Another Van Ride!

For those of us who have air cooled two strokes a bit of coolness in the air is always welcome. The previous nights rain signalled a passing front and a southerly change for the morning. Not to hot and not to cold! Upon fronting up to Manawatu Motorcycles in the morning on the mighty (thirsty!) KH250, it was pleasing to see a nice line up of not only two strokers, but a nice contingent of air heads as well. The decision was made to do the Apiti loop. For most motorcycling mortals this is an easy mornings ride, but for wrist happy middle aged KH250 with a tired top end owners, range becomes a critical concern. Naturally this terrain is mostly hilly with a wonderful twisty road. Not really conducive to getting the maximum range out of a tank.  The usual tactic is to make sure one leaves Ashhurst with a full tank, and then to fill up again in Feilding. One can stay within the 100km safe zone. For this run I made the decision to do try an 'economy run' and see what range I could get before the air to petrol ratio became close to 100 to 0, so my fill up at Main Street BP was going to have to be it. Kim our resident Kawasaki triple expert guesstimated Bunnythorpe would see her go on to reserve. So with his sound advice ringing in my ears we set off and Ian by default filled the role as our token four stroke for the morning on his GSX600F. The absence of smoke billowing out of his exhausts set him apart as we left the city limits for Ashhurst. Bruce had joined us from Levin on his RZ350, Sir Al had the Avenger out for a run, Dion was giving his NS400 its first run after the Hampton Downs ride, Rich on his T500, Kim on his H2a.
Road Captain Kim had set our first stop at the Camp Rangi Woods turnoff. It was a great run from the Raumai Bridge through to the turnoff with a few of us arriving ahead of the others. The reason for there tardiness became apparent with Kim informing us that Dions front valve stem had gone astray and he was lucky to stay upright. Ian and Dion joined us soon after with Dion on as a pillion and the NS parked up in a friendly farmers driveway ready for a pick up later. Our next port of call was Apiti and arrived there in no time at all. The road was in good nick and it looked as though the council had the road swept recently so we really enjoyed the run. We parked up at our usual spot at Gasoline Alley (That doesn't have any gasoline) and after a chat headed for our last stop at Hansens in Kimbolton. This is another good run with a mixture of open and tighter corners. Bruce and Sir Al had their 350s on song. After a snack and some refreshments it was downward run to home along the Kimbolton and Cheltenham straights. By this stage the KH hadn't gone onto reserve so I decided to miss the usual run into the North End BP in Feilding and headed off to Colyton with the rest of the troops. I managed to make it to within 1km of Bunnythorpe. Kims reputation is intact if not enhanced as the guru of all things triple! After punching a few numbers into the calculator it looked like just over 30 mpgs. It confirms the triples dual cooling method. Air and petrol.
It was a great ride and just the sort of thing Santa might do if he wasn't so busy at this time of the year.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Suzukis' Ducatis and Daffodils

I thought I would throw up a post covering  a couple of weekends worth of wandering our lovely countryside. The meteorologists say we have had the warmest August ever, and the outings we went on definitely confirmed the statistics with the daffodils in bloom and not having to wear so many riding layers. This has provided the motivation and opportunity to get out on our motorcycles and enjoy them. As a group we have quite a mixture of bikes in our garages and our rides reflect this variety. Bruce decided to bring his Ducati SR4 Monster along for one of our rides and he let me have a ride on it. It was my first ride on a Ducati, and what an eye opener. I now have a new understanding of 'good midrange torque', and why such bikes need wide rear tires!  As for the brakes, well you need really good ones! It definitely showed how far motorcycles have come in the last thirty years. Along on the same ride was  Kim on his H2, Ian on his GSX600, Rich on his T500. I joined the lads in Ashhurst as we headed West away from the showery weather and damp roads near the ranges. As always we needed to stop for refreshments and at Bruces suggestion we ended up at the Wooolshed Cafe just south of Sanson. Very much recommended!

