Living the Dream

 Barry (the Seagull) thought it was about time The Haze had a BBQ and he and his better half, Deb's sent out an invitation to 'come forth' to the Horowhenua and partake of there hospitality. So a few weekends ago Memorial Park saw a group of us assembled and ready for a quiet meander south. Our cafe stop was going to be at Sam's Cafe and Bakery at Foxton but with a little bit of time on our hands we decided on a westward meander before heading south. We were soon on our way through our usual haunts of Colyton and around the back of Feilding and onto Makino Rd. We had decided on a stop at Stanway Hall and a time check. A shorter route to Foxton was decided on and after passing through Halcombe and Mt Stewart we arrived in Foxton.

It was here that we were joined by Warren on his recently roadworthy Suzuki T20. He has decided on keeping its original patina and it certainly looked the part in the carpark outside the cafe. After our cuppa we were on our way to Shannon and it was here one got to see the T20 in its natural habitat. It looked so small! Warren is a tall chap and this certainly emphasised this, but amongst the other bikes on the ride it looked petit. It was also very spritely and had little trouble keeping the speed limit. It was a great segue into the BBQ and the treat we were in for. Most of us hadn't been to Barry's new place, but had heard interesting reports. We were about to see for ourselves.

Barry has been a passionate member of the VJMC for many years and his collection of bikes is legendary amongst the community. He currently has a number bikes on show in the Pero museum in Christchurch and has always shown many of his bikes over the years in shows up and down the country. The last record of his collection was from a previous BBQ/shed raid a number of years ago when he was living in Wellington. And how things have changed! Besides all of us being a smidgen older, Barry has well and truly found a place and space where he is able to indulge his passion for heritage 'objects'. The last visit saw all sorts of things squished into all sorts of nook's and crannies His new place has allowed him to spread out and display all sorts of treasures. He well and truly deserves his 'museum plate'. The photographs above only show a part of what we saw. Yes, a real treat.

Then there was the BBQ! He invited a wide range of people from the north and south. It was great to catch up with a number of Wellington VJMC members and there partners. Some of them brought along there older bikes and very soon the driveway was awash with people and bikes with plenty of discussions around the finer points of Vintage Japanese motorcycle restorations. It was interesting to see Warren after spotting some T20 bits on Barry's workbench take the opportunity to compare the carbs to his own. He found out one of the carbs was incorrect and this nicely illustrates one of the great things about belonging to such a group. The mixture of helpful expertise and camaraderie around a common interest definitely adds to ones quality of life, and Barry and Debs BBQ was a nice way to celebrate this. 

After being well fed and watered it was time to head north and to home. A big thank you to Barry and Debs for the 'bit of a do' and keep on living the dream Barry and sharing it with us from time to time.

New Years Eve Triple Play

It was a worthy way to round out the old year and set the scene for the New Year. With the weather treating us so well over Christmas, what are we to do? How about a little scoot around the country lanes to keep a few two strokes in tune and round it off with some food and dink? The word went out that the following morning would see a few triples of the two stroke variety gather at Memorial Park for a short run out around the neighbourhood, with a meeting time of a very civilised 10:00 am. 

It was a good turnout for such short notice, and it was pleasing to see said triples were in abundance. Sir Al had his H2 out for a spin with Alan S riding it whilst Al sufficed with his Sporty. Good to see Paul D out on his immaculate blue H2, and rounding out the Kawasaki triples was PC on his S3a 400. Dion raised the flag for the eighties triples with his Honda NS400R. It was great to see it out after a hiatus as Dion focused on racing. Other bikes and riders who were out for the run included Brent on his big block Harley, and like many he has just about got his Kawasaki A7 sorted and ready for the road. Gary A was out on his BMW  650GS with the news that his Honda CX500 is having its insides sorted out by some one in the know. Paul H was out on his Moto Guzzi Le Mans. Nothing like seeing it cranking over two 500cc pistons at startup and bellowing into life. Graham was out on his Triumph T120 and he is really enjoying it after he had the suspension 'tuned'. Bruce S had his 996 Ducati out for a needed spin and leaving his RG250 at home. Rich was out on the Strom again after doing a couple of thousand kay's on it wandering around the North Island just before Christmas. Yours truly had the GSR out for a pre New Year wander.

We were soon on our way with Sir Al taking the lead and heading off towards Stoney Creek road. What he hadn't realised was the difficulty some of us were having getting onto Main street with a significant amount of traffic heading for town. The delay meant we got split up, but at least we knew the final destination was in Ashhurst. We made our way to the Fusion Cafe that was ...... closed. After backtracking the group came together at Colyton where the decision was made to head to Murrays Bar and Restaurant where a drink and food was enjoyed by all.

A Kawasaki H1a makes an appearance at the November EoMR.

 Where has the year gone! Here we are in December and summer has finally arrived and the riding season is well underway. To celebrate the crossover from spring to summer, the 31st of November saw a very healthy lineup of bikes at Memorial Park. It was good to see more than a few pre 80's bikes brought out of their sheds to enjoy a spin around the country block. A new bike amongst this lineup was a Kawasaki H1a, just like the Revell model kit I had back in the day. (It was my first model kit with real chrome!)

