viking motorcycles

One commonly held idea of London is that within it’s boundaries you can find anything. Within reason, I tend to agree.
However just because something is in London doesn’t mean that it’s either common or easy to find.
One such commodity is someone skilled in the art of repairing old motorcyles.
When I had my 1980 model R100 BMW, I was incredibly lucky that it broke down for the first time near Viking Motorcycles in Herne Hill.
I was to find out later that there are very few places that are interested or capable of servicing these elderly machines.
Viking Motorcycles is moslty a one man show with quite a few enthusiasts hanging around.
Viking is a word you would imagine stiched in blood soaked leather, accompanied with a harley and a horned helmet.
I wonder if the owner chose it with a sense of deliberate irony. The shop instead glows with the sound of classical music and gentlemanly engines.
Steinbeck wrote (aproximately) in Cannery Row that there are some men (sic) next to whom machines just run better.
I feel that here is such a fellow.
Prices seem fine and the attention to detail and personal service make you feel more like an aprentice than a customer.