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  • HI folks the server that hosts the site completely died including the Hdd's and backups.
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isle of man TT

Hello again Astoness
Unfortunately i don't have the name of the rider of my machine. I do have a record of all the TT's fro 1907 to 1953 but L.Eason is not among them.
However Eric is well documented. These were the races that he competed.
1948 junior rode a norton came 33rd 1952 junior rode ajs came 45
1948 senior rode a norton retired 1952 senior rode ajs came 38
1949 junior rode a velocette came 66th 1953 250cc rudge came 14
1949 senior rode a norton came 29th 1953 junior rode ajs came36
1950 junior rode a norton retired 1953 senior rode ajs came 28
1951 light wt. rode a dot came 7th
1951 junior rode a norton retired
1951 senior rode a norton retired
1952 light wt. rode a dot came 10th
Eric was quite a rider!
Dave
 
hi dave...thanks for listing them all down..thats great...and thats only the tt races...i really must try and document all the other venues he raced at...aparently eric lived for the sport...

lyn:)
 
Hello again Astoness
Ref pic 3 which shows Eric with his DOT. I can,t make out the address of his shop on the side of his van. As motor cycle racers all new each other, especially in their own locality i am wondering if he had any connection with Len Eason the first owner of the norton that i have.
Old Guys Rule
Dave
 
hi dave..erics shop was in hampstead road handsworth just up from the roebuck pub...i forgot to add that eric is no longer with us so i cant ask him about len eason but i will post more pics just as soon as i have the time...glad you like the ones posted so far

lyn:)
 
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Hi Astoness
thanks for info, it would appear that Eric & Len lived at opposite ends of town, making their knowledge of each other less likely. I must say i am looking forward, along with many others i suspect, of the next installment of your pictures.
Dave
 
Lyn hope this week as better news, have a wonderful birthday XX
Hope Steves news is good news, one of his trophy's
John H
 
Astoness, may I thank you for sharing those wonderful photos. I have a little in common: my dad rode in the Island for a few years. Like you, we have a few pictures and still own a few replicas, too. I am always warmed by the friendship that goes with the old world of bikes. In amongst it all, my 92-yo mum hooted when I read out the visits to 'the back door' at the BSA or SU's. Dad worked at SU's and was responsible for gifting a few bits to deserving lads. He started (the best ones all did according to the old man!) in The Manx and earned a go in the TT, starting on a s/h 1928 tank-change Rudge Ulster and managed 6th.
He gave up the racing after getting married but we went to the Island every year for the practice & sometimes race week. I was a babe in arms first time, but we were there watching at Hilberry for several years before I was ten! I'm nearly 60 now.
I knew what R meant before I could read. The noise and excitement that washed through the crowd as the hotshots came over the mountain and everyone braced for the fabulous roar following the bike through the stone lined country lanes. It never leaves you. Marvellous stuff.
 
hi ginger wood and a warm welcome to the forum...thank you for sharing your memories of yer dads biking days..maybe you could post some of the pics you have on here....any problems just give us a shout....

lyn
 
Hi Ginger
I think the back door was often also open at Nortons. The frame on my Manx has an unrecorded delivery so its quite likley it came through the back door. Probably following the breakage of the oringinal frame, which was quite a common occurance with the Garden Gate type. This fits in with the original owner living in Birmingham.
I Know for a fact that this sort of practice went on at AMC in Plumstead as i used to live quite near.
Dave
 
Astoness said:
hi ginger wood and a warm welcome to the forum...thank you for sharing your memories of yer dads biking days..maybe you could post some of the pics you have on here....any problems just give us a shout....

lyn
Click to expand...
Hello Lyn, I have a few pictures, but I need to know how. The other question that stumped me was discovering older posts had the pictures removed. What are the 'rules' and protocols?

For Dave: I recall a lad, a workmate from the late 60's, making bike frames for Norton Triumph & BSA owners, but he put numbers from old frames onto them. We often suspected something shady was going on with him. He disappeared from a job halfway through a working day - never collected his pay - gone! He could always 'find' spare parts in his shed, too. He repaired my frame for free, so I thought I owed him.
The backdoor where I worked was mostly small-fry replacements and little bits & bobs, or clever stuff that was not catalogued or 'on the books'. Is your frame absolutely 'correct'? Specials and non-standard mods were given away that way.
 
Hi Ginger
All very interesting! My frame has been authenticated buy several manx experts. It was made in 1950, however the prefix is in two numbers and not the normal two letters, so there is some thought that it could be a works frame. As i have mentioned earlier it was originally delivered to L&E Motors in Stratford Road, Birmingham in 1948. The owner was Len Eason. Unfortunately i have no racing history. I have restored it and use it for sprints and hill climbs. It helps me keep young, i am now in my seventies and bought my first bike a 1933 Norton International when i was sixteen.
Old Guys Rule
Dave
 
Dave, quite a bike for a sixteen year old! Did you do Ragley or travel further afield? Where were the sprints? We used to go to several, with friends who still rode. George Buck & Bob Penney from Jags both competed. George had a great Triumph sprint special and Bob was running 7R's and other stuff. Mallory was handy, but Donington was still in ruins after the war until the late 60's or was it 1970? Father tuned Rudges (Stan & Roland Pike) occasional Triumphs and BSA stuff as well as endless cars, mainly Jaguars and Astons.
 
