Yamaha SR500 on October EoMR + Classic Racing

October sees the beginning of the riding season down here at the bottom of the South Pacific. Octobers EoMR saw a nice coincidence with the Blue Haze Racing 'Division' at a NZ Classic Motorcycle Register race meeting at the same time as our end of month ride. We had mixed turnout of moderns and classics with Sir Al on his Kawasaki 750 H2 being the oldest on the day. He does such a great job keeping it up to scratch and when one is looking at it, it is hard to believe it is still mostly original. Even better is that he still brings it out to play regularly and isn't scared to 'punt' it a bit at times. Graham brought along his latest acquisition, a Yamaha SR500. Graham loves his singles with a BSA Gold Star and an NSU Max at home in his garage. He is a serial tinkerer of all sorts of bikes and it sounded like he had a few interesting 'modifications' in mind for the SR. It was good to have Jason back out on the Katana. Suzuki did such a good job of downsizing the Katana and it is interesting to see how it has become such an important part of its design language with its current Suzuki 1000 Katana. Warren decided his VJ23 Suzuki RGV needed a bit of a run and as the final iteration for Suzuki of a light two stroke sports bike it is really quite remarkable. Try 70bhp and a 134kg dry/164 wet weight and this is a serious scalpel for straightening out bends. 

Just as a side note; it has been interesting to see how two strokes are far from being an extinct technology. From petrol weed eaters and chain saws through to large Rotax direct injection outboards, ski doos and even brand new motorcycles for the road. These are not motor scooters but legal on road bikes such as the Langen 250 Vee twin and the the Paul Lewis developed Salt Motorcycles. There is still a place for this wonderful technology amongst all the other current engine developments in  the world today. If you are more inclined towards the race track you can still buy a V four two stroke race bike called the Suter. I am sure a descent Lotto win might see some of the race day crew add one to there garage to ride along side some of its descendants the lads seem to be getting out onto the tracks recently.

It was the first time I had seen Tims Suzuki TR500 with its Steve Roberts frame and period appropriate colour scheme. Well done. It sounds like Mark and Tim are still fettling the bike so nice to see it is not going to be a living room centre piece. The  Yamaha TR250 and CBR 600 also seem to be getting some great track time as well. Kim was also out on his ever reliable Aprilia RS250 enjoying his racing with Dion doing some major sorting out of his stroker before it will also rejoin the fray in the near future. 

We did a leisurely ride over to Manfeild from Memorial Park via Ashhurst and Valley Road and on to the track via the Rosebowl Bakery and Cafe in Feilding. The moderns were definitely an eclectic mix of bikes that reflect a balanced mix of road bikes from the East and West that is very evident today. With Rich and yours truely on the Suzukis and Paul and Gary A on the Moto Guzzi and BMW respectively. A bit different from back in our day in the seventies and eighties where the Japanese marques definitely dominated the road bike scene.  

Role Call
Sir Al - Kawasaki 750 H2
Paul H - Moto Guzzi V85 TT
Graham - Yamaha SR500
Gary W - Suzuki GSR 750
Warren - Suzuki RGV 250 VJ23 SP
Jason - Suzuki GSX400 Katana
Gary A - BMW F 650 GS
Rich - Suzuki 650 Vstrom

'Race Affiliates'
Kim - Aprilia RS250
Tim - Honda CBR 600
        - Yamaha TR250
Mark/Tim - Suzuki TR 500 Daytona
Wayne - Yamaha RZ500
            - Yamaha XJ550