Christchurch motorcycle shop nostalgia

[AllanB]

I'm sure Hamptons had Guzzi for a short period.

[Coldrider]

When I was buying trailies years ago it was Holland Honda & Honda City, Casbolts, McCleary and Cresswell swapped agencies overnight. Now when I go back to the olds the place is **cked.

[T.W.R]

When I was buying trailies years ago it was Holland Honda & Honda City, Casbolts, McCleary and Cresswell swapped agencies overnight. Now when I go back to the olds the place is **cked.

Hollands, Casbolts, Whitings, Hornby (Hampton) were Honda as long as I can remember. Tommy McCleary was Suzuki then moved from Manchester St (Eric Woods site) to St Asaph St & took on Yamaha; Eric Wood moved from Moorehouse Ave
(roughly were Southside Kawasaki was) & took Suzuki on. Norjos started out as Suzuki (have a Norjos Suzuki key ring) then went Kawasaki & have been ever since.
Doug Cresswell were Suzuki for as long as I can remember till they closed their doors....as a kid was there almost every week with the old man (Eddie McCann workshop manager was the old mans mechanic & Evan Norris head mechanic had been engaged to my aunt). Evan worked for Hamptons for a while before retiring.
Kevin McCleary looked after the old family store on the St Asaph/Montreal corner then moved down to Sydenham (montreal/disraeli corner) where he & Tommy saw their days out.

[AllanB]

And you can't forget Christchurch Motorcycles in their early Tuam Street days - a treasure trove of odd and unusual parts and bikes collected inside and out in the sheds.

[T.W.R]

And you can't forget Christchurch Motorcycles in their early Tuam Street days - a treasure trove of odd and unusual parts and bikes collected inside and out in the sheds.

The 1st shop was the best......on the opposite side of St Asaph closer to the hospital, a long narrow dimly lit place like Aladdin's cave pretty dodgy old hole but full of gems.
The 2nd shop & yard was (as a teenager) just straight out cool...dunno how many times I'd parked my arse in the barbers chair and gazed dreamingly over the bikes & bits n bobs around the show room.

[HenryDorsetCase]

The 1st shop was the best......on the opposite side of St Asaph closer to the hospital, a long narrow dimly lit place like Aladdin's cave pretty dodgy old hole but full of gems.
The 2nd shop & yard was (as a teenager) just straight out cool...dunno how many times I'd parked my arse in the barbers chair and gazed dreamingly over the bikes & bits n bobs around the show room.

there used to be a bike wreckers out the back, right? I remember sifting thru stuff looking to fix various POS I had broken stuff on. I remember the Hesketh up in the roof, and a Harley BEARS racebike too.

[Grumph]

Hollands, Casbolts, Whitings, Hornby (Hampton) were Honda as long as I can remember. Tommy McCleary was Suzuki then moved from Manchester St (Eric Woods site) to St Asaph St & took on Yamaha; Eric Wood moved from Moorehouse Ave
(roughly were Southside Kawasaki was) & took Suzuki on. Norjos started out as Suzuki (have a Norjos Suzuki key ring) then went Kawasaki & have been ever since.
Doug Cresswell were Suzuki for as long as I can remember till they closed their doors....as a kid was there almost every week with the old man (Eddie McCann workshop manager was the old mans mechanic & Evan Norris head mechanic had been engaged to my aunt). Evan worked for Hamptons for a while before retiring.
Kevin McCleary looked after the old family store on the St Asaph/Montreal corner then moved down to Sydenham (montreal/disraeli corner) where he & Tommy saw their days out.

Doug Cresswell was a family friend for years. Bought an ex cop 500 triumph off him when he was the Triumph agent. Still remember Sonny Clark (sales manager) turning up to one of the first 1/2 hr production races at Ruapuna with a T120R straight off the floor. Don't know if Doug had OK'd it - but he won anyway. Wore out a new set of mufflers doing it though. Doug was the first yamaha agent in ChCh I think. Yamaha for quite a while before changing.
Anyone remember the short lived kawasaki agency in High St ? Sonny Clark and a mate of his set it up. Didn't last long.
The best one to look at in a lunch hour was the Velocette shop in Tuam st...Jones Bros ?

[T.W.R]

Whiting & Waltho or Adams were the Triumph agents, Bond & Hockley were the BSA agents with workshop upstairs and hoist in the showroom. Sonny Clark & Tommy McCleary were best of mates, the old man beat him a few times at the beach racing at New Brighton.
Bob Burns son (david I think was head of sales) was head of sales at Doug Cs.
ChCh MC was Lindsey Williamson & Joe Hannah they'd bring containers of bikes out from the US & load them to the max with bits to make worthwhile thats a bit of where the parts side came from. Think 1 of the salesmen from Casbolts brought the Hesketh & still has it. The Harley racer( Blackadder) was a mckintosh framed replica of the Sputhe Engineering XLCR racer ridden by Vance Breese in the AFM series in the late 70/early 80s in US.

