Cycle News is a weekly magazine that covers all aspects of motorcycling including Supercross, Motocross and MotoGP as well as new motorcycles
Issue link: https://magazine.cyclenews.com/i/141059
by Maureen Lee
GREEVES?
There a rc: a few riders arou nd who
still u nd erstand what a Gr eeves
motorcycle is: a sturdy, well -built
motocrosser that gets th e job d on e.
True , in th e past ye a r or so the re have
be en so me m echanical probl ems in so me
b atches o f them but n o thing that
co u ld n 't b e fi xed. Greeve s o wn e rs are a
rar e breed. They m ay n o t b e m ounted
on th e: cu rr e n t "In " machine but they
are proud o f wha t th ey 've got a n d tend
to be ru gged individualists.
Th e main re ason th e marq ue
doesn't seem compe titive now is that
th e riders who made their names on
Greeves were so o n wooed away with
money from the big Japanese and
Continental mo to cro ss firms.
Joel Robert got some of his first
rides on a G reeves and went on to do all
righ t.Gary Bailey went to Bul taco after
being the fi rst A me rican to beat a
E uropean , Arne Kri ng, in an
In tern a tion al m o to cro ss on t ime. J im
Wilson an d his Gr eeves were fantastic
an d a lth o ug h J im d id suffer a bad le g
inj ury, he and the CZ h ave n e ver go t ten
together as we ll as Jim an d the G reeves
d id. Kei th Mas hb urn q ui t fo r ano ther
r eas o n : to turn p ro , . but w h ile
Greeves-mou n ted in T'I ' scrambles an d
motocross he was always up in front.
Gary Conrad mad e his dese rt nu mber
one p late on a Creeves a n d th e list cou ld
go on. Except for a fe w die hards, most
o f wh om a re unfortunately no t still top
rid er s ; it is j us t n o .longer "fashionab le "
to ride: a Gre ev es,
37 sp orts cl u bs. In 1946 h e wa s a
member of O range County M .C., a cl ub
he sp eak s very highly of. Then in 19 50
it was the Hill toppers, .a Long
Beach -based group a nd finally on t o th e
Shamro cks as d esert a c tivi ty g re w .
Then ca me the Catalina Grands Prix.
_ T h ese e ve n ts are esp ecially d ear to Nick
for it was the re he met his wife-to -b e,
Ali ce . She h ad come to watch th e race s
with friends, w a s introduced to N ick
and th at w as it. They were ma r ried in
1952. A marriage , incidentally, that has
given th em two lovely children, Keith
and Ka th leen , and muc h ha p piness
desp it e all th e p ressures of the biking
H ow did h e finish ? T hat I don 't
think I' ll eve r get st raigh t . Nic k hedges.
He sa y s he was eigh teen th overall. If
y ou are famil iar with th e Isle o f Man
th at's aga inst th e mi ght of th e facto ry
tea m s. In the private er di visi on th in gs
get ev en m ore ambiguous. He agr e es h e
w as in th e top te n privateers. A good
friend of h is told m e, "Top ten , h ell ! H e
was first privateer and tenth o ve ral l."
We nev er cou ld chec k it but th e fa c t
remains that Nick Nicholson left hi s
mark on th e Island and ca me home with
a Bronze Re pli ca. He returned to the
Isle again in 1965.
This time it w as to ride th e
THE nlCH
MAN BEHIND THE MACHINE
,
Ni ck Ni c h ol son is the m a n be h in d
Greeve s in th is cou ntry an d h as just
bee n n am ed th e im porte r of the marq u e
fo r the wh o le of th e United S tates. li e is
G reeves. li e's also an individ ual in h is
ow n rig h t an d in th is d ay and age, a
n on -con formist , But a 'n ice one,
Lik e J oh n Penton .he d oesn 't be lie ve
in sp o nso rshi ps. He said so me tim e ago,
"I w o u ldn't feel right sell in g a m achin e
to a m an a n d the n h avi n g tha t man go
o u t and hav e to . rac e against a
f u lly-s po ns o re d m a chin e I was
sp on soring w ith th ings done to it that
p erh ap s my custo mer cou ld n ' t af fo rd
wh en they arc b oth riding fo r th e sa me
pl ate ...
However, those of us who know Ni ck
and are loyal to the breed do get a little
h elp, th ough it is noth ing compared to
w ha t o ther m a nufac tu re rs do. T he basis
of hel p for Greeves rid ers comes fro m
the in dividual rid er's deale r. Whe n Nic k
h ad Bailey, Wilson an d Conrad rid in g
for hi m they n aturally receive d p len ty
of h elp bu t Nick h as n eve r go ne to the
"Here 's your p ink slip and the b ike ."
routine.
