The call of the Orient

I have been a subscriber to OBM for many years and I have enjoyed the different editorial direction of each phase that this mighty little journal has taken. I have taken interest in many regular features but my main interests lie in the British camp, as that is where I developed my love of riding and cobbling together postwar bikes, as a youth and as an old boy today.

I have owned two Japanese motor bikes in my life and have not had much reason to remark on these machines, preferring the idiosyncratic qualities (or flaws) of the stuff that made Britain great. However, over the past couple of years or so, I have become an avid reader of Steve Cooper’s page. His entertaining and informative style is infectious. I have become interested, nay, excited, about Honda 450s and Yamaha XTs and have learned a lot about the lesser known and the smaller capacity machines that mobilised

Asia. Oriental Angles is a treat to read. I think it is a chance for Steve to let off steam but it always makes sense to me.

There may just be time for me to experience a Honda CL 200 on/off roader or a Suzuki TS 185. The horizon is wide. And much wider thanks to Steve.

Ivor Leach