Thursday, March 20, 2014

2014 VJMC National Rally


















Thought it was time to put pen to paper (so to speak) and through together a report on the 2014 VJMC Rally held at Tatum Park, just south of Levin. Michael on his GSX 750and Kim on his H2a made there way south for Friday evening , and by all accounts a good night was had by all. The big news for the weekend was the anticipated arrival of Cyclone Lusi with all sorts of mayhem apparently on the way. Our arrival on Saturday morning had a really good tailwind assisting our ride south. Rich on his T500, Sir Al on his H2, Dion on his TZR and myself on the mighty XJ arrived to find the display organisation well under way. It was a great way to spend a couple of hours surveying a wide variety of bikes ranging from the sixties through to the nineties and catching up with their owners as stories and restoration tips were exchanged.
The judges definitely had there work cut out for them with some spectacular bikes on show with much anticipation as to the outcomes of there deliberations. All was to be revealed later that evening after our ride up to Mangatainoka for lunch. Although the wind was strong the only rain we encountered was as we made our way over the Pahiatua track where caution was required around some of the sphincter tightening shiny corners that are becoming all to prevalent on our roads. Chasing Barry on his future 'cult classic', a Honda MVX 250F, was fun, with the bike showing some great pace going up the track. After pulling into Tui HQ and finding no bikes the penny dropped that we were to meet at the old pub down the road called the Dudley Arms Tavern. The line up of bikes outside looked impressive and the burgers and other food was excellent and good value for money. As some headed back to Tui HQ for a tour of the brewery, a pose of us headed to one of our favourite cafe haunts for a coffee. Alas the Bridge Cafe was closed due to a power cut so we headed through the gorge to Ashhurst to find a similar scenario there. Next stop was back into Palmy to the Rendezvous cafe where thank goodness the power was still on!
The run back down to Tatum Park was uneventful and after parking up the machines outside our accommodation, everyone put on there best black Tee shirts and jeans for the formal part of the weekend. We had an excellent main meal and to top it off the pudding included a wonderfully decorated cake to celebrate the VJMCs 25th National Rally with Ross picking up a special prize for attending all 25 rallies. It was great to see a couple of the local lads pick up prizes with Kim receiving the most original seventies with his H2a and Michael for best Suzuki. The band Angela organised for the evening was excellent as they played a lot of great tunes from the 70s and eighties. Unfortunately it all came to a premature end with, you guessed it, another power cut. Sunday morning found us hovering around the dinning room at 8 with the smell of bacon and eggs wafting out the kitchen. A very hearty breakfast was had by all followed by the packing and loading of bikes for the journey home.
It was great spending a weekend with bunch of people who have the same passion for old japanese motorcycles. This passion came through in the way people shared there stories and expertise. A big thanks to Ross, Judy, Angela and Barry for all the work they did to make this a great weekend.
I look forward to eating some of the 50th VJMC anniversary cake!

Monday, March 10, 2014

Polished Rockers 2014












Have just got this in from Ian who headed down to the Polished Rockers on Sunday with Dion, Kim and Bruce. It looks as though a few of the Wellington crew had bikes in the display as well. Lets hope the Wellington crew can turn on the same weather next weekend for the Rally! (I am sure you can Barry, I hear you are pretty close to the man upstairs!)
Check out Ians Facebook page as well for more photos.
https://www.facebook.com/ian.b.brayshaw/posts/10201532581621344
and the Polished Rockers Facebook page,

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Rotary Classic Bike Show at the Manukau Exhibition Centre

Just got this in from Colin where the Auckland Classic Japanese Motorcycle Group had a very successful display at the Rotary Classic Bike Show at the Manukau Exhibition Centre. Here is Colins report. Looks great guys!

Hi Guys
CJMG – Auckland did a display at the Rotary Classic Bike Show at the Manukau Exhibition Centre in late January. This is the 2nd time the show has been run … first in 2012 but didn’t run in 2013. I think 2013 was meant to be in Chch but fell thru for some reason. The show is predominantly British bikes (80%?) with a smattering of Continentals and this year about 30 Japanese. We put up 12 bikes and were surprised but delighted to take out 12 prizes … to be fair two of the bikes won two prizes each so two missed out on winning anything. A link to a You Tube video is attached. This year we put in a couple of race bikes … both Suzuki’s … an RG500 that’s in very active use but probably not pretty enough to win a prize and a XR69 replica GS1000 that has just been finished and which did collect a couple of prizes. Its owner is hoping to qualify for the next TT so suggested this was its best opportunity to win display prizes, before he risks chucking it down on the track! Other than our bikes the show had a stunning KZ1000 (best Kawasaki), beautiful RD350 (best Yamaha), a very nice and original first model CB350 (best Honda) and a mean looking XT500 which I think got 2nd off road?
All toghether it was a very good show and we’ll be back again next year.
Hope you enjoy.
PS: The video has one of our guys doing his best Cheshire Cat impersonation at the end … obviously pleased at the prizes his bikes collected!


Cheers, Colin