Grumpy Yamahas and lost sidecovers

From Broken Yamahas

From Broken Yamahas

From Broken Yamahas

The nothwesterly wind wasn't blowing to hard and after two months of inclement weather it looked like an opportunity to go for a spin. Six of us gathered at Manawatu Motorcycles and Sparkies RZ250 decided to throw a tantrum and create a rather long list of electrical misdemeanors. Sparkie got very grumpy with RZ and took it straight home and banished him to the back of the garage! Then we were down to five. After photographing the remaining lads leaving, I made it no further than the second set of lights before the XJ decided it didn't want to go any further and cut out completely. Pushing it to side of the road and checking out the battery connections didn't seem to help much, but jiggling a few wires in the batteries general vicinity did. Not wishing to press my luck I decded to head for home as well and luckily my KH250 was waiting in the garage. A quick text to the lads had me back on the road and heading for a rendezvous at Tui Central in Mangatainoka. Having filled up with petrol in Ashurst the Northwesterly tailwind had me through the Manawatu Gorge in no time. It is a great motorcycle road when you have no cars in front of you! The cups of tea and coffee at Tui Central went down well so we decided to head towards Woodville and over the Saddle Road. Dion on his KH400 and myself were not looking forward to the hard slog into the northwesterly. Paul on his Suzuki GT750 and Sir Al on his H2 had no such concerns! Can't beat cubes. The run down the Saddle Road was worth the hard slog as the little KHs loved the tight sweeping corners and with no traffic, we had a ball. Our stop in Ashurst had Dion raving about the run.
It was an eventfull ride right from the start. It was a nice reminder that when you run old bikes shit happens! What makes it all worthwhile are the magic moments when these old bikes sing with a sound and feel all of there own.
PS. Alans piece of 'shit happens' occurred somewhere between Ashurst and Aokautere after our stop as he was heading home. If anybody finds a gold sidecover, he has a rather large bottle of whiskey as a reward upon its return.

YPVS Big Day Out

From RZs to Pilgrims Rest

From RZs to Pilgrims Rest

From RZs to Pilgrims Rest

From RZs to Pilgrims Rest

Alan and some of the crew made the most of the sunny spring weather and here are his photos, video and report.

Sunday dawned bright and calm and six of us headed up the Pohangina valley to enjoy the twisties. Three 1980s Yamaha RZs belonging to Kim, Don, and Bruce, turned out for the ride; not a sight often seen today! Accompanying the RZs were Paul’s always immaculate H1B, my trusty old A7, and a beautifully presented Suzuki T500 which Bruce rode up from Levin.

The Pohangina Valley East Road is always fun, and we rode as far as Awahou North before heading back to Pilgrims Rest to enjoy Margaret and John’s hospitality and fresh scones and coffee. Then it was back down the valley and home. A great collection of corners! 80 miles travelled in all.

Don and I swapped bikes and I enjoyed riding the YPVS RZ350, a bike many consider to be the peak of 2-stroke sports-bike design. The RZ is easy to ride with a broad spread of power, good handling and a comfortable ride. Easy to forget it’s 27 years old. As someone said to me recently; if you could only have one classic 2-stroke, the RZ350 would be the one to own.

5 Go South

From 5 Go South

From 5 Go South

From 5 Go South

From 5 Go South

This post is courtesy of Alan who not only wrote the words but took most of the photos.

After a week of appalling weather Sunday offered up a few patches of blue sky, so five of us decided to head off to Wellington to join other members of the VJMC at Barry D's home for a barb-b-que lunch.
Riding into a strong head wind we made our way south via Tokomaru and Shannon, and onto SH1 with a stop at Otaki for a coffee. Then down to Wellington amid the traffic.

This was a chance to see Kim’s Yamaha RZ250R out on the road with its newly rebuilt top-end. This bike has surprising performance, and looks to be a comfortable open road ride. Don rode his DR650 trail-bike; Paul took his GT750 Suzuki, with Deon on his KH400 and me on the H2.

Wellington turned on a pleasant day with blue skies and a gentle Wellington breeze (20-30 knots). An interesting few hours was spent poring over a variety of machines and talking with club members. Bikes ranged from a lime green Suzuki 125 Stinger to Ross Charlton’s beautifully restored Kawasaki H2 750, and a very nice example of the Z900. Don took a shine to Barry’s early Yamaha 250 twin, while Deon and I thought the S2 350 would be a great project and be a lot of fun to ride.

We headed back home late afternoon stopping at Shannon for a coffee at the Horseman’s café. A most enjoyable day was had by all. Thank you to Barry and family for your hospitality.

Fathers Day Run and Dions Special News!

