Old Bike Mart Magazine January 2015 Back Issue

In this troubled world of ours, I was looking for something heartwarming and inspirational to say at the beginning of a brand new motorcycling year, when a letter and a couple of pictures from John E A West of Ruthin, Denbighshire, arrived out of the blue and solved the problem straight away. The first picture shows John in 1953, aged 27, with a very well-laden Velocette MAC – could you imagine three suitcases piled one on top of the other and lashed firmly to the rear carrier nowadays? And the second shows him just a couple of months ago on a 400cc Honda Bros. John, who’ll be 89 next birthday, wrote: “I’m still riding after 72 years’ motorcycling, and in all that time I’ve never, ever been without a bike.”
What an inspiration to each and every one of us, especially those who think we might be getting on a bit, so my New Year message to every reader – yes, including myself – is to get into that shed or garage, dust down your favourite bike, give it a good going-over and make a firm
resolution to enjoy every possible minute of it in 2015.
Bikes are, and always have been, for riding, and it’s a great pity that so many precious two wheeled ‘investments’ stand idle these days, their owners terrified of putting mileage on the clock, or scuff marks on the tank, in case it impedes their value. Let’s just get out there on our
bikes and make it a year to remember!