"TRIVES", by Justyn Norek Jr.
I love four-stroke bikes. I love trials bikes. I love classic British motorcycles. So you can imagine how I got excited when I spotted advertisement for a Triumph-Greeves with a powerful 350 Triumph twin-cylinder engine in a robust steel and aluminium frame.
It was with some excitement that I dialed the number and waited for what seemed an eternity before a calm voice answered "pronto", similar to "hello" in English. The vendor emailed some photos - and it turned out he had quite a collection up for sale - photos arrived of some really beautiful British trials bikes - James, Ariel HT5, BSA B40, AJS 500 and the much anticipated Triumph-Greeves 350. I was in love! [Again. Ed.]
The following day my father and I drove 150km to meet the gentleman. He was in his sixties, and a very keen Trials rider himself, with a particular penchant for Bultaco.
We learned that the collection is from the estate of the late Giulio Mauri, a man I knew well. Giulio was real expert - a fine rider, a trials journalist and a photographer; he was co-author with Valentin Fontsere of an excellent and comprehensive book on Italian trials bikes, and another on the history of Fantic Trials.
With such a heritage, the machine became all the more attractive.
On presentation we viewed a very compact machine fitted with the Triumph 3TA twin.
The engine started without hesitation, and settled into a gentle purr, a delight to the ear.
Following the warmup, I popped a couple of wheelies. The vendor, judging by the look on his face, not impressed. Oops. But dad had a big grin, so I was fairly sure we were going to have it. We agreed on a price and the seller, seeing my enthusiasm, accepted monthly installments. Five months later I took it home.
I have ridden it in Italian pre-65 trials and it gave great satisfaction. I dream to ride it in the Scottish pre-65.
Justyn rode the Greeves 3TA in a Scottish two-day event at Leven in September 2019, and was featured in a German magazine.
There is a video of the grueling event here: Scottish two-day - no subtitles, sadly.
