March End of Month Ride

 With the warmer months slowly receding into autumn, sunny Sunday mornings are finding people out making the most of the warmth out on motorcycles enjoying themselves. None more so than those who enjoy their bikes with a Vintage Japanese flavour and even some with an accompanying whiff of smoke. Whilst these bikes are regarded by some as an 'acquired taste' our March end of month ride saw a great turnout of said motorcycles with a crew of 14 lining up at Memorial Park for our March end of month ride. Our ride for the morning was to be the Makino Rd loop with a stop at Stanaway Hall and then onto our final destination at the Woolshed Cafe just south of Sanson. 

The roll call 

Paul D - Kawasaki H2

Sir Al - Kawasaki H2

Dave - Honda GB500

Bruce S - Suzuki RG500

Gary A - Honda CX500

Paul C - Kawasaki S3 400

Ross - Suzuki Cobra

Stuart - Suzuki GT750J

Murray - Yamaha XV 920

Warren - Benelli Tornado Tre 900

Richard - Suzuki 650 Vstrom

Ian - Kawasaki W650

Ray - Triumph 900 Tiger

Gary W - Suzuki GSR750

It was good to see Sir Al back out on his H2 that was playing up with clutch cable issues. Thanks to Paul D with his huge knowledge of these bikes he very quickly helped Al sort out a missing clip. You would have great difficulty sorting this sort of thing out if you were relying on manuals and parts books etc as they don't seem to show this. Another great example of being a part of of a group like ours where you can access such help and knowledge.  It was great seeing Paul out on his blue H2 and it performed as reliably as ever. Murray popped over from Whanganui on his latest ride around, an XV920. It is an American import but similar to the TR1s we got here. Its fully enclosed drive chain is a really interesting feature of these bikes. It's non standard Brembo front brakes certainly looked up to job of stopping the bike. 

Ross was back out on his Suzuki Cobra and his ongoing fettling is turning it into a really reliable classic that should provide many years of service. It was nice to see PC out on his S3. This is also a well sorted out bike with a trip down south a few years ago attesting to its reliability (and fuel consumption!). It was good to see Stuarts fettling has now got him a reliable push button classic that should also provide with years of service. It has been a little while since we saw Bruce S on his RG500 which was having a few issues for a while and it was interesting to see the attention it got at Manfield on or way home. Pauls H2 also garnered plenty of attention with the racing fraternity as many a grey haired person paused to view.

Dave and Gary A held up the Honda flag with Dave fettling his resurrected GB500. It certainly didn't miss a beat and it is interesting to see Honda applying the GB title to its latest 350 single road bike. Hopefully they will be making there way to New Zealand where it will make a great commuter. Gary's CX500 behaved itself as always and it is easy to forget that back in it's day how suspicious the punters were of its configuration only to now being almost a cult bike. Warren decided to take his latest purchase, a Benelli 900 out for a test spin and its unique sound and water cooling configuration got plenty of attention. Its brief lack of sparks during the run certainly had all the usual 'Italian electrics' phrase bandied around at the Woolshed Cafe.

There was a good range of modern bikes accompanying the classics with Ian on his trusty Kawasaki W650 that many consider a worthy contender for a modern Triumph Bonneville or Tiger. Ray was out enjoying his 2020 Triumph Tiger and having ridden it I can see why they are so popular. Wonderful handling with generous suspension and a stonking motor. Ideal for New Zealand roads. Rich was back out on his Suzuki Vstrom having spent a great summer on it clocking up the kays. He certainly swears by its wonderful motor and its midrange which belies its 650ccs. That leaves yours truly on the Suzuki GSR750 and after clocking up 9000 ks on it, it is a wonderfully crazy bike that commutes with ease but has plenty of bark for spirited riding in the weekends. It is commuter docile friendly up to 5000 rpm but lights up like two stroker from 8-12000 rpm. Its motor is very smooth for an inline four and the suspension is harsh but works well at speed. It will certainly be in the garage for a while yet.

The run through to Sanson via Ashhurst and Valley road was punctuated by as already mentioned Warrens Benelli having a zero sparks moment. Our one and only stop at Stanaway allowed us to regroup and our Road Captain, Ian soon had us on our way again to our destination. Sanson was its usual busy self and the Woolshed Cafe was also busy but there reputation for quick service and good food had us fed and watered in no time. Whilst some had to head off home a few of us decided a quick visit to Manfeild was in order to catch up with some other Blue Hazers who were racing at the Victoria Motorcycle Clubs TSS series.

It was good to see Dion and Tim out doing the business with Tim on his Honda CBR 600 and Dion on the Aprilia 150 two stroke. Dion had all the 150ccs on song with the Aprilias lonely expansion chamber out on the track amongst the hordes of four strokes. Tim and his CBR were reliably circulating amongst a gaggle of younger bikes and riders but seemed to be enjoying his Sunday 'outing'. Nice to see Kim in support and apparently the search for H2 sparks is well underway with many cunning plans being explored. Hopefully we shall see it out again shortly. 

All in all a well supported EoMR. These end of month rides are there to encourage the restoration and use of our classic bikes and because of this a reminder that these runs are going to be shorter in distance compared to our Classics Crew Sunday rides. Hopefully this will encourage a few more people to restore and bring out there Vintage Japanese bikes. This is not to say these bikes aren't up to doing longer distances. They certainly are with some of our crew heading down south last November to the Southern Classic racing at Levels on a range of strokers. All performed reliably although a degree of private finger crossing is needed with anything electrical or mechanical that is over forty years old and when it all goes to plan, one has more cause to celebrate than if you were on a modern bike. 

As Daylight Saving makes the switch to Autumn and Winter it is a timely reminder that we have had really good summer riding season. This time last year the response to Covid 19 was in full swing and many unknowns were hanging in the air. Thank goodness we got through to the point where we were able to once again, indulge in our passion for motorcycles and in particular heritage motorcycles. It is a great community of like minded people. Long may it continue.

Thanks to Graeme White for the Manfeild photos.

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