The British company Greeves has an interesting history and you can tell by looking at the front suspension, they also made interesting motorcycles. They started out by building vehicles for disabled folks and branched out into motorcycles. This interesting 1969 Greeves Ranger can be found listed here on eBay in beautiful Tucson, Arizona where I should have moved after high school. There is an unmet opening bid price of $2,200 and no reserve.
Bert Greeves was mowing his lawn one day and he came up with the idea of putting a gas-powered engine on a relative’s wheelchair to help them get around and he came up with the Invacar. After getting a British government contract to build the Invacar he was off and the business became a success. Being interested in motorcycles and a good trials rider himself, he started building motorcycles with Villiers engines and another successful business was born.
This Ranger is original as far as the seller knows, other than the chain guard which is missing and the rear tire has been replaced. Greeves reportedly started out with three models in the early-1950s and by 1962 there were eleven different motorcycle models. The Ranger was made for export to the United States, or with that market in mind. There are conflicting reports on just how many were made and how many were exported to the US.
This is a low-mile example with just under 2,400 miles on it and that cast speedometer housing is fantastic. Arguably the most unique features of the Greeves Ranger would be the front suspension with the unusual leading link and the cast aluminum down-beam.
The engine is a 246 CC Villiers single-cylinder and the seller says that it starts great, shifts as it should, and stops well. The original carburetor was changed to the Mikuni as seen here but the original Villers carb goes with the sale. Hagerty lists a #4 fair condition bike as being worth $4,100 so I’m not sure what’s going on with this auction not having any bids at a $2,200 starting price and no reserve. I guess the market will always decide what something is really worth. Have any of you owned a Greeves motorcycle?
Who could have possibly written this up? Scotty? No foolin’,,yes, I’ve heard of Greeves, but never actually saw one. There were just a ton of motorcycles in the early 70’s. Seems every country jumped on the “hare scrambles” game, a forerunner to motocross. Even Harley made a MX bike with telescoping forks on the back, kind of the opposite of this. I read it produced scary rides. While the bikes were all pretty similar, leave it to the British to do the same thing with a different setup. For a dirt bike, I’d say it looks awful front heavy, which is why telescopic forks just work the best, and stood the test of time, although, they did turn them upside down, for some reason.. This? Not so much, but what a cool bike. I believe that little lever above the clutch handle, is a compression release
Sidebar on Invacar. When Homer Simpson visits “Crazy Vaclavs Place of Automobiles”, he test drives a 3 wheel Invacar ( although they never say that)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HPVQ4FpVlY
The German firm DKW also made motocross and trail bikes with leading link forks, powered by Sachs engines. Heavy, but excellent handling.
The Greeves motocrosser was called the Griffon, and was also offered with telescopic forks. Unfortunately, the Villiers engine was already out dated when the motocross fad hit the US, and Greeves lacked the kind of money the Japanese brands had for R&D, so the company died. The Villires engines lived on briefly in the Norton/AJS Stormer race bikes.
In the mid 60’s I worked for a motorcycle dealer that sold Yamaha’s, BSA’s, Vespa’s and Greeve’s. We sold a couple of them I think. They were a very interesting breed of motorcycle and called out to a very interesting breed of motorcyclist. While the Yama’s were being ridden by the more ‘civilized’, the Greeve’s were purchased by the more ‘individualistic’. I would have to liken them to the kind of riders that now travel on bikes like the Honda Africa….follow your own road :).
Just a child in the early seventies I took an interest in off road motorcycles immediately, lots of dudes rode some very odd looking bikes it seemed,,,homegrown stuff, some were big thumper engines fitted into off road desert racers, motocross or just whatever.
I remember Greeves only from publications as I was learning to read, but that front suspension I’ve seen before. Cz’s, Maicos, Pentons, Ossa, the list of early motocross bikes goes on and on then Honda came out with the 250 Elsinore and pretty much set the path for the Japanese invasion.
This is interesting from a visual history angle, riding it off road would be quite a different story!
I’ve never owned a Greeves bit I’ve had 2 Bond MiniCars, a 1954 & 1956. Both of these little three wheeler automobiles were powered by a Villiers 197cc two stroke single. I used to get engine parts and advice from a Greeves specialist in Carmel, California. Google “Bond Minicar” and you’ll see my gold one and my yellow one.
Greeves finished due to the non – availability of Villiers engines and the retirement of the Company’s founder.Best known for trials bikes,never saw many on the road.
Greeves was a good competitor in Moto-Cross back in the 60s. Bultaco, Maico, Husqvarna and CZ, and many other Europeans ruled the tracks back then. One look at those Earls forks and you knew you were up against something different. Just couldn’t ward off the Japanese invasion, I guess. I admit that I never saw an enduro version; the only ones I saw were full-blown racers. They were Royal Blue with a British flag on the tanks. Sure hope this goes to a good family…
I love the British bikes but this is a manufacturer I’d never heard of.
Until today.
Thankyou Barnfinds.
Greeves won the European 250 MX championship in 1960-61 before the class obtained world championship status. Dave Bickers was their rider.
I’ve got videos of Greeves being used as desert racers with the leading link forks in the late 1960’s. I’d love to add either a Challenger or Griffon to my collection, getting to pricey unfortunately!
Never got a mini bike like I was promised as kid so at 15 my dad got me a early Greeves 250 with the leading link front end and the aluminum frame down bar. They did well in desert racing before the Japanese take over. Greeves had a dealership in the SF Valley and I got some work and a tune-up then watched in horror as one of the pro rider guys cranked it at speed and bumped over a lying telephone pole. The front end bumped up and he bunny hopped over it. They were a little heavy but took brutal hits in desert racing where they shined. At the beach where we lived on Friday nights a dune buggy and I(on the Greeves) would rip down the beach in the dark. Our beach had rock jetties every 1/4 mile or so and when the buggy went left around the end of one I went over not knowing the sand was 8 feet lower on the other side. The leading link front wheel landed first (bad) bumped right up and stayed straight as an arrow with no help from me -I thought it was all over. Great bikes from the day – I’d love to have another ( and a Husqvarna and a CZ and a Maico why not?)
In the early 70s, I had a Greeves Scottish. Don’t recall which year but it was in production from 59-65.
On the road, that front suspension was really odd. Round a bumpy corner it seemed to go in a series of swoops.
The 2-stroke engine and minimal silencer made a lovely crackle, when it was running, but it became progressively harder to start. Probably nothing much wrong with it, but beyond me to fix at the time.
I mainly used it to commute into central London from Highgate. Low-geared, it had tremendous acceleration up to 60mph, and I went to for smaller and smaller gaps in the traffic.
Perhaps fortunately, the starting problems eventually led to it being sold, otherwise I’d likely have killed myself. And no helmets in those days.
A great memory, that bike.