The bike is a 1964 Francis-Barnett, or it could also be known as a James Cotswold scrambler (depends on the tank badge I guess!). It is completely stock, and utilizes a 250cc Villiers Starmaker engine and Norton Roadholder forks. Of all the British two-stroke lightweight bikes of the era, it's the only one to use telescopic forks. It's not very light either, tipping the scales at a portly 265 pounds. In its day, it would have been run against BSAs, Greeves, Dots and Cottons. England's Chris Horsfield was probably the most famous rider to have ridden a bike like this.
I bought the bike from Matt Hilgenberg, who operates Speed & Sport, which happens to be the national sponsor for both AHRMA's trials and motocross programs. Matt acquired this bike from a noted Greeves collector in Los Angeles who was clearing out his collection of non-Greeves motorcycles. When Matt bought it, he intended that it would become his own personal Premier Lightweight mount and he restored it with this in mind. I saw Matt ride it at the Sears Point national MX in 1999. I thought it was so neat that I put it in the back of my mind to inquire if Matt would sell it.
It took me the rest of 1999 to convince Matt that it would be a good idea to sell it to me. I picked it up at the 2000 Phoenix national AHRMA MX in February. It's a fun bike to ride and makes decent power. It's a little heavy, but you don't notice it too much when riding. It turns excellently, and the Norton forks work quite well. I've ridden the bike almost all year and it's been great fun. I've had a few good scraps with Mike Atkins on his BSA C15, and this has developed into a friendly rivalry between Team BSA and Team Villiers. Team BSA won most of the battles this year, but we'll be back in 2001 to attempt to show that Team Villiers can dominate AHRMA's Premier Lightweight class.
