Jonathan R Robinson

I met JR in about 1989 or so when we were all finished with National Service.

JR had a Alfa Romeo GTV at that point, actually it was his 2^nd one, he managed to park his first one through a pre-fab concrete wall and on it’s roof just before I met him.

He enjoyed that car, but didn’t have any bikes at that point.

JR raced an RM125 (race number 222) as a youth and did quite well on it, unfortunately he crashed out at one point and broke his hip or pelvis (and leg too I think).

JR got an XR600R like mine for a while in the early ‘90s and then built some choppers, trying to start a business. Sadly the market wasn’t really there for chops in South Africa at that time so nothing came of it. Sometime around that time he had to have a major op on his lower back which slowed down riding for him quite a bit.

It was JR that started off the idea of getting dirt bikes and going riding again in ’95 – ’96. Both of us had them as kids and enjoyed them so we decided to take it up again.

I think riding is as much about getting out with like minded individuals as it is about actually riding. We normally rode at DeWildt on a Saturday morning and both of us looked forward to the ride the whole week before. As I’ve written elsewhere JR is a fitter by trade so his bike was always fully prepped and ready to go. We would spend hours (whilst at ‘work’) talking about trick parts for the bikes and how Jeremy McGrath and Jeff Emig were doing in the AMA.

JR left South Africa early in the new millennium and now lives in Perth, Western Australia.

He’s married to “Noopy” and has a daughter.

He also still has a 200cc dirt bike (KTM this time) and is planning on riding the TAT with me.