The second outing is from our VJMC/Blue Haze August end of month ride up the Pohangina Valley. Its been a wee while since we have been up the valley which is a favourite ride for many us in the region. It was a great run with much of the countryside waking up from its winter slumber with blooms on all the fruit trees and daffodils everywhere. Another feature of the ride was the number of Suzuki's.  Of special note was Bruces gorgeous little 1984 low milage GSXR 400. The very first of them. A lot of people forget that they preceded the 750s and are very much the first of the GSXR dynasty that is still with us today. For that reason alone it is very collectable, let alone they are wonderful little bike that is well suited to the twisty roads we have on our doorstep. Kim also dragged out the mighty RE5 from its winter slumber for its first run of the season. By all accounts it was rather reluctant to wake up and protested in its usual smokey manner, but by the end of the run was purring and enjoying the outing. Paul De Lautour brought along his GT750 and theirs nothing like seeing all that chrome and paintwork against a lush and colourful spring scene. Ian came out on his GSX600F and provided a nice contrast to the earlier Suzukis with a very strong lineage to Bruces little GSXR. Ian has just returned to motorcycling and its been great to see his 'measured confidence' grow over the last couple of months. As a group we enjoy our older bikes and ride them at an appropriate pace that often suits riders returning to motorcycling. Thats not to say we don't have an occasional 'quickening of the pace' from time to time! After all (officer) its important to blow the carbon out of a two strokes pipes to keep it in top running order! Rich brought along his ever reliable T500 and managed to find a very 'spiritual' parking spot in our last stop before heading towards home. Some one had spend time creating a mini Stonehenge that Richs side stand ended up in the middle of. This could just be chance but may explain why people why some of us feel the need to have a Suzuki T500 in our lives! We continued our ride to The Pilgrims Rest who's gates were now open. Margret greeted us in her usual jovial manner and John joined us later after completing his farm work with the deer. They are a hard case couple with hearts of gold and provided great company as we had our scones, cream, ploughman's lunch washed down with coffee and tea. The remainder of our ride back down the valley was just as enjoyable as going up and we are all looking forward to our next ride.

Just to finish off, a big congratulations to VJMC (New Zealand) who have just put up a web site for the club. Angela, Barry, Ross and Judy have been working hard on this for months. Go and have a look and keep up to date with goings on around the country and all the latest news concerning the rally in March.

http://www.vjmc.co.nz/

Aprilia RS250. The Last of the Blue Haze Sports Bikes

The weather at this time of the year is a bit hit and miss if you are after appropriate riding conditions. For our July ride we struck a relatively warm and sunny day and we were also fortunate to have along for the run a couple of new people on their modern bikes. Kenny turned up on his very green BMW and John brought along his Aprilia RS250. This had the likes of Dion swooning all over it as he knows all to well that it was the last of the two stroke sports bikes. John has had it for half a year and he has been thoroughly enjoying it. It truly is a work of art and one that some people might like as a centrepiece in the living room! Also along for the ride was Rich on the mighty T500, Kim on his H2, Brian on his Yamaha XT600, Ian on his GSX 600, Paul was taking his H1b out for a spin, as was Dion on his KH400 and yours truly on the XJ. A wander up to Hunterville was the chosen destination and as we exited the city via Railway Road the haze at the city limits was probably mistaken for the passing of a steam train. We then proceeded through Feilding and headed up Makino road to our first stop at the top of Cheltenham hill. After videoing the departure I had to really give the old Yamaha a bit of a work out to catch up with the crew and we eventually arrived at our destination and decided to visit the local Motorcycle museum located in what used to be a bank. There was an interesting variety of machines to look over whilst waiting for our cuppa. Our return journey home was via the back roads that run parallel to State highway one. I decided to have my first play with the Gopro the family gave me for my birthday and I am looking forward to having a bit of fun with it on our rides. As can be seen from he video the roads we prefer to take are the back roads, and the more corners the better. After rejoining the main drag we ended up bidding farewell to the Feilding lads at Halcombe and headed towards our final stop at Mount Stewart. With a quick debrief from our ride we headed home with a wonderful dose of the sights, sounds and sensations unique to motorcycling.
Roll on spring for more of the same!

5 Brave Souls Risk the Rain and get Sunshine

As I was unable to attend the end of month ride Sir Al has kindly provided a report.

Which way?

A stop at Turakina

Tidy original XT

RG in tourer mode

There's nothing like a J-bus

Another Suzuki triple

RZ500LC

Big bore 300 KR engine

Waiting for Kai at the Red Lion

Sunday 26th May was our VJMC / Blue Haze end of month ride. The sky looked threatening, but 5 hardy types (and me) turned out at Manawatu Motorcycles at 10am. Rich riding his faithful T500, Kim on the H2A, Paul on the J-bus, Dion on his RG, and Brian on the Yamaha XT600 trail bike. I was odd man out on the modern.

