Obituary | Robert ‘Bob’ Lusk, a born-again biker with a fascinating background… Expat American Robert Lusk passed away on June 9 at his home in Southern England. He was 85 years of age, and had been a resident in the UK since 1968. Tribute from Alan Cathcart…
Bob Lusk was a born-again biker with a fascinating background, who was raised in rural New England, where while growing up he acquired the skills of many handicrafts, including leatherwork. But he enjoyed a motorcycling epiphany at the age of 15. “I’d help out in a local gas station after school,” he recounted. “Each day a bloke who commuted to work on his Triumph Bonneville would park it outside the forecourt. One day, I went over and sat on it, looked down and saw the kickstarter, then put my foot on it, and it started – on its centre stand, thankfully! And in that moment, the only way I can describe it is, God came down and put his hands on me, and said, “Robert Lusk, this is your life!”
So in the early 1960s Lusk dropped out of Clark University in Worcester, Mass. to become one of Yamaha’s first American dealers, while road racing them successfully in both the Northeast USA and Canada. He finished third on an air-cooled Yamaha rotary-valve single in the 1967 125cc Canadian GP behind Bill Ivy’s factory V4, as a consequence of which he arranged to immigrate to Britain to pursue a racing career there.
But nerve injury suffered in a crash in his final American race forced Lusk to stop racing for 30 years, until a cure by chiropractors allowed him to restart his career in UK Classic racing. Meanwhile, he’d begun producing handmade leather goods to sell from a stall at London’s Portobello Road Market. “It was the Swinging ‘60s, and people wanted what I made,” he recalled. “Besides bags and belts and stuff like that, I was making handmade sandals, and they were good value, people liked them, and that was the beginning of my shoe business. So, then I had to establish a little production line, and it all took off from there.”
By 1997 Robert Lusk had built up a multi-million pound footwear business with four London stores employing almost 100 people. His neck injury had healed, so together with 11-year old son Chester he began racing Mini Moto. Both Lusks ended up as age-group champions in their new sport – and having converted Valentino-style from Mini Moto to full-size bikes, Chester Lusk started Silverstone’s 2003 British 125GP as a 17-year old wild card entry on the RS125R Honda his Dad sponsored him on, having swiftly risen up the ranks in full-size motorcycle racing.
Inevitably, Bob Lusk began Classic racing himself, too, firstly with the 1977 MT125R Honda air-cooled single with which he won the 2005 CRMC British 125cc championship title at age 65. Success came on both sides of the Atlantic, too, with visits to Loudon to ride former rival Frank Camillieri’s Yamaha to podium finishes and runner-up in the championship in AHRMA racing. Progressing to Matchless G50 singles Lusk became a consistent front-runner in CRMC events, and on a 350cc AJS 7R he finished second in the 2018 Avon Tyres Lansdown National championship at the age of 78, just one point behind champion Geoff Leather who was young enough to be his grandson!
The profits from his shoe business had allowed Bob Lusk to start collecting motorcycles in 2004, initially focusing on Historic racebikes he wanted to compete on – with success, still winning races at age 79 against much younger riders. But as his eclectic collection expanded to more than 100 bikes of all eras and types, it began to feature many examples of life-changing pioneer conveyances from 1898 onwards, many with a fascinating human story behind them.
However, Robert had latterly begun downsizing his bike collection to create space and funding for a new passion – assembling one of the largest collections in the world of original motorcycle posters from the past 120 years. Sadly, his plans to publish a large format picture book depicting many of these died with him.
Robert Lusk was a free spirit who defied the aging process via untrammelled enthusiasm, and a constant search for new passions with a mechanical link. His infectious enthusiasm made him many friends inside and outside the motorcycle world, and on both sides of the Atlantic. He will be greatly missed, and our sympathies for their loss are with his wife Susan, and children Chester and Amber. RIP, Robert!
