More videos and photos from the 2018 Manawatu Classic Motor Cycle show.

A wander through the rest of the show certainly provides a convincing picture of  the health of the motorcycle scene in the Manawatu and beyond. The two halls were littered with machines for all sorts of motorcycling interests. One concern for those of us into our heritage motorcycles is who  the next lot of heritage motorcyclists are? Our young people live in a complex world that demands there attention in so many different ways, so it was great to see evidence of younger enthusiasts (as well as young at heart as well of course!) interest in motorcycling in different parts of the show. The fact that the increasing value of classic motorcycles is going the same way as our housing prices is a concern. So it was great to see young people coming up with solutions to pursue there interest by getting into smaller capacity machines like scooters and step thrus. We have all been there, and seeing BBJ (Bantam Boy John) in front of an impressive row of said bikes, it is a real reminder about how important these smaller bikes are in the scheme of things. It is something us Blue Hazers might need to encourage with a couple of tiddler runs a year?
If you want to see who the winners of the different categories, pop over to the Manawatu Classic Motor Cycle Clubs website
A great show and once again a big thank you to the Classic club for organising it and thanks to the people who contributed there bikes and finally to the public for coming along!

Manawatu Classic Motor Cycle Club Show 2018

It was great popping down to the Manawatu Classic Motor Cycle Club show at Barber Hall over the weekend to view the nearly 300 bikes on display. It was only a few weeks ago the crew were concerned that the 100 entries they had in hand wasn't going to be enough! It sounds like the last week saw a rush of exhibitors turn up. The variety of bikes was wonderful to see and it certainly makes one appreciate how many different genres of motorcycling their are. The variations certainly attracted the punters in and great to see a range of demographics supporting and appreciating the show. It must have been a difficult task for the judges but pleasing to see a prize come our way with Barry's Pointer picking up a trophy. The Blue Haze Manawatu/VJMC certainly contributed some interesting bikes to the show and pleasing to see a whole lot of other 'unfamiliar' Japanese bikes come out of local garages and maybe living rooms! One comment from one of the punters was the noticeably larger numbers of Japanese bikes one now sees in these types of shows compared to five years ago. To be expected I suppose, and a reflection of the number of baby boomers taking an interest in heritage hobbies. During my youth motorcycles were still the primary transport for a lot of us growing up in the sixties, seventies and early eighties. The deregulation of the economy by Roger Douglas and company  mid eighties certainly released a tsunami of cheap Japanese import cars and motorcycles very quickly became solely recreation vehicles for many.
Prize winners amongst our group were;
PC: Best 1980s for his Honda CX650 Turbo.
Bruce C: Best Japanese for his Suzuki GT750K.
Barry: Best Unique Motorcycle for his Pointer.
A big shout out to the Classic Club who put on such a great event.