What to do with a spare H1!

During these winter months one can spend a little to much time wandering around the world wide web. However once in a while one comes across something that challenges your thinking, and so it was with these photos. Most modified H2s are of a sporting or cafe nature with very few willing to explore a different aesthetic. So here are a couple of photos to provoke and peruse!
PS. As some one has pointed out, this is not an H2 motor, but an H1.
Thanks Paul

Horsepower meets Horsepower in Foxton!

Here are a few photos from a lovely ride three of us went on last Sunday. This time of year provides some of the most pleasant motorcycling weather of the year with warm(as in not hot!) and settled weather and blue skies. The old aircooled twostrokes just love this with fewer worries around middle cylinders on triples and a nice crispness to the throttle from jetting thats just lean enough! Pauls H1a looked wonderful out in the sun and Bruce Currie on his trusty Suzuki GT750 provided  a great aural accompaniment through his expansion chambers as I followed along behind on the XJ. Bruce had made the trip up from Wellington for the ride leaving his place at 7:00 am this morning. He passed comment on digging out his thermals as he felt the approach of winter through his summer gear he had on. He certainly gets around on his GT with two trips south in the last six months to the Bert Munroe and recently to the VJMC Rally in Hamner. He has covered 20000kms on it over the last few years and is looking forward to getting his K model on the road shortly. A good reminder that these old Japanese bikes still have no trouble cutting the mustard as everyday bikes.

As the morning warmed up we headed on out and decided on a jaunt around the back of Feilding and eventually ending up in Foxton for a cuppa. Our first stop was Stanway Hall where we meet an interesting chap out for a bike ride who had a couple of 70s British 'show' bikes at home that he doesn't ride. A Trident and one of the last BSA Lightnings made. Both bikes are orignal and under 10,000 miles. Seeme to be very interested in getting an old japanese bike to ride. The more the merrier! Mout Stewart was our next stop and we made plans for a back road route down to Foxton. Went through Glenn Orua Taikorea and on towards Highway 56 and towards Himatangi. We turned off down to Wylie Road and headed towards Foxton for our cuppa. The windmill is a great spot to stop and watch the world go by. This morning the Foxton Horsedrawn Tram Society were running rides with a couple of Clydesdales pulling it along. Not something one sees everyday. Many jokes about horsepower meeting horsepower. After feeding and watering ourselves we headed home with the tripmeter ticking over 150km under the wheels as we got back home.  Who would have thought 150km return to Foxton but more importantly some more wonderful memories that remind us why we have such a passion for restoring and riding these old Japanese Bikes! 

A Perfect Winters Day for a Ride!

It was definetly a perfect winters day that greeted the crew for our end of month ride last Sunday. Not a breath of wind, the sun shinning brightly and a nice dry road. A group of nine eventually lined up outside Manawatu Motorcycles ready to head out for another wander around the district. After some discussion Hunterville was the chosen destination via Halcombe and some back roads that avoided State Highway One then home via Vinegar Hill. First stop was to be Kakariki but Steves RZ350 decided otherwise and Newbury had Steve pointing his bike homeward to sort out what looked like an electrical problem. After turning off at Mount Stewart and passing through Halcombe a regroup at Kakariki had all of us enjoying the sun and looking forward to a good coffee at Hunterville. Just north of the Marton turnoff the troops took the back roads to Hunterville whilst Dions 1974 Suzuki GT250 decided to communicate its need for a thoroughly good tune up by running on one cylinder. Dion decided to turn around and head on home and the rest of us headed for our coffee stop. It was a great coffee and after watching a number of other bike groups ride by we joined them and headed out to Vinegar Hill for the ride home. It was a great run with very little traffic which we extended by coming through the back of Feilding via Makino road. After a brief stop we all headed off home with that wonderful feeling you only get from a great ride with people who have the same passion and topped off with a 'chocolate box winters day'

Caption Competition

From Pilgrims Rest return

It has been a great response to the caption competition, but the winners have yet to be decided. The committee will meet shortly and the results will be out after Easter!I will add more to the list as they come in.


