Retired police officer Max Jones has adapted his Honda Goldwing trike so severe arthritis cannot stop him enjoying motorcycle adventures across Britain and Europe

A PEMBROKESHIRE motorcyclist who refused to allow severe arthritis to end his life on the open road has found an unusual way to combine his passion for biking with the mobility support he needs.

Max Jones, 75, travels on an 1800cc Honda Goldwing Tourer converted into a three-wheeled trike, towing a specially adapted trailer containing his powered wheelchair.

The arrangement allows the retired police officer to continue touring around Britain and Europe before unloading the chair and independently exploring the places he visits.

Max, who jokingly describes himself as “25 for the third time”, has been riding motorcycles since the 1970s. Over the decades, he has toured extensively through Ireland, Scotland and mainland Europe, creating memories he was determined not to leave behind as his mobility deteriorated.

Severe arthritis eventually made conventional motorcycling and walking increasingly difficult. Converting the Goldwing into a trike gave Max greater stability and back support, but another problem remained.

Although he could reach his destination, he was often unable to explore it.

“I bought my first powered chair because I was becoming increasingly isolated,” Max said.

“We would visit places such as National Trust homes and gardens, but I was forever leaning on a stick, which was painful, and always looking for somewhere to sit down.

“In the end, my wife would go off on her own while I sat in the car park and read a book. I couldn’t carry on like that.”

Max needed a powered chair capable of supporting his six-foot-three frame while still fitting inside the trailer behind his trike. After trying several options, he chose a WHILL C2 powerchair, which can cope with different surfaces and longer days out.

The chair now travels behind the Goldwing, allowing Max to switch from the saddle to powered mobility whenever he reaches a destination.

He has since added a lighter folding model for journeys by car, bus and train.

The couple recently stopped at mobility specialist TGA while travelling to Norfolk for a motorcycle holiday. During the trip they visited Norwich Cathedral, Norwich Castle, Blickling Estate and the Norfolk and Suffolk Aviation Museum.

Max said the powered chair made it possible to explore places he would otherwise have been forced to miss.

“I would never have managed to get around all those places on foot, especially the vast gardens at Blickling,” he said.

“I was able to travel across the grass and tackle the hills without any trouble.”

Max spent 27 years in the police, serving as a constable and later as a sergeant in different parts of South Wales. He also spent two years working as a law instructor at the Welsh Police Training Centre.

He recalls that policing in his early career involved considerably less comfortable vehicles than the Goldwing he now rides.

“In those early days, being six-foot-three was hard when packed into a Mini Panda car with four other burly officers doing a top speed of around 40mph,” he joked.

When off duty, Max also helped teach safer riding skills to people beginning their lives on two wheels.

His involvement with motorcycling has continued into retirement through the Blue Knights International Law Enforcement Motorcycle Club, an organisation for serving and former police and law enforcement officers.

Max and his wife attend motorcycle events with the club and help raise money for charitable causes.

For Max, the trike is about much more than simply getting from one place to another. It provides a connection with the countryside and a sense of freedom he does not believe can be replicated inside a car.

“You can see the animals and birds, sense the atmosphere and smell your surroundings,” he said. “You cannot experience that in the same way from a car.”

He now hopes his experience will encourage other former bikers who have given up riding because of age, disability or health concerns to consider whether an adapted machine could help them return to the road.

“There must be so many people who still want to ride a motorcycle but feel they cannot because of health issues,” he said.

“With a trike, trailer and powered chair, it may still be possible. Take your time and do not put yourself under pressure. Learn something new slowly. That is the best way to broaden your horizons.”

Despite the challenges caused by arthritis, Max said continuing to travel has made a significant difference to his independence and wellbeing.

“We think we don’t look our age because we are happy,” he said.

“We are happy doing what we want to be doing, which is riding on the open road. It is a huge thing for us and massively important for our mental health.”

Picture caption:

Pembrokeshire biker Max Jones with his adapted Honda Goldwing trike and wheelchair trailer.

THE FAMILY of a 30-year-old father who died following a motorcycle crash near Aberystwyth have described him as a much-loved partner, relative and friend who will be “sadly missed by so many people”.

