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Motorcycle shops on Abbeydale Road/ London Road


Guest barbrook

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Guest lebourg

Nowt wrong wi MZ's My TS250 Sport went fast enough to nearly kill me on Wooley Wood Bottom, fast approaching the lights by the Engineers Pub from Ecco with the throttle slide stuck wide open. VVVVVVVVVVVVVVVRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOMMMMM!! I had to pull the HT lead of to stop it as I couldn't reach the key in the headlight nacelle.

Leather and Simpsons were on Flora Street. I bought a Belstaff suit from them, that had been ordered by a Parks Patrol rider that never collected it, only to loose the trousers off the back of my bike whilst touring East Anglia

I knew most of the parks patrol guys.

They rode BSA 250's

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Guest 30_degrees

I knew most of the parks patrol guys.

They rode BSA 250's

I only saw one Parkie on a bike and he was disappearing up the path into the woods on at the bottom of Norwood Rd. BSA 250cc ? was it the BSA C15P (P=Police) it was produced between 1963 and 67?

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Guest 30_degrees

Now, that's going way too fast :rolleyes:

Hehe! I set off from Sheffield loaded up and the weather was gorgeous, however I got to Redford in torrential rain, my Lewis Leather's boots and gloves were water logged but the rest of me was dry. The rest of the time the sun was blazing down so the suit spent most of the time bungied to the seat. Whilst in Boston I heard about a container ship fire on my tranny and legged it to kings Lynn. On arrival the fire was out and my britches were god knows where? That bike was a Yamaha DT175. this isn't my bike but same as, miles of smiles lol lol

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Does anyone remember FTW Motorcycles? I can't remember where exactly it was located but I seem to remember it was a similar set-up to D & H, selling mainly British Spares - great for my AJS 14CSR 250 and BSA Lightning A65L 650.

Other places I remember were:

Syd Smiths - Attercliffe Common

Samurai Motorcycles - Ecclesall Road

Leather and Simpson - Off Penistone Road (is that Flora Street?)

Manhattan Motorcycles - Heeley Bottom. These guys were great and very helpful, they had a plethora of spares upstairs and I managed to get a set of crankcases for my BSA after I totalled the thing.

I bought my first leather bikers jacket (a 'Lightning' jacket appropriately) from Lewis Leathers at the bottom of the Moor in 1979. Still have it but it's a bit small now.

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Guest davexl5

I remember Wilf Green's, and there was the Empire Garage, who did scooters on the junction of Machon Bank and Empire Road. There was a motorcyle dealers on the corner of maybe St Ronan's Road, or Chippinghouse Road. I had an MOT done there in around 1966. I can't remember the name of it though.

Ayfer

empire garage sold and maintained scooters in the70s. certainly in 1972 it was run by two old chaps; from whom i bought spares for my lambrettas.

in the late 70s it was taken over by dan bradburys lambretta mechanic an itallian by the name of raviolli.an excellent mechanic and very helpfull bloke.

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empire garage sold and maintained scooters in the70s. certainly in 1972 it was run by two old chaps; from whom i bought spares for my lambrettas.

in the late 70s it was taken over by dan bradburys lambretta mechanic an itallian by the name of raviolli.an excellent mechanic and very helpfull bloke.

Great to see the topic revived again, I'm an absolute bike freak, 60 and still commute to work 120 k a day on a VFR 750 Honda, only in summer though. Winters are too cold, too dark and too much wildlife on the road. One dice with a Wallaby was enough for me! I only had British bikes in England, my first in Auz was a 650 Triumph Saint ex-police but then I regressed into Jap stuff when Brit bikes became scarce. Love to hear all the Bike stories, The Beehive was our favourite venue in the 60's, a real rockers' dive. Anyone remember it?

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Guest ozziephil

There is only one motorbike shop on Abeeydale Road now, as far as I know, but I can remember quite a few when I was a kid in the 1960s, and I'm trying to list them.

Wilf Green near Abbeydale Picture Palace sold MZs in 1960s/70s

Ropers, on London Road

Bradburys

Richardsons

Can anybody fill in the gaps with the marques sold.

Hi Barbrook, I know this is an old post but I thought you might still be interested. My Dad, John Hudson (deceased) used to work at Horridge & Wildgoose in the early 50s. I have attached a pic from inside the shop which I came across a while ago.

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About 50 years ago there was a Yamaha dealership near the corner of London Rd & St Barnabas Rd. If I remember rightly, the name was Cadwallader. Nearly opposite this shop was another motorbike dealers called Horridge & Wildgoose.

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Guest kentblade

Bought a Kawasaki from Bentleys Motorcycles on Abbeydale Road in 1978.

I think they must have closed or lost the dealership soon after as I had to go to Clay Cross many times for spares. I think their repair shop was on Chippinghouse Road -became a builders yard?

My 200cc and another blokes 1000cc left the garage at the same time- his a little bit faster, when I reached the junction with London Road his bike was under a bus and he had no insurance.

Five minutes later I was terryfing an ice cream queue at Hunters Bar roudabout having forgotten that the foot controls were not on the same side as my previous BSA.

I dont ride now.

Bentleys also dealt in cycles as well ,if I remember correctly.

Michael Bentley went to Rowlinson school and was in the same class as me,1952-1957.

I have asked if there is anyone posting on this site who also attended then.

So far no response.

