Would you purchase a motorbike from this large fellow??

Back in the (very) old days when I was a student I was already a keen motorcyclist and the proud owner of a stunning red Honda CB750K6 which I had purchased semi new from a mate, trading in my lovely yellow and black (speedblock) Yamaha RD400. Goodness the RD400 was fast and would raise its front wheel in any of the first 3 gears if provoked (and even sometimes when not provoked) she produced about 44 horses and weighed very little so for me she was akin to a rocketship after my little Suzuki GT185, I purchased the RD400 brand new from Cosmopolitan Motors in London for a princely 689 pounds cash back in the day!!

I then moved to Exhall (north Coventry) with a few fellow students to live in a rented house and when we planned a bike trip to France I went in search of a GB plate for my bike. I found a 5 Star Honda dealer called Alf England in nearby Bedworth and purchased a GB sticker for 50p, when I went to apply said sticker to the rear of the bike the mechanic (David) came out to chat with me and he asked me where we were heading. In the meantime he made a stunning mount for the sticker from some aluminium he had in his workshop, and then he asked if he could come with us??. And he charged me only for the 50p sticker!! (PLEASE don’t tell Martin).

Well what a choice, an RAC breakdown contract or our very own travelling Honda mechanic free of charge, so we chose the Honda mechanic!! Thus started a friendship that lasted many miles (mainly in France) and many years too. Later I came to know his brother Martin who in those days was known as Mart the Part as he was THE Honda spare parts expert, later he took over the running of the business and Dave left to do other things. Long story short ok.

I have now known Martin now for many many years and so far I have bought about 35 motorbikes from him. They were then a Honda 5 Star dealer and now Yamaha Premier and I have had loads of new and (mainly) used bikes from him and how many times has he ripped me off??? Guess??? Never. Not even once. These guys stand behind every bike that they sell, that is why they only sell good stuff (mainly bikes that they take back in part exchange so they know the service history) and they avoid damaged bikes as far as possible.

So back to my opening question, would I buy a bike from Martin? You bet, YESSSSS.