This photo is very dear to me as it is of my paternal Grandfather. I can recall tales of this bike from when I was very young, the most memorable of which was him getting stopped by a Policeman on account of the bike being too noisy. The Officer questioned the silencing on the New Gerrard and tested it by poking a stick up the exhaust - when the stick met no resistance proving the lack of silencing my Grandfather got reprimanded!
The New Gerrard was a rare bike back in the day as it is now and essentially a racer on the road. The engine is a Blackburne and I believe would have been a 350.
New Gerrards were made in Scotland by Jock Porter - the first Scottish TT winner in 1923 on one of his own built machines.
Jock Porter was by all accounts quite the character and built of stern stuff. He was partially deaf but none-the-less travelled solo from Edinburgh to compete in GP races across Europe - imagine that in pre-motorway, pre-passenger flight days. Even today most Brits consider a road trip to Monza a big undetaking. Picture going there all the way from Edinburgh in the mid-twenties. There's a good biog of Jock Porter here.
New Gerrard motorcycles were built from 1922 to 1940. There was also a line of New Gerrard bicycles.
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| My Grandfather with his New Gerrard, circa 1926. |
