Chasing the Sunshine

It has certainly been a very wet spring this year which has meant a lack of activity on the Sunday rides front. It got so bad a couple of weeks ago a special Sunday meeting was held at the Stage Door Cafe. This lack of DRY riding opportunities was probably one reason why last weekend we had a pretty good turnout for one of our 'non scheduled' rides. The return to 9:00 am departures might have been a plus as well with daylight saving signalling the beginning of the riding season. The forecast was for fine weather in the east so plans were made to head over the track to do the Rongomai loop. As can be seen from the photos, along with the regulars (Ian, Paul, Alan, Kim, Bruce and myself) we had Steve on his Japanese/Italian hybrid Cagiva! He is a two smoker from way back with a liking for Suzuki GT500s and muttered something about tracking one down! Our arrival at the top of the Pahiatua track saw us peering out through some drizzle to the east. After a quick reappraisal of our planned route we decided to continue on and as we reached the bottom of the track things began to clear. Mangamaire had us looking at blue sky in the distance so we continued on through a gradually warming morning. The Rongomai turnoff had us swinging through some of our favourite back roads. No traffic and a nice mix of wide open corners and well cambered tighter sections saw us arriving into the back of Pahiatua with some broad smiles. After a regroup we then headed off through some more great back roads to the Ballance Bridge Cafe. Whilst having a chat a genleman pulled up on his Honda GL500 and it transpired he was off to Feilding to have have a look at a car museum with the Masterton Ulysses group. Bruce and Alan swapped bikes with Bruce enjoying the delights of the H2 Widow Maker and Alan enjoying the beautiful growl of a well tuned and great sounding FZR1000 grunting out of the corners. The cafe chat for the two of them was Alan wondering how long hislicence would last if he owned an FZR and Bruce rather surprised at the descent handling of the H2. After some great coffees and snacks we retraced our steps back over the track and arrived back in town with plenty of the day left to do other things! A great way to start a Sunday

An H2 Returns to the Fold

The forecast for the weekend looked rather grim, but as Sunday got closer it changed rather dramatically for the better. Summer was back! As we gathered at Manawatu Motorcycles our destination had already been determined. The Victoria Motorcycle Clubs first winter series meeting was on so a shortish ride finishing up at Manfield to enjoy the action. The roll call was Clint on the Katana, Dion on  his ever reliable NSR400, Alan on his faithful Kawasaki A7, Bruce on the very quick FZR 1000, myself on the progressively more rattly KH250 and last but not least Kim on his H2. Its been a wee while since Kim has been out on a bike due to a few bones in his hand misbehaving and breaking then not realigning properly. Its good to see him and the mighty H2 back together again on the road. Alan lead us out of town to Ashhurst where we then headed on down to Valley road and back into Feilding. Judging by the smokescreen from the others ahead of me the old right hands got a good workout and we very quickly got to our destination of Manfield. It really was a perfect day for racing with no wind and the temperature around 21 degrees. After having a look around the pits it was time to have the traditional hot dog (I am sure they are getting smaller). We had a chat to a chap who had a very tidy Honda XL500 set up for the road and alongside it an Alchemy Ducati. You don't see many of these around. The only other two stroke road bike in the park was a very tidy Suzuki RGV250. Not many two strokes out racing apart from the 150s. One that did get our attention was a very tidy Kawasaki KR1S. The lads struck up a conversation with the owner and he was having a few issues with disappearing water and no leaks. Dion professed knowledge of such things and so the spanners were out and the tank was off and it quickly became apparent that a KR250 was different to KR1S. It was good to have chat to a fellow two stroke enthusiast and it sounds like it is becoming easier to get parts to keep these wonderful bikes on the track and on the road. Can't wait to see Dion and Kims RG400 hit the track (not literally) to add to that fast disappearing variety of two stroke sounds at Manfield. Hard to beat that two stroke square four sound. The Blue Haze will be supporting them by donating our supermarket petrol vouchers. (They will need it). Those RG400s suck the juice. (Must be petrol and water cooled) After watching and listening to the KR1 circulating  for a while it was time to head home. Some of us headed over to Clints new pad on Stoney Creek Road for coffee and muffin and to view his rather wonderful man cave. Looking forward to a Blue Haze BBQ sometime there.

An Autumn Wander and Swap Meet

It was another one of those chocolate box autumn days that got a group of us out and about on our trusty old Japa bikes. It had been two weeks since the national rally so the posteriors were ready for another session in the saddle. The two De Lautours arrived on there Kawasaki H2s, 'Top Gun' Paul Whiting was  on Kawasaki the mighty GPz 750r, Alan had the Avenger out for a spin, Dion had his dazzling KH400 out of his garage, Bruce turned up on his lovely sounding FZR 1000 and myself on the ever faithful XJ750. An easterly direction was decided on with a run through one of our favourite back roads chosen. After a surprisingly lightly trafficed run over the Pahiatua track we made our way through Mangamaire and after a brief run down Highway two it was on to Rongomai and then a loop back to Pahiatua. These roads are ideal for our style of riding which involves lots of twisty bits that don't require a great deal of horsepower but do need plenty of technique to keep up good corner speed on challenging suspension, chassis's and skinny tyres. The bonus is Mr Plod the revenue collector doesn't do very well out of us so we get to spend more on restoring and riding our bikes. We then made our way back over the track to the Rendezvous cafe for a coffee and cake. What a great way spend an autumn day!
The pevious weekends weather wasn't as nice, but at least it wasn't raining for the Manawatu Classic Motorcycle clubs swap meet. Some interesting buys amongst the vendors with some good conversation washed down with a breakfast sausage, bread and cup of tea.