We decided to head west and Dion organised a visit to Wayne M's collection of bikes in Whanganui. A good decision as we enjoyed a pleasant day's ride under mostly blue skies. We took as many back roads as possible there and back. Wayne's collection of restored, part-restored, original, and un-restored bikes was interesting, particularly the Lucky Strike Yamaha RZ500LC, and a collection of Kawasaki KR 250 tandem twins in varying states. These very trick machines hold a special interest for Dion as he's spent many happy hours scratching around the back roads on a KR, and of course many more trying to start one! He climbed on and gave it a few kicks for old-times sake. There were KX 250 and 420 motorcrossers, and a KX being turned into a track bike. For something different a rare 3 cyl 2-stroke Suzuki car. These may have been called a Fronte (?), and have the air-cooled triple rear mounted with a fan driven off one end of the engine and shrouded to blow air over the engine. Wayne has Banshee snail chambers which will be adapted to fit the little car. Should be interesting.
We left Wayne's around 1.30 and headed to the Red Lion pub for refreshments before returning to Palmerston North. An interesting day out for all, and Wayne is keen to bring the RZ500 out on some of our rides in the future.

A Golden Summer Part 3. Out with Classics and Apiti Loop

With the shortest day a month away and the forecast showing snow in the mountains it is probably a nice time to cast ones mind back to the summer just gone. It was a cracker for us motorcyclists, but the same warm (hot really) conditions were not good for the farmers in the form of a drought. The photos above are from a couple of runs some of us did in February around the region. The first run was out with the Manawatu Classic Motorcycle Club where we went the 'back way' to Totara Reserve via Pohangina township. The short gravel section was very dusty as you would expect with the dry weather, but definitely a pleasant run with feeding and watering at the Ashhurst Inn topping off a great morning out. Our second run was one of our favourite loops through Apiti and Kimbolton. We were joined by Ross Charlton and his English friend (sorry, I have forgotten your name)from Wellington on their moderns. After a quick run over the Pahiatua track and Saddle Road had Bruce heading back home due to other commitments and the rest of us meeting the lads at Ashhurst for the run up to Apiti. As always, a great run with with the usual caution around loose gravel, and in no time we were ensconced at Hansens in Kimbolton enjoying coffee and cake.

Golden Leaves and Green Fields. April Ride

The weather in the morning was looking a little bit dodgy with some light drizzle and damp roads on the way in to town. It was pleasing to see four others lined up outside Manawatu Motorcycles looking for a place to go for our end of month ride. Looking to the east, the Tararuas were looking very damp, but the north was looking a lot brighter with a lovely patch of blue settling our ride direction. Hunterville was going to be our destination. After filling up with BP 98 at Rangitikei St, Dave led the way out of town taking us out to Bunnythorpe and showing us a new way to get to Colyton through Dixons Rd with our first stop being Cheltenham. Our original plan was to head for Hunterville via Vinegar Hill, but we decided to head towards Kimbolton and up to Rangawahia and across to Ohingaiti via Mangamako and Otara Roads. As we climbed up towards Kimbolton the temperature became noticeably cooler which seemed to fit with the autumn red and gold colours in the now green landscape. It wasn't that long ago it was a brown hued drought landscape! Quite a transformation. The drive through Kimbolton signaled a road change as the corners north of the town were a stark contrast to the straights to the south. The puff of smoke (well, smoke trail really) from the rear of Alans A7 signaled that it was time to play! Pauls H1b and Richards T500 followed suit whilst Dave and I on our four stroke fours made our valves and pistons do some work as we made our way through some of the best riding roads you will find anywhere. We didn't push things to much as the road was damp in places and this combined with pine needles, sheep, animal pooh, and autumn leaves meant caution was an excellent strategy. After regrouping at Pemberton Corner it was more of the same through to Ohingaiti. The run down State Highway one to Hunterville was very "relaxing" with our usual watering hole very busy. Whilst eating and drinking a local Hunterville resident introduced himself and took a liking to our bikes. Such good taste means he is the latest member to the Blue Haze and henceforth his name is Red Haze! We concluded our run by taking the back roads out of Hunterville to avoid the boredom of State Highway One. They are a nice mixture tight sections and sweeper's with some nice scenery along the way as well. We ended up outside Mount Biggs School for our final stop and Dave headed back into Feilding to catch up with the local and Wellington Classic Bike Club lads whilst the rest of us headed home. It was between here and home we encountered our only precipitation of the day with a brief shower or two and it certainly didn't dampen what proved to be a great autumn ride. See you on the next one!