Richard M travels 2000 miles to look at some old Triumphs. But fortunately not on the RealClassic expense account...

Cyprus is a lovely holiday destination but a hot and sticky place if you have to work. Private beaches and five-star luxury digs can only distract the classic bike lover for so long, and my own bikes seemed - and were - a long way away. What to do in my spare time? Read RealClassic, obviously. Surf eBay Automotive for bits I don't need at twice what they're worth. And then a quick Google for 'classic motorcycles cyprus'.

Yes! A collection exists in Nicosia. Telephone the owner - 'only a cab ride away', I'm advised. Well, a £120 cab ride as it happened, but I need a fix.

The town of Nicosia is an odd place. The only capital left in Europe still divided between enemy powers by a wall. Cyprus came under British occupation in 1878 so the place naturally shows strong British influences. Number plates are UK-style and they drive on the left. The Police force was set up by the Brits, and Triumphs and Beezers were the motorcycles of choice, complete with Philips radio-'phones! The political and terrorist organisation EOKA - of which a little more later - was against continuing British rule, and independence was granted to Cyprus in 1959.

Sadly, peace didn't last too long, and in 1974 Turkish armed forces landed on the island and took over the northern 40 percent of Cyprus. The country remains divided to this day, and the capital, Nicosia, is split right down the middle.

Wander along the main shopping street in search of the bike museum and suddenly - a blooming great wall right across the road, with a couple of machine-gun toting soldiers for good measure. Climbing the wall and pointing my camera past the sign saying NO PHOTOGRAPHY revealed the smashed shops and remains of the northern part of the High Street, the no-man's land immediately beyond, and then - apparently - the Turkish bit which I didn't attempt to get into despite recent easing of restrictions surrounding crossing no-man's land. Human beings suffer from so many natural disasters and problems, yet some sections of our species still choose to devote their spare time to devising and inflicting still more pain and misery upon others. Discuss.

Meanwhile, some of us prefer to fight our battles against old bikes instead.

Andreas Nicolaou falls firmly into the latter category, I'm glad to say. His collection of 85 machines is growing almost daily and while these are mostly, ahem, in less than conkers d'etat, they are particularly fascinating to RC-types since they are mostly local bikes with stories to tell.

EPILOGUE

On the way back to the taxi I spotted a police motorcyclist. My taxi followed him and he led us to a building on the outskirts of town. A polite approach finally got me into the munitions store wherein a guard unlocked another door to reveal … looking as cool as a cold thing after a week in the freezer section at Iceland - a HARLEY-DAVIDSON Duo-Glide patrol bike!

Andreas Nicolaou's Cyprus Classic Motorcycle Museum is at Granikou 44, 1010 Nicosia. Telephone +357 22 680 222

Richard stayed at The Four Seasons Resort: www.fourseasons.com.cy