Here are a couple of photos of how "Vibsa Two" started off...

 And the Chopped down Chopper forks.

I now have found the mails that Chris sent me with the stories of the builds,

they will be up shortly, now I am back working on this page.

Photo Courtesy Geoff Lewis.

 This is Geoff Lewis owner of "Vibsa Number two".                            

Chris fitted the engine he had built for Geoff into this frame, this then left him with the engine for,"Vibsa Number Three".

Chris felt just well enough to set his sites to build the last bike, and finished it just before Christmas 2010.

"Vibsa "Three",

Was unfortunately the last of the bikes built by Chris.

The story of this build will follow once I have been through the mails Chris sent me, with the information on the build, and his determination to get the bike finished...

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The Sprite Build 

We will then start on the "Sprite" story. and the tales he told me about riding with "Jonah".

Dennis Jones...

Also the story of the Sprite he built from a box of rusty parts.

Photos the Leighfield Family.

Here is the box of Sprite Villiers bits.when Chris started the build up of the Sprite.

And here is the "Sprite" when Chris had finished using his Magic on it.

The late Frank Hipkin. Mailed Chris to say how good a job he had done rebuilding the bike.

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Sprite test rider Dennis "Jonah" Jones.

Photo Courtesy Deryk Wylde ORR-e

"Jonah" riding his 1966 Sprite.

OK, this next bit is going to be a jumble until I have sorted it.

And I have so much more, but find it difficult to read sometimes.

OK,

Piecing together what information I have found, and talking to people with knowledge of the Midlands Trials scene at the time, along with the help from the Hipkin family.

This is my account of the time scale of the Villiers powered Sprites.

• 1963

1963. Development started to produce a Sprite trials bike. Starting point, a CoTTon frame that had the front frame loop replaced with twin small diameter tubes, to gain ground clearance. Easy with a plumbers pipe bender? Don’t forget half of the team was a plumber. Then looking at building the frame for production, ( being a plumber) it would make sense to bend the top tubes running through to the seat rails in just two lengths! The rest still looked very much like a CoTTon.

(This development is totally as I see it and the way I would have gone about the task)!

• 1964.

1964. First production frames are produced; we now know that AMC forks were used on the first batch of bikes. Also that the Glass-fibre fuel tanks were very bulbous and to be honest slightly ugly? British Racing Green in colour.

• 1965.

1965. More development had refined some areas. In the design, ground clearance was slightly higher. During this period the new Monza Starmaker engined bike was being developed. This appeared in the press in October. The bike had 10 ½” ground clearance but still with a seat height of only 29”. The forks were of leading link type, with longer Girling units, and producing a travel movement of 7”. Nylon pivot bushes were fitted to these and to the swinging arm. Price in kit form £184, while the Standard trials, price was still kept to £149 (32A engine) only £4 more than the year before. Jonah rode in the Scottish for the first time on a Sprite.

• 1966.

1966. This is the year that the Sprite kits were pushed to the fore and sales coming from the novice rider, as well has the professional? Some well known names were now riding Sprite machines as well as the two development riders. I have a photo of Sam Cooper on a Sprite fitted with Bultaco forks and front wheel. The results started to come during 66 and Sprite was now a leading trials winner as well.

• 1967.

1967. As far as I can see this is the year when the frame was modified again, and this is the years that the two seat tubes were lost. So Sprites without these tubes are not Pre65!!

• Dennis Jones "Jonah".
• Frank Hipkin said that when Sprite's were still built at the
• "Sweet Shop".
• Jonah would sometimes be there for 24 hours working on his bike he was allowed the run of the place and used what was necessary for him to make his bike ridable,along with fitting New tyres.
• He would then go off to  Tipton practising taking with him a small axe has an hammer and a blunt and bent screwdriver a pair of "Mole" grips and a New set of piston rings. when he got back the tyres that he had fitted would be worn out.but left on for the week ends trials.
•  
• When asked why if he was riding for Sprite in 1964 why did he not ride in the Scottish Six Days Trial.
• Charlie> If you had known "Jonah" at this time you would have known why he did not ride in the previous years Scottish. (he could not afford to go)
• The guy only wanted to be a top flight trials rider, and all he had to ride was a beat out old Greeves  with a clapped out engine.
• He arrived at Frank's Shop on this, and asked Frank to build a trials bike around him.
• All Frank had was an old CoTTon, so they started with that, and then set to to modify the bike to Jonah's taste and riding style. This is when I first saw the bike in oxide red, with two tubes running under the engine, every time out the bike would have a different fuel tank fitted, and a different colour.
• One weekend on one of these was placed a "Sprite" tank sticker.
• The "Sprite" trials bike was Born.
• 1965, And Jonah did ride in the Scottish trial, Frank supplied him with a frame, Roy Bevis lent Dennis the front forks and wheel, from his bike for the week, and  Dennis fitted  the engine from the CoTTon into it.
• "Jonah" could only ride a trials bike in one way (spectacularly) with the throttle full open, not good for any engine, and more so not for a worn out one.
• He could not hold down a job, as all he wanted to do was practice his trials riding.
• If he had new tyres,he would wear them out practising all week for the following weekends trial, and then ride with these worn out tyres, and give the performance of the day.
• If you think you could ride on a shoestring budget and compete in national trials to this level, Jonah went one step further.
• The guy turned up at the Scottish wearing his Barbour suit, and when asked for his luggage he said he had none!! Only a pair of trainers in his pockets, and he never did wear gloves, what ever the weather or condition.
• He did the European Championship, and stayed over for the week with only £6 in his pocket.
• Chris used to travel with him to trials, and said he was the best mate that he had ever had, but the escapades the two got up too was unprintable, and sadly now we shall never know.
• One thing I can say is that "Jonah" was good at darts, but could never add up his own score, and always seemed to get a bigger total than he actually scored, A bit the same as some of his trials results.
• The guy was a "one off Star"at the time, and only did what he did with the help of the likes of Frank Hipkin and the rest of the Midlands trials community.
• And don't forget that this was the guy who did most of the test riding on Sprite trials bikes, and if they could stand up to "Jonah" they could stand up to anyone.
• After cleaning a particularly hard section "Jonah" would say how was that!....... OK you would reply,
• " So that Podged-um then" he would reply.
• Last time I spoke to "Jonah" he was still living and working in Barcelona where he had a removal shipping company moving "Brits" over there from the Midlands for a new life.
• If you read this "Jonah" give me a shout OK.
• I know that you are back in the UK at the moment, 01/03/2018.
• Respect Charlie.
•  
• Sprite... sales literature.

