A small but longstanding motorcycle tuning, race preparation, and service centre has gone above and beyond recently, by not only helping a blind customer to have one last ‘rip’ on his bike but also by helping to facilitate the return of the machine to him.
The video, posted on social media at the end of last month, shows the unnamed customer sitting on his pristine Kawasaki Z model, and running the bike through the gears on the Dyno. The blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment of the video though comes right at the beginning, when the camera pans past the white stick that the owner of the bike usually uses to get around with, the stick casually leaning against the Dyno booth!
The heartwarming story is something of a beacon of good, so we reached out to Royston to find out how it all came about - and there is more to this story than simply letting the owner have one last ride.
The team at REPS Motorcycles have also helped riders at the Isle of Man, NW200, and other road races
“So there’s another chap that does a bit of bike work here, Nick Randall, but whenever it comes to setting up, carbs and so on, he uses our Dyno. The chap in question, Mark Lewis (AKA ‘Pasty’) lost his sight about ten years ago and at that time, he lent his mate the bike. Long story short, it disappeared, whoever borrowed it didn’t bring it back.
“Nick set about finding it, it took him about four years but he finally found the bike! So Nick gets it back and bit by bit he’s getting it sorted for the customer, sorting the engine, getting some paint done and turning it into something tidy.
“Nick called me up to book the Dyno, he asked me if he could bring the chap [Pasty] down to have a listen to it. Of course, I say yes. So Nick and Pasty are both here and we’re setting it up and getting it running, and I just thought to myself, ‘Hang on, he could have a go at this…’ So I had a word and asked, as I didn’t want to frustrate him or upset him, and of course he agreed!
“So once we’d got it set up and ripping, I came out to him and asked if he wanted to jump on and he said ‘Is it my turn then?’ and that was it he was away! I just thought it was so nice because when it’s on the dyno you can feel it all, the vibrations, the torque, you know? It’s different, you don't get the wind, but the noise of the bike stays with you, it’s not left behind.â€
Royston also alluded to the fact that despite Pasty’s sight no longer with him, his biker senses and feel for the mechanical have never gone away.
“There are some lads and you put them on the Dyno and they can’t do it, because it’s not just like riding a bike on the road. But he had no probs, as soon as he found the footrest, that was it, he was off like it’d never left him. He even managed to come back do the gears and find neutral - I’ve not managed to do that on his bike!â€
Royston is happy to make the day of this biker but he is also keen to stress this isn’t a service he’s going to look to run in the future, and it was strictly a one-off.
“A Dyno is a helluva place you know, wheels spinning round and all that; he was just the right person, right time. I'm not looking to have a queue of people out the door asking for the same."
Fair play REPS motorcycles. Not all heroes wear capes, sometimes they stand on the emergency brake of a Dyno and fulfil a biker’s dream to have one last ride on their treasured bike.
You can watch the full clip on REPS social media channels by clicking the following link: https://www.facebook.com/reel/193406083831793
Bravo!
Thanks to Royston of REPS Motorcycles for taking the time to speak to me.
