Mike Winstanley, self-confessed HOG-aholic and proud of it!

Did you know that East London is home to approximately 27 motor-cycle (biking) clubs? No, neither did we!

We also did not know that our little city has a rich biking history that includes the establishment of the (now national) CLF (Club Leaders Forum), whose functions include coordinating rallies and events, handling club members disputes and changing the old school ‘biker gangs image’ to the more appropriate charity and socially responsible image of bikers today.

In East London, if you know anything at all about bikers, you would have heard the name Mike Winstanley.  Mike is a local East London ‘character’ with a very rich and interesting biking history. Both Mike and his wife Jayne have travelled the world … on their HOGS (yes, Jayne has her own Harley) and there isn’t much they have not seen or done.

What is a HOG you ask?  Today it stands for Harley Owners Group but, in years gone by they got their name for ‘hogging’ the race-track as well as for their hog mascot, which got to ride around the tracks on the tanks of the winning bike.

ShowMe East London was lucky enough to sit down with Mike to find out a bit more about his life, his Harley passions and what he is up to now.

As the new language (‘speak’) of today goes, who’d have thunk he’d start off with a BSA Bantam 125cc 2-stroke and progress to a Harley Davidson Softail Custom of just under 1600cc?

A few years have passed since his first bike to his current one, but the love of riding and the passion for his bikes has never diminished. As many motorcyclists will tell you, when marriage and kids come along, the bike tends to take a ‘back seat’ for a while and this was the scenario for Mike. Having a car took precedence for several years, but once the opportunity arose to get back on two wheels again, he was A for Away!

In 2007, whilst living and working in the Middle East, Mike told his wife he’d been downtown one day and happened to walk by the Harley Davidson dealer. His wife came from a family that shared a love of bikes and she took a keen interest to see what models Harley had available. His birthday was coming up, so the wheels started turning as to the ultimate gift for the love of her life……awwww! They went to the dealer; fell in love with the Softail and Mike had a very happy birthday!

Through joining the local HOG (Harley Owners Group) Chapter, Mike met and made many new friends of different nationalities and from all walks of life. He and his wife Jayne went on their first HOG Rally, to Muscat in Oman. It was the beginning of a new love affair, which spread to Mike buying a second bike – a Harley Davidson Ultra Glide, which was more suitable for touring.

After several months of riding and making good friends, Mike and Jayne decided to put together a tour of their home country. They were always bragging about the scenery and great touring roads, so they put the idea to their friends and the immediate response was “Hell yeah!”. In September 2008, Mike, Jayne, one British, one Emirati, two Canadian and two American friends set off on tour to SA. They picked up rental Harleys from a Joburg dealership and hit the road. It was the trip of a lifetime and an unbreakable bond between the Awesome 8 was formed.

Once back in the Middle East, the idea of another tour took shape – this time to Italy & Switzerland. In 2009, they took off for Italy, picked up rental Harleys in Milan and rode through much of the country, before heading into Switzerland. They rode from Firenze to Perugia, Rome, L’Aquila, Ancona, Ravenna, Venice, Trento, Varese and then through the Alps to Interlaken wearing jeans and T-shirts, as the weather was wonderful. The scenery was magnificent, the people incredibly friendly and the food – especially Italian – was divine! There aren’t many people from East London who can brag about eating wild boar & truffles at a small family run restaurant in Perugia or sipping Bellini cocktails in Harry’s Bar in Venice!

The tour was a great success and the love of riding just grew and grew. It wasn’t long before Jayne and Mike got itchy feet again and put another tour together – this time to Eastern Europe. In 2010, they set off with friends to Germany. After picking up rental Harleys in Berlin, they hit the open road and over the next 10 days took in Prague (Czech Republic), Bratislava (Slovakia), Budapest (Hungary), Zagreb (Croatia), Ljubljana (Slovenia), Innsbruck (Austria), Salzburg (Austria), Munich and Nuremburg (Germany). The bikes rode like a dream, but sadly, like all good things, the touring came to an end and they returned to the Middle East.

Later in 2010, Mike and Jayne returned to live in South Africa. Due to the cost of importation, they could only bring one Harley home, so the decision was made to bring Mike’s Softail. He’d spent a considerable amount of money customising it and couldn’t part with it so it was shipped home and the Ultra Glide went to a new owner. Shortly after returning home, they bought a new Ultra Glide Limited. They spent the next two years in Lephalale, Limpopo and met up and had many rides with other local bikers. In 2012 Mike was made an offer to work in Nigeria, so the ‘girls’ (bikes), car and furniture went into storage. It was like having an addiction and going through a very long withdrawal, not being able to ride (Nigerian roads and drivers are horrendous and deadly)!

Before actually leaving for Nigeria, a friend who had lived and worked there gave a piece of good advice; he suggested they take an empty suitcase in their mind. When that suitcase was full of either bull**** or money, get out!

When the decision was made to leave Nigeria, Mike posed a question to his partner of nearly 40 years: would you like to go home and renovate the house or would you like to go to America, buy a Harley and do a six month tour across the country? It really was a tough decision, but after much thought – taking into consideration they had moved home more than forty times –  they decided to return  to Gonubie and renovate their home. Their first port of call was to Gold Rand Harley in Boksburg, where they made a deal to trade in their Ultra Glide and buy a Harley TriGlide – the trike. Arrangements were made with the company handling their ‘life in storage’ and within a fortnight, they bid farewell to one bike and rode from Joburg, via the Drakensburg and Margate (for Africa Bike Week – HOG Rally) back to Gonubie on their new trike. Mike admits that the first time he rode the TriGlide, he really did not like it or the way it handled, as it was so different from all the other bikes he’d ridden. He even considered doing a U-turn back to the dealer to cancel the sale! Thankfully, sanity prevailed and some 9000km later, he‘s happy with his decision. He has also taught Jayne how to ride.

Just recently, Mike and Jayne became members of HDEL (Harley Davidson East London) and already they feel like part of the family. They recently returned with nearly twenty other HDEL members from the HOG Spring Rally at Gariep Dam, clocking up over 1,000km over a weekend.

After the home renovations were completed, Mike set up his own consultancy, MJW Consulting, specialising in construction contracts, arbitration and adjudication. His looks are deceiving, as most of the time you’ll find him in jeans and a Harley T-shirt, which barely cover a multitude of interesting tattoos!  Don’t let those tat’s fool you, he is a professional and has recently brought his skills to East London and is applying them to not only large projects, but to small everyday building projects, making sure that clients do not fall victim to unscrupulous building contractors and vice versa.

So if you should happen to see a Harley trike accompanied by a Harley bike out on our roads, sporting tats, jeans and a whole lot of leather … wave because it is more than likely Mike & Jayne doing what comes naturally to them!

If life is a journey, then Mike and Jayne are enjoying the ride, on their Harley!