5 Go South

From 5 Go South

From 5 Go South

From 5 Go South

From 5 Go South

This post is courtesy of Alan who not only wrote the words but took most of the photos.

After a week of appalling weather Sunday offered up a few patches of blue sky, so five of us decided to head off to Wellington to join other members of the VJMC at Barry D's home for a barb-b-que lunch.
Riding into a strong head wind we made our way south via Tokomaru and Shannon, and onto SH1 with a stop at Otaki for a coffee. Then down to Wellington amid the traffic.

This was a chance to see Kim’s Yamaha RZ250R out on the road with its newly rebuilt top-end. This bike has surprising performance, and looks to be a comfortable open road ride. Don rode his DR650 trail-bike; Paul took his GT750 Suzuki, with Deon on his KH400 and me on the H2.

Wellington turned on a pleasant day with blue skies and a gentle Wellington breeze (20-30 knots). An interesting few hours was spent poring over a variety of machines and talking with club members. Bikes ranged from a lime green Suzuki 125 Stinger to Ross Charlton’s beautifully restored Kawasaki H2 750, and a very nice example of the Z900. Don took a shine to Barry’s early Yamaha 250 twin, while Deon and I thought the S2 350 would be a great project and be a lot of fun to ride.

We headed back home late afternoon stopping at Shannon for a coffee at the Horseman’s café. A most enjoyable day was had by all. Thank you to Barry and family for your hospitality.

Fathers Day Run and Dions Special News!

From Fathers Day Run

From Fathers Day Run

A hardy bunch of lads gathered outside Manawatu Motorcycles for a morning run into grey skies of the Manawatu. It was great to see Geoff on his very well looked after Kawasaki KR150s. A great little machine that Geoff has had from nearly new and with 32K on the clock and no engine work it ran like clockwork. Also along for the ride was Sir Al on his recently reconditioned Suzuki TS250, Don on the his GT500 fill in, the Bonneville, Dion on his KH400, Kim on Dions KR250 and myself on the KH250. After some discussion about the diection we should take we headed off for the west and after a tank topup for my KH250 at the Rangitikei St BP we headed off into a steady drizzle. Upon reaching Feilding we were about to make our cafe stop but decided to continue on towards Sanson via the Kakariki turnoff. Geoff had to leave us at this point, but the dry road ensured we had a good run through to Sanson. These backroads are a lot of fun on these smaller bikes and as we started to make our way through the coffee and pies Dion very casualy announced that he was adding another bike to his fleet. A 1984 Suzuki GSXR 400W. After some of us just about choked on our food and coffees he was asked to repeat the model of his latest acquisition.
It was true. He had finally been seduced by the dark side. Dion has been a staunch advocate for two strokes and has often given his opinion on others in the group who have chosen to purchase bikes from the dark side. (For most of us it isn't the Dark Side but the Other Side and provides a nice balance to our motorcycling lives) Dion received the necessary amount of stick about his choice of bike in light of his previous position on such matters.

From Fathers Day Run

Dions "I now own a four stroke" face.

From Fathers Day Run

The very bike that seduced Dion to the "Dark Side".

This also explained his unusual behaviour that day. His KR250 must have heard the conversation and decided to throw a real tantrum in the carpark as realised it was about to share the shed with a four stroke and refused to start. All joking aside, a great bike to restore, and as time goes by these bikes from the eighties are going to become more desireable. As a bonus, they are very rideable and provide performance not to distant from todays machines.
P.S. The main bearings on Dions KR are shot! He may have to sell the house to fix it! Maybe his KR is hoping he will have to sell the GSXR.

From Fathers Day Run

"Dont try and trick us Don. That bike is not your GT500. Its the wrong colour. Your GT is red!"

The 2010 Manawatu Classic Motorcycle Show

From Barber Hall

From Barber Hall

From Barber Hall

From Barber Hall

From Barber Hall

From Barber Hall

From Barber Hall

The Manawatu Blue Haze VJMC group made an excellent contrbution to the Classic Motorcycle show. The last time this show was held was in 2004, quite a long time ago. It was great to see the public come out in force to support such an event. With over 200 motorcycles of all shapes and sizes their was plenty to see with something for every taste. Our club decided to have as our central feature the full displacement lineup of Kawasaki triples. Ross Charlton our national VJMC chairman chipped in with not only his immaculately restored H2, but also his delightful and very rare S2. Paul D added in his H1 with Dions KH400 next in line. My contribution was the baby of the lineup, a KH250. This is probably not a sight you would see very often anywhere in the world. Sir Al snuck in his TS250 along with his A7 to show what came before the triples. Upon reflection it would have been good to put in Dions KR250 to show the post triple era. Bruce put in his RT1 that sat beside Dons Honda MT250. At the other end of the display next to the Kawasaki turbo and Z650 Don put in his RZ350. Paul Ds trophy for the best Japanese bike was well deserved although Ross's H2 could have easily won it as well. Dions protest at not receiving it was short lived as he was dazzled by the light reflecting off the paint and chrome from Pauls H1 and Ross's H2.
Wandering around the rest of the show made you realise that motorcycling has something for everyone and that our motorcycling heritage is alive and well. One also begins to appreciate the incredible number of hours people put into restoring and maintaining this wonderful machinery, let alone the cost.
It was a great weekend and a huge thanks to Dave Robinson and his crew for pulling this show together.