Great photos - thanks for uploading these. Very interesting. The bike in the background of the one photo is a Norton Dominator twin, 1956 onwards model - produced at Norton's works in Bracebridge Street. The bike that Eric is sitting on looks a nice machine - it has "leading link" front forks which were quite the rage for a while, both on trials bikes and road racing machines.
 
Hi Ginger
When i had my Inter during the 1950's i used it at Brands Hatch and Knatts Valley both in kent.
One of the other riders at Knatts Valley was Steve McQueen the actor. He was very quick! and rode a late twenties Douglas. They were great days and not encombered with noise restrictions and other health &
safety issues that increasingly blight our way of life today.
Last year i sprinted my Manx at Northweald and Eelmoor(Aldershot) I also took it to Brooklands a couple of times.
I remember the Pike Rudges of Roland Pike, they were very fast.
Dave
 
bringing to the top fo pete R and any other new members

lyn
 
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Hi Lyn, a really interesting insight into these post war Races. As a 'Brummie' with a Motorcycle Shop, Eric would probably have had an 'in' to the many Birmingham based Motorcycle Teams and Privateers of the time. Some of the pictures are not 'posed' factory shots or photogenic media items, so reveal the conditions of the time. Please thank yr Husband for sharing these with us. Pete R.
 
To Dave, Ginger & the others,

Dave, when I worked in the Trade in B'hame in the 70's & 80's all the Dealers, big & small knew each other. The Riders certainly knew of every outlet where spares could be bought or machines repaired/serviced. Some of these shops were owned/run by famous riders of their day. My Triumph Tiger 100 came from Wal Handley's on Broad St. So often, like Hailwood & Gould in the 70's, people would just visit the shops to see the owners ! Many serious competition riders were in touch with one another as, given the austerity times and lack of spares, they often depended upon one another to get their bikes running, esp in a bit of a panic between races ! There's every chance that Eric Hardy would have been well known.
Ginger - if your father was 'THE' Ginger Wood, then you're being modest..he was a well known motorcyclist.

As far as the 'Back Door' system goes, I reckon all the major factories had two. One official one where those riders who were 'smiled upon' got either standard or 'works' parts for their machines, (often with factory knowledge to see how a particular bit would go). A second one, where other bits 'walked out' into less reputable hands. The canal off Armoury Rd had several engines fished out of there at night, having, mysteriously dropped in during the day ! I had several friends in the Comp Shop at the BSA who liberated Rocket 3 parts. One regular rode a Norton 99 (600 cc Dominator). The security never checked him as "He hasn't got a BSA has he !"
Triumph at Meriden saw many engines/parts walk out under their own steam too. Norton & Villiers too had several 'leaks'. Indeed even today, a batch of faulty Commando Con Rods from a skip that emptied itself overnight, still turn up ! In the Scrambles world, several of the top 50s & 60s riders ended up in prison for recieving stolen property.
Interestingly several factory prototypes/experiments survived orders that they be destroyed and many of the NMM exhibits conme from these sources.Likewise, there are still several (at the time) hush-hush projects that drove out of the BSA/OK Supreme/Ariel/Excelsior/James, etc., factories still around in private hands. Thus an inportant part of B'ham's Motorcycle history still exists.
 
Wonderful stuff Lyn, thanks for putting it up.

A bit more on Rem Fowler here

and a picture of him on the 1907 TT Norton, registered in Birmingham O 2763.

motoring-graphics-2_835633a.jpg
 
By a strange coincidence we returned from the IOM today having been on a coach holiday to the island. The pavements on the race circuit are being painted in readiness for the race . The coach driver pointed out that thereare no "cats eyes" on the roads used for the race, I have watched bits of the race on TV and although Im not really into bikes I do find the whole phenomenon quite amazing and anyone who has the skills and courage to take part has my respect.
 
Astoness said:
hi all...my other half thought all you bike enthusiasts may like to see some pics out of his late dads scrap album..he raced during the 40s and 50s and early 60s all over the country and also the isle of man..and ireland....his name was eric hardy and he also owned a bike shop on the hampstead road..handsworth and rode many makes of bike encluding nortons...most of the pics are of eric but the ones that are of his fellow riders are named so who knows..maybe some of you may recogise a name....


astoness..:)


hope you enjoy them...
Click to expand...
I am new to the forum, but would love to see all your photo's of bike racers in the 50's/60's. Unfortunately I can't see the ones you put on this post, perhaps it's got to do with the forum being hacked recently. Please re-post it again, that era was when I used to mechanic for Bill Siddles.

 
hi bikeral..yes you are quite right the pics i posted were lost when the forum was hacked...im just hoping that i still have them on disc....bit up to me neck at the min but i will have a search for them later on and re post if i have them..

lyn
 
This was a photo of me and my mate Jim Clark (Arrowed)HWScan00010 TT June 10th, 1970 mod 1.jpg at the TT in June 1970. I can't remember where we were watching from, but it looks like Tommy Robb was in the foreground.
 
Thanks Lyn, I really would appreciate that if you could. No rush, I'm retired now, got all the time in the world, until it runs out of coarse, haha.
 
just had a quick look bikeral and yes ive still got the pics saved...will do my best to post them tomorrow for you...the only one i cant see is the one of eric hardys medals..maybe one of our members saved that one and may repost for us..

lyn
 
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