Mum’s the word
Whilst I rehabilitate from hernia surgery, issue 43 had me chuckling. Being a lifetime BMW fan, it was great reading the Jack Forrest article and on seeing Donny Wilson on page 28 I recounted my association with him to my wife. (She never listens but it makes me feel good telling her). As a twenty-something rebel in the mid ‘70s getting about on a DS7 Yammie 250 I arrived home one afternoon to see my sister’s boyfriend showing off his new R90S. Honestly, I was the same as my parents – speechless. It became a must-have. Working for a bank didn’t endow me with money (nor did it wish to lend me any either) but another sister took pity on me though she could get a better return for her hard saved cash.
Mum and dad must have used every adjective in the world describing my desire. They thought I’d got the money from the bank; I wasn’t in the habit of telling my parents everything and I certainly wasn’t starting now. Down to Tom Byrnes in the city and purchased a hardly used one from Sid Seymour. His bike delivery method never changed over the years – thank goodness BM’s had good manuals. Anyway, Dad kept bagging BM’s as engineering failures – reckons when they built the bike they forget the cylinders so just stuck them on anywhere. Mum thankfully, caring soul she was , said that `your father’ wouldn’t be able to maintain it so how was I to look after this expensive beast? This is the embarrassing bit, you see I mentioned Tom Byrnes had this salubrious workshop at Alexandria (wife’s snoring at this stage) and that I’d be taking it there for servicing etc. Well, blow me down, next thing I’m in the Valiant Regal (vinyl roof et al) telling Mum where 23 Euston Rd Alexandria (right; from Out’n’About OBA 43) is. She tells me to stay in the car whilst she checks the place out. After half an hour or so I mustered up enough courage to kind of walk past (casually like a pedestrian) to see why she was taking so long. There was no one near the front door/office but I could hear laughter coming from round the side of the lift. Gallantly charging in I found mum jiggling about in a lovely old sidecar combination with a number a white-overalled gentleman trying to give her a push. “Oh hullo dear”, she says. “Mr Wilson was just showing me what they do here. Your dad used to have a sidecar and we loved it. I think you’re in very good hands here”. I was thereafter always called `Mr Low’ and all the staff kept asking me how my mum was! As a consequence, I purchased five BMWs over a 30 year span, had absolutely no issues and these guys were a great part of my life. Sorry to go on a bit, I use ProCycles Hornsby for my bikes now (have three – trying to buy back the ones I enjoyed most). If anyone has a good R69S for sale I would be pleased to hear from them. Warwick Low North Rocks, NSW Em: globie@tpg.com.au Mobile: 0422 990 162