For those people who enjoy motorcycles from the past, and in particular the 60s, 70s and 80s. This saw the rise and demise of the large 2 strokes that many of us enjoyed in our youth. This blog celebrates this time in particular but also motorcycling in general .
The weather forecast at the begining of the week looked promising for a Labour Day ride so the email was sent out and a group of nine gathered at Manawatu Motorcycles ready for a wander around the countryside. It was good to see Terry on his Suzuki GT550 a bike he has used as his daily commute since he purchased it in 1981. It has done over 50 thousand miles and has had nothing done to the motor. Amazing. Also along for a ride was John on his immaculate Suzuki T500 in blue with only a few thousand miles on the clock. Can't wait to see some of the other bikes he has in his garage. Geoff came arrived on his immaculate little Kawasaki KR150. A great little machine that has no difficulty keeping up with the group. Sir Al brought along his Suzuki TS250 that is running extremely well after its recent rebuild. Sparkie (Kim) decided to test his rewired RZ250 that was moving but still awaiting the repair of some 'spiked' electronic parts. Dr Sprocket (Paul D) wheeled out his immaculate Kawasaki H1a, Dion on the mighty KH400, Don on his Honda MT and myself on my KH250. After some discussion a ride was decided on. The route took in the Pahiatua track and on to Rongomai via Mangamaire and back through Pahiatua and back through to Ballance and over the Saddle road to Ashurst. First stop was at the top of the track and then onto Mangamaire. The Rongomai section of the run was as always a lot of fun with a range of tight and tighter corners well suited to these bikes. You can still have a lot of fun on 40hp or less and still get time to take in the country atmosphere. Just before Pahiatua Don went onto reserve and after filling up the calculations worked out at 25mpg! The run through to Ballance was far more interesting than State Highway 2 and then it was on to the Saddle. The run up was a bit of a struggle for those of us on 250s, but the run down the other side to Ashhurst was a ball. We had decided on the Ashhurst Inn for our morning tea but it was closed so off down the road to the Ashhurst Domain Cafe for some good coffee, food and conversation.
Another great ride.
Roll on Summer!!!
There has to be a good reason to get up before six on on a Saturday morning. Five VJMC/Blue Haze members found one with the Christchurch Classic Japanese Motorcycle Group putting on there second bike show. We had all been impressed with the photos from their first show last year and when there great website (http://cjmg.org.nz) anounced a new show we made plans to head south. After doubts were expressed about the show happening with the earthquake, Mike and the crew decided to go ahead. Dion, Kim, Paul W and myself finally boarded the plane after the late arrival of the crew due to the 10 hour flying curfew from the previous night. We were further delayed by the late arrival of the refueler. Apparently he slept in! Maybe Palmerston North is a bit of a hick town? Tim was waiting for us at Christchurch airport having flown in from Wellington and so our visit began. The Papanui Lodge proprieter picked us up from the airport and delivered us to the first of our three units where we had a great cup of tea. My daughter Amie and her boyfriend arrived to taxi us around the place and it was decided to head to town to check out a couple of bike shops and grab some brunch before the opening of the bike show at 12:00pm. A real eye opener seeing some of the destruction first hand with vacant lots from demolished buildings and baracades around others. After having a feed at a local pub we made our way to the Papanui Club and found the show within the inner sanctum of the building. Walking down a passage way and into the show was like finding Aladins cave. The guys looked great in their CJMG tee shirts and as we made ourselves known Mike and the others greeted us. The variety of bikes kept us busy for hours. It was a Classic Japanese bike spotters paradise! The layout of the show allowed one to get a good look at the machines, and it was good to see some 'before' and 'during' bikes in various stages of restoration. Some of the lads were intrigued with the Bridgestone 350 on display whilst others enjoyed the 'The Toad', an RD350 still in its as raced state from the 70s. For myself it was great to see some of the bikes I own on display. I enjoyed seeing The Suzuki GT550j in such good condition. It is a bike one sees very rarely these days. The two Suzuki T500s looked great with there long rangey look and the KH250 was a great choice to greet people when they came through the door. After grabbing a few ales from next door the lads settled in for good chinwag until we got the boot at six oclock so the CJMG lads could go home and powder their noses for our evening meal at the Speights Ale House. As we left the Papanui Club Andrew our Taxi driver got pulled over by the Police. looks as though it is one of their favourite stake outs on Saturdays. For Andrew this was proved to be only his first converstion with the law as he was pulled over yet again a few hours later. Not a problem as he was well under the limit We had a great feed and some great conversation. Nothing like being with a bunch of people with the same passion as you!
Flying back the following morning the conversation was about how worthwhile it was going down to the show. The CJMG guys put a lot of effort into the show, and from us up here in Palmy a big thank you for a wonderful show.
Mike sent up the results of the Best in Show bikes
The nothwesterly wind wasn't blowing to hard and after two months of inclement weather it looked like an opportunity to go for a spin. Six of us gathered at Manawatu Motorcycles and Sparkies RZ250 decided to throw a tantrum and create a rather long list of electrical misdemeanors. Sparkie got very grumpy with RZ and took it straight home and banished him to the back of the garage! Then we were down to five. After photographing the remaining lads leaving, I made it no further than the second set of lights before the XJ decided it didn't want to go any further and cut out completely. Pushing it to side of the road and checking out the battery connections didn't seem to help much, but jiggling a few wires in the batteries general vicinity did. Not wishing to press my luck I decded to head for home as well and luckily my KH250 was waiting in the garage. A quick text to the lads had me back on the road and heading for a rendezvous at Tui Central in Mangatainoka. Having filled up with petrol in Ashurst the Northwesterly tailwind had me through the Manawatu Gorge in no time. It is a great motorcycle road when you have no cars in front of you! The cups of tea and coffee at Tui Central went down well so we decided to head towards Woodville and over the Saddle Road. Dion on his KH400 and myself were not looking forward to the hard slog into the northwesterly. Paul on his Suzuki GT750 and Sir Al on his H2 had no such concerns! Can't beat cubes. The run down the Saddle Road was worth the hard slog as the little KHs loved the tight sweeping corners and with no traffic, we had a ball. Our stop in Ashurst had Dion raving about the run.
It was an eventfull ride right from the start. It was a nice reminder that when you run old bikes shit happens! What makes it all worthwhile are the magic moments when these old bikes sing with a sound and feel all of there own.
PS. Alans piece of 'shit happens' occurred somewhere between Ashurst and Aokautere after our stop as he was heading home. If anybody finds a gold sidecover, he has a rather large bottle of whiskey as a reward upon its return.
Alan and some of the crew made the most of the sunny spring weather and here are his photos, video and report.
Sunday dawned bright and calm and six of us headed up the Pohangina valley to enjoy the twisties. Three 1980s Yamaha RZs belonging to Kim, Don, and Bruce, turned out for the ride; not a sight often seen today! Accompanying the RZs were Paul’s always immaculate H1B, my trusty old A7, and a beautifully presented Suzuki T500 which Bruce rode up from Levin.
The Pohangina Valley East Road is always fun, and we rode as far as Awahou North before heading back to Pilgrims Rest to enjoy Margaret and John’s hospitality and fresh scones and coffee. Then it was back down the valley and home. A great collection of corners! 80 miles travelled in all.
Don and I swapped bikes and I enjoyed riding the YPVS RZ350, a bike many consider to be the peak of 2-stroke sports-bike design. The RZ is easy to ride with a broad spread of power, good handling and a comfortable ride. Easy to forget it’s 27 years old. As someone said to me recently; if you could only have one classic 2-stroke, the RZ350 would be the one to own.
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