Page 70 - Motorcycle Trader (February 2020)

hris Roberts looks a little
bemused when he admits
that he celebrates 21 years
owning and running his well-
Cregarded aftermarket BMW-only
workshop and accessories business
in Ringwood, in Melbourne’s north-
east. It’s called BM Motorcycles, and
he bought it in 1999. To him, it doesn’t
seem all that long ago.
Back then it was a going concern,
albeit in a much smaller form, and he
had twice turned down an offer to buy it.
But somehow it was meant to be. At that
stage it was a logical enough way to cap
off what was by then a well-established
career in the motorcycle trade.
Roberts has a favoured uncle to blame
for much of this, getting him addicted
to motorcycles when he was a kid.
“He was a mad keen motorcyclist, in
Edenhope, and used to go to scrambles
and stuff. Then one day he chucked me
on the back to go for a ride for a week.
He had a Suzuki ‘waterbottle’ and that
was it, I was hooked. We went along the
east coast, to Canberra, Batemans Bay.
At 17 and nine months to the day, I was
down there to get my licence.”
His first bike was a GSX250, then
came a string of Hondas, including a
CB750, a CB1100F and very desirable
CB1100R. He sold them all over time
and particular regrets letting go of the
two 1100s. However, he replaced the
CB1100F. “The guy slid the roller door
up and I thought I’ve got to have this.
I open up the books and it was from
Hamilton [where Chris grew up] – a
mate of mine used to own it. I couldn’t
walk away from it.
“That was about seven years ago. I
paid $3870 for the first one brand new
and $5500 for this one,” he remarks
ruefully.

IN THE BEGINNING
After a stint doing odd jobs on a Hume
Highway construction project, Chris got
wind of someone looking for a partner
to kick-start a motorcycle shop in his
hometown of Hamilton. He was all of 19
at the time.
“A guy who used to have a wrecking
yard here in Melbourne moved back to
Hamilton and I was as keen as mustard
– give anything a go. It [the shop] was
holding its own but wasn’t a great
success. More experience was needed.
Looking back in time I would’ve done it

68 MOTORCYCLE TRADER