1972 Greeves Griffon QUB 380MX

The Greeves Griffon QUB 380 was one of the final serious competition motorcycles produced by Greeves, a British manufacturer well known for lightweight two-stroke scramblers and motocross machines.

The Griffon range was introduced at the end of the 1960s as a replacement for the earlier Challenger models, with 250cc and 380cc versions available. Built as a dedicated motocross machine, the Griffon used a lightweight Reynolds 531 steel frame and was described by Cycle World in period as “definitely a motocross tool.”

The QUB 380 version came from Greeves’ push to extract more performance from the big 380cc engine. Bert Greeves worked with Dr Gordon Blair and his team at Queen’s University Belfast, giving the bike its “QUB” name. Their two-stroke development work improved the engine’s breathing and performance, turning the Griffon into a more powerful open-class motocross machine. Bonhams notes that later QUB models used an improved Griffon engine developed at Queen’s University Belfast by Dr Blair and his team.