Anyone remember George White's in Swindon? Another post where a chap said that he had been riding since he was 17 (1982!) got me thinking. a) I'm flipping older :-(((( b) I got my first Ducati in '82. I bought it secondhand from George White's in Swindon. The shop (in Manchester Road) has gone because the business went bust many years ago. They used to be Kawasaki dealers. I remember when they got one of the first Z900s, when it came out. Sadly, George died about 4 years ago at 86, I think. He used to ride speedway for Swindon Robins and was quite successful. After he retired from Speedway, he started the business. I find it all quite sad, really :-((( And... the bike was a Ducati Darmah (that made two trips to the Bol) that I sold for about £1200 in '87. If I still had it, then it would be worth between 14 and 20 grand! Sticking with memory lane, I used to go to Oxford for parts. Anyone remember Oxford Motorcycle Engineers and Tony Brancato at Brancato Engineering - nearest Ducati people?
I remember it well. I bought my GSXR750 WT, 98 R1 and a 2004 ZX10 from them over the years. They were good people to deal with and always had a good selection of second hand bikes. That original ZX10 was a real handful, what an animal!!
Looking on street view, the George White shop looks as though it is now a supermarket. There is a place called Budget Bikes that is almost next to it in Corporation Street.
George white is an out of town site, close to the other , aim dealers in Swindon. Budget bikes have loads of cheaper end bikes, stacked to the gills over three shops in the same street. Some pics looks great but close up many have had some use of the years...
I bought the bikes listed from the original shop before it moved to the Megastore site. If I remember correctly there was also a George White Honda shop on the same road.
Don't remember any megastore site. The George White's that I knew was in Manchester Road in the middle of Swindon. Mind you: I think that he last time that I visited it could of been around 1981!
Bought a used BMW R80 from George in the late 80s. It needed a new collector box & silencers, so we agreed on a mutually agreeable price as I wanted to sort it myself. Very decent guy, and even recommended Keihan for replacements.
George white moved up to near kembrey park, with a flash all singing and dancing showroom, they were always going to go bust though with their level of spend on sponsorship and lack of basics in terms of customer service. A lot of the staff ended up at blade which is multi franchise and literally just down the road. I bought my zx6r there in 2008
Brancato Engineering are still going. Tony must be in his 70s or 80s now so perhaps offspring took over. Still doing Ducati stuff https://brancatoengineering.webs.com/ Oxford Motorcycle Engineers have gone but I did discover this from the architects: http://www.kingarchitect.co.uk/proj...torcycle-showroom-oxford-motorcycle-engineers
