Mike Ramsey was a man with drive and a passion for motorcycling and he did everything at pace almost as if he knew he didn ’ t have enough time to get everything done . He was into trail bikes in the 70s and raced , and crashed , all over the country , becoming a qualified motorcycle mechanic , before slowly moving into parts sales and then selling bikes . My first encounter with Mike was at P & R Motorcycles in Papakura , where he was the salesman in the late 80s - he was selling dirt bikes like there was no tomorrow . He was a big fan of Kiwi Rider and , over the next 35 years we became mates and we did all sorts of things to help Motorcycling in NZ . From the stressful days of Mike Ramsey Kawasaki to the conversation over a coffee at his home when he said , “ I think i should sell the shop , what do you think ?” I replied , “ Great idea , but the shop and business is known as Mike Ramsey Motorcycles , which is heavily influenced by your name and presence . So , let ’ s call it MR Motorcycles so that any buyer will have no identity issues ”. And so it came to be . Mike was always keen to get events going and his legacy is the Bel-Ray Cross Country series , which Mike saw as a stepping stone to the National XC championships and the MR Motorcycles Trail rides . Using his customer base , he was able to get land and people to help run them . They continue to this day . Mike was also a great salesman . When he got into selling accident insurance , he had so many people sign up , I took a policy and then forgot about it until I broke my leg earlier this year . While laughing at my misfortune , he mentioned the insurance policy he had sold me and so I made the call and got a nice payment from them !