We've talked to ride rs w ho ha ve given
up riding G reeves because they th ought
they ~ould get m ore h elp or j us t plain
couldn 't get along w it h Nic k. Well, yo u
can' t always get alo ng with everybody,
no matter w ho you a re, but I know one
thing for a fact. When Ni ck Nicholson
gives his word . o r tells yo u something,
that 's it , or so it has be en in our
personal experience with him.
His b ackground as a rider and now as
sole importer of a unique bike is diverse.
There 's n ot o ne bran ch of m ot orcy cling
h e hasn't tri ed e xc e p t for Eve!
Knievel-like an tics.
EARLY NICHOLSON
Born in Iowa , h e was liv in g in Long
Bea ch wh en h is b rother ac q ui red an o ld
In d ia n , and n aturally Nick sta rted
me ssin g around with that. His j o bs a t
that time w ere with D ouglas an d
Richfield Oil. T h e comp e titive sp iri t
struck and he started riding a friend 's
little Harley 4 5 in h ill cl im b s in th e Palos
Ve rd es h ills, which are now a ll covere d
with
houses an d closed to bikers.
He also star te d into a n e w b ranc h of the
sport b rough t back by servicemen w h o
ha d served across th e Easte rn pond:
observed trials . lie quic kly be came a
m aste r at it , gai ning better and be tter
co n tro l of his m ounts.
lie was working for Long Beach
Harley-Davidson, and S lim ' K arn s put
hi m on a f lat-tracker so he raced
Half-miles and Miles fo r Sli m. He was
o ften the only Novice to m ak e the
program at th e old Carrell Speedway
and held the re cord there. This still
wasn 't e nou gh co m p e ti tio n for Nick , so
while all the flat-tracking was go in g on
h e was riding H ar e and Hounds an d
English trial s, He he ld the perpetu al
tr ophies as number one rider in both
divisions at the sa me time for two y e ars
in a row, 1948 and '49. Even D ay tona
di dn 't escape, Nick won the Amateur
class th e re in 19 5 3 when the beach was
part of the c o u rse .
Sandwiched in b e tween all this ra cin g
he still found time t o belong to D is tric t
,
.
Douglas Aircraft as an asse mb le r and of
co u rse he was alr eady a qualified
m e chanic, so N ick and Ali ce went in to
bu siness in 19 54 in a sma ll garage o ff
An ahe im Street in Long Bea ch,
California sellingJ ames.
In 19 5 6 h e t o ok on BSA bu t in
19 58, be cau se th ere w as alreadv a BSA '
fra nchise in town , h e m oved up to
Noeth H oll ywood on V an Owen, to a
sh op that was to be ho me to many a
fa m ous dirt b ik e rider.
That same y ear Greeves ca me onto
the co m p e ti tio n scene pi cture an d they
ca u gh t on . S o much, in fact, th at BSA
took his frarrehi se aw ay from h im due to
con flict of interest. Greeve s were just
b eating all co me rs du rin g 1959 and
1960.
In the early day s o f m otocross here,
Greeves was the name to con te n d with .
but slowly we saw the onslau ght of
Husqvarna, CZ, then ' the Japanese
m ach in es, n ot to me n tion that always'
co ns ta n t th rea t: l\Iaico. T he ab ili ty of
G reeves to stay co m p e titive de pe nded
not o n ly on its riders but on the fa ctory,
9 r~ eves . itself is a sm a ll factory, I
guess m th is d ay and age yo u could say
it is archaic bu t a Greeves mo to cro ss
m achin e is no di nosaur. T he co m p an y
specializes in making Iit tie ca r ts fo r
severely crip p led people wh o co uld not
m o ve around without th e aid o f on e
and, in b ui lding t h e se , supplies the
English socialized h ealt h se rv ice. When
things ge t a bit slow, I can just see in m y
mind 's eye everyone se tting down their
cu ps o f tea and saying, "Well , let 's run
o ff a few bikes, sh all w e ?"
S o here we h ave a fine m oto rcy cl e
n o t p ro d uced in great n um b ers, wit h
insu ffi cien t fa c to ry mone y to really
advertise an d a n imp o r te r w h o h a s great
pr in cipl es abou t sp onsorsh ip an d
sh o wing h is b ik es on th e trac k.
At the ris k of e mbarrassing Ni ck, he
is co m ing a ro u n d a b it on th at score an d
w ill have a " team " going this year,
giving them wh at h elp he ca n.
business and Al ic e's visits to h ospitals
when N ick go t off.
At Catalina, Ni ck again set the most
records, I asked, " H o w di d y o u do
th e re?" Wit h that li ttle Nicholso n sh rug
and a wave of th e foot (He wa s ly in g on
the floor in front of th e fire at th e
tim e) ; "Oh , I had good lu c k."
