For those people who enjoy motorcycles from the past, and in particular the 60s, 70s and 80s. This saw the rise and demise of the large 2 strokes that many of us enjoyed in our youth. This blog celebrates this time in particular but also motorcycling in general .
Members of the Blue Haze/Manawatu VJMC made the yearly pilgrimage to Whanganui for the annual Boxing day races. Everyone was commenting on the admission price of $30 being very borderline value for money. If it went up much more , not many of us would be back next year.
After meeting at Manawatu Motorcycles at 9:00am we made our way towards Whanganui into a a very brisk westerly. Kim was on his Kawasaki H2a, Dione on his exercise machine, his Kawasaki KR250, Alan his always thirsty Kawasaki A7, Paul W on the just as thirsty Kawasaki KH250, Don on his Yamaha RZ350 and myself on the oil dripper Yamaha XJ750. Our first stop along the way was to find Alans sidecover that flew off in front of us at Mt Biggs. By the time we got back to it, it was a mangled mess. We had a great day with plenty of action on the track. A lot of delays due to prangs had the program running way behind time. Really enjoyed the post classics of course which had the biggest field of 2 strokes.
A shame to see our very own Tim Kendall doing well on his Yamaha YZ490 have to pull out with a broken exhaust. Great to see Tony McQueen on his H2 kawasaki doing well out there.
Sean Donnely on his Kawasaki Z1000 was reveling in the conditions to take out the class.
The Classic sidecars proved as popular as ever with some great on track antics, including the 360 I managed to capture on video. No one was hurt thank goodness.
The Suzuki NZ headquarters hosted some excellent bikes outside including three examples of Steve Roberts handiwork. Good to see Dave Hiscock do a demonstration lap on one he rode back in the seventies. Beautiful bikes and great to see people like my brother Paul being acknowledged for their contribution to keeping this motoring heritage alive.
Another bike that got our attention was an immaculate Kawasaki Z1900. Not bad for 1973! It was ridden up from Wellington for the day. Often bikes like this hardly leave the garage, so good on you for getting out and about and sharing it with everyone.
Here are some photos from a run we did in November last year. Ross Charlton and Murray Smith on a couple of Yamaha 350s and Jenny Mollar on her Suzuki RG500 came up from Wellington and joined us. Our run went out to Mt Biggs and across to Tokomaru for a coffee at the Horse Shoe Bend cafe. The RG500 was quite a contrast to Nigel Wales little Yamaha CS3.Unfortunetly it didn't get to far out of town before one of the exhaust flanges loosened off and it had to be taken home! Paul turned up with his immaculate Kawasaki H1b, Kim was on his H2 and myself on my Yamaha XJ750. Another great wander around the Manawatu countryside.
Spent a little time today at the Vic Motorcycle Club day at Manfeild. Some great racing with good numbers in all the races. Some interesting bikes in the Post Classic class including this Yamaha RZV 500R. Nicely presented. A spectator turned up on this immaculate CBX 1000. Love that motor!
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