FINERDETAILS
1959 Greeves
Scottish
ENGINE
Air-cooledVilliers
sing le-cylinder 9E
two-stroke
CAPACITY
197cc
BORE
59mm
STROKE
72mm
POWEROUTPUT
8.6bhp@4200rpm
CARBURETTOR
VilliersS25/2
IGNITION
Villiersflywheel
magneto
LUBRICATION
Petroil premix 16.1
(now40:1)
GEARBOX
Villiersfour-speed foot
change
DRIVE
Chain, primaryand
final
FRAME
Tubularwith Hsection
fron taluminiumbeam
SUSPENSION
Fron tGreeves leading
links,reartwinshocks
with Armstrong
dampers
WHEELS
Fron t21inch
Rear18inch
Above:Just afew
subtle modifications
–including longer
rear shocks –but,
overall, this is a
fairly standard
motorcycle.
Right:Thecast
mainframe
member,another
Gree vessigna ture.
Below:ChrisCullen,
whoachieved
muchsucce ss
in hi searlytrials
career with Greeves
motorcycles, and
wasaworks rider
for18months.
follo wing Brian’stragic deathin1959–thatthe Bert
Greeves-designed20T came ofage. By theearly-1960s
therewereaplethora of Greevesworks anddealer-
supportedridersonGreevesScottishes,including Chris
Cullen, who takesupthe stor yonce again.
“After riding one ofJonathanTyes’ Scorpionsfora
year Iwas approached by Derr yPreston-Cobb–Bert
Greeves’ cousin–who invited me to ride forthem on the
latestworksspecification TESfor the 1964 season.Iwent
toThundersleywhereImetMrCobb –avery straight
and honestman –who told me they wouldsupply me
anew machin eand paymetravellin gexpenses.Itw as
not thesort of offer Iwas goingtorefuse so forthe next
18 months orso Iwas an official Greevesworks rider,
competinginall of thetop linechampionshipevents
and theScottis hsix da ys on thefactorybike.
“Later on,whenthe newTFS waslaunched,Irode
one with sponsorship fromdealers L awtonand Wilson
and thentheAnglian, whichmanyconsider tobe the
besteverGreevestriallers.Icompeted on theAnglian
for acouple ofseasons–includingmylast Scottish in
1966–and thenagreed to ride forBob Golner on one of
his Villiers-poweredCheetahs.This wasone of thefirst
tria ls bikes tofigure afront discbrake and one ofmy best
rides wasint he 1969SouthernExperts,where Ifinish ed
fifth,justfour[marks] behind thewinnerCharlieHarris
on h is Montesa.
“Bynow virtually alloft he top riderswereriding
Spanishmachines, and with Villiersrefusingtosell
theirengines totheBritish manufacturerslikeGreeves,
Cotton andDot, IdecidedtogoSpanish too, on a
Golner -suppliedMAR Ossa.Ifinished my trials career in
th emid-1970son a348 Montesa –whichIstillown –but
the lureoftrials nevergoesaway and whenpre-65and
twinshockstarted,Iboughtmyself anotherGreeves TES.”
Multiple Greeves
Over th eyears ,Chris pickedupmanypre-65trials
awards on hismultiple Greeves –whichnow amount to
five in his everburg eoningcollection–and asrecently as
twoyears agohewas still riding. Nowhehas hung up his
riding gear, he concentrates hi sefforts onrestoringand
exhibitingthematclassicshows, anditwas at theBristol
eventinFebruarythisyear IspottedthissuperbScottish
TA20. It’s nowverydifferen ttothe pileof bitshebought
in March2015.
“I bought theScottish afterseeinganadver tint he
Leading Link [owners’club] magazine,and among the
scores of sp ares thevendorwas sellin g, Icould seethere
wasthe basi sofanearly TA 200ccScottish,similarto
the oneI’dboughtand riddeninthe early-60s.Atthat
time,itwas,asautojumblersmight term, ‘in largelumps’,
butother than afew missingitems likethe silencer
and exhaust,itw as basically al lthere, so with money
exchanged, it wasloadedintomyvan and broughtback
to my workshop inWiltshire.
“Through thevery helpfulGreevesRidersClub
Iwas able tofind outthat the engine and framewere
original and itwasdelivered to DavidPaulMotor cycles
in Truro, Cornwall,onDecember 2, 1959.Over the
yearsI’veworkedonmanyVilliersengines ,and as
all of thespares arereadilyavailable fr om Villiers
Services,stripping and rebuildingthe motorwas
fairl ystraightforward. It needednew bearings, mains
seals andringsand aclutch centre,but Idecidedto
keep itrunnin gonpointsasopposed to changingitto
electronicignitio n.Thebadly worn sprockets were also
36 THE CLASSICMOTORCYCLE|SEPTEMBER 2019