Matthew Sims, known to his family and friends as Matt, was seriously injured in a single-vehicle collision on the A487 at Blaenplwyf on the morning of Saturday, July 11.

The crash, involving a blue Suzuki motorcycle, happened at around 7am as Mr Sims was travelling to work.

He was taken by air ambulance to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, where he died on Thursday, July 16.

No other vehicles were involved in the collision.

Mr Sims, who was from Lampeter, leaves behind his partner Katie and his daughters, Emma and Beca.

In a tribute released through Dyfed-Powys Police, his family said: “Matt passed away on Thursday 16th July 2026 at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, following a motorcycle accident on the Aberystwyth road on his way to work on the morning of Saturday 11th July 2026. No other vehicles were involved.

“He was a loving father to his daughters Emma and Beca and partner to Katie.

“He had a wide circle of family and friends and will be sadly missed by so many people.

“Rest in peace Matt.”

Dyfed-Powys Police said officers are continuing to investigate the circumstances surrounding the collision.

Anyone who was travelling on the A487 near Blaenplwyf at around 7am on July 11, particularly anyone with dashcam footage, is urged to contact the force.

Information can be provided online through the Dyfed-Powys Police website, by emailing [email protected], sending the force a direct message on social media, or calling 101.

The reference to quote is 82 of July 11.

A FURTHER secular group has backed Pembrokeshire County Council’s plan to redesignate a north county faith primary school as a nonreligious community school.

Back in May, Pembrokeshire County Council voted to remove Voluntary Controlled (VC) status from Welsh-medium Ysgol Cilgerran’s Church in Wales school despite 97 per cent of the responses to a consultation having opposed a change which the church describes as ‘entirely unnecessary’.

That consultation followed a review which “considered the extent of surplus school places in the area, set against a significant decline in the pupil population,” the council has previously said.

Hundreds opposed the proposed changes, with a petition on the council’s own website gaining 391 signatures.

The Church in Wales has objected formally to the proposal and has warned it will take legal action on the grounds of “public misrepresentation and unqualified legal assertions made by Pembrokeshire County Council officers,” and “discrimination against faith schooling”.

At the council’s July meeting, Cilgerran parents, teachers, and students travelled to County Hall, Haverfordwest to protest.

Their colourful protest signs, made by students, carried messages such as “You can’t fix what isn’t broken”, “Leave our VC status alone”, and “Don’t take away our identity for a few £££”.

One of the protesters, an ex-pupil and governor, Sarah Moore, has said: “I’m here today because I’m horrified that the council are talking about taking the church status away from our school. The church gave that land for the school over 180 years ago.

“97 per cent have voted against this and yet they’re still trying to do it. If we want our children to stay in a church school, the nearest one is Letterston. So where will these children have that good education that they are getting now?”

The Church has said it has deep concern about what it sees as a pattern of the council’s recent actions regarding Church Schools.

In June, councillors voted to close Manorbier Church in Wales Voluntary Controlled School, which was damaged by a fire in 2022.

It has also expressed concerns about VC status being lost for Tenby Church in Wales VC school after councillors backed a consultation on penitential education changes in the Tenby area.

Wales Humanists recently supported the council plans, writing to Pembrokeshire County Council expressing its support for the proposal “on behalf of the area’s substantial non-religious community”.

It says, according to the 2021 Census, almost half of people in Pembrokeshire identified as having no religion.

Since then, another secular group, The National Secular Society (NSS), has expressed its support for the council.

The NSS campaigns for publicly funded faith schools to be phased out, and for religiously selective admissions to be abolished.

Welcoming the move, the NSS praised the council’s “secular approach to education” as the “best means of ensuring publicly funded schools are equally welcoming to all children, regardless of their backgrounds”.

The NSS added: “Inclusive schools which educate pupils together are one of our best means of promoting community cohesion, whilst faith schools which divide children on the basis of religion and are entirely out of step with the irreligious and religiously diverse Wales of today.

“Schools we all pay for should be managed in the best interests of everyone, not used as a vehicle for the agenda of religious institutions.”