Horsepower meets Horsepower in Foxton!

Here are a few photos from a lovely ride three of us went on last Sunday. This time of year provides some of the most pleasant motorcycling weather of the year with warm(as in not hot!) and settled weather and blue skies. The old aircooled twostrokes just love this with fewer worries around middle cylinders on triples and a nice crispness to the throttle from jetting thats just lean enough! Pauls H1a looked wonderful out in the sun and Bruce Currie on his trusty Suzuki GT750 provided  a great aural accompaniment through his expansion chambers as I followed along behind on the XJ. Bruce had made the trip up from Wellington for the ride leaving his place at 7:00 am this morning. He passed comment on digging out his thermals as he felt the approach of winter through his summer gear he had on. He certainly gets around on his GT with two trips south in the last six months to the Bert Munroe and recently to the VJMC Rally in Hamner. He has covered 20000kms on it over the last few years and is looking forward to getting his K model on the road shortly. A good reminder that these old Japanese bikes still have no trouble cutting the mustard as everyday bikes.

As the morning warmed up we headed on out and decided on a jaunt around the back of Feilding and eventually ending up in Foxton for a cuppa. Our first stop was Stanway Hall where we meet an interesting chap out for a bike ride who had a couple of 70s British 'show' bikes at home that he doesn't ride. A Trident and one of the last BSA Lightnings made. Both bikes are orignal and under 10,000 miles. Seeme to be very interested in getting an old japanese bike to ride. The more the merrier! Mout Stewart was our next stop and we made plans for a back road route down to Foxton. Went through Glenn Orua Taikorea and on towards Highway 56 and towards Himatangi. We turned off down to Wylie Road and headed towards Foxton for our cuppa. The windmill is a great spot to stop and watch the world go by. This morning the Foxton Horsedrawn Tram Society were running rides with a couple of Clydesdales pulling it along. Not something one sees everyday. Many jokes about horsepower meeting horsepower. After feeding and watering ourselves we headed home with the tripmeter ticking over 150km under the wheels as we got back home.  Who would have thought 150km return to Foxton but more importantly some more wonderful memories that remind us why we have such a passion for restoring and riding these old Japanese Bikes!