Hampton Downes Barry Sheene Classic 2012

Labour weekend this year saw me staying home whilst some of the crew decided to get out and about. Despite the lousy weather forecast Dion and Kim put on their wets and mounted their trusty steeds and headed for the Trans Tasman Barry Sheene Classic bike weekend at Hampton Downes. Paul De Lautour was already up their with alan who was giving his RG500 a bit of a spin that weekend as well. They made it to their digs in Rotorua with out to much bother, but the 1 hour trip over tho Hampton Downes on the Sunday was another matter. As you can see from Kims photos it was wet and windy. Kim managed to snap a lot of the bikes in the pits, and what a great gathering of bikes it was. The classics were great, but the lads were really impressed with the number of post classic bikes racing. A big thanks to Kim for the great photos.
Enjoy!
If you want to see more detailed photos check them out here

PS. Here something a bit different that caught Kims eye. A Suzuki 500 triple. Based on a GT 380 but uses Suzuki 315 pistons and has H1 heads! Cool

The Kawasaki 750H2 Celebrates its Fortieth

Alans totally original H2

Paul DeLautours H2 next to Alans A7

Brothers Paul and Kim DeLautours H2s

The "Widow Maker" is still a phrase one hears when you park up with an H2 in a public place. Its reputation has surrounded it with a mythical quality that time has enhanced and made it one of the most collectable motorcycles of the seventies. For those in our club who own one they aren't a machine just to look at but a piece of living heritage that deserves to be used on a regular basis. Head on over to our web site and find out a bit more about what it is like to own, ride and maintain one of these beauties forty years on!

Spoilt For Choice

Met the classic lads at the Feilding Railway Station

Our bikes became a part of the display

Simons Kawasaki GPz 750 A3

Takes one back!

Paul De Lautour had one of these

..and now he has one of these

Spent many miles sitting in the back of one of these!

The company Suzuki 'borrowed' ideas from!

2 cylinders, 6 litres and 38hp

The ultimate 60s holiday setup

For Dion

The motorcycling season is well under way with last weekend providing a great range of destinations for a ride. The Whanganui Speed show looked really interesting with a range of interesting boats, cars and motorcycles on show. Manfield had a day of motorcycle racing run by the Vic Club and to top it all off Levin had an Early Transport show on that was worth a visit as well. Of course this all tied in with the beginning of daylight saving so we had a whole 'extra' hour to play with. To celebrate we decided to shift our departure time to 9:00 am so compared to last weekends time we were actually a whole hour earlier. It certainly felt like it waking up that morning and as we assembled at Manawatu Motorcycles Simon turned up from Paraparamu for his first ride out with us. Welcome aboard and a great effort considering the distance he came. Paul turned up on his trusty GT750, with Dion on his now crank sealed KH400, Al on the ever reliable A7 and myself on the XJ. A quick discussion had us heading out towards Ashurst with a quick run around the back of Colyton to meet the Classic lads at the Feilding Railway Station. A quick show of hands as to our destination had us heading out of Feilding to towards Awahuri and onwards around the back roads to our one and only stop at Shannon. After a brief stop we headed on down to Levin and we were ushered through the entrance to become a part of the display in the show. Cool. There was some great machinery on display and the various Horowhenua clubs involved are to be congratulated for putting a great show together. We spent a couple of hours wandering around and after watching the world record being broken for assembling a Model T Ford we headed back home with a stop off at The Old Plum Duff Tearooms in Shannon for a cuppa and a chat. Thanks to the Classic club for letting us tag along. A great way to enjoy a Sunday morning.