In November 2013 I reached 60 years of age and officially retired. Early. Leading up to retirement I had built up a few hobbies to enjoy in my otium but decided I would be lacking something if they didn’t get me out of the house. The idea suddenly occurred to me, that I could recapture some of the joy of my youth, motorcycling, which I gave up as marriage, kids and responsibility put too many demands on my time. Now free of the kids and the dreaded work, I thought, “Why not?” and told the missus I was getting a bike.
Surprisingly, she said ‘OK, but get something nice, not one of those Japanese things.’
The hunt, then, was on for a piece of ‘British Iron’.

I spotted Thumper on a website. A dealer some miles away had him up for sale on commission and I rang him up. Thumper, he told me, was as new. He’d only covered 1756 kilometers and the previous owner had bought him as a last fling at life. The man was dying of cancer and had always wanted to own such a bike. He bought Thumper in 2005 but soon became too ill to ride the bike further and it was placed in a garage.
There it stayed for 8 long years gathering dust. And so it was, I bought Thumper.

Getting him road-ready was relatively easy. A wash, a go round with the grease gun and the oil can, check the tyres and battery and some fuel.

Getting him registered was a bit of a trial but after the roadworthiness test and a word with a local workshop, Thumper was finally mine, street legal, registered and ready to go.

I put 1000 kilometers on the odometer before winter drove us into the shed.

I can’t wait for the Spring…