We specialize in sidecar work and do a certain amount of work on K Bikes and Airheads and Urals and Dniepers. We started this business back in Florida, where we had landed from Africa. We were only entitled to one bite at this, as I was the only wage earner. We had no other money saved but when this rebate arrived we purchased a compressor, a bead braker and a set of spanners and sockets. That was
the end of the rebate but the beginning of our business. We started working on bikes at night little by little, our daughter and myself. Eventually, I quit my day job and we jumped in at the deep end. Thank God that the phone actually started to ring. After seven years in Florida, I figured that enough was enough. Either we would leave USA or find somewhere where people said, please and thank-you. In 2006 we found this property in Georgia. We worked a full year building and clearing before we were able to open our doors. That did not mean that the building and outside work was finished. That has been ongoing. As well as aircooled BMW motorbikes we now do some work on British twins and... singles, as these have long been an interest, perhaps even a passion. We have planted vines and orchard and have gardens when time permits. We sell some pigs and raise chickens and a few goats. We have been running two events a year here, in the Spring and in the Autumn. We are not sure, as to wether to continue the Autumn event or not, as it is a great deal of work at an awkward time of the year. However, our Spring event shall continue and this is held the last weekend of April. We sell new parts for aircooled BMW's and we restore various BMW bikes and some British bikes to sell. You can buy a bike cheaper than we can sell you one, but ours are still moderately priced, considering all the labour and parts that go into them. Such a bike you cannot buy for what we charge. We also fit sidecars. There are no experts but we are quite experinced. In the seventies I rode a sidecar around the world for fourty months. For the decade of the nineties, my wife, our daughter and myself, we travelled around the world on a motorcycle and sidecar. If I didn't... know a little about sidecars then I would be quite stupid. We also have quite a stock of second-hand parts for BMW's. We don't advertise these much, as we keep them on hand for our work. We also keep some project bikes in the wings. If you don't just want to waste our time, we welcome your enquiries about what you may need. About the name... Barnsley is a town in Yorkshire, near Sheffield and Leeds. It was once a mighty coal producing area but much of this has gone by the wayside. On our journey around the world we used this as one of our bases. (Our other was in the North of France). After several years on the road out motorbike and sidecar was stolen one night. I had just finished prepering it to ride back to India. All our spares and tools and our manual were packed and along with the sidecar we didn't get these back either.We tought our journey was over but two days later the Bobbies found the cycle, slightly stripped and damaged. Common folk helped us there... a few quid, a few tools, some bits and pieces we started a project we hadn't envissioned. David and Malcom of Motorcare, a panel beating and spray painting shop in an old pit building, gave us a place to work and the use of the tools and equipment. Shuan the owner of Rainbow Motors in Sheffield was fabulous, as was his wife and Josie the parts lady and Lee the mechanic. They were the mainstay. The boys at Motorwerks in Huddersfield chipped in. (I am still using the worshop manual they gave, though it is a little the worst for ware). John and his wife and son ran a small shop, B&B Motorcycles, in Royston, a village near Barnsley. They were also a great help and encouragement. After sleeping at the pit building for a couple of months we then stayed above their shop for a month while we finished the job and did our 'sea-trials'.Their shop was such an establishment as I would like ours to be and as much as we can, we have tried to interpret what they had produced there in Royston. The Barnsley Motorcycle club were also an encouragement and a help. Many names we forget but Barnsley Motor Werks seemed like and apt name for our enterprise. As well, I grew tired of know-it-alls telling us that we couldn't use the B.M.W. logo and the initials of Barnsley Motor Werks still give us the B.M.W.. It is a free country, I've been told. Though our postal address is Roopville, that village is eleven miles away. They happen to have a Post office. Our village is Ephesus, incase you decide to look for us. Yes, we are out in the countryside but are actually conveniently located between Atlanta and Birmingham. Our rates are cheaper, partly because the overheads are cheaper in a village than a city. So, that is a little about us in a nutshell.
