The Renovator

At the age of fourteen Jim Evans conned his father into loaning him five pounds to buy his first ever motorcycle, which was a battered 1963 Greeves. He never rode a trial – or even went to see one – back then but loved the look and the simplicity of trials machines. He spent hours taking it apart and putting it back together, without a clue as to what he was doing! He was brought up in Wiltshire and it seemed that everyone had a bike back in the late sixties and early seventies. On leaving school he was placed on the employment creation scheme with the local motorcycle shop, where he was trained on Suzuki two-stroke single cylinder engines. He remembers around that time envying a friend’s collection of cars and motorcycles, and in particular a nearly new and very pretty yellow and chrome Beamish Suzuki trials machine.

At the age of twenty an unexpected eye condition had begun to rob him of his central and most accurate vision, and he obviously had to stop driving. He was office bound as it was the only workplace he was deemed safe as his sight continued to slowly deteriorate.

A Motorcycle Passion

Fast forward nearly twenty-five years, zooming past three ex-wives, countless jobs, house moves and more sight deterioration he found himself living in London and dating a woman in Brighton. Having recounted his long-dead passion for motorcycles she asked why he did not have one.

He thought the answer to that was obvious — he could not ride one! She replied “Well there is nothing stopping you owning one, restoring it and polishing it, is there?” None of his previous wives would have entertained such an idea — a legally blind man with a motorcycle! He often wonders, now he is married to that lady, would she have been so happy for him to have a Yamaha Virago in their own living room had they been living together at that time? It was great having his motorcycle passion rekindled but also hugely frustrating, as he knew he could never ride it once he had finished renovating it. He resolved to sell the Virago and decided to buy an off-road machine, as it was not completely out of the question that he may ever get to sit on it and ride on a piece of wasteland. He was looking for something simple to take on, so nothing with complicated wiring, and a trials machine seemed the ideal thing.

He had owned the Greeves and later on a Cheetah trials model but had no luck finding either of those to restore, before up popped a Beamish Suzuki on goodold eBay, and thus began a strange series of coincidences. He tried to get some information on the Beamish from this new ‘internet’ thingy that was supposed to know everything.

The only thing he could find was a very brief history written by a guy in the States.

He wasn’t sure how many Beamish Suzuki models had been produced but thought he couldn’t possibly be the only one in the same position.

Beamish Suzuki

His gateway to the world was the computer, with magnifying software as it allowed him to see the screen blown up so he could read it although he could only see about four percent of the whole screen at any one time; however it would also speak text to him! He had found his new partner on the internet and the Beamish Suzuki — not both on eBay you understand — and so he was surprised to find so little information about the Beamish Suzuki Trials models. One of his older sisters has the same eye condition that he has and had just done a degree in Computing; she said that he should create a website if there wasn’t one already out there — which was easy for her to say. However before he had even put a spanner on his recently acquired Beamish he taught himself to use a very simple website authoring package and started the ‘Beamish Owners Club’ as an information exchange for owners in a similar position to his. Not long after this he moved in with his partner at her home in Brighton. The girl next door was a keen motorcyclist and said she would take him out on the Beamish across the Downs once she had checked with the local motorcycle shop, who told her that was fine. The big day arrived for him to get back in the saddle after thirty years and it was just like swimming — you don’t forget!

He followed the neighbour and was almost up to a frightening walking pace when a nice policeman on a Suzuki DR 350 came the other way and waved them down. He explained that their machines would be ashtrays if they were caught riding on the Downs again. They asked where it would be possible to ride and he told them there was nowhere, and that they should join a club. After months of trying to get in touch with a local club he discovered that Brighton Club was no more, and that Worthing was the closest. It transpired that the President of Worthing Trials Club was Brian Fowler, who had been Development/ Competition Manager at Beamish. He also learned that the Beamish Suzukis were made in Portslade, Brighton and that Graham Beamish still lived down the road!

A Decade of Fun

He began riding trials around ten years ago in pretty much the way that motorcars first set off, with someone running in front of him — but without the red flag!

All too often when a person loses the use of a sense or limb all aspects of their lives are affected, to the detriment, in some way. He recognises the fact that he has been very fortunate to gain so much in the last decade and do things he had never done before. His riding and restoring days are just about at an end as his sight continues to deteriorate and he approaches sixty years of age.

JIM EVANS: “The last ten years have been amazing for me and more than I could have hoped for. They were made possible by two people, my (now) wife Jackie who put up with my frustrations, bad language and bashed fingers. She also learned not to be over-protective around my twowheeled acrobatics when it all went wrong as it so often did — even the over-fifties can bounce well.

The other person is my riding partner, section guide, between-section guide, entry form filler, chauffeur, rival and good friend John Robertson.

John is a remarkable man who has done all these things for me for no other reason than friendship. He has not only helped me but also my foster children.

I think John and I should be able to dine out for years on our exploits here and in Europe on both solo and sidecar motorcycles!”