At an early age fast cars and motorcycles had a real attraction to me, seeing the likes of Sheene and Hunt enjoying the benefits (on and off circuit) of a career in motor racing made me decide I really wanted some of that.
But as I grew older, that dream got diluted as I followed a career in engineering design to pay the mortgage, but kept my hand in the racing as a hobby.
I did have the opportunity to work with some decent drivers and spent quite a lot of time around the European circuits with Formula Ford, Historic Jaguar racing, and MG Racing. The final peak of all this was the opportunity to join a F3 team which was about to be put together.
Unfortunately my great friend and mentor at that time was killed testing and I turned my back on motor racing.
During this break from racing, I started to enjoy classic car ownership but realised I had not got the space for a massive collection so began to collect old motorcycles as they don’t need so much space. My first classic bike resto was an old Ducati Bevel which I restored and then found it was such a joy to ride I inevitably ended up taking it out on track.
My first classic bike resto was an old Ducati Bevel which I restored and then found it was such a joy to ride I inevitably ended up taking it out on track.
So I ended up riding all the European circuits on my favourite Ducati until I had a big coming together with another rider going through eau rouge at spa, The subsequent damage and repairs needed to the ducati made me realise the bike had become quite valuable, maybe too valuable to be doing the track riding, so I began to look for a less valuable steed to cater for my track exploits.
That’s when I learnt about Dick Mann and his famous win at Daytona on a honda cr750, the racing version of the cb750. I decided that I could build a version of the CR750 quite cheaply and old basket cases could be purchased for a couple of hundred quid (at the time) so thus began my involvement with the venerable cb750 sohc.
My bike collection has now grown somewhat, Bimota / Laverda / Ducati / Heron Suzuki / Harrris / Seeley etc etc and the original CR750 I purchased and ended up taking all around Europe is still part of the collection, although somewhat like triggers broom has been through several reincarnations and finally after finding a much better rider than me it succeeded in winning 1300 and 750 uk championships.
That Winning combination took 3 years of development trying various specialists for parts and services eventually arriving at a specification that worked. Along the way I designed my own parts to add to the pot and the company Good-Bits was born out of this.
Along the way I designed my own parts to add to the pot and the company Good-Bits was born out of this.
Based at the foot of the south downs with workshops in Hassocks & Hurstpierpoint we look after 70’s / 80’s classics Honda / Kawasaki/ Ducati / Suzuki complete builds, race prep, even the odd classic car from time to time keeping my hand in all fields of the classic world.