A decade later, Magill, a motorcycle fanatic, is doing just that. He has traveled 47 countries on his motorcycle and is now settled in Nepal along with his partner Moniek Wittens. And the couple, which shares the same passion for motorbikes, co-founded Hearts & Tears, a motorcycle club in Pokhara after they decided to stay in Nepal in 2004. [break]
The Club’s most popular motorcycle stands outside the narrow lane leading to the entrance of the bustling Busy Bee Café at Lakeside. The 1955 design, 500cc, green, “Che” bike is an eye- catcher — tourists and locals stand, stare and admire the bike.
“In 1955, this was ‘the’ bike,” Magill said, explaining its features: the neutral selector, telescopic front shocks and the rear swing arm.
Navigating to the restaurant, its left corner is home to Hearts & Tears. Once the kitchen to the restaurant, the couple has transformed the place into their working space — a fleet of modified bikes , mostly Royal Enfield, line up the store’s parking area and inside the tin-roof room, a vintage 1970’s scooter and a half-ripped classic Enfield wait for Magill’s modifications.
With the help of 10 local employees who work in different departments, Magill works to give “a twist to classy bikes raising standards in terms of technical quality.” Flipping the pages of international biker magazines, Magill shared his inspirations and motivations to conceptualize and design his bikes.
He walks past the bikes he has remodeled, looks at the 1970 model Royal Enfield, a cream-colored 350cc bike, which is his first remodeled bike, and explains. “Its age is special,” Magill, who was also a super biker in the UK between 1994 and 2003, said. “Its engine is from the 1970s, it’s wheels from the 1960s.”
He then shifts his gears to “Mukti,” a 1988 design 350cc Royal Enfield that he rode to Muktinath in 2009.
“The road was virtually impossible but it really shows what these bikes are capable of,” the 39-year-old UK native said.
Then he stands next to the bike, which he called the “Street Bastard,” a combination of an old wrecked Nepal Police bike and a Royal Enfield. Magill referred to the bike as one of his most difficult remodeling projects. A single-seat, 500cc bike, Wittens rides it to wherever she can in Pokhara.
After meeting Magill in Thailand in 2004 while he was touring the world on his bike, it was instant love for the 37-year-old from Holland. She said Magill taught her how to ride a bike and since then her love for motorcycles has only grown.
“The thing with a bike is that you end up having a certain relationship with it,” Wittens, who has traveled 20 countries on her bike, said. “The bikes have soul; they have feelings, personality.”
And they want to share the feeling of freedom when riding bikes with others. With Hearts & Tears, the couple train and teach people, especially tourists, to ride motorcycles and also rent them out so they can explore Nepal’s trails and terrains on a bike and get personal with the places and people.
Magill believes that Nepal is one of the most exotic places for bikers and offers adventure; his favorite being the winter ride to Daman.
Fun aside, Magill, who oversees the technical aspects of their business, and Wittens who takes care of the managerial part, can’t ignore that doing business in Nepal isn’t easy.
“There are various technical difficulties [lack of skilled manpower and load-shedding to name a few] but that makes it very fun because we’re doing it despite the problems and that makes it rewarding,” Magill said.
The couple share a fondness for their work — seeing the joy of people who have never rode a bike driving on Pokhara streets and their sense of accomplishment. The pictures inside the Hearts & Tears’ office and the message book on the table precisely exemplify this.
“Rick is the Obi One Kenobi [from Star Wars] of motor biking,” writes Tim from England who took a lesson with Magill. And tourists from the US, the UK, Australia and Ireland have filled the pages of the message book.
“If I have a bad day, I read this,” Magill said. But it’s not only foreigners who are fond of Hearts & Tears. Locals from Pokhara have also joined the bandwagon.
Every evening at the Busy Bee, the bikers mingle with each other over some beer and conversation that revolves around bikes and everything else, Magill said. And anyone who rides a bike can join the club.
“We decided to call it a motorcycle club so it becomes welcoming to people and they can be a part of it,” Magill said. “It’s not an organized committee. It’s just a scene, an idea and a feeling.”
Along with the locals, the couple also frequent rides to places like Bandipur and Chitwan.
Both Magill and Wittens refer to traveling on bikes as getting close and personal with everything.
“You’re out in the air, in touch with the elements, with the road, people around you,” Magill expressed.
Reflecting on their international road rides, Wittens chimes in.
“You really start to understand how one country morphs into another — not only the border but how people start to change, dialects change, the habits change. You really can feel it.”
Magill mused. The restaurant’s live music in the background didn’t seem like a barrier. Sipping his beer, he then voiced his love for bikes over cars.
“Cars move your body, bikes move your soul,” he summed up about the freedom while riding a bike.
However, he noted the risks associated with it, and especially in Nepal, where many riders are reckless. He then pointed the differences between the East and the West.
“In Asia, it’s a means of transport and in Europe its sports,” he said.
Since motorbiking is taken as a hobby in the West, people dedicate their time to train and get better and invest on safety equipment but in Asia, people are reluctant about safety. But Magill promptly adds, “The common thing is we all love two wheels with an engine.”
And they plan to continue the work they love. As their long-term plan, Magill and Wittens hope to expand their bike fleet and give better service to the customers. Also, they plan on helping to bring tourists to Nepal who are particularly interested in motorbikes.
They said they see the potential and intend to stay in Nepal because they are in love with the country and its people.
“When we visit our homes [family in the UK and Holland] for a couple of weeks, the shock of being back in organized society reminds us why we’re here, why we’re doing these things,” Magill said. “Nepal is a difficult place to do business but it’s worth it. Now we both consider Nepal our home. This is where we live.”
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