My Dad loves motorbikes and spends most of the weekend working on them
. He doesn't just maintain them he builds new bikes from old ones. He is always looking out for custom motorcycle parts which he can buy to make his bikes a little different.
In fact one of my very first memories is of my Dad working hard in the garage. I would go out and join him wanting to spend time with him. I couldn't have been more than three, maybe four years old. He would have his custom motorcycle parts and I would try and fit the old ones to my bike. Obviously I wasn't very successful.
You can probably see why I found myself interested in motorbikes, it was ingrained into me at a early age. There are people that do develop an interest quite late on and my friend was one of them. He saw a film of somebody buying a bike and using it to travel abroad. I think he got caught up in the idea and thought that he should do it too.
So he just decided that he wanted to buy a bike but instead of buying a new one or one that was second hand but in good condition, he bought one needing work from Ebay. When it was dropped off it didn't work at all but that didn't faze him as he was going to do it up.
I didn't see my mate for the next month or so. He was trying to find out as much as he could about how motorbikes worked. He also spent a fortune on custom motorcycle parts. He was determined it would work and look good. It was a very difficult project for him as he had no experience. I think that he was enjoying it though.
After trying for a long time my mate decided to take it to a mechanic to get advice on different custom motorcycle parts. Unfortunately the mechanic told him that nothing would get the bike going again.