Highlights
- Entered by Greeves in the 1966 Scottish Six Days Trial
- Sold with historical documentation including copies of factory records
- Offered for sale from a large collection of historic motorcycles
The Appeal
To some people, motorsport is just about success and glamour. To us, what’s far more important is having fun, and that’s why we’re great advocates for motorcycle trials. One of the oldest forms of motorsports, motorcycle trials are almost as old as motorcycling itself, with the most famous of them all, the International Six Days Trial, having been held for the first time in 1913. Coaxing a small bike up a muddy hillside is nobody’s idea of glamorous, but it takes a lot of skill and invariably puts smiles on the faces of competitors and spectators alike, so it’s no wonder they’ve been going strong for over a century.
Some would say that the golden age for trialling was the 1950s and ’60s, when the British motorcycle industry was booming and, in addition to mass-production marques like Triumph, BSA and Ariel, there were quite a few manufacturers building machines primarily for off-road competitions. One of the best-known and most successful was Greeves, founded in 1951.
A new trials model, the Anglian, was introduced in 1966 and came to be widely regarded as the best lightweight trials bike available, but before that reputation was established it had to be tested. What better way to do that than by entering the prototype in the Scottish Six Days Trial? Greeves’s Competition sent works mechanic Ally Cameron off to Scotland, where he had achieved previous class wins for Greeves, and this is the very bike he competed with in ’66. In the years that followed, many other Anglians in the hands of both works riders and privateers would win awards in major events such as the SSDT and European Trials Championship.
This important and possibly unique bike would be welcomed into the historic trials scene. If you’re looking to get involved with historic trials, getting started with a Greeves is always a safe bet, and an Anglican like this should be extremely competitive in the 250cc class. After spending some time in a static collection, it presents well but will require some recommissioning, and then it’ll be ready to hit the hills.
The History and Paperwork
- Built as the prototype for the Greeves Anglian lightweight trials model
- From 7th February 1966, the bike was loaned to Miss P. Hudson, the niece of a Greeves director
- It was commandeered by the Greeves Competition Department for the Scottish Six Days Trial on 2-7th May 1966 and ridden by factory mechanic and noted trialler Ally Cameron
- At about a year old, the bike was probably returned to the factory and sold in the usual manner to a customer
- In 2019, it was purchased by the vendor, a prominent motorcycle collector, and has been displayed alongside many other historic bikes
- Sold with the current V5, some MoT certificates and tax discs dating back to the 1970s, historical documentation including facsimiles of factory records and the 1966 SSDT entry list, one photograph of the bike in the SSDT and some letters from the Greeves Riders Association confirming its history
The Condition
- Previously restored
- Now nicely mellowed and suitably patinated
- Features the ‘banana’ leading-link front fork as only fitted to very early Anglians
Trials bikes tend to look a bit scruffy after a period of enthusiastic use, but this Greeves is nothing of the sort. It’s very cleanly presented and in excellent condition all round. For the frame and the forks to be in such good condition, without any significant paint damage, rather suggests that the Greeves has been restored at some point in the past and not been subjected to any hard use since.
Having said that, we wouldn’t want anyone to get the impression that the Greeves is ‘too nice’ to trial. It was built to withstand the rigours of a harsh landscape and following its restoration, it has now mellowed nicely in appearance and started to develop a modest but pleasing patina, so it wouldn’t do it any harm to send it scrambling up a hillside again.
The patina is especially evident on the original alloy mudguards, while the seat looks almost new, having probably been recovered. The wheels are in excellent condition with the same light patina seen across the rest of the bike, and the knobbly tyres still sport lots of tread and give the impression of having seen little use.
The Mechanics
- Villiers 37A engine with Greeves cylinder barrel
- MoTed in 2015 with no advisories
- Sold requiring light recommissioning
As a prototype, it is possible that this Anglian may differ in some details from ordinary production examples. We do not know if this is the case or not, but it may be an interesting area for investigation.
When the vendor bought the Greeves in 2019, it was in good running order, so after a four years on static display we would expect it still to be in excellent condition, though a quick service may be required to get the best out of it.
The brakes worked for us as we wheeled the bike around, and we’ve no reason to suspect the bike is anything less than fully roadworthy, especially since it passed its last MoT test in 2015 with no advisories and doesn’t appear to have been heavily used since. Of course, we are not in a position to make any guarantees as to its roadworthiness, but it should suffice to say that it instils us with confidence.
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