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Founded by Bert Greeves, Greeves started out as part of the Invacar Company in Thundersley,Essex which come about after his cousin Derry Preston-Cobb had the idea of fitting a Villiers lawnmower engine to his wheelchair.

For a hobby Bert Greeves was a trials rider so he decided to start manufacturing motorcycles as a side line in 1952. In 1954 he launched the 'Fleetingwing' (a two-cylinder two stroke with a 242cc British Anzani engine) at the Earls Court Show.

In 1956 Greeves signed Motocross rider Brian Stonebridge and began competing in the European Motocross Championship. A year later Stonebridge won the 350cc race at Hawkstone Park and came second in the 500cc race. The power to weight ratio meant that the motorcycles were very competitive and more than half of the total production of bikes were for competitions in motocross, road racing and trials. The export business was a great succes especially in the USA.

In 1958 Stonebridge and his team won Gold at the International Six Days Trial. Stonebridge died a year later in a car accident.

By 1964 Greeves had developed their own engine for competition. By the late 1960's the Japanese bikes had started to be used, sales began to drop so Bert Greeves decided to retire. Factory closed in 1976.

In 1999 the Greeves name was brought by Richard Deal and named his company the 'Greeves Motorcycles Ltd' based in Chelmsford, Essex. Production of trial bikes began and still contines today.