Davehuge
Member
Hi Harry, as requested here's a few photos you might be interested in.
I used to race these bikes when I was much younger and much slimmer!
All the bikes here were owned and built by my late friend, Dave Brearley (except for the Spondon Yamaha AS1 125cc, that belonged to me).
He was a fantastic engineer, building most of his bikes from scratch, making his own frames, exhausts, moulding his own fiberglass tanks, fairings, seats. He also cast a few aluminum parts such as cylinder heads with removable inserts. This was all done just as a hobby, not to make money.
Van Veen Kreidler Replica - Dave made the frame, all the fiberglass, etc. He used a Kreidler road engine crank cases and then fitted Van Veen components. I used to have great fun in the 250cc class on this bike, beating many other, bigger bikes.
Dave made several of these, improving each one.
Minarelli 50cc - Again built from scratch. Aircooled, piston ported, simple, reliable. Not as as fast as the Kreidler but adequate. I won the British Classic 50cc Championship 2 years running on this bike.
Kreidler Tohatsu 50cc Special - This is/was a fast 50cc race bike. This is a Kreidler barrel/crank grafted onto a Tohatsu close ratio gearbox. The Tohatsu was originally a 50cc twin cylinder GP bike that was discontinued when the rules were changed. This bike gave me my first race win in a Classic 125cc race.
I used to race these bikes when I was much younger and much slimmer!
All the bikes here were owned and built by my late friend, Dave Brearley (except for the Spondon Yamaha AS1 125cc, that belonged to me).
He was a fantastic engineer, building most of his bikes from scratch, making his own frames, exhausts, moulding his own fiberglass tanks, fairings, seats. He also cast a few aluminum parts such as cylinder heads with removable inserts. This was all done just as a hobby, not to make money.
Van Veen Kreidler Replica - Dave made the frame, all the fiberglass, etc. He used a Kreidler road engine crank cases and then fitted Van Veen components. I used to have great fun in the 250cc class on this bike, beating many other, bigger bikes.
Dave made several of these, improving each one.Minarelli 50cc - Again built from scratch. Aircooled, piston ported, simple, reliable. Not as as fast as the Kreidler but adequate. I won the British Classic 50cc Championship 2 years running on this bike.
Kreidler Tohatsu 50cc Special - This is/was a fast 50cc race bike. This is a Kreidler barrel/crank grafted onto a Tohatsu close ratio gearbox. The Tohatsu was originally a 50cc twin cylinder GP bike that was discontinued when the rules were changed. This bike gave me my first race win in a Classic 125cc race.
Last edited:
