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 .
There has to be a good reason to get up before six on on a Saturday morning. Five VJMC/Blue Haze members found one with the Christchurch Classic Japanese Motorcycle Group putting on there second bike show. We had all been impressed with the photos from their first show last year and when there great website (http://cjmg.org.nz) anounced a new show we made plans to head south. After doubts were expressed about the show happening with the earthquake, Mike and the crew decided to go ahead. Dion, Kim, Paul W and myself finally boarded the plane after the late arrival of the crew due to the 10 hour flying curfew from the previous night. We were further delayed by the late arrival of the refueler. Apparently he slept in! Maybe Palmerston North is a bit of a hick town? Tim was waiting for us at Christchurch airport having flown in from Wellington and so our visit began. The Papanui Lodge proprieter picked us up from the airport and delivered us to the first of our three units where we had a great cup of tea. My daughter Amie and her boyfriend arrived to taxi us around the place and it was decided to head to town to check out a couple of bike shops and grab some brunch before the opening of the bike show at 12:00pm. A real eye opener seeing some of the destruction first hand with vacant lots from demolished buildings and baracades around others. After having a feed at a local pub we made our way to the Papanui Club and found the show within the inner sanctum of the building. Walking down a passage way and into the show was like finding Aladins cave. The guys looked great in their CJMG tee shirts and as we made ourselves known Mike and the others greeted us. The variety of bikes kept us busy for hours. It was a Classic Japanese bike spotters paradise! The layout of the show allowed one to get a good look at the machines, and it was good to see some 'before' and 'during' bikes in various stages of restoration. Some of the lads were intrigued with the Bridgestone 350 on display whilst others enjoyed the 'The Toad', an RD350 still in its as raced state from the 70s. For myself it was great to see some of the bikes I own on display. I enjoyed seeing The Suzuki GT550j in such good condition. It is a bike one sees very rarely these days. The two Suzuki T500s looked great with there long rangey look and the KH250 was a great choice to greet people when they came through the door. After grabbing a few ales from next door the lads settled in for good chinwag until we got the boot at six oclock so the CJMG lads could go home and powder their noses for our evening meal at the Speights Ale House. As we left the Papanui Club Andrew our Taxi driver got pulled over by the Police. looks as though it is one of their favourite stake outs on Saturdays. For Andrew this was proved to be only his first converstion with the law as he was pulled over yet again a few hours later. Not a problem as he was well under the limit We had a great feed and some great conversation. Nothing like being with a bunch of people with the same passion as you!
Flying back the following morning the conversation was about how worthwhile it was going down to the show. The CJMG guys put a lot of effort into the show, and from us up here in Palmy a big thank you for a wonderful show.
Mike sent up the results of the Best in Show bikes
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
