Ted Frend

Edward (Ted) Frend (3 November 1916 – 6 September 2006), born in South London, was a British motorcycle sports competitor from the late 1930s to the early 1950s, road racing with the AJS works team from 1948 to 1954.

In 1932, employed as an apprentice sheet-metal worker at Hawker Aircraft, he bought his first motorcycle, a 250 cc Dunelt. On completion of his apprenticeship in 1936, he found employment with General Aircraft in Feltham, and bought a 350 cc Ariel Red Hunter motorcycle for competition. Soon after attending the 1936 Olympia motorcycle show he part exchanged his Ariel Square Four for the just released new Vincent 1000 cc V Twin Rapide for £138 to use on the roads. In 1937 he joined the Streatham & District MCC, and competed in trials. (He later became the Club President.)

In 1938 he competed in the South Eastern Centre Championship meeting Unlimited class, and might have won if his exhaust had not fallen off.

In 1939 he lapped Brooklands' outer circuit at 110 mph on his 1937 Vincent HRD Rapide winning the three lap race and earning the acclaimed Brooklands GoldStar for lapping over the ton. He also joined the British Motorcycle Racing Club.

During World War II he was in a reserved occupation, an engineer manufacturing aircraft parts.

In 1947 Frend came fourth in the 1947 Isle of Man TT, and AMC offered Frend a place in the 1948 AJS works team. He proved an all-rounder, not just competing in road racing, but also in grass track, hill climbs, trials, and scrambles. His business, Paramount Sheet Metal, in Kingston providing aircraft and motor cycle parts was more important to him than racing, and when it grew, demanding more of his time, he cut back on racing.

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