[Kickaha]

there used to be a bike wreckers out the back, right?

Yes

Jacks Yamaha was also in Oxford terrace before moving up Colombo street, first road bike I ever had a go on came from there

[T.W.R]

My 1st race bike the old man brought from Tommy, 1 season old YZ80 ex Mark Lyndon.....Tom did the old man a pretty sharp deal, but they were mates, had raced together for many yrs & dad had taught Bob to drive ( had 1 of the 1st proper endorsed driving schools in chch).
Eric W was well known as a tight bastard, Eric the hood in certain circles. Remember talking with his boy once & he was having a real moan about the lack of support & having to pay thru the nose for bits for his race bike. Remember seeing Eric pull up front of shop 1 day in the Thunderbird with a cockatoo on his shoulder.....just like a pirate (thought it was quite apt at the time).
My mate brought the only green frame 1000s guzzi that Eric had allocated to the shop. Spent a few hrs there drooling over the Laverda SFC1000. Saw a few of my ex bikes grace the floor there over the years.

[Stylo]

My 1st race bike the old man brought from Tommy, 1 season old YZ80 ex Mark Lyndon.....Tom did the old man a pretty sharp deal, but they were mates, had raced together for many yrs & dad had taught Bob to drive ( had 1 of the 1st proper endorsed driving schools in chch).
Eric W was well known as a tight bastard, Eric the hood in certain circles. Remember talking with his boy once & he was having a real moan about the lack of support & having to pay thru the nose for bits for his race bike. Remember seeing Eric pull up front of shop 1 day in the Thunderbird with a cockatoo on his shoulder.....just like a pirate (thought it was quite apt at the time).
My mate brought the only green frame 1000s guzzi that Eric had allocated to the shop. Spent a few hrs there drooling over the Laverda SFC1000. Saw a few of my ex bikes grace the floor there over the years.

I remember that SFC1000, bright red. It sat there for weeks and no-one was interested, maybe months. Think it was priced at somewhere around 9 grand. I have a picture of it sitting in the showroom.. must dig it out and post it through.

[Kickaha]

I remember the SFC1000, it sat there for weeks and no-one was interested, maybe months. Think it was priced at somewhere around 9 grand. I have a picture of it sitting in the showroom, somewhere

We met a guy in the Cheviot pub the night he bought one, doing a run to Kaikoura to get some miles on it with another mate of his on a race kitted SFC

Rode back to Chch with them the next day, he had instructions to stay under a certain amout of revs but that still meant he could go 160kmh

Swampy was indicating 200kmh on his R90S when the race kitted bike went past like he was going backwards

[Grumph]

Lot of bike shops around then, I used to enjoy a coffee with Tom McCleary when I worked for him many years ago and he used to rave on about when he was in Moorehouse Ave as Tommys Suzuki and how many bikes he used to sell in 1975. He was a miserable bastard though, his office always had the windows shut and the curtains down even on a sunny day. Best thing about him was he used to shout Kentucky fried chicken on a Friday night.

I have a bench from Tommy's Moorhouse Ave. Mate was setting those premises up as a paint and panel shop when we took over his old premises for Budget in St Asaph St. He offered us the benches he didn't want so round there with a skillsaw and trailer...it's come with me now through three moves. About 6 meters long and metal topped, it'll outlast me.
That place was at the time the biggest floor area motorcycle shop in Australasia so Tommy said...certainly cost a fortune to fit out.

[T.W.R]

Just been browsing thru a race program for the 1967 Halswell 100 the ads were as follows:

McCleary Motors, 42 Tuam st
Hornsby & Tapper Ltd, NZs leading motorcycle apparel, 115 Lichfield st
Russell Motor Co (Alistair Sabiston now workshop manager), 27 Manchester st
Bond & Hockley (agents for: BSA, Honda, Ducati), 38 Ferry Rd

Velvin & Cresswell Ltd (distributors for: Triumph, Yamaha, Honda, Vespa), 112-114 Manchester st
Westpoint Glove Co Ltd, 113 Durham st

Jones Bros Ltd, 88 Lichfield st

Waltham Service Station Ltd (Shell), Mick & Gordon Holland, 2 Shakespeare Rd
Scooter, Motorcycle & Moped Services, Manchester st

R Lovegrove, Motorcycle Engineer, 287a St Asaph st

[AllanB]

I remember Norjo having a BMW agency at one point when they were I think in Riccarton Rd as I remember test riding a K75 there.

That's right they did. I think I was on my second new Kawasaki from them when they added BMW - I remember test riding the K75, being disappointed at the lack of guts the R650 had and seriously looking at a R80/GS. Flagged the GS and went on my OE.