The CB92 catalyst
About 15 years ago I received from the editor of VJMC UK a photo of a young chap and his girl friend on a Honda CB92 in the 1960s; me being a fan of these motorcycles. All motorcyclists with the same model of bike tend to have contact with other owners, but I did not know the owner of this bike until 2018. My friend and also owner of a CB92, Dave Coleman, an ex-racer who lives in Australia he was one of the £10 poms in the 1960s. For people who do not know what this is, in the ‘60s you could immigrate to Australia on assisted passage for the small sum of £10 (if that was only true today). Dave comes to the Isle of Man as often as he can and came over in 2018 for the Jurby Festival and to see the Manx GP. A few of Dave’s mates came over with him, and they all called up to our house. Two of them being CB92 owners, I got out photos of CB92s and while chatting away one of the lads, Barry Chamberlain said, “Hey that’s me on that black and white photo you have”. This was the photo I had received 15 years ago. I then asked Barry who was the girl on the back of the bike? He said “My girl friend at the time, and became my wife Aileen. Wow, what a coincidence – the chap in the photo at our house! Dave and Barry were mates in the ‘60s when both had CB92s and worked for the same firm. When Dave left for Australia they lost contact for 30 years. Both of them were members of the UK VJMC. Barry had sent a photo of him and his girl friend to the editor and he put it in their newsletter. Dave saw it and said, “That’s my old mate,” and the friends were united again, and they still have Honda Benly Super Sports. I just had to take photos of them on CB92s now. The two other chaps who called with Dave and Barry were also past £10 Poms and had moved back to England. Both motorcyclists. Richard Bara and his son Dick. All four of them are plumbers (you can never get one when you need one and here I had four of them). Well we had a great time gallivanting around the Isle of Man to places like Tony East’s Motorcycle Museum and the Jurby Festival where we took lots of photos. Yet again a little Honda bringing people together again. John Dalton Isle of Man