Three Generations of Motorcycle Engineering
Pete the Pipe
Grandfather Peter Lee started making exhaust systems and manufacturing Motorcycle parts whilst co-owner of Unity Equipe.
Unity Equipe was well known for its part its part in Motorcycle History, when, in 1978 they purchased, off John Tickle, the rights to the Manx Norton name.
The manx name was sold to Andy Molnar in 1994, before Pete moved to Unibend Engineering in 1997.
Where he took his knowledge, after the death of his son in-law Ray.
Peter Retired in the Early 2000's and the Unity Name was sold on to John Phelan. But he is still a regular visitor and advisor at Raysons.
Ray the Racer
Father Ray Hardman, founded the company Unibend Engineering in the 80's to supply the demand created by the success of Unity Equipe and their purchase of the John Tickle works Nortons.
An avid racer from youth, his passion took him from the Unity Equipe race team alongside John Cronshaw, racing in daytona, to racing and exhaust tuning for the well known K4 tuner Dave Gawthorpe in later years.
Ray raced his last lap at Olivers Mount Scarborough, on Sunday the 14th of September 1997.
Where he died, aged 37. Doing what he loved most, riding his bike.
Sons of Ray
Ben decided to take over the family business after grandads retirement, combining his love for spannering on bikes with his working background in sheet metal cad work and a degree in automotive design. Tom started helping with the workload and brought with him his passion for photography and computer design, along with an education in motor vehichle engineering
We were surrounded by classic bikes throughout our childhood, spending our weekends at the shop watching grandad work, at race meetings watching dad compete and in local quarries trying to better each other on our trials bikes
Please Click on the images above for more photos
