e ld on Mike Be anway's Ranch in
P O l O , California , Frank Conley 's
Greeves Days is a sight to behold ,
even if you are not a Greeves fan.
Neatly nestled in the central California coastal mountains, the event pulls fans of
the fabled British lightweight motorcycle marque
from several states, including California, Washington, Oregon, Arizona and Colorado. Some fans
trek from as far away as Toronto, Canada, and
~""~-ยท" " eve n England . It sounds like the makings of an
epic turnout. It is. How does 60 people and 38
bikes grab you?
"It's real low-key event," says Frank Conley,
77, who runs Frank Conley's Greeves, a
worldwide parts distr ibuto r and service hub
for the eclectic brand . "It's really an invitational meet for all my customers. It's just
kind of payback to all the people who
have kept feeding me all these years ."
It has already been a lot of years, as
2004 marked the 24th edition of the
event. Con ley has been the Greeves
guru fo r longer than tha t.
"I have been in business with Greeves
since 19S9," Conley says. "Lo nger than
the company itself or the U.S. distributor
was with it. Historically, Greeves are
really significant to motorcycling in the
United States. They were the first real
competition motorcycles that you could
drive into a dealer, buy, stick your number
on the numberplates and then take it to the
desert to a scrambles track, and if you were
good enough, you could win on it. The Greeves
~ ready to go just the way it was . You didn't
ha e to do anything to it. It really started the dirtbike movement. They didn't break. They were
.really to ugh,"
It's in that same spirit that fans of the marque
come from allover to spend two days in POlO, celebrating the Greeves legend. The first day includes a
show and practice day where the motocross riders
enjoy a vintage scrambles course while the trials
gUys layout the course for Sunday's trials event.
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