What a lovely change weather wise from a previous months end of month ride. It was a beautiful day for a ride with plenty of blue, little wind and a great temperature for an air cooled motor. It was good to see a very good line up of appropriately aged classic Japanese bikes for our July end of month ride. Just right as we were heading over to Tui Central for there Japanese Car and Motorcycle show. Gary was on his CX500, Dave turned up on his Honda GB500 and Bruce S brought his Yamaha TDR out for a play. It was also good to see Kim had sorted out the H2's sparking issue and Stuart on his Water Bus and Warren having a break from driving his milk tanker on his Yamaha XJ900. The rest of the gaggle were on moderns with Rich on his Vstrom, Ian and Lydia on there W650 and yours truly on the GSR750. We were soon on our way heading for the hills and then over the busy Pahiatua Track. We were soon through Pahiatua and onto Mangatainoka where we were greeted by a great lineup of classic and performance Japanese cars. It is always great to see fellow enthusiasts of Japanese machinery celebrating it and a big thank you to Tui Central for putting on these special events. A special favourite of mine was the Suzuki Cappuccino, a lovely little 2 door Kai car built around a 665cc turbo charged triple. There were a lot of old school cars from back in the day that brought back many memories. There aren't that many around now as most suffered from poor to non existent corrosion treatment with most ending up in wreckers yards way too soon.
We were soon on our way again heading for the metropolis of Woodville with our destination being the ever popular Windmill Cafe. Of course we had to take the back way with Gary in the lead promising us an extra special scenic route. It was going well for a while until our way was blocked by a tree across the road. Luckily no one was driving or riding by when the very large limb fell. The neighbouring farmer was soon on the scene with his tractor and we were soon on our way again. The Windmill cafe is a great destination with excellent food and beverages and plenty of parking out the back. After a good natter and putting the world right we headed home to more mundane things but happy to have been out and about on our bikes on a glorious sunny day with great company.
