Greeves Essex twin
ALTHOUGH BEST KNOWN for building competitive off-roaders, Greeves had twin-cylinder, two-stroke road bikes in its catalogue from the moment bikes started rolling from the firm’s Essex production lines in 1954.
The company took its name from inspired engineer Bert Greeves and the backbone of the business, which was run as a partnership with his cousin Derry Preston-Cobb, was the government-financed Invacar invalid carriage. This was a small, light blue, single seater tricycle, which was ordered by the government to provide transport for people with disabilities – many of whom had lost limbs during the Second World War. The Invacar design made use of small two-stroke Villiers engines, rubber bush suspension and glass fibre bodywork.
Producing tens of thousands of Invacars gave Greeves a strong company base and the workforce skills that could be used in motorcycle manufacturing. Bert Greeves was already an enthusiastic motorcyclist and talented scrambles rider and the company produced its first prototype motocrosser in
