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A. Gagg & Son
were established in 1900 at Alfreton Road, Nottingham, as
a pet shop! Arthur Gagg, the proud owner got up to such tricks
as catching sparrows to paint yellow and sell as canaries,
and selling the same monkey three times (it had destructive
tendancies and kept returning)!
Luckily for
the local wildlife Arthur Gagg bought a motorcycle, stripped
it and sold every single component, at which point, the pet
shop became a motorcycle shop.
The Shop in the
Sixties
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The current
proprietors Alan and Arthur are third generation Gaggs. Their
father (Arthur) was also known to friends as Sonny. Sonny
worked in the shop up until his death in 1991, he will be
known to many motorcyclists in the Nottingham area. He worked
on motorcycles during the war and was known as an expert on
the Ariel marque.
The Gaggs
also have a claim to fame, remember the hit TV series Boon?
Ever wondered who took care of the BSA A65 and Norton Commando?
Well actually there were two of each bike, one for the close
ups and slow shots and one for the crashing and on-road scenes.
This ensured that they had one bike in perfect condition while
they also had one to play with.
Keith Powell,
Michael Elphick,Alan Gagg |
The most frequently
asked question was "Did Michael Elphick really ride those
bikes?" The answer to that is yes he did, but only for the
close-ups, this wasn't because he couldn't ride, he could,
it was just that if he fell off and broke anything it would
halt the filming of the series, leaving the crew out of work
and the series at a standstill.
During filming Alan Gagg received a phone call from Keith
Powell to ask if he could find around 20 'Rockers' that they
needed in one of the scenes. With Alan's wide range of knowledge
and friends, of course he could! So if anyone can remember
the episode where Buster Bloodvessel was on the back of a
trike waving his arm in the air followed by 20 rockers, one
of those was Alan!
A. Gagg &
Son are one of the leading experts in the world on Smiths
speedometers. Smiths Industries stopped supplying its instruments
in 1977 due the fall in the market, so Gaggs decided to ensure
future supply to the industry by taking up the restoration
of Smith speedometers. They have built up a vast library of
reference lists for the majority of British motorcycles to
ensure that application, style and ratio are exactly correct
for each machine.
Speedometer
Restoration
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A single step
inside 106 Alfreton Road reveals a vast selection of new and
second-hand spares for every British bike imaginable. One
large area is dedicated to pistons, one of Gaggs' specialities,
some dating back to the 1920's. There is also a large stock
of brake shoes and an exchange service to boot not to mention
nearly every gasket set to fit every bike from the 1950's
and single gaskets for the most popular bikes.
Other items
at Gaggs include exhaust systems, pre mono carbs, seats, cables,
speedometers and much, much more. They have been dealing with
one of their main suppliers, Wassell since the early 1950's,
and stock a wide range of quality Wassell products including
exhausts, seats and cables.
For Gaggs there is no place too far away, they spend a lot
of their time sending mail orders all over the world to countries
including Japan, France, Thailand, Germany, Australia, Malta,
Sweden, America and New Zealand.
Here at Total Bike Bits we wish Alan and Arthur all the best
for the future, and thank them for appearing as a Featured
Dealer.
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