Difazio
History
In the tough days of the early twentieth century the young Pascal made the long trip to England from his family home in central Italy; times were hard and much of his journey was made on foot. After crossing the channel to Falmouth he eventually arrived at the market town of Frome where soon after in 1914 he opened a shop at 25 Catherine Street selling and repairing bicycles. In the same year his son John was born and very soon the business expanded into motorcycles, the new bikes delivered from the huge Midland motorcycle factories by train into Frome station.
About Difazio Motorcycles
Located at 25 Catherine Street Frome; Difazio’s are without question one of the UK’s oldest and best known motorcycle shops.
The business - founded in 1914 by a young Italian Pascal Difazio – today specialises in the sales, restoration and spares for air cooled BMW twins and is run by former national class road racer Richard; grandson of the founder. A firm believer in the saying that motorbikes are for riding Richard has - in addition to his racing exploits - covered many thousands of road miles in both the UK and Europe; often putting the latest modification through the fullest test on the long legged twins.
Certainly over the years the BMW’s have earned an enviable reputation for both their longevity and durability, facets well mirrored in the Difazio business today.
Over ninety years in which the business has sold and serviced not only BMW but BSA and Brough Superior’s and a huge diversity of other makes. Nine decades in which we’ve welcomed countless numbers of fellow motorcyclists through the doors of 25 Catherine Street. Very soon Difazio’s were selling all the major British makes including BSA, Triumph and Brough; the latter made by George Brough and ridden by the famous T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia); two men who John recalls visited the shop in the middle nineteen twenties.
[[Image:9002.JPG|thumb|350px|Kevin Charles' BSA Rocket Three
Shortly after his sixteenth birthday John started grass track racing on a BSA Blue Star and soon began to make a name for him self on the British single. Later he progressed to a Rudge Ulster; a bike which both pre and post war he campaigned with great success. Incidentally it was during the time he began grass tracking he became known as Jack so not to create any confusion John and Jack Difazio are the same person.
By 1947 Pascal was looking to retire so John – who was by then working for Pinks in London – returned to take over the family business.
When post war racing started again John was again one of the top racers of his era although by now he had progressed to BSA’s and was successful on both two and three wheels. Ever mindful that the race bikes could be improved he explored many ideas and carried out numerous modifications over the standard set up. These included a duel sided front brake on the solo and home made leading link axle forks on the outfit.
Not one to sit on his laurels John looked at ways of improving on the standard front fork set up and in 1956 the first hub centre steered machine appeared. A radically different machine which used a Reliant type swinging arm grafted on to the front of the BSA and incorporating the front brake drum from a Ford Prefect car. It immediately showed a vast improvement over the conventional telescopic forks but it would be twelve more years before he would be able to take his idea another stage forward and incorporate hub centre steering into a solo.
In the bread and butter side of things the shop continued to thrive and Difazio’s became agents for all of the big British manufacturers of the time; BSA, Triumph, Ariel, Velocette, Norton, Francis Barnett and James; all of which were sold in large numbers. As in earlier days these bikes were delivered to Frome station by train; the job of taking them to the shop entrusted to the young Richard aboard the businesses ‘works’ BSA and float sidecar. Richard joined the family concern on leaving school in 1957 and after two seasons spent as grass track passenger to his father began road racing in 1959 on a BSA Gold Star and later progressed to a brace of very potent Manx Norton’s. It was the start of thirteen very successful seasons; ones which saw the young Difazio achieve many podium finishes in National meetings. This usually aboard the Manx Norton’s prepared by his father although by the early seventies the ageing British single was replaced by a Difazio hub centre steered Suzuki twin.
It was the concept of hub centre steering which took the name of Difazio to a wider audience and during the next decade over fifty of these unusual machines would be constructed from the labyrinth of workshops at the rear of 25 Catherine Street. The whole of the construction process carried out by Jack and his small team which usually comprised of Pat Hooper, Trevor Burridge and Tim Tucker.
As tests carried out by the University of Manchester proved hub centre steering offered many advantages over the conventional telescopic front forks. It was undoubtedly a great step forward but sadly major manufacturers were slow to embrace the idea and it would be two more decades before the hub steered Yamaha GTS 1000 appeared.
For the first fifty years the business concentrated on selling and servicing British bikes but by the early sixties the first Japanese machines started to appear and in 1962 Difazio’s became agents for Honda’s; the bikes supplied via Len Meredith’s in Bristol. Honda’s were followed the following year by Suzuki and two years later by Yamaha.
The ruggedly constructed Suzuki two stroke triples and twins proved to be ideally suited to both road and race use especially when fitted with hub centre steering. Several were put through some searching tests by period motorcycle journalists; many who reaped high praise on the unusual looking bikes from Frome. Special mention was made of essentials like enclosed chains, a decent luggage carrying capacity and top notch handling and braking, items sadly lacking on most production machines of the period. Suzuki, Honda, Triumph and several BMW twins received the hub steering makeover but with no major manufacturer picking up on the idea the operation was gradually run down and during the nineteen eighties the business turned its attention to specialising in the sale and repair of BMW twins.
As personal touring transport Richard had covered many thousands of miles touring on the Bavaria twins; experiences which quickly allowed Difazio’s to become one of the UK’s leading independent BMW dealerships. During the last twenty years countless numbers of BMW’s have been through our well equipped workshops and - as from the early days of the business - their riders have become friends and not just customers.
If you are looking for spares or a rebuild for your BMW then please give us a call on 01373 462913 and speak to Richard; we are open most weekday mornings but please check if travelling a long way as we close most afternoons and also at the weekend.