John and Cyn: October 2021

Tuesday, October 12, 2021

Drive My Motorcycle

with an unidentified friend

John and Julian riding on his Honda XUC 91H "monkey bike" on the grounds of Tittenhurst Park on January 31, 1970

Photographed by Richard DiLello

One of Julian's earliest memories is him sitting on the handle bars of his father's motorcycle while riding over Ringo's home nearby while living in Weybridge. It was probably that moment when Julian fell in love with motorcycles for life. I don't know what kind of motorcycle John owned while at Weybridge, but in 1969 while living in Tittenhurst Park, John bought a Honda XUC 91H "monkey bike".

"A mini motorbike Dad had in Weybridge. I’d ride on the front of it and we’d go to visit Ringo, who lived down the road, on it.”

Julian, 2012

"We also had a Honda Monkey bike, a mini motorcycle we used to ride around on. Ringo lived down the road and my dad would take me to see him on the bike."

Julian, 2020

"I remember Dad riding it in the driveway in Weybridge with me as the passenger...I think I was allowed to sit up front and hold the handlebars but never to actually control it"

Julian

"All I knew was that he was away a lot. When he came home, and we were together, I recall most of all the fun like flying a kite in the garden, or riding on the back of Dad's motorbike down to Ringo's home. The rest of my childhood with dad is a fog."

Julian, 1985

After John moved to New York in 1971, he sold one of his two motorcycles to Henry Graham (a poet) and then it was sold to a yachts man John Harrington. This must be the motorbike John bought while in Weybridge riding it to Ringo's home; John Harrington refuses to sell it as he believes the value would be more higher as years go by. The Tittenhurst monkey bike remained at Tittenhurst after John moved away and Ringo moved in. The monkey bike collected dust in a garage until Ringo gave it to a landscape gardener, Richard Anderson, as a Thank You. Richard refurbished it, replaced the broken parts, and got it to work. It went through some different owners through auction until it landed in Julian's hands. He kept it for many years, even displayed it in his White Feather exhibition in Liverpool.

Julian on his father's Honda XUC 91H "monkey bike" for the last time at its permanent home at Paul Jr. Designs in Montgomery, New York, September 2018.

But in 2018, Julian decided it was time to let the sentimental keepsake go in auction: Paul Teutul, Jr. who manufacturers motorcycles and had a reality television series, American Chopper. Paul occasionally loans the monkey bike out to museums but is mainly on display at his Paul Jr. Designs showroom in Montgomery, New York.

Julian on the motorcycle John bought for him in 1980

Photographed by Cynthia Lennon

"He's interested in girls and autobikes now. I'm just sort of a figure in the sky, but he's obliged to communicate with me, even when he probably doesn't want to."

John, 1980

"I hadn't seen my first son grow up and now there's a 17-year-old man on the phone talking about motorbikes."

John, 1980