EOM September Ride (More Suzuki TS400 fettling!)

Off into the mist!

Cheltenham hill catch up 

Kims ever faithful RZ250

Ians award winning VX800

Bruces great VF750

Who needs to go to church when you can kneel before a TS400!

A caption competition!!

Stormy Point

"Will I have enough petrol to get to Hunterville?"

"Where did you go on to reserve?"

Just a quick dash to the petrol station

Waiting for Sir Al to return from the petrol station

Will Sir Al have enough petrol to get home?

Mt Biggs School stop

After a very pleasant Saturday the first day of daylight-savings was overcast and a bit cooler, and probably contributed to a turnout of only 5 riders for our end of month ride.

However it turned out to be an enjoyable run, heading over to Hunterville via Vinegar Hill. The wind was a bit gusty at times with intermittent drizzle, but not enough to get really wet. The road was damp and required some degree of caution. Good for the skills.

The crew were Gazza on his ever faithful XJ750, Kim on the RZ250 naked (the bike not Kim), Ian riding his 800cc V-twin Suzuki, Bruce A V4 mounted on his ’86 Honda VFR, and I rode the recently acquired ’77 TS400 – Ian very kindly transporting a spare 5 litres of petrol in light of that bike's first longer run a couple of weeks back.

We had the usual generous feed & coffee at Hunterville before taking Rangitira Rd and heading home. The less traveled roads are always the most fun, and this back road and Porewa Rd had their own set of challenges with a lot of mud and other brown stuff to catch the unsuspecting.  Down toward Marton we turned off onto Kakariki Rd and made our way via Halcome to Mt Biggs Rd and our last stop outside Mt Biggs School, then home.

It was surprising how dirty the bikes were and some cleaning will be required. We travelled at around the 100 kph mark and I’m pleased to say the TS400 not only made it to Hunterville on one tank, but after taking on 8.1 litres of BPs finest made it home as well. Consumption has been reduced thankfully to a miserly 25.8 mpg (10.9 km/l). I had forgotten how much fun old trail bikes are to ride and really enjoyed it. Saving up now to go to Pahiatua sometime before Christmas.