There was also a motor cycle/scooter dealer on the corner of Broadfield Road at the Heeley end, opposite the Heeley Colisuim, but I cannot remember the name.

My first scooter came from Dan Bradbury on London Road in 1958.

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Guest responderman

Hello everyone.

I was wondering if anyone remembers the exact location of Wilf Greens on Abbeydale road? The closest I got was that it was near the Abbeydale picture house. I still own an MZ from Wilfs shop, and while restoring the 1972 vintage bike I found a reference to his shop. I though it might be fun to photograph it outside all these years later. I can post the photo if anyone was interested once taken.

Many thanks

Jay

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369-373 Abbeydale Road, S7. T. N. 51458 (Kelly's 1968 Directory)

Ring 'em up !

Welcome to SheffieldHistory.

(Possibly a Spa Supermarket ...)

I was wondering if anyone remembers the exact location of Wilf Greens on Abbeydale road?
Jay

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Guest responderman

369-373 Abbeydale Road, S7. T. N. 51458 (Kelly's 1968 Directory)

Ring 'em up !

Welcome to SheffieldHistory.

They are engaged, must be busy. :-)

Thanks for that, I did try a search but its 40 years ago now

Jay

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No problem, I opened a book at "G".

They are engaged, must be busy. :-)

Thanks for that, I did try a search but its 40 years ago now

Jay

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Guest responderman

Don't understand a word of this. Mentions Wilf.

Yes I saw that, it is very .......er tech talk.

I followed the address on Google street view and the shop fits in the picture with the address. Three shops joined, and a large unit out the back.

Thanks for helping

Jay

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On 07/09/2009 at 11:56, Guest darcy said:

Did Jack Woods take over from Wilf Greens?

 

I remember being dragged down to Jack Woods by my dad in the 80's which at the time also sold MZ's and Kawasaki's. I seem to remember that Wilf green stopped retailing bikes and became the importer of MZ's, CZ's and Simpsons.

 

My dad was always threatening to buy a big Kawasaki but instead ended up with a few MZ's. (much to my embarassment!)

 

I also remember being dragged down to Leather and Simpsons who at the time was selling Bonnevilles during Triumphs ill fated brief come back in the 80's. They were in a small warehouse unit just off Infirmary Road.

My dads shop took over from Wilf Greens in the mid 70's. It was Handsworth Motorcycles. Strangely we also lived in Wilfs old house as well! My dad was the general manager at Dan Bradburys until it closed and that's when he started Handsworth Motorcycles (at Handsworth surprisingly). When Wilf closed the shop on Abbeydale Rd my dad moved in. I remember running round the shop as a little kid looking up at the MZ's, Ducati's, and Goldwings etc. He always spoke very highly of Ravvi from the scooter place over the road, who'd been a mechanic at Dan Bradbury's. Ravvi's sons still run Armando's scooter shop on Randall St.

It was after Handsworth Motorcycles closed in the early 80's that Jack Woods took over having taken the Handsworth shop from my dad when he originally moved to Abbeydale Rd. It's funny how all these shops and characters are connected 🙂 

HMC.jpg

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To me Wilf Green was the best, he was one of the nicest blokes I have ever met and his knowledge of motor bikes was unsurpassed. I well remember running upstairs to Wilf and saying my Beesa (BSA) doesn't sound right on tick-over, he told me to go down and kick her up; he opened the upstairs window and after listening he told me what was wrong and what to do, he was spot on as usual.

My first bike was an OEC Blackburn and then Ariel and BSA,. After marriage and going back to bikes I still had a BSA sidecar outfit  but also bought an MZ from Wilf and it  was OK , a bit like old British two strokes.  I never could take to Japanese bikes so my final bike was a Montesa Cota bought from Jeff Hall.

First photo' from 1958 not very clear but self explanatory and I I think the second one was Wilf's shop.

wilf_v1.jpg

wilfs_shop.png

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Just came across this topic. I well recall lots of motorcycle dealerships on or near Abbeydale Road in the 1970's. My Dad and I used to frequent D&H Motorcycles (run by Bob Dewsnap IIRC) mostly for British stuff. My Dad knew Vernon Bentley (used to go clay pigeon shooting with him) who had a shop further along Abbeydale road further out of town. and I think he was a Suzuki and Bond dealership. I later bought a Bond Mk F followed by a Bond Mk G and got to know the parts department well. As an aside they were going from the older style Villiers engined Bonds to the Bond 875 and Bond Bug so my Dad and I used to get jobs to fix the older 2 stroke ones and specialise in Siba Dynastarts. Somebody mentioned a scooter dealer, Armando . He was Armando Pastorelli and had a shop at 80 Randall Street. I've an MOT for my BSA C15 signed by him dated 20.12. 1974. I hope that's of interest.

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On 03/09/2009 at 15:15, Guest bratby said:

Went to Abbeydale Junior school with Wilf Green's son Martin. Remember playing in the shop when it was closed. Anyone know where Martin is now?

Sorry to tell you but Martin passed away many years ago. So long now that I can't remember the circumstances.

I could be wrong about Martin passing away because Wilf had a son called Arthur and I'm fairly sure it was Arthur who died.

Sorry, but it was a long time ago.

Couple of bits about Wilf on You Tube in case you didn't know.

Dennis Coffey is the 2nd from the left on the photo. I used to help him to build racing bikes.

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