Born in 1916, Fred Rist had his first ride on a motorcycle aged seven, when he’d ride a ladies two-stroke, Royal Enfield, around his father’s poultry farm, near Stokesley in North Yorkshire. By 14, Fred had a driving license – his father was also the proprietor of the old-established motor business Fred Burr and Co. and Rist junior would ride around Middlesbrough on a 350cc Coventry-Eagle, as Rist senior had the franchise for the marque.
But Fred didn’t want to enter the family firm, not just yet anyway. So he served an engineering apprenticeship (between 16½ and 18 years old) with Teesside bridge-building specialists Dorman Long and Co. – responsible for the Sydney Harbour Bridge, around Fred’s time there – before realizing he wanted to see more, do more and be outdoors more, and to that end, he signed up for the army. In 1934 he was posted to Bovingdon in Dorset, where he was to meet T E Lawrence, just before the unfortunate demise of the legend of Arabia.
By this time, Rist had a 1921 350cc side-valve AJS that he used as transport, which was replaced by a 350cc Humber of mid-to-late 1920s vintage, before it was replaced by a 493cc ohv BSA Sloper, circa 1930. On leaving this was used to get home to Teesside, a round trip of 700miles.
Esta historia es de la edición January 2020 de The Classic MotorCycle.
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Esta historia es de la edición January 2020 de The Classic MotorCycle.
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