By Violet Li
A typical Thursday morning is hectic for the Old Jetty Café & Tearooms owner Soksan Wesp.
It’s the weekly coffee hours for the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club (VJMC) Mornington Peninsula group. She and her staff have more than 100 motorcyclists to take care of.
The rush starts at 10am sharp, with old friends gradually flowing through for everything and it ends right around noon. For the past seven years, the café at the Tooradin Foreshore Reserve has loved and treasured the relaxed and pleasant atmosphere.
“It’s a very friendly place, bike friendly, dog friendly. It’s easy for motorcyclists to come. There’s no stress. There’s a public toilet here. You can also go for a walk,” Soksan said.
“People just come for the vibe, really. People that aren’t in the club come here as well because all the motorcyclists are here, and they love the ambience.”
VJMC, a worldwide club, aims to foster the restoration and riding of older model Japanese motorcycles. In Australia, it is a not-for-profit, community association for Japanese motorcycles 15 or more years old and includes motorcycles from the 1950s to the early 2000s. Branches span across the nation except the Northern Territory.
Dave Parker, the Mornington Peninsula area representative, founded the branch in 2017 with two of his friends Kevin and Trevor.
In retrospect, the start touched on the haunting coldness of Melbourne’s winter.
“We were up at Kevin’s place at Cockatoo. He was a paraplegic and died in 2021. And we said it was cold. We’re trying to get the heater going, trying to get it to work. And we said, why don’t we just get out of the house once a week for a cup of coffee so we don’t have to think about getting the shed warm,” Dave recalled.
“So we came here [Tooradin Foreshore Reserve], and this is a perfect spot. It’s got a cafe, toilets, and barbecues. And if it’s raining, there’s a shelter. The environment’s beautiful.
“We just put the word out to anyone. If you want to be interested in motorbikes, turn up. And it’s grown into this. It just got popular and popular and popular.”
Now normally on a sunny good day, more than 100 motorcyclists show up from everywhere in Victoria to have coffee together. As Dave said, a stroll around would bump into 40 Johns, 40 Daves, and 40 Peters, and many boys from other motorcycle clubs, and even footy clubs.
“When we started, we didn’t realise that there were so many guys like us who wanted to get out of the house just for something different, something to get away from the routine of every day,” Dave said.
“Every week you come here; it sorts of resets you.”
While Soksan and Dave believed it was all about getting around with people, long-time member John, one of 40 of them, joked, or not, that it was more about the motorbike.
“As long as you’re riding the motorbike, you’re accepted,” he said.
“If somebody says to you, do you know John Smith? No. I don’t know John Smith. What does he ride? Oh, he rides a Triumph motorbike. Yeah. I know him.”
John, now over 80, started riding motorcycles at an early age of 13.
It is soon revealed that this always seems to be the case. Back in the day, it was common. Every motorcyclist started young, moved on to engage with the police, lost the licence occasionally, recollected the licence, and grew old like everyone else. Halfway through their lives, they have already had plenty of stories to tell.
Max, the 68-year-old who joined the group a year ago, said he lost his licence in the first year of riding. He was 18 and never got on a bike till last year.
“I spent 50 years without a bike,” he said.
“Because my father was dead against me having a motorbike, and when I lost my licence, he said that maybe you should sell it and get rid of it. And then I got married and had family and grandchildren. Then I retired last year and had nothing to do. My wife said, well, you know, go and buy yourself a bike.
“Good idea, and this is great. I love coming along here and just talking to anyone and just talking rubbish.”
Andrew, who adores one cylinder bike, had a story of getting lost in Thailand on a motorbike with his wife.
“We’re at Koh Samui. I wanted to go and see around the island. We hired a smaller moped with my wife on the back. And it was lovely. We went around, but on the way back, we got lost,” he recalled.
“I pulled into a hotel where the guard was out in front. I said, look. I’m lost. He told me to turn around with the motorbike and go down that road there, this really busy road, hundreds of cars going that way.
“I said, but I can’t get across that road. There’s so much traffic. He went and stopped all these cars and let us go then.
“We got home in the dark. I was very worried, but my wife has a good sense of direction. And we finally got home. That’s my motorcycle story from overseas.”
The love and passion for vintage Japanese motorcycles bond the gang. They could talk for ages without taking a breath.
“Japanese just took motorcycles in designs in the ’60s and ’70s and improved them out of sight. Us British would like to hold on to things, the same things for a lot longer,” John said.
“The engineering was superb with all of these machines. And they made what you wanted, while the English will make this, and you must buy this because this is what we’re making.”
Why motorcycle? Motorcyclists have different answers but eventually are on the same page.
“Freedom. The open road. Leave all your worries at home,” John said.
“When you’re riding a motorbike, you don’t think about anything else. You don’t worry about your money, financial problems, wife having an affair with somebody else. You’re just enjoying yourself.
“And riding a motorbike is not like driving a car. In a car, you could just sit there and be very lazy and think about many things.
“On a motorbike, you’ve got to concentrate, and you’re using both sides of your brain.”
Soksan, the dedicated café owner, is revamping the store. She’s adding a bar, putting new tables and chairs in the back garden, and planning to extend the hours.
She will also put a new button for Dave. Press it, and the staff will know Dave and the boys are here, and Dave will get a free large flat white – his favourite.
Everyone is looking forward to the spring, when the unsteady weather is over and the group could go for a ride.
