Gus Kuhn, Norton dealer and Commando racers.
Along a bit further in Tooting were Elite motors, pronounced EElites.