The British squad bosses were keen to keep the Trophy team mounted on home machinery, but the choices were few and what remained of the British industry showed little interest in competing in the motorcycling Olympics. Apathy might have ruled in the boardrooms at Small Heath and Meriden, but, thanks to the determination of multiple six days gold medal winner Ken Heanes, the Trophy team did compete on British bikes in the 45th International in Spain, in 1970.
The team’s Cheney Triumphs were arguably some of the most beautiful machines ever to compete in the strength-sapping, bike-breaking marathon. The late Heanes explained how motorcycles were readied for the 1970 (and 1971) ISDTs:
“I was keen to keep the flag flying and I managed to persuade five other large dealerships in the form of Elite Motors, Comerfords, Bill Slocombe, Jack Williams and Allan Jefferies, plus myself, to fund our [Britain’s] efforts for the 1970 International.
“Each dealership would put up the money to sponsor one bike powered by overbored Triumph twins, which Eric Cheney would build into one of his tried and tested motocross frames. I got the motors straight from the production line at Meriden and stripped, balanced and rebuilt them, and, as with all of my Triumph engines for previous Internationals, I changed the gearing to include a low first and then a jump to the close ratio three other gears, which gave a top speed of around 100mph on the road.
This story is from the December 2020 edition of The Classic MotorCycle.
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This story is from the December 2020 edition of The Classic MotorCycle.
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