Variety is the Spice of Life/Motorcycling

It was interesting arriving at Manawatu Motorcycles and finding quite a variety of motorcycles lined up ready for another wander around the country side. What can be said about our bunch of merry men and ladies is we reflect a varied taste in motorcycles and motorcycling activities. Whilst we encourage and foster motorcycling of the Vintage Japanese flavour it was certainly a smorgasbord motorcycling menu lined up Andrew Young street. Not only was the variety reflective of different marques geographical manufacturing and design origins, but also the age and cc ratings of bikes. One extreme was Sir Al on his mid seventies Kawasaki 350 F9 through to Evan and PC on there brand new, days old Royal Enfeild Himalayan and Interceptor. Tim was on his months old Africa Twin with Gary on his Yamaha 225 Scorpio and Janet on her Kawasaki ER6. Ian had his trusty Kawasaki W650 out for a jaunt, whilst Rich was out on his Suzuki Vstrom with yours truely on My Yamaha XJ750. After a bit of a natter an easterly direction was settled on for a ride.
This took us over the Pahiatua track and through to Mangamaire where we stopped for another chat. Sir Al on the Bighorn was certainly getting the most out of it and it is easy to see why they are still popular for vintage racing in the states. Gary was having a hoot of a time on his little Scorpio and we were all impressed with its performance over the track and through the  'B' roads we do most of our riding on. Following along behind on the XJ I was certainly impressed with the little Yamaha's turn of speed particularly its corner speed. Nothing like having narrow tyres, a shorter chassis and of course excellent riding ability. We then headed out to State highway two, then south for a short distance until the Rongomai turnoff. The next turn had us heading up Mangaone Road with its lovely mixture of open and tight corners and in no time we were at our coffee stop at the Black Stump Cafe in Pahiatua. The conversation around the table covered everything from how the Royal Enfields were performing through to a variety of opinions on the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Apparently the it is very light on motorcycle maintenance and heavy on the Zen.
The trip back had us heading back over the track again. The traffic wasn't to bad so we got to enjoy a few of the corners. With Evan and PC just in front of the XJ, Evan was certainly making the most of the Himalayas 24bhp. It certainly makes you question the power imperative and with Ian out the front setting a brisk pace on the 54bhp W650 we definitely had the fun factor on lesser horsepower.  Mind you those of us on our higher HP bikes probably had a less frenetic and relaxing time as we wafted along with our extra torque and power. Great having a bit of variety to help spice up your life. Sounds like an excellent excuse to add another bike to garage!

PCs report on the 2019 VJMC Rally

A group of 6 of us made the trip down to Hanmer Springs for this years VJMC Rally.Barry (H2),Grant (H1) and Ken (DR650!! Would’ve looked better on a PC800

!!) all from Wellington and Rich (DL650), Kim (H2) and myself (GT550) from Palmy.

We headed out of Palmy early for Wellington to make the 8am ferry crossing. Why so early? well Barry had arranged a special visit to an establishment on the other side of Mt Lyford, Rodin Cars!

The weather on the day was good. It wasn’t long after leaving Picton that the first issue arose with a “classic bike”, Kim’s H2 front brake seized up, as in locked on! We could unlock it, but once he used it again it locked. So no front brake for him for the trip to Hanmer!

The run down through to Kaikoura was great but there was still a lot of work going on in regard to road construction so we had that to contend with that. The road over Mt Lyford and on was in pretty good knick so some fun was had here.

We arrived at Rodin Cars late in the afternoon and the team there were very accomodating and first up allowed us to take a run around the test track on our bikes. We were then hosted to a look into a garage that housed a few “toys” then onto a “surgically” set up shed where such toys and the Rodin cars were operated on. We moved into the assembly area where the building process took place as well as the machine shop which in itself was another facility that had us in awe, especially the titanium printer! Thanks to the team at Rodin Cars and of course Barry for getting us in.

The remaining run into Hanmer was uneventful, except for the great road and scenery.

The Rally site was was in a scenic wonderland just outside Hanmer at the Hanmer Springs Forest Camp on Jollies Pass Rd. We were soon ushered to our accommodation in what were some historical, or was that hysterical, cabins. Then on to catch up with other attendees at BBQ tea and refreshments!

Saturday dawned a cracker day but unfortunately the planned excursion to Christchurch Pero Motorcycle museum was put off due to the events in Christchurch on the 15th March! Instead the time was spent working on Kim’s H2 and the front brake calliper (two potential mechanic’s and about ten plus experts looking on offering sound advice!)
Once the H2 was sorted it was off to town for lunch and socialising.

Saturday night we all had a fine night at the dinner and prize giving.

Not too early on Sunday we said our goodbyes and headed out. We headed West on the Lewis pass, Rich headed South to continue on with his vacation. We weren’t long out of Springs Junction when an issue arose with Kim’s H2 (the drive sprocket came off) which could have been nasty but was easily and quickly fixed. We spent Sunday evening at the “Formally The Blackball Hilton”, in Blackball obviously!

On Monday we headed up the road to Picton, choosing our way carefully to allow the inclusion of as many gas stations as possible, so as to cater for the 2-strokes and especially for the GT. I could have taken my XR6 Ute and used less gas!!! As such I am a great advocate for hybrid and or full electric vehicles, not that I’d ever want one for myself but I figure the more others that had them then that would leave more fuel for me!

We gassed up the bikes in Picton, grabbed a feed and headed for the ferry....the GT sounding a bit off. Got on the ferry ok but the GT was not sounding any better! Once in Wellington it was off the ferry and heading North, limping to Barry’s place where we replaced one of the condensers ... I carry a spare! All good and we were off home.

A good few days away on the bikes with good company.

PC

A Wander with Wazza

Last Sunday saw a good turnout on for our April Blue Haze VJMC end of month ride. Although the weather forecast didn't look promising, the front blew through overnight and apart from a light shower at the beginning of the ride, it was precipitation free. With eleven motorcycles lining up at Andrew Young Street, it was a good turnout, and there certainly were some interesting bikes in the line up. Great to see Michael along for another ride on his RD400, with Dion on the RG400, Kim on his NSR 250 and Warren on his GT380 rounding out the two stroke contingent. JB had his immaculate RE5 out for a spin and the Italians were well represented with Paul on his Moto Guzzi 1000 Le Mans and Bruce on his radical looking MV Augusta 1090 Brutale. Sir Al turned up on his recently acquired Honda XL650V Transalp, Ian on his 650WR, Rich on his 650 Vstrom and yours truely on the XJ750. Warren took the lead for this run with a destination out to the west settled on. After departing the the city via Gillespies Line, Warren soon had us straight lining and bend swinging through a variety of back roads that eventually had us parked up outside the Bulls Bakery and Cafe. We were lucky enough to find parks right outside as Bulls is certainly a busy town with the merging of State Highways 1 and 3. After a good natter and a quick tie down repair on the mudguard of the MV, people headed off home in different directions, with the largest group making there way back to Palmy via Kakariki and Mount Biggs. Fingers crossed for similar conditions for next next months EoMR!