THE 1970S WAS THE DECADE OF THE SUPERBIKE. Motorcycles were faster and more sophisticated, but also bigger, heavier, and more complicated. As far as George Silk was concerned, the fun of riding one was being eroded as manufacturers chased power and paid for it with handling problems. He believed that discerning riders would prefer a small, lightweight motorcycle with bags of torque, a decent turn of speed and race-bred handling – a modern version of his vintage Scott.
When George left school, he started work as an apprentice at legendary Scott specialist Tom Ward of Derby. He later took a job at the Rolls-Royce jet engine factory, also based in Derby, but left in 1969 to set up Silk Engineering with his friend and fellow Scott fanatic Maurice Patey. They started making goodies for the ‘yowling two-stroke’, including a redesigned, stronger crankshaft and a variable delivery oil pump that was linked to the throttle opening.
George’s carefully tuned, methanol-burning 500cc Flying Squirrel was timed at over 100mph – when they were new, a Scott would struggle to hit 80mph. In the early 1970s, there was no way that anyone could make a decent living from manufacturing parts for obsolete motorcycles, but fortunately Silk Engineering won the contract to service narrow gauge diesel locomotives used by the National Coal Board.
