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!