Reviving the legacy of Lenin

Labour of love: restoring my father’s 72-year old motorbike

- Amal Jayasinghe

The 1953 British motorcycle was more than just a reliable workhorse.

It was a symbol of my father, Lenin Lindberg Jayasinghe’s, identity. To him, it was his most treasured possession, one he hoped would be passed down to the next generation.

The throaty growl of the single-cylinder 350cc machine had the gravitas of a military parade commander. The entire neighbourhood would know when he left for, or returned home from, work.

The beat of the bike was also the warning for my brother and me to rush home from the nearby playground.

Although he later shifted to more modern motorcycles and cars after the liberalisation of imports in 1978, the Velocette MAC remained his beloved machine, a family heirloom worthy of being passed down through the generations.

Restoring the family faithful became my project after he passed away in January 2018. After decades of languishing in a garage, the machine looked like a candidate for the scrapyard. The tyres had perished and the rubber mouldings had become brittle.