Guernsey Press

St James hosts big motorbike show for island’s enthusiasts

MOTORBIKES took centre stage at St James yesterday as the venue played host to 80 rare, modern, custom and vintage bikes.

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Motorbike enthusiast brothers, left to right, Aiden, 8, Aaron, 6, and Alexander, 10, Le Cheminant at the motorcycle show which was held over two days at St James and showcased a selection of rare, modern, custom and vintage bikes. The brothers are pictured with Matt Hale’s 2017 Ducati 1299 Superleggera, which had a limited production of just 500 bikes. (Pictures by Sophie Rabey, 28659242)

Executive director of St James Jon Bisson has always had a keen interest in bikes, and was told when he took over the venue that it would be a great place for a motorcycle show.

‘So that’s what we’ve done,’ he said.

‘There’s some really exotic bikes here and some really rare ones, like the 2017 Ducati 1299 Superleggera which had a limited production of just 500 bikes.’

The popularity of the event, which ran all weekend, has inspired Mr Bisson to hold more shows of this kind, with the view of specialising on a particular selection of bikes in the future.

He thanked the Greenman Motorcycle Club and Heritage for their support, as well as Ben Le Page who helped curate the show, particularly with modern custom bikes.

Taking it all in was the bike-mad Le Cheminant family.

Dad Andy said the family have always owned motorbikes, and the three children love watching the Moto GP and going to the local hill climb.

‘When we walked into St James we all said “wow”. There’s such an impressive collection here and it’s held in a great venue,’ he said.

Greenman MCC member Phil Shell said he has been big on bikes since he was a nipper.

‘It’s nice to see some of the classics here, there’s lots of variety on show,’ he said.

‘Guernsey definitely has a big biking community here, and it’s great to have the youngsters getting involved as well.’

To celebrate its 40th anniversary, the Channel Islands Air Search were holding a raffle where one lucky winner could walk away with, or ride off on, a rather impressive Ducati Supersport 900.