Tony Hayward's Last Ride
Pictures of Tony Hayward and his daughter Louise - She got him a Triumph bike for his last ride.
Reflections on Tony from Mark Appleton, BCS Owner and Partsman:
I started dealing with Tony Hayward, the belt drive guru, so many years ago that I cannot tell you, but I have at least 30 years of correspondence with him on file, many with his rambling handwritten notes and instructions, full of enthusiasm and still redolent of what I can swear is the faint aroma of good whiskey. The old ones are on thermal fax paper, and are fading away, but my memories of our many conversations are not.
He could talk on his favourite subject of belt drives at high volume for hours with barely a quick pause for breath, then, with a "Well, I've got to be off to the pub" he would be off the phone, leaving my head spinning and full of information.
I never had the chance to meet him in person, as my caffeine fueled drives around the UK visiting suppliers generally tended to pass his part of Wales at ungodly late hours of the night, but though I never found out too many details about his personal life, the one thing it was obvious he was most proud of, even more than the quality of his belt drives, was his daughter Louise, his only child.
I was saddened to hear from Louise in Fall of 2021 that Tony had just surprised everyone by passing away suddenly - I think all of us had figured he would still be making and talking about belt drive kits when the next millennium arrived.
Louise gave him a great send off in a Triumph fitted with a sidecar hearse, followed by a buffet lunch celebration of his life for his friends - I am sorry to have missed it, but am quite sure there was some good liquid refreshment on hand in his memory.
Once everything settled, Louise and I began having discussions about carrying on his legacy as well as could be done in his absence, and while plans for reviving his line of belt drive kits are still ongoing, a start has been made by reintroducing his line of heavy duty polyurethane clutch centre rubbers to suit Triumph and BSA twins fitted with 3 spring clutches, and all Triumph/BSA triples. These are still manufactured in Wales, and are much tougher than the stock rubber type, being totally impervious to oil.
First batch to arrive in North America since Tony's death are expected at our Canadian warehouse in January, and for a limited time we are holding our 2021 pricing and paying postage on all prepaid orders.
To preorder your Hayward clutch rubber kit, please contact us now, or your favourite dealer or repair shop.
[Read a pamphlet from Tony's funeral here]