“I got a really good divorce settlement, she got the 2 houses, 3 cars, the boat, furniture etc but I got a Kawasaki full of petrol.”

“Don't worry Bruce, They still make the petrol for these in America as well.”

"Bloody 2 strokes, its not even running and you can still see the level going down."

“Nice restoration job on the bike but I think you have got the colour on the inside of the tank wrong?”

“Well we got Don in there, but how the bloody hell do we get him out?”

Bruce: “You want me to put my tongue where?”

Paul: “Bruce, I know that on most motorcycles this is where the petrol goes but this is a Kawasaki 3 cylinder 2 stroke so this is actually where the coolant goes.”

"pist-n-broke, just like you Bruce"

"It's a female Bruce"

"That’s where the money goes"

"Don’t put your fingers in there - the motor is very hungry"

“If it overheats.... this is where you fill the Radiator.”

“There’s no fuel like an old fuel”

“Two magnificent specimens and Paul”

“Everyone is ready to go and you’ve dropped your bloody keys in there!”

“This is where you fill the radiator”

“I can't understand it, it was full when I bought it 20 years ago!”

"How the hell did you drop your cell phone in there?"

“I was polishing the tank when a beautiful young blond Genie came out of this hole, my wife won't believe it, I get the plasters off my legs next week.”

“When I started riding 50 cents would full the tank, I have just put $10 worth in here. Can you see any petrol?”


“Just about flipped it doing that last wheelie. Thought I'd pissed meself, then noticed the effin gas cap had come off.”

“Degas them for painting, no sweat mate, just drop a fag in, here I'll show ya.”

“My mechanic used to be a gynecologist, did the motor and gear box through this hole, he did my H2 through the exhaust pipe.”

“I am telling you you! I took the cap off to check the petrol, then I yawned and my false teeth fell in there.”

"See Bruce, this is where I put my wife when she upsets me ... I'll let her out when I get back!"

“The guy who sold it to me said if I rubbed it a beautiful genie would come out, I was gonna wish for less vibration and a proper bloody steering damper, not some useless screw knob on the top clamp, and perhaps some more hair.” (sorry Paul couldn’t resist)

“Don't be silly Paul, that is not Don snoring in there, the motors is running erratically that's all.”

“Honest to God Paul I did put $20.00 of petrol in the tank. I didn't expect it to use that much from Andrew Young St to Bunnythorpe.”

“Cut the legal jargon Bruce, to fill this baby up again do I really have to prove I have substantial carbon credits.”

Pilgrims Rest Return

From Pilgrims Rest return

From Pilgrims Rest return

From Pilgrims Rest return

John and Margarets cafe at the Pilgrims rest has always been one of our favourite destinations with its great food and more importantly great host reparte. One always leaves looking forward to a return visit and wondering what the topic of conversation will be. This time it was all about the arrival of the Mothers Motorcycle Club who have bought one of the local community halls. As would be expected some consternation has ensued but as time has gone on there seems to be a more accepting attitude to the new neighbours. It will be intersting to see how this develops over the winter as the Mothers establish themselves in the community. I am sure John and Margaret felt a lot safer during our visit as some of us wore our 'patches' on the ride and had them on the display during our refreshment stop. Russell and his son Ollie came along for a spin and hopefully enjoyed a different sort of way to spend a Sunday morning; out and about on a fine morning riding a motorcycle with some great company!

Valley and Track run

From PacificMCC@Manfield run

From PacificMCC@Manfield run

From PacificMCC@Manfield run

From PacificMCC@Manfield run

Here are some photos and video from another January run some of the VJMC/Blue Haze Manawatu crew went on. Hard to beat a morning run up the Pohangina Valley just as the day is beginning to warm up. Great to see Paul Whitings daughter Teia along for the ride to see what Dad gets up to when he disappears some Sunday mornings on his bike and comes back smiling. The run up to the Pilgrims Rest found it closed, so back down the valley to the Waterford for a coffee and tea. After a chat we were back on the bikes and heading to Feilding and Manfeild to see how Tim was doing on his Honda CBR600. This was his second outing on it and it was great to see the Hawkes Bay based Pacific Motorcycle Club giving a lot of club riders from the lower half of the North Island the opportunity to get out on the track. It was neat to see Tim and four generations of his family having a day out at the track. Nothing like a Manfeild hotdog and chips while you watch Dad tear around a race track! Great for morning talks at school on Monday morning. Our bikes generated some interest with some talk of organising rallys and/or shows around these sort of race meetings. Not a bad idea.
It was a great way to spend a summers day and add another golden weather memory to the memory bank.

