Geoff Monty

Who is Geoff Monty?

Geoff Monty was a former motorcycle racer, constructor, rider-sponsor and retail dealer, initially based in Kingston on Thames and later – under the name Monty and Ward – Twickenham areas, near London, with a move to Edenbridge, Kent by 1968.

In the mid-1950s he produced and campaigned his own brand of racing motorcycle known as the "Geoff Monty Special", based on his own design of semi-spine frame with rectangular-section swinging-arm and a 350 cc BSA Gold Star engine having modified internals to achieve a capacity slightly under 250 cc.

In 1964 AMC announced their brands would be no longer produce any race machines - the 500 cc Manx Norton and Matchless G50 or the 350 cc AJS 7R.

Monty, in conjunction with his business partner Allen Dudley-Ward, a renowned Triumph tuner and ex-racer, recognised a business opportunity and developed a new machine initially named Monward, based on his proven GMS frame and swinging-arm, initially fitted with a 650 cc Triumph Bonneville engine which was used as a test-bed by then-contracted rider, Bill Ivy.

The name Monward derived from their surnames Monty and Dudley-Ward.