Former U.S. airmen and Green Knights motorcycle club members Evan Hall, left, and Daniel Bryan with a Suzuki GSX-R1000 K3 motorcycle they restored in tribute to its late owner Peter James Davidson, photographed near Yokota Air Base, Japan, on June 23, 2026. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes)
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — Motorcycle riders at this airlift hub in western Tokyo have restored a Japanese sport bike damaged in a crash that took the life of a former American airman.
Peter James Davidson, a civilian aircraft maintainer at Yokota, died of head injuries on Oct. 31, 2020, after his Suzuki GSX-R1000 K3 motorcycle struck the back of a minivan making a turn in Fussa near Yokota’s main gate.
The husband and father of two had worked on Beechcraft C-12 Huron transport planes at the home of U.S. Forces Japan for more than a decade. He was also sergeant-at-arms of the local chapter of the Green Knights, a motorcycle club with branches all over the world and geared toward active-duty military riders.
Peter James Davidson Jr., 51, a former U.S. airman and a member of the Green Knights motorcycle club, died in 2020 after his sport bike collided with a minivan in western Tokyo. (Evan Hall)
A Suzuki GSX-R1000 K3 motorcycle restored by members of the Green Knights motorcycle club stands near Yokota Air Base, Japan, on June 23, 2026. (Seth Robson/Stars and Stripes)
A biker since his teenage years, Davidson was a popular member of the club and rode his “Gixxer” sport bike everywhere, Yokota club president Evan Hall said shortly after the crash.
“He did everything on that bike,” he said of his late friend.
Club members stored the wrecked Suzuki beside Yokota’s motorcycle training range, another club member, Daniel “Boone” Bryan, told Stars and Stripes on Tuesday at Hall’s garage, a club hangout west of Yokota.
Bryan, at the time an Air Force maintainer, met Davidson, then an Air Force crew chief, during a posting to Yokota in 1996. The pair married local women and reunited at Yokota as civilians in 2019, said Bryan, a civilian security officer at Yokota’s Army and Air Force Exchange Service.
His late friend was the most skilled motorcycle rider in the Green Knights, he said.
“We rode together for years and then the accident happened,” said the former airman, who saw the crash and attempted to resuscitate his friend at the scene.
After the accident Davidson’s smashed up motorcycle sat in storage until 2024 when club members began an extensive restoration project that included a new fuel tank, painted to match the bike’s original orange and black colors; rebuilt steering, rear frame and suspension; and a new rear wheel, seat and handlebars.
Green Knights motorcycle club member Daniel Bryan helps restore a Suzuki GSX-R1000 K3 motorcycle that belonged to a former U.S. Air Force airman and club member killed in a traffic collision. (Evan Hall)
Green Knights motorcycle club member Evan Hall at work during the recent restoration of a Suzuki GSX-R1000 K3 motorcycle that belonged to a former U.S. airman and club member killed in a traffic collision. (Daniel Bryan)
Mechanical knowledge gleaned from maintaining Air Force gear was invaluable during the project, said Hall, who estimates the job has cost over $10,000 so far.
The former airman, who works on an aircraft simulator as a civilian contractor, rode Davidson’s former bike at the Ebisu Circuit racetrack complex and set a personal best time, he told Stars and Stripes on Tuesday.
Australian Troy Corser won the World Superbike Championship on a GXR-1000 K5 in 2005.
Hall in December 2024 crashed his Triumph Daytona 675R on the track, breaking an arm and dislocating several fingers, he said.
The restored Suzuki gives club members the feeling that Davidson, nicknamed “Happy” or “Hap,” is still with them, Hall said.
“When I see the bike, I see Hap,” he said.
Club members can ride the restored bike, although some are superstitious and won’t ride it, said Hall, who uses it to show sport bike riders the ropes during motorcycle safety courses at Yokota.
Davidson would be happy to see the state of his old motorcycle, Bryan said.
“We restored the bike because Hap loved the Green Knights,” he said.
The restored motorcycle is a better machine than 99% of bikes that are on the road, said Bryan, who rides a Kawasaki Versys 1000.
“I look at the bike and tear up,” Bryan said.
