Motorcycle off-road trials rider Geoff Muston from Petersfield is not just known in the south of England as one of the top precision welders of motorcycle frames and the allied components.

His skills are also much sought after across the length and breadth of this country, even extending deep into Europe, where he rides competitively on a regular basis.

Geoff recently retired from work – few people are aware his engineering skills were refined for more than 40 years as a specialist marine engineer working for the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

With a meticulous eye for detail, his mechanical skills for anything on two wheels is renowned.

And in his time he has completed many specialist one-off projects for some of the UK’s top motorbike riders in different off-road disciplines.

With his lifelong friend Colin Mew in the chair, the duo rode sidecar trials for more than 16 years together – including competing with a very rare Honda RTL outfit supplied by Appleyards, the legendary motorcycle dealer from ‘Up North.’

Since the late 90s, Geoff has campaigned on a Honda TL 125 where both the size and the expected power output has given his fellow riders good reason to respect both man and machine.

It was just last week when Geoff’s wife Jill took in a parcel as more parts for modification were expected.

But on unwrapping the parcel, Geoff was more than surprised to find a very special award, The ACU Normandale Master 2021 Championship Twin-Shock awarded to Geoff for being the overall winner.

The award followed on from Geoff topping the Twinshock B table the previous year at Langrish, riding in the Walthan Chase Trial Club event on the former Ken Hall Trophy course.

Renowned for speaking his mind and saying how things really are, together with his spontaneous actions, Geoff has bought himself a new Honda Montesa 4 Ride.

It’s a powerful four-stroke machine that is a mixture of the world champion’s based Honda’s Trials machine with that of an Enduro bike, giving Geoff a comfortable seat to compete in long-distance trials.

Geoff had his first outing on his new acquisition recently at The Bognor Regis & District Motorcycle Club trial held at Chithurst Woods on the Hampshire-Sussex border off the A272 Petersfield-to-Midhurst Road.

And the new bike paid off – on the day Geoff was runner-up in the Clubman B category.

And, of course, he was accompanied by his friend and former sidecar partner Colin Mew – but both were riding solo this time!