G o od lu ck, indeed! H e w on m o re
classes an d events on Catalina th an any
other rider, in cl ud in g th e 15" class
twice, the 2 I " class twice an d the 500
(3 0 " ) class. T hese feats were d o n e on
J ames and BSA b ikes as he made th e
switch to BS A in 19 5 1, with a b ik e
b o u gh t fro m Joe K o un s in Long-Beach.
" How abou t Big Be ar, Nic k ?" Pa use ,
" I finished well." Pause . "One year I
was really leading and the chain broke ,"
and that was all that would co me out of
Mr. Nicholson about Big Bear.
"In those days" he mused. "It w as a
lot more fun, I think, th an it is now.
We 'd have field me ets and impromptu
scram b les a t place s like Box Springs a n d
Bay Me ad ows, all natural terrain,"
R oad raci ngwas the next thing to ge t
involved in .
. BSA d istributor Hap Al zina p ut him
o n a 40-in chcr and o ff went Ni c k to
T orre y Pin es . H e also raced T'I' with it .
Th en a i\ o r to n twin came in to th e
- p icture. In J 9 5 3 , with Willow Springs a n
almost new circuit. Ni ck was riding as a
privateer with A lice e xp ec tin g Kathl een
when he got off h ar d . The leg he b roke
was the one h e re-bro ke two y ears ago
co w-tra ilin g. When Nick is in a cas t.th a t
is one time y o u walk qui e tly.as h e c an ' t
b ear t o be fussed over. lIis attit ude, like '
so many great ra ce rs is " I r's b usted, so
w h at. Wh en docs the cast co me off? and
leave m e alone.
~
The co m pe ti tio n drive was still there,
strong as eve r in spite of a family . We
asked w hy did he decide to go to the
Is le of Man to race there?
.
"Well, I 'd b ee n ta king the " English
papers and I kn ew w hat was going on
o ve r there. It', the greatest IT in th e
world, so wh y n ot? John :lI e La u ghlin
and I wer e o ffe re d a ch anc e to go . I
remember Bill Bagnall h ad a great d eal
to do with rai sin g fund s to help u s,
Al ice and I sold every th ing w e h ad an d
we went. " Scrapboo k ph o t o s sho w a
h appy grou p on a gras sy lawn in fron t
o f an Island farmh ouse . There's also a
picture of a very determined lo oking
Nick in pudding b asin helmet, blac k
leathers and al l, h owling alo ng on hi s
No r to n.
U
ca tast ro p h ic ISDT. lIis Greeves-rnounted
team cons isted o f himself. Lloyd
Lingelbach , Ma x Switzer and Brian
Slark , who n o w hangs his h a t a t
No rto n -Villiers. T hat '65 IS DT was th e
m o st miserable, weatherwise, th a t has
ever be en ru n . T hree h und red riders
started and o n ly eig h ty finished . O n
Wednesd ay o n ly five of seventee n
Americans w er e clean and by th e e nd of
the day . as Nic k says simply. U\\'c were
all sh o t down by t he abomi nab le
co n d ltions.'
"Wh ile in Eu rope the first ti me he
toured a roun d a nd rode so me mo tocross
for the BSA factory, " H ow di d you
do ?" "Oh, I was competitive," a nd th a t
was all he woul d say. You ca n fill in the
re st.
Whil e in Europe he met Jock West,
h ead of James who asked w hat Nick
th ought he co u ld d o with J ames in
Am erica. Nick' had been working at
T he English riders wh o cam e to ride
Gree ves in th e Inte r-Am series were dam
good , w it h most of their expe nses bein g
p aid b y Nick himsel f, n ot the fa c tory .
Once again International cu rre ncy got in
th e way, then Bri an Wad e ca used an
International scene in ra cing ci rcles
when cer tai n parties tri ed to sto p him
ridi ng and got h is lice nse pulled.
Through all this Nick Nic holso n still
re mains th e sa me person . He lo o ks gruff
and so metimes sounds it . bu t there 's
often a tw inkle in h is eye that he tries
to h id e. T he competit ive spi rit is still
th ere. He p ops up at times in o bserved
trials or a dese rt ru n a n d gives it a go.
altho ugh rig ht n ow he's h a vin g f un
co ach in g Ke ith along, slo wly , surely a n d
witho ut the p us hi ng that some d ads give
th ei r kids.
As to the fut u re of Greeves, Nic k
isn' t saying m uch, bu t just keeps his
fingers crossed against work stoppage,
and dock strikes here or in Old Blighty.
Other than that, when questioned about
the Q UB his expression rather rese mbles
the ca t who ate the can a ry ,
"Just wait ' til you ri de o ne ,"
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