Les Harris

Leslie Frederick Harris (1939 – 17 February 2009) was an English businessman and motorcycle enthusiast who resurrected the Triumph Bonneville for a few years in the 1980s. Born in 1939, he was described as the "saviour of the British motorcycle industry".

L F Harris International Ltd Harris began his own business in 1974 manufacturing and selling spare parts for classic motorcycles. As the leading British manufacturers such as Norton Motorcycles, BSA and Triumph went out of business, Harris bought as many spare parts as he could and set up L F Harris International Ltd at a warehouse in Newton Abbot. The venture was a success and he expanded by purchasing an engineering company in Leighton Buzzard and a retail shop in Paignton, Devon.

Instead, under a renewable five year licence starting from 28 November 1983 also used by the Royal Signals Motorcycle Display Team) until 1988.

The announcement of Harris restarting Bonneville production was made on 25 June 1985 at Forde House with local member of parliament Patrick Nicolls and motorcycling personalities such as Bert Hopwood in attendance.

There was a lot of media interest in the venture and Harris was described as the "saviour of the British motorcycle industry".

The Matchless G80 In 1988 Harris decided not to re-licence the rights to the Triumph and began to design his own version of a motorcycle, the Matchless G80. Fitted with a Rotax 494 cc air-cooled engine, there was also a Harris Matchless G80 built with a twin front disc brake and an electric starter. These were produced until the recession of 1990 when the business returned to producing much sought after spare parts for classic motorcycles. At his funeral at St Matthias Church, Torquay, six soldiers from the team carried his coffin and provided a 'throttle roar' in his memory.