John Tickle

Back in the mid - late 1960's there was an emergence of tuners and specialty parts makers starting to produce and sell bolt on cafe racer parts and accessories. Prior to this, a cafe racer was really a home built machine that mostly resembled a stock bike, and generally with some hop up engine parts, lightened fenders and the occasional discarded race part. But as with all things, and with the popularity of a movement, an industry of it's own is born. And lucky for us, because these cool bolt on specialty parts allow for period cafe racers to be built with the proper parts. And when I say proper parts, I'm referring to items that were manufactured and available for sale during that period. Some of these items have spawned a million knock offs, replicas and reproduction parts. Even allowing companies such as Emgo to operate a lucrative business by making cheap copies.

Well, for me, and for my Nortons, the knock off crap just won't do. So I spend (waste) my life scouring the globe for the good shit. In this instance I'm talking about some John Tickle parts. About 2 years ago, I had seen a set of John Tickle fender brackets, or Y brackets as they're commonly known. These aluminum brackets had been used on racing machines such as the Manx Norton for at least a decade and half prior to someone like John Tickle making them, so really, they were commercially available cafe racer parts that you could buy to emulate your favorite race machine of the day. Prior to seeing these John Tickle brackets, I had only known of the original factory made / standard brackets, as well as the readily available versions sold by Unity Equipe under the brand name Converta. These Converta brackets are stamped and work quite well, and definitely look the part. But here were these John Tickle stamped brackets, in the flesh, mounted to an alloy fender and collecting dust, grime and general shop wear in a friends garage. I of course instantly asked if the set up was for sale, and offered to pay whatever price he demanded. And I was met with a solid "No" of an answer. Well, that set in motion my search to find another set, a set of my own, for my own Norton.

To say these brackets are rare, is an understatement. Which is odd because on any given month, I can find John Tickle head light ears, clip ons and sometimes even a John Tickle front brake. But all my years messing about with vintage motorbikes, I had never seen a set. Much less a set for sale. It took about a year of constant searching, but I finally found a set. On eBay UK of course. And I set out to purchase them, and was the successful high bidder. Mission accomplished, right? Of course not. The brackets are of course amazing. Or at least as amazing as any bent and shaped piece of 1/8" thick aluminum can be. They're virtually identical to the Converta brackets, but with that all important John Tickle stampings.

Even though they're rare, if you find them, this is the version you'll generally come across. These are stamped in the manner that nearly all of his parts were stamped "John Tickle (R.E.)"

And another version of the same bracket. This is the only set I've ever seen with this stamping, Perhaps an earlier version? This is where the mission "not accomplished" comes into play. Having found the set pictured above, I was content. After all, I have no need to hoard parts that don't have a bike to go on in my garage. I'd rather let others purchase those parts so they can find their way on to machines being used. But then I come across this set, and I had to have them.

J.T. (Racing Eqmpt.)

So what of John Tickle? Who was he, and what did he do? Well, he was an Englishman that loved motorcycles and raced Manx Nortons of his own. He even raced a side car outfit, and is pictured here in 1962 at Mallory Park.

The object of my post, started as a highlight of some John Tickle parts. The infamous John Tickle brake plate was a piece that I purchased and restored for a Norton Dominator project that I'm building up as a "special", using all period parts. Over the years I've come across lots of the bits that he manufactured. They were aftermarket bolt on parts designed mainly for the guy converting a standard road bike to a cafe racer. Some of the small bits he manufactured and sold:

And a later magazine advertisement showing some of his parts:

But the John Tickle story is deeper than that, and although I won't go in to an extensive history lesson, he served as the owner for the rights to the Manx Norton spares. Having purchased these rights from Colin Seeley, he sold spares to those needing to keep their Manx Nortons competitive in racing circuits around the world, long after the Norton Works Bracebridge Street Factory had ceased producing the Manx and were consolidated into the AMC conglomeration.

Selling those spares, and having the mind of a racer as well as the entrepreneurial spirit, John Developed the T5 Manx. Which from the looks of it, was a standard Norton Manx motor, gearbox and wheels. All housed within his own frame design. Although I can't claim to have the exact details, I've never met or heard from anyone else that does either. It looks, from photos, to be a standard Norton swingarm, but the front end seems to be a modified piece of kit with one of his alloy top yokes, and then of course the petrol tank, seat and oil tank are designed to work on the frame. Very few examples were ever built, but I reacall seeing a recent photo of 1 surviving bike that was brought to the Wheels & Waves event, hosted by Vincent Pratt, of Southsiders fame, about 2 years ago. I'd love to see some recent photos and get some detailed information from anyone out there that may own one of these amazing pieces of history.

Tickle T5 Manx on the left, and featherbed framed Manx on the right. Both posing for a beautiful photo in front of the Tickle headquarters.

Probably the most well known photo of the man himself. Astride a T5 Manx.

Even the delivery van was pretty damn cool.

After some time, John's business fell on financial hardship, and he sold the rights to Manx Norton spares and other specialty bits of his business to Unity Equipe. To this day, Unity carries on the legacy and sells countless replacement and specialty parts for Nortons and other British bikes.

The T5 Manx is of course a high dollar collectible motorcycle, and surely any surviving example, would be in the hands of a museum or wealthy collector. For the most part, bikes like that don't get brought out very often, if ever. It's a shame really because so little seems to be known of John Tickle, and even less about the T5. I wish that some of the people that own these bikes, and other exotic motorcycles, would bring them to events, or post comprehensive photos and details about them online. It would be nice if the rest of us common folk could enjoy seeing them and learning about them. And that's what I like about these specialty bolt on parts. They're rare, but they can be found. They aren't cheap, but they're also not ridiculously expensive. So any normal guy that's working on an old British bike, and has a bit of patience and a decent standard level, can find some of these bits, and enjoy them on their own machine. It's worth the effort...