Some of the "Sprite" advertising literature Frank sent to me at the time.

Frank could not say enough about Chris Leighfield and his professionalism in giving the guy's at "Sprite" feedback from his rides and stating what needed to be done to each machine he rode to help produce the best from it.

~~~~~~~

Chris then went on to do the same job for the

Taylor Suzuki... 

Photo Alan Vines Courtesy Deryk Wylde ORR Classic Bikes.

Here Chris riding the Taylor TC120 Suzuki in the 1969 Victory trial

Story below Chris Leighfield...

~~~~~~~

26/07/2019...

And Over to Deryk Wylde with the story told to him by John Taylor....

Yesterday I was asked about a variation on the Suzuki trials theme that was put together in Staffordshire and was very successful in the Midlands and further afield. 

This was the Taylor Suzuki and John Taylor was the man behind the project, who said: 

"It started as a bit of fun really I was in partnership with the late Fred Miles at the Cannock Suzuki Centre, and Fred brought back one of the KT20 4-speed trail bikes from Golden Hillock Road where Suzuki were based in those days. We converted it for trials. 

"You will probably remember the Elstar trials bikes that Alf Ellis produced in West Bromwich.

Bob Haswell who did the work for Alf had a lot of frame bends left, so we took the project on board.

We first used the BlO0p 4-speed Suzuki, then the TC120 which had six speeds- three low and three high.

We fitted forks from the T200 and KIO hubs, with BSA Victor Alloy petrol tanks. 

''I think we made a dozen of them, not in kit form but ready to go.

One went to Belgium and two to France, my brother Jim and l had them and so did Chris Leighfield, Bill Price and Bert Tolfree from Stafford.

Chris was very successful, so was Bill, after all, he is the ideal rider for a mini-bike as he weighs nothing at all even when wet!" 

Throughout the 1960s Chris (from Sutton Coldfield) went very well, first on James and Tiger Cubs and then various Sprites before moving to the Taylor Suzuki.

A tall, lanky figure, Chris could get the best out of the small machines on the tight Midland Centre sections, I don't think Chris ever won a National trial, but he came close several times, and later emigrated to Australia. 

Bewdley clubman Geoff Brett, long-time freelance MCN correspondent for the Midland Centre, also had a Taylor-Suzuki and often said that it was 'simply the best trials bike he ever had'.

Why did the Taylor Suzukis not continue?

John said:

"We seemed to get a lot of big hills, though Bill Price could get away with it of course.

I think the mini-bike era was from about 1967 to 1971...

And after that they all faded out." 

PHOTO: Chris Leighfield on his Taylor Suzuki in the 1969 Victory Trial.

Top of Form...

Charlie~Oo>... You can see if you look at the photo above, that the frame bends were the ones used on the ELstar grass and trials bikes. Steve Wilson had told me this a few weeks ago I seem to remember, but it had slipped my mind.

You can also see that the engine oil for the pumped mixing system was held in this top tube bend...

~~~~~~~

Just thought, you would like to hear again one of those little motors running, and the gear selection explained...

~~~~~~~

Another image of Chris, Courtesy Deryk Wylde. ORRe Classic sports motorcycles.

~~~~~~~

You can see that Bob Haswell of ELstar fame had not lost his touch building the Taylor Suzuki frames. If you look at the swinging arm arrangement it was the same as the ELstars but in miniature.

Photo Courtesy Deryk Wylde again...

Bill Price, "Riding High" on the Taylor TC12o Suzuki.

Photo of Jim Taylor riding a Taylor TC120 Suzuki in the Mitchell trial...Courtesy  ORRe Classic Sports Motorcycle Action ...

ORRe CSMA photo again thanks Deryk...

~~~~~~~

Now this is the Alta made in Wales TC120 engined trials bike.

 I will do this story later...

 But, one of the builders of the Alta Suzuki was named Taylor. A relation so I am informed.

 Looking at the Mk One Alta. it is obvious that the frame is a Taylor Suzuki with an Altered subframe... Even the swinging arm is the same Elstar reincarnation, from the Taylor bikes.

~~~~~~~

More stories later .

updat2023...03...