Page 18 Exclusive Mick Andrews 2014 Interview
I know it was a successful bike but it wasn’t a full professional trials bike. People would say “oh it hasn’t got quite enough ground clearance for the top trials riders “. Really we weren’t bothered about the top riders we wanted to open the market. We were selling lots of bikes so it must have been right. Anyway, we made a more professional type bike and we lifted the ground clearance and did little things on it, angled the shock absorbers, made new tanks and it was such a big job that Shirty said, why didn’t we have a frame made so this is when we had a frame made by Godden, the grass track man. He made the frame and it was easy then. We just bolted everything to the frame and you have a second generation to the majesty. I don’t really know which is the true majesty in a sense.
Mick Andrews interview WWW.RETROTRIALS.COM
I would imagine the true majesty is the converted Yamaha and the second generation majesty is …….I don’t really know. There wasn’t that many made …only about 700. They were very nice. We tried to copy the ow10 tank that was on my factory bike with rounds sides and that was the plan. I’ve got one in my shop now, cos I’ve had some new ones made a few weeks ago. Because it was so expensive to do that way the majesty was flat sided because it was easier to make it. Yes, they couldn’t make the true shape of the ow10 tank. That was interesting. As I say we always been friends with shorty.
Were you heavily involved with the majesty project?
Yes, I worked a lot with Shirty, we did and the guy that used to put all the bikes together. Steven Brownly. He visits here every week.
Were you involved with Aprilia as well Mick ?
Were you heavily involved with the majesty project?
Yes, I worked a lot with Shirty, we did and the guy that used to put all the bikes together. Steven Brownly. He visits here every week.
Were you involved with Aprilia as well Mick ?
1972 - Christian Reyer with the first Yamaha ever to be seen in trials.
Mick Andrews interview WWW.RETROTRIALS.COM
Yes, at one stage…I like to do different things. I got to a period when the Aprilia people in England asked me if I would ride an Aprilia for them in Scotland. I said yes, it was a free ride you see. I rode an Aprilia in Scotland for them. I rode a Honda as well one year. The Honda people, the competition manager for England said “Mick would you ride a HondaTLR for us in Scotland?”. I said yes, if you want. So I rode a Honda in Scotland as well as an Aprilia. I like to do different things. I did like to do that.
Was it the air cooled Aprilia?
Yes, it was, it was.
What is the best thing and the worst thing about your riding?
I was the first one to use the floating front wheel technique and they used to come to me, Bernie and Vesterenam. I’ve taught quite a few of the World Champions different techniques. Jordi Tarres and others. They used to come here and used to ride up behind us on the land.
Was it the air cooled Aprilia?
Yes, it was, it was.
What is the best thing and the worst thing about your riding?
I was the first one to use the floating front wheel technique and they used to come to me, Bernie and Vesterenam. I’ve taught quite a few of the World Champions different techniques. Jordi Tarres and others. They used to come here and used to ride up behind us on the land.
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Jordi Tarres practising at Mick Andrews home.
Photo - David Gardener 
Mick Andrews interview WWW.RETROTRIALS.COM
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Mick riding the Scottish on an Aprilia
Mick Andrews interview WWW.RETROTRIALS.COM
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When it came to stop riding, I didn’t want to get involved in the stop riding. If I’m riding a motorbike it wants to move. I don’t want to stop it and hop it around and get it online. That I hated and I’m no good at that. All the other things I can ride, all the non stop.
Tell me about the work at the happy trials school with Adrien Prato? How did you get involved with that? Well, through the trials world actually. You know I never rode in England a lot. Remember, I was with Japan, I was with Spanish so everything I did was in Europe, not a lot in England apart from the Scottish. I never did a full British Championship for example all these things. I did a few of the rounds but never the complete one, no. Were you doing a lot of Nationals in this country? A few, a few. I thought it was more important to win the European Championship than the British one. |
Mick Andrews interview WWW.RETROTRIALS.COM
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It was more important for the Spanish and the Japanese. So all our life has been abroad so all these blokes like Adrien Prato, we’ve been friends for years throughout our riding days and everything. Adrien said “oh Mick you can come and work a couple of months a year for us at the trials school. It was good, we enjoyed that, yeah yeah.
Where would you stay when you were there?
At the happy school. We lived in a hotel in the village, the two jackes. It was very nice. It was in a nice place called Andon. On one occasion we went to the village, you know Andon and we was walking through the village past one of the cafes and this “hey Mick, what are you doing here?” this French guy calls out to us . They recognised us walking through the village. It was ever so nice yeah.
When people went to the happy trials school at Andon, did they stay on the land in the farm house or like you in a hotel?
This photo was taken at the Andon Happy Trials school in 1982 . In the photo is Mick with Adrien Prato, Polo de Gubernatis , Joel Descuns and others.
Where would you stay when you were there?
At the happy school. We lived in a hotel in the village, the two jackes. It was very nice. It was in a nice place called Andon. On one occasion we went to the village, you know Andon and we was walking through the village past one of the cafes and this “hey Mick, what are you doing here?” this French guy calls out to us . They recognised us walking through the village. It was ever so nice yeah.
When people went to the happy trials school at Andon, did they stay on the land in the farm house or like you in a hotel?
This photo was taken at the Andon Happy Trials school in 1982 . In the photo is Mick with Adrien Prato, Polo de Gubernatis , Joel Descuns and others.
Mick Andrews interview WWW.RETROTRIALS.COM. Photo courtesy of Adrien Prato
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Adrien and the students of trial outside of the Two Jacques bar in Andon - note the Fantic plaque on the wall.
Mick Andrews interview WWW.RETROTRIALS.COM. Photo courtesy of Adrien Prato
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Arh, but the land was a mountain. We all stayed in different hotels. If you didn’t say in the two jacks you stayed in different hotels in and around Andon. Everything was around this big mountain. At the first morning of riding we would all meet at Pratos little workshop and go from there. We would have, well I always had about 10 pupils and there was another side with another instructor with 10 pupils so in the week we possibly had 30 students in the week. Then Prato moved to the bottom of the mountain about two miles outside the village. Then it started each morning from there even though everyone had stayed down in the village.
Did you enjoy doing all of that?
Yeah, oh yes. It was wondeful, because we didn’t just ride trials, I would take them on trail rides on this little goat tracks and where the sheep used to go. We would have a 10 mile trail ride around the mountain. They used to love that. It was very hard though. With an enduro bike you wouldn’t have been able to go where we went. It was hard. It was like a 10 or 12 miles long trials section where it’s all first gear, second gear. They used to love it, yeah they did. Then it was lunch time and it’s always a three hours lunch time with the French as well. We would do quite a few sections in the morning and learn some techniques and then we’d go and do trail riding and then a few more techniques at the end of the day. It was wonderful. Great weather most of the time as well. |