Boxing day in Whanganui

From Boxing Day Races 2010

From Boxing Day Races 2010

From Boxing Day Races 2010

From Boxing Day Races 2010

From Boxing Day Races 2010

From Boxing Day Races 2010

What to do on Boxing Day has never been an issue for some of us. None of the jostling in malls and big box stores looking for bargains, but rather sitting in a cemetery watching others eat hotdogs and drink beer whilst a crazy bunch of motorcyclists burn off their Christmas dinner racing each other. And so a bunch of us from Palmy gathered together at Manawatu Motorcycles and headed off in a westerly direction towards Whanganui. Its a great feeling sharing the road with so many bikes all heading in the same direction.
We were all very interested to see how one of own (Tim) would do on his recently acquired Honda CBR600. This would be its first outing. Tims previous bikes at Whanganui have been of a 2 stroke kind, but have proved very fragile. You can only loctite and wire up a YZ490 only so many times! He not only completed all his races, but improved his placings as he got used to the bike. Having said all that, we did miss the mighty YZ vibrating and smoking its way around the circuit. The racing is only part of the experience and along with the culinary delights of Hot Dogs and Chips, you can check out the pits and spectator bikes. I was impressed with Alan De Lautours restraint when he and Dion had an interesting discussion with an RG500 "expert" over an RG500s fairing details. Alan is probably the expert in New Zealand on all things RG500. All adds to the colour of the day. After watching the usual smorgasbord of sidecars, motard, F1, F2, Post Classics etc we decided to head home at threeish. Or so we thought! Sir Al managed to misplace the key to a lockup we had all our gear in. We had visions of sitting on the riverbank throwing stones whilst we waited for help to arrive. Luckily for us a key was found and our departure was delayed by an acceptable hour.
The tail wind home was great for fuel economy and upon arrival at home the BBQ was fired up and we had a great turnout of friends, kids, partners etc. Great to see Barry Drummond and his son on the mighty Z1 pop in on there way home. The anticipated fireworks highlight of the evening courtesy of the De Lautour brothers literally fizzed out in spite of there obvious pyromaniac tendencies. Cheap fireworks are cheap for a reason!

Haloween Day Run

Report by Dr Sprocket (Paul De Lautour)
Photos by Sparkie (Kim De Lautour)

From Haloween Day Run 2010

From Haloween Day Run 2010

From Haloween Day Run 2010

Six enthusiasts left Manawatu Motorcycles on Sunday 31st October heading west and away from the showers sneaking over the Tararua and Ruahine ranges. Dion on his trusty KH400, Bruce on his T350, Terry on the GT550, Kim on the RZ250, Paul on his H1 and newcomer Alan on his Kawasaki ER5 ( He is thinking about getting an older bike) headed off towards Feilding via Bunythorpe and Colyton. A quick regroup at the top of Makino road had us trying hard to keep ahead of the drizzly rain clouds coming across the ranges and on to Rewa and a stop at Stormy Point lookout. Despite the name it is quite calm with the beautiful Rangitikei Valley shrouded in mist. It was then on to Vinegar Hill and to Hunterville for a welcome Hot drink for some and a cool one for some of the bikes! Then its back to Feilding via some back roads that take us through Silverhope, Kakariki and Halcombe. We had a quick stop at Kens place in Feilding to see if he was working on his H1a (he wasn’t. We would like to think he was out shopping for some polish and getting it ready for next months run!) It was back through to Palmy and we were all still dry.
Another great trouble free ride
PS. Anyone finding a T350 baffle, Bruce would like it back

From Haloween Day Run 2010

Where is Ken? Where is his H1a?