From Fathers Day Run

From Fathers Day Run

A hardy bunch of lads gathered outside Manawatu Motorcycles for a morning run into grey skies of the Manawatu. It was great to see Geoff on his very well looked after Kawasaki KR150s. A great little machine that Geoff has had from nearly new and with 32K on the clock and no engine work it ran like clockwork. Also along for the ride was Sir Al on his recently reconditioned Suzuki TS250, Don on the his GT500 fill in, the Bonneville, Dion on his KH400, Kim on Dions KR250 and myself on the KH250. After some discussion about the diection we should take we headed off for the west and after a tank topup for my KH250 at the Rangitikei St BP we headed off into a steady drizzle. Upon reaching Feilding we were about to make our cafe stop but decided to continue on towards Sanson via the Kakariki turnoff. Geoff had to leave us at this point, but the dry road ensured we had a good run through to Sanson. These backroads are a lot of fun on these smaller bikes and as we started to make our way through the coffee and pies Dion very casualy announced that he was adding another bike to his fleet. A 1984 Suzuki GSXR 400W. After some of us just about choked on our food and coffees he was asked to repeat the model of his latest acquisition.
It was true. He had finally been seduced by the dark side. Dion has been a staunch advocate for two strokes and has often given his opinion on others in the group who have chosen to purchase bikes from the dark side. (For most of us it isn't the Dark Side but the Other Side and provides a nice balance to our motorcycling lives) Dion received the necessary amount of stick about his choice of bike in light of his previous position on such matters.

From Fathers Day Run

Dions "I now own a four stroke" face.

From Fathers Day Run

The very bike that seduced Dion to the "Dark Side".

This also explained his unusual behaviour that day. His KR250 must have heard the conversation and decided to throw a real tantrum in the carpark as realised it was about to share the shed with a four stroke and refused to start. All joking aside, a great bike to restore, and as time goes by these bikes from the eighties are going to become more desireable. As a bonus, they are very rideable and provide performance not to distant from todays machines.
P.S. The main bearings on Dions KR are shot! He may have to sell the house to fix it! Maybe his KR is hoping he will have to sell the GSXR.

From Fathers Day Run

"Dont try and trick us Don. That bike is not your GT500. Its the wrong colour. Your GT is red!"

The 2010 Manawatu Classic Motorcycle Show

From Barber Hall

From Barber Hall

From Barber Hall

From Barber Hall

From Barber Hall

From Barber Hall

From Barber Hall

The Manawatu Blue Haze VJMC group made an excellent contrbution to the Classic Motorcycle show. The last time this show was held was in 2004, quite a long time ago. It was great to see the public come out in force to support such an event. With over 200 motorcycles of all shapes and sizes their was plenty to see with something for every taste. Our club decided to have as our central feature the full displacement lineup of Kawasaki triples. Ross Charlton our national VJMC chairman chipped in with not only his immaculately restored H2, but also his delightful and very rare S2. Paul D added in his H1 with Dions KH400 next in line. My contribution was the baby of the lineup, a KH250. This is probably not a sight you would see very often anywhere in the world. Sir Al snuck in his TS250 along with his A7 to show what came before the triples. Upon reflection it would have been good to put in Dions KR250 to show the post triple era. Bruce put in his RT1 that sat beside Dons Honda MT250. At the other end of the display next to the Kawasaki turbo and Z650 Don put in his RZ350. Paul Ds trophy for the best Japanese bike was well deserved although Ross's H2 could have easily won it as well. Dions protest at not receiving it was short lived as he was dazzled by the light reflecting off the paint and chrome from Pauls H1 and Ross's H2.
Wandering around the rest of the show made you realise that motorcycling has something for everyone and that our motorcycling heritage is alive and well. One also begins to appreciate the incredible number of hours people put into restoring and maintaining this wonderful machinery, let alone the cost.
It was a great weekend and a huge thanks to Dave Robinson and his crew for pulling this show together.

Southwards Car Museum

From Southwards Museum

From Southwards Museum

From Southwards Museum

From Southwards Museum

From Southwards Museum

Sir Al decided to celebrate his half century with a trip to Southwards Car Museum where a large collection of motor vehicles have been restored and displayed. Paul W turned up on his Gpz 750r, Kim and Sir Al on the H2s, Dion on his X7 and myself on the KH250. Our departure from Palmy proved to be a cold one as we made our way south via Shannon. After a brief warming of the the hands stop there we continued south through the crisp air. We then joined the procession down State Highway One to Paraparaumu and made our way into the very cold museum. The staff were very accommodating with all our gear and gave us our own room to store it in and we then spent a couple of hours wandering around the exhibits. We were all particularly interested in the 70s bikes (funny that) and great to see some of the Suzuki race bikes from the era. We then spent some time in the cafe and enjoyed some of their great food. After replenishing the KHs fuel tank we then made our way back to Palmy into a solid cold south easterly. Spending to much time on the main highways definetly makes one appreciate the predominantly back roads we do the majority of our riding on.

VJMC Blue Haze Porewa Rd Ride

From Porewa

From Porewa

From Porewa

This winter has proved to be a kind one with last sunday providing a beautful sunny day for a ride. Paul D on his recently reassembled Suzuki GT750 and Dion on his freshly acquired Kawasaki KH400 from Wayne in Levin were wanting to test their steads out. After meeting up with Kim and Sir Al on the H2s a descion was made to head up to Hunterville via Vinegar hill and return via as many backroads as we could that ran alongside state highway one. After a refreshment stop and quick squizz at Mikes Trading in Hunterville we made our way around the backroads with a detour to a new one called Porewa rd. It was a great loop that brought us out just a few ks north of the Kakariki turn off. Dion gave me a ride on the KH400 and went great. Felt like my KH250 on really strong steroids!
Just got the latest VJMC news letter with some good articles in it including one on the national rally. It looks as though next years rally is in Wanganui from the 4th to 6th March. A little bit closer for those of us in the Manawatu.