| …goes
the old wives tale, Tim Britton,
never a fashion icon –
or an old wife – investigates
a mixture of the two colours
that works.
 Bunging
an engine from one make into
the chassis of another manufacturer
has long been part of the
Brit biking scene. Usually
the starting point was an
engine from Meriden area and
if the lad building the bike
had it in mind to impress
the girls at the local café
then the frame would come
from Bracebridge Street. On
the other hand if the hopes
were more in line with lifting
a trophy or two in the muddy
world of scrambles then the
frame may well come from Small
Heath. The resultant specials
had names like Triton and
TriBSA and have become an
accepted part of the classic
scene. The fact that their
names combined just as neatly
as their mechanical parts
is possibly a coincidence
but they do roll off the tongue
quite nicely.
Triton and TriBSA aren’t
the only specials that see
the light of day, merely two
of the most popular and possibly
the easiest to do. And specials
are built for all sorts of
reasons from style, fashion
and sporting success. I’ve
even heard of someone building
a Triton the other way round
– using a Norton engine
in a Triumph frame –
because the bits were there
and a bike was needed. One
of the problems in building
a special is it isn’t
quite as easy as it sounds.
Maybe that’s not quite
true, as it is relatively
easy to just ‘bung in
an engine’ but the resultant
machine might just look like
a mismash of unrelated parts.
You see, if it takes dedication
to restore a standard machine
then it takes twice as much
to put together a special.
Especially if you want to
end up with something as good
looking as Frank Levy’s
Tri-Greeves – or Griumph
maybe? This is definitely
one of those names that doesn’t
roll off the tongue. Luckily
the bike is absolutely superb
and seeing as how it was put
together by former sidecar
scrambles ace, Mike Guilford,
that’s not surprising.
Mike, now retired, but for
a long time the designer at
Wasp Motorcycles, has clearly
put a lot of thought into
this special.
 |
| When
Mike put the machine together
he was adamant that everything
should look right and
took great care to ensure
it was so. |
Anyway, I
first clapped eyes on this
red and green creation when
down at the National Motor
Museum at Beaulieu, for the
Motorcycle World pageant in
the summer. Frank Levy is
the curator of the motorcycle
side of the museum and in
charge of the Motorcycle World
show. This involves Frank
being everywhere at once,
or so it seemed at the time
and to do so he was dotting
about on this very bike. Jim
Reynolds and I were busily
taking in the sights and sounds
when Frank pulled up for a
bit of craic as you do, we
only managed a few words when
his walkie talkie crackled
and he had to zoom off to
the other side of the site
to attend to one of those
million and one tasks an organiser
has to do.
Later on that day, I managed
to corner Frank when the show
had technically shut for the
evening and it was possible
for him to have a word or
two in piece. He admitted
that he didn’t know
all that much about the bike
as Mike had tackled all of
the work. “I’ve
know Mike for years,”
says Frank, “from when
I used to be in charge of
a workshop next door to Wasp
Motorcycles, I shouldn’t
say so but I probably spent
more time in Wasp’s
place than my own. From there
our paths crossed quite a
bit and I can now count him
a friend. A few years back
I wanted a trail bike and
well, I don’t much go
for these foreign things,
so asked Mike to build me
one. It took quite a bit of
persuading to get him to do
it.
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