Gooldie looking Cheney

As an 11-year-old I was there in August 1963 to see Derek Rickman and Ivor England, on their white Metisse machines, locked in a titanic battle with a young man from Parkstone; his name was Jerry Scott. 

 

On a gleaming Cheney Gold Star, wearing race No.72, the 24-year-old Scott had a good day, finishing runner-up to Rickman in the Experts-only final and then winning his Walker trophy heat ahead of another Metisse ridden by Ken Messenger.

 

My lasting memory of that balmy August Sunday is the earth shaking noise from his booming 500cc single and my disappointment when – after a thrilling dice with eventual winner Derek Rickman – he was forced to pull out of the main race with a clutch problem. 

 

As the meeting finished and we made our way home, little could I imagine that in 1966 Jerry would be tragically killed while racing in the North versus South event at Boltby in Yorkshire – or that nearly fifty years later I would get the opportunity to ride that same Cheney Gold Star.

 

Surviving, genuine ex-works competition machines are a rare breed and as I have a great love of off-road bikes from that era I was delighted when I received a phone call from West Country enthusiast Tom Seward. 

 

With just a brief description his bike sounded extremely interesting and when he told me it was an ex Jerry Scott machine I quickly realised it was the same bike I'd drooled over at Leighton in 1963. 

 

The name of Eric Cheney is synonymous with some stunning scrambles and International Six Day trials machines, so before we fire up Tom's Goldie we'll briefly reflect on his (Cheney's) long and successful career. 

 

As both racer and manufacturer Eric shared with the Rickman brothers the rare combination of being both a world-class racer and an engineering perfectionist.

 

A man who took on – and often beat – the best in the world. 

 

He started his racing career on an Army surplus 350cc Triumph in 1946 but already it was no ordinary bike as he'd removed the original girder forks and replaced them with telescopics from a Matchless. 

 

The following year he progressed to an alloy-engined VCH 500cc Ariel and this bike also soon received the ‘Cheney touch'. 

 

At a time most other scrambles bikes were equipped with girder forks and a rigid rear-end Eric's featured telescopic forks and a McCandless swinging arm conversion which gave four precious inches of suspension movement. 

 

During 1950 Cheney and the Ariel were was almost unbeatable and – after winning the Hants Grand National and Sunbeam point–to-point – he was rewarded with an Ariel factory bike and selection for the Motocross Des Nations team in Sweden. 

 

The same year he also made the first of many appearances on foreign soil when he rode at Montreuil, near Paris, for which he was paid the handsome start fee of £70. 

 

This was a prelude to a wonderful decade. Throughout the 1950s he won countless national and international scrambles and along with his new team mate Les Archer he became a scourge of the continental circus on his featherbed framed ‘works' SOHC Norton. 

 

Development work on the Norton proved to be an ‘apprentiship' for Eric and in 1960 he manufactured his first frame which he wrapped around a 500cc AJS pushrod engine. 

 

It was a water-shed as not only was it the first Cheney it also broke the hitherto magical 300lb barrier when it weighed in at 295lb.

 

Cheney continued to race on the continent but while competing in Algeria in 1961 he picked up a blood infection and after a prolonged illness was forced to retire and concentrate his efforts on engine preparation and frame building. 

 

This was all done in his workshop at the rear of his Hampshire home and with no racing to distract him he soon created the Goldie raced by the talented Scott – the bike now owned and ridden by the lucky Cornishman Tom Seward.

 

Throughout the 1950s and into the 1960s the BSA Gold Star had been the mainstay of the British scrambles scene, but despite its superb engine it was a big heavy machine and by the early 1960s the writing was on the wall. 

 

The standard Goldie might have been past its best but the motocross world soon sat up and took notice of the superbly finished – and very quick – Cheney. 

 

The bike, which carried its oil in the beautifully crafted frame, featured an engine and gearbox fitted with lightweight magnesium castings and on the scales it shaved a staggering 50lbs off the previous lardy offering from Small Heath. 

 

Fitted with Ceriani forks, a skimmed Matchless front hub and an anodised blue alloy petrol tank, it not only looked a thing of beauty but, with Jerry Scott in the saddle, it was also a seriously competitive machine.

 

And it was soon taking the young Parkstone man to numerous TV trophy and British championship triumphs.  However, after a couple of highly successful seasons the Gold Star engine was eventually pensioned off and replaced by BSA's much lighter and faster unit construction 441cc Victor motor – this from a former BSA works bike known as ‘Black Bess'. 

 

What happened to the Cheney Gold Star is unclear but it is thought that it went into a private collection until 1976, when it was advertised in Motorcycle News – an advert which was quickly spotted by Tom Seward. 

 

Tom – who rode his first bike over 60 years ago – is a man who loves big competition four-strokes and it wasn't long before a deal was done and the Cheney was on its way to its new home in Cornwall.

 

Tom takes up the story: "I've always loved the sight, smells and sounds of the big four-stroke scramblers, so when I saw the ex Jerry Scott Cheney advertised in MCN I decided to follow it up.”

 

FOR FULL STORY AND PICTURES SEE TMX JANUARY 17