The Graet Company

April 1, 2007 7:47 PM

Hurley-Pugh Motor Bicycle Company Many great motor manufacturers have been lost to the vicissitudes of Progress, but perhaps the least known and greatest of all is Britain's Hurley-Pugh. Manufacturers of gentlemen's motor velocipedes, the business sense of Sir John Hurley, combined with the brilliance of his chief engineer and designer, Alaric Pugh, resulted in machines which, while a trifle difficult to work on, were well ahead of their time. Sadly the company is probably best remembered today for the Isle of Man TT scandal involving chief test rider, Eric "Killer" Steerforth.
posted by maxwelton (7 comments total)

This stuff is as old as Sir John's Berber valets--but as long as we're getting the goofy stuff out of our veins today, it's worth a read. (A search of metafilter returned zed about the graet men and machines of Scunthorpe--a bit shocking, what?) The humor is sharper if you're familiar with the world of collector motorcycles, but I don't think being a petrolhead is a prerequisite to enjoying the site.
posted by maxwelton at 7:47 PM on April 1, 2007

I won't be able to ride my motorcycle after looking at that site....ouch!
posted by sfts2 at 8:05 PM on April 1, 2007

Excellent use of the heretofore inexplicably neglected "wildebeest" tag.
posted by Wolof at 8:51 PM on April 1, 2007

"A chance meeting with Old Sir John Hurley in a Piccadilly gentleman's cloakroom..."
Splendid.
posted by Abiezer at 11:44 PM on April 1, 2007

Sir John's business sense may have been overrated. It would be hard to come up with a worse name for a line of motorcycles. "Hurley-Pugh" is even worse than "KIA" the automotive world.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:25 AM on April 2, 2007

See also Spagthorpe, for a company rooted in the past with tendrils reaching even unto the new century.
posted by cairnish at 7:30 AM on April 2, 2007

Is that you, Flashman?
posted by Pressed Rat at 12:01 PM on April 2, 2007