Bikes and Burgers/September EoMR 25

    

Septembers end of month ride saw a good size gathering of the crew for a relatively short Saddle and Track run to a Sunday Bikes and Burgers event in the square. The once a month Thursday evening events are about to get underway again with the summer months just around the corner. Daylight saving signals the beginning of the end for winter as the fruit blossoms and daffodils light up the countryside, with gardens coming alive with many hues. It also signals the beginning of the riding season as the warmer days encourage those of a two wheel persuasion to get out and about. With 15 of us, consisting of seven classics and eight moderns, it made up a sizeable procession of bikes as we made our way onto Main Street and headed out towards Ashhurst and over the Saddle. We regrouped just before the Balance bridge and headed back to Palmy via the Pahiatua track and then into the square. As you can see from the photos, the carpark in the square was chock-a-block with bikes. And what a range! It certainly was a gathering of the clans. Well done to the organisers for providing such a monthly event!

Art Deco Meets Chrome

   

One of the highlights of last months ride was Shane bringing his pristine Honda CB750 to the March end-of-month ride and this month he brought a friend – another Honda CB750! His mate Mark is also the proud owner of an early Honda CB750 and the bikes are both recent purchases with a great story. We’ll save that for another day! Not to be outdone by these 'twins', Paul and Sir Al turned up on their Kawasaki 750H2s. To complete the ‘chromey’ seventies vibe Stuart brought out his Suzuki GT750. Moving into the eighties Gary A had his Honda CX500 out for a spin and Grant on his Suzuki GSX1100. Warren T turned up on his Suzuki Katana 1100 but had to head back home after a flooding carb spoilt his plans for a ride. It was great to see Paul H out on his Moto Guzzi Le Mans and Warren had his BMW K75 out as well. The moderns had Ian and Rich out on their Vstroms and Ken brought his BMW GS out for a spin.

With such lovely weather a trip up to The Argyle Hotel was suggested for food and refreshments. The ride up was via Vinegar Hill, Colyton and Makino Road, then on through Rata and finally to our destination in Hunterville. It was a great run with minimal traffic and following along behind the strokers was nice to get some two-stroke hydro carbons mixed with some wholesome country air!


It’s been a while since we last visited Hunterville so it was a real delight to see how much effort had gone into revamping the Argyle Hotel. Its Art Deco style and spacious indoor and outdoor areas make it easy to understand why it’s already popular. By the time we left the parks outside were buzzing with bikes other than ours. We wish them well and it’s great to have another fantastic destination within easy reach for our rides.

It was time to head home soon. Some took the direct route down State Highway One while others enjoyed the scenic backroads of the Rangitikei. Congratulations to Paul H for accurately recording his odometer reading of 9s on his Le Mans on the way home. It was another great run in the sunshine and we hope for more of the same next month.

P.S. Thanks to Paul and Grant for the photos.

March End of Month Ride

A big thanks to Grant and Stephen for the photos with what looks like a good turnout for the March end-of-month ride. Nice to see Shane’s sparkling Honda CB750 come out for a spin, and it provided a period piece ’friend’ for Paul D’s Kawasaki H2750. Moving through the years, Grant brought along his Suzuki GSX 1100 with Warren deciding his GSXR 1100 needed an outing. Accompanying the range of classics was a range of ‘classic motorcyclists’ on their modern range of Japanese and European bikes. It has been a while since one of our EoMRs has had Dannivegas as a destination, and the Black Stump Cafe provided the food and beverages for the run. Nice to have Shane and Mal come along for the first time. With winter coming on, let’s see how many of us can get some of our classics sorted out over this time, ready for the next riding season beginning this spring? (That includes yours truly!)

February EoMR

What a wonderful way to spend a Sunday. Our end-of-month ride for February saw an action-packed day with three ‘activities’ on offer. Our 9:30 role call saw an eclectic gathering of bikes andriders raring to get things underway. Amongst the classics on the day was Warren T’s latest addition to his collection, a Suzuki T10 from the early 60s that was in excellent condition. Nice to see Paul Q’s restoration on his Suzuki GSXR 1100. What a superb job he has done. PC had his Suzuki GT 550L out and about again after some serious fettling. Bruce rode his Suzuki GT750L up from Welly and it it looked its chromey sparkle best and was running well as Bruce has been clocking up a few Kay’s on the old girl recently. Sir Al’s Kawasaki 750 H2 looked very comfortable alongside its two-stroke chrome mate from the seventies. Warren M had his ever-reliable and very original Yamaha XJ900 out for a spin and rounding out the classics was Roger on his 500 Guzzi. The classics were well supported with a number of moderns coming along to share the sights, sounds, and smells of the sixties, seventies, eighties, and now well into the nineties!

First up was our ride out around the Manawatu following one of our well-worn paths out the back of Feilding via Colyton to a stop at Stanway Hall. Warren took a shortcut into Feilding as the wind strengthened and started to seriously challenge the T10s cruising speed. The rest of us continued on to Stanway Hall and after a brief stop and chat, we headed on into Feilding via Halcombe to support the first Bikes and Burgers event held there. The old Write Price Supermarket car park was chocka with bikes and bikers. This is such a great event as it brings together a diverse range of bikes and riders. It is this sort of informal fraternity on this scale that bodes well for the future of motorcycling. It was here that we met up with Wayne and Lloyd from Whanganui, who were to guide us on the last part of our ‘run’ for the day, which was to be the long way to Paloma Gardens.

After the prize-giving and farewells were said, we slotted in behind Wayne on his RZV500R? and Lloyd on his Yamaha SZR 660 as tail-end Charlie. After making our way to Marton and a gas stop, we headed out to Makuhou Rd, which was the start of a great ‘B’ road ride that took us through some excellent motorcycle-friendly roads that had us heading to Whanganui the ‘long way’. It was interesting to see the aftereffects of the recent flooding in the area with debris still on the road and damaged trees. Waterways like the Turakina River showed the height of the floodwaters many metres above a now babbling brook (well, almost!). The Turakina Valley Road had us connecting up to Mangatipona and Kauangaroa roads and then on through to Paloma Gardens.

What a wonderful surprise that was. Amongst a rural garden setting, it must be one of the most eclectic motorcycle collections in the country. The ten-dollar fee, inclusive of a cuppa, had us spending a couple of hours amongst some wonderful bikes and great company. Clive was a great host, and it was nice to see the bike that greeted us going into the exhibition was a Kawasaki H1C 500. They really do capture the spirit of the seventies and fitted right in with our Blue haze T-shirts!

 

It is definitely a return-visit place so one can take in even more of this wonderful collection. It was interesting to see Sir Al gushing over the classic Mercedes in the carpark. A wannabe gangster in our midst?

A big thank you to Lloyd, Wayne, and Clive for our time at Paloma and the ride over. The ride back home was via the quick way along State Highway 3 into a very strong Easterly wind. Great for the air-cooled stroker’s engine temperature-wise but not so much fuel consumption. A great day out and about and definitely one for the ‘On any Sunday’ memory folder.