A colleague of mine, who is obviously looking for a cheap form of transport and not going through a mid-life crisis, I strenuously point out, has been harping on about buying a motor bike with a side-car for almost a year.
Mr Peter Jenkinson, art teacher, raconteur and former resident of Papua New Guinea is fascinated by these Russian made contraptions. “Their design hasn’t changed since the 1940s, when Soviet troops dismantled a BMW motor bike factory in eastern Germany, shipped the tools and machines back to the motherland and launched the 650cc Ural, he said.
Any morning spent along the alleys and back streets of Shubra in search of a friend’s youth is never time wasted. Boys and their bikes, don’t try and analyze it, it is just cool, and that is all there is to it.
At Hussein Lokman’s workshop in Shubra are the skeletal remains of three dozen Suzuki and Sukida, Honda and Honidayo and even one or two Harleys and a Vespa, all lending their spare parts to the greater good.
That pursuit of perfection is the reconditioning of the iconic British military bike, single cylinder BSA, its large oval fuel tank and low slung frame are the centrepiece of Mr Lokman’s business. In his showroom he has 150 restored, vintage bikes that, according to e-bay, would double in price if sold in the UK.
Wondering around the workshop in the dim morning light, there was no sign of a motor bike with a side-car. Mr Jenkinson had paid his deposit and he carried the balance of the LE 13,000 in his backpack.
Had the fleet of fancy been fantasy?
No. In the morning sun, outside in the back of the workshop stood a shiny blue 650cc Ural motor bike with a side-car, made in Russia in 2001. It appeared in mint condition. Clean and ready to ride home. The paint job gleamed, a black tarpaulin stretched over the side-car and it was easy to imagine a time when this passenger seat was mounted with a machine gun and a goggled, grey suited Nazi straddled the tank.
This particular machine was bound for Dubai, but only ten of the original shipment of twelve could fit into a shipping container. Mr Lokman sources these bikes from the Egyptian army and he will travel to Libya, Syria, Algeria and even South Africa and the Ukraine in search of parts.
The BSA 350cc collection was originally acquired from the evacuating British Army in the 1950s by Mr Lockman’s father. Can you image the stuff the Americans will be leaving behind in Iraq when the order comes for them to evacuate their post? Maybe reconditioned Hummers will be available at bargain basement prices.
I must say that as we edged through the Shubra traffic on the way to Mr Lockman’s workshop, I was feeling a bit hesitant about being so exposed in the side-car on the trip back to Zamalek, so I could fulfil the expectations of this column.
Humdillah, it wasn’t to be. We had brought along Mr Andrew Macksey, who works at the Australian Embassy, but formerly purveyor of parts and accessories to the bikers of Perth, Western Australia, for many years who cast his expert eye over the reconditioned bike with side-car.
Though basically sound, Mr Macksey presented the mechanic with a list of small repairs and alterations before final payment, including a demand to fix the front brakes! I got a reprieve. The coffin, as the side-car is known amongst the aficionados, would have to wait for two or three weeks, by which time no doubt, I will be busy.
I may be too busy at the British Community Association Club House in Mohandiseen because here I have discovered another classic at bargain prices: the traditional Sunday roast lunch on a Friday, complete with Yorkshire pudding, roasted and boiled potatoes, cabbage, peas and beans. There were also carrots, broccoli and cauliflower, with prime cuts of succulent beef. But that’s not all. It came with a gravy boat, extra gravy, the secret to a good roast.
Luckily Mr Jenkinson is a vegetarian, so I’ll be safe hiding out in the BCA – itself another Cairo classic, down the back alleys and side streets of Mohandiseen next to the Vietnamese Embassy. Not unlike a 1920s speak easy in many respects.
And the Sunday Roast on a Friday with dessert, plus the non stop laughs in the classic film “Little Miss Sunshine, all add up to approximately LE 60 including admission for non-members. Cairo, it’s just one classic bargain after another.
Hussein Lokman’s classic bikes: Tel: 012 402 2764
