Meet Gordy, the mechanic who has witnessed a lot of change in his 65 years of fixing bikes
Words Becky Dickinson Photography Andy Saunders
Local hero LEADOUT
In an unassuming corner of England, on a suitably grimy back street, you’ll find a man who has been fixing bikes for 65 years. Gordon Webber, 81, known simply as Gordy, is something of a local legend in his hometown of Barnstaple, North Devon. From Monday to Saturday, 7am to 7pm, you’ll find him faithfully crouched on the pavement, surrounded by inner tubes and sprockets, quietly carrying on his life’s work. He’s so well-known he doesn’t even have a website or a phone number.
His vocation was sparked by one of Devon’s worst ever natural disasters. It was 1952 when a devastating flood swept through the town of Lynmouth, near where Gordy grew up.
‘We’d gone to bed and suddenly, whoosh… I remember the front door bursting open,’ he recalls. As water filled the ground floor, Gordy and his family survived by taking refuge upstairs. Others weren’t so lucky; 34 people lost their lives and dozens of homes were destroyed. But among the debris washed up in the aftermath of the disaster were scores of crumpled bikes.
‘I started going round picking up the bits and taking them home to rebuild,’ says Gordy. It was an act that would set the wheels of his future in motion.
At 15, he took on an apprenticeship in a bike shop, although not everyone thought it was a smart move.
‘I used to go to church and there was a farmer’s wife there who said, “Gordon, I hear you’ve got a job.” And I said, “Yes, in a bike shop.” “In a bike shop!” she replied. “You mustn’t do that, it’s going out; it’s all going to be motorised now, you’ve made a big mistake there.”
Fast forward more than half a century, and far from being rendered obsolete by the exponential rise of cars and motorbikes, the cycling scene has never looked healthier.
‘If only the farmer’s wife could come back now and see how many bikes there are,’ says Gordy. ‘It doesn’t compare.’ Of course, he’s seen many changes over the decades, most noticeably the huge amount of choice that’s now available.
Changing gear
‘There’s a bike made for everybody now,’ says Gordy. ‘When I started there were only about three sizes. You’d ride a 20-
