UKs oldest motorcycle shop closes after 120 years..

[Exmoor beast]

We had the original breaker- The motorcycle graveyard, four crossways Twickenham. Dennis was first guy to break bikes for parts on any level ( to my knowledge anyway) Last time I went there he had loads of Hesketh tanks & speedos for next to nothing , all new never fitted.
I met Rod Pallant at his breakers in Ruislip, he would tinker around the back building Drag bikes and people would come in for a rummage and give him cash- worked out well. I have been tasked with finding a Tank & panels for a ZXR750 -J , quite where I’m going to look is anyone’s guess, no breakers for miles.

 

[Vince]

Anytime I modified anything, my first port of call was the biggest wreaker in Sydney. I went there just after the COVID reopening, and they had closed and disappeared just like the other 6 or 7 others. The last time I bought a part 2nd hand from the only online wrecker in Oz I could find, Townville 2000ks away, was a Steel Yamaha Ignition switch recommended to replace the plastic one Laverda used on Atlass that tended to collapse. The bloody switch arrived, no keys included and looking like a screwdriver had been used on it.$80 for the switch and $100 from a locksmith to get 2 keys cut. Bloody annoying not being able to see it first in a bucket of greasy bits on a shelf at a wreaker.

 

[Jimmer]

My Suzuki GS1000 broke down 3 miles from home so my old dad came out with his Rover 2000 auto. Tow rope round top of fork and off we went. Absolutley terrifying. Sure he forgot I was there.

Had a very similar experience with my dad towing me and my broken A65 L off the M4.

 

[sfcpiet]

Took a couple of snaps walking up Elizabeth St. Melbourne today. Not much of anything left now
View attachment 100016View attachment 100017

Mota Bitz rings a bell! Can't remember seeing any trees on Elizabeth St. in my time...

There was a well-sorted breaker in Seaford, Bikes and Bits?

As a teenager we would regularly visit half a dozen or more wreckers looking for parts, most were in walking distance of each other. It was common to leave your bike parked at one while you tried the others. I visited the last wrecker in Auckland about a year ago and he’d just sold and had his place emptied out by a guy down the line doing online stuff. I’ve dealt with him too but it’s not the same as rummaging around the shelves yourself

Shelves?? What luxury... I remember stuff piled in heaps and soggy cardbox boxes or rotted tea chests falling apart. Only bits stored in shelves were tanks and other "delicate" stuff.

piet

 

[triton]

We had the original breaker- The motorcycle graveyard, four crossways Twickenham. Dennis was first guy to break bikes for parts on any level ( to my knowledge anyway) Last time I went there he had loads of Hesketh tanks & speedos for next to nothing , all new never fitted.
I met Rod Pallant at his breakers in Ruislip, he would tinker around the back building Drag bikes and people would come in for a rummage and give him cash- worked out well. I have been tasked with finding a Tank & panels for a ZXR750 -J , quite where I’m going to look is anyone’s guess, no breakers for miles.

Did you ever go to Frank in West Ealing for parts? He was located at Hessel (?) Road and operated from a shed. I bought a complete 400/4 engine from him for £50. He later moved onto the Uxbridge Road before finding fame and fortune in Perivale as Motorcycles Unlimited and still there today.
I used to go to Rob Pallent in Ruislip for spares, as you say, he was never actually in the shop but out the back.

 

[Exmoor beast]

Did you ever go to Frank in West Ealing for parts? He was located at Hessel (?) Road and operated from a shed. I bought a complete 400/4 engine from him for £50. He later moved onto the Uxbridge Road before finding fame and fortune in Perivale as Motorcycles Unlimited and still there today.
I used to go to Rob Pallent in Ruislip for spares, as you say, he was never actually in the shop but out the back.

Frank was FJK breakers who as you rightly say became Motorcycles unlimited- Rod sold me one of his Z900 engines and fitted it into my grasstrack sidecar. It was on my way home from work so I could pop in- he was a proper star back then. We ran 29” 1”3/4 straight pipes like Henk Vinks “ Big Spender” - sounded like a Lancaster bomber!