The Kawasaki H1A has a Legendary reputation in the minds of many. It is often known as the original Widow maker and for many young men at the time the transition from a humble BSA Bantam or Suzuki M15 certainly challenged their mortality. One has to remember that it was at this time the word Superbike was gestating as bikes like the H1 and Honda 750 burst onto the scene. They represented a quantum shift in motorcycle markets around the world as the Japanese applied there growing engineering and mass production expertise to the motorcycle market.  The Kawasaki H1 was primarily designed for the American market and going from stoplight to stoplight. For those of us in New Zealand we certainly had a lot more corners readily available in our countryside and its chassis limits were soon found.  It was great to have one along for our recent end of month ride this last November. It has been a while since we have had one out on a run with us. It is good to see that he is doing the bike up to ride and making it look the part as and when needed or when parts become available at the right price. Sounds a lot like how things were back in the day when budgets were tight.

Alongside Steve's H1 we had Warren on his Suzuki Cobra, resplendent in all its black and chrome glory. Definitely a contemporary and it just predates  A perfect companion for Steves H1a and Allan and Kim on their H2's certainly added to this as well. The H2 is very much the epitome of this with its fearsome reputation for being the 'other widow maker' as it tore through fuel and dominated senior production racing for sometime. This was even after the Z1 arrived on the scene. Definitely the apex of large 2-stroke air cooled development and along with the Suzuki GT750. Two stroke development did move on for a while and Bruce S's RG250 is a wonderful example of this from the early 80's with the use of water cooling allowing for even more power to be extracted from the 2 stroke engine configuration. It is not often one sees such a group of motorcycles of this ilk out on the street these days and it does provide a very special nostalgia experience that others came along to enjoy on the day.

Along for the run we had a great supporting collage of bikes and riders. There was definitely something teutonic in the lineup of support bikes for the ride with John on his trusty R60/6, Dave on Grant's GS100 Dakar, Grant on his R100R, Ray on his recently acquired R850R and Gary on his F650GS. The Suzuki Bandits were also well represented with Max, Stuart and Bruce C wafting along on there steads and Rich and myself rounding out the modern Suzuki contingent on a GSR 750 and a Vstrom 650

Our run for the morning took us from Memorial Park out to Hiwinui, Colyton, Valley Rd and finally to our first stop at the Ashhurst Domain carpark. After a regroup and natter we were on our way again to our final destination, Shannon, and a much anticipated cup of tea or coffee. It was just as well sir Al phone through to the Horsemans Cafe to warn them that a large group were coming through. there were fifteen of us overall with some leaving early and others coming later in the ride, but a great turnout for our final outing of the year. 

And what a year it has been, with another round of Covid lockdowns. We have managed to fit in some great EoMR's amongst this and the usual weather challenges. Our Tuesday nights at The Cobb are still proving to be popular, so it looks like more of the same for next year. 

October End of Month Ride

The weather was looking a bit dodgy for our October end of month ride. Crossed finger's and a positive weather outlook were rewarded with a very windy but fine morning for a ride. Yours truely pulled the T500 out of the shed for a run down to Memorial Park and after topping up the tank headed to our meeting spot and was greeted by Bruce C and Stuart. Bruces gold GT750 glistened in the sun and it wasn't long until a couple of gold H2's joined him with Sir Al and Kim onboard. Gary A turned up on his ever reliable CX500 and the distinctive Suzuki GT exhaust rattle had Barry on board his red 550 park up as well. Bruce S's RG250 made its first appearance and what a treat for the ears and eye's.  Dave R rumbled up on his brand new Guzzi Le Mans replacement. He treated himself to a brand new Guzzi V7 III. Paul brought his Moto Guzzi Le Mans Mk4 out for a run having recently sorted out a few gremlins. Max brought along his Yamaha FZ750 for a spin and it was very smart in it's white and red livery. Stuart was out on his KLE 500 whilst his GT750 is in for engine surgery. Rich's Mighty T is almost fettled 

We were soon heading for our humble destination for the morning, Foxton. Yours truely ducked into home and did a bike swap with the T500 not quite fettled enough for an extended open road run into what turned out to be a very stiff westerly breeze. Sam's Bakery was reached through a variety of back roads and interesting to see the gradual increase of 80 kay speed limits appearing on different sections of road. It was lovely to sit outside in the sun and munch on a chicken sandwich and talk motorcycles. Also nice to be out and and about with some old Japanese classics on a fine spring day.  The only unfortunate incident was Gary A's CX500 decided to make a few extra noises when we arrived at Sam's and Dave R lent assistance with a trailer. We still haven't heard any diagnosis as to the cause of the noises, but hopefully nothing to drastic.

Roll call

Max - Yamaha FZ750

Sir Al - Kawasaki H2

Gary W -  Suzuki T500/Suzuki GSR750

Bruce S - Suzuki RG250

Bruce C - Suzuki GT750

Barry - Suzuki GT550

Gary A - Honda CX500

Kim - Kawasaki H2

Rich - Suzuki 650Vstrom

Dave R - MotoGuzzi 850 V7 Special

Paul - Moto Guzzi LeMans 1000

Stuart - Kawasaki KLE500

Why would you ever want to own a CBX 1000?

There is something about the sound of a Honda CBX 1000 that makes some mature men weak at the knees. Fours, twins, triples and singles make interesting noises, but sixes have that extra something that is more than just extra cylinders. Last weekend saw a small gathering of The Clans at our usual spot at Memorial Park when a new sound was heard pulling up to the assembled bikes. It was Glen on a rather red and rather chromy Honda CBX 1000. After checking our intentions for a ride he popped off for some petrol and was soon back ready to role.

We were soon on our way with Gary A volunteering an interesting route through the Hopelands area and on to one of our favourite cafe's, The Windmill cafe in Woodville. We were soon on our way over the busy Pahiatua Track and Gary had us snaking our way through a myriad of back country roads once we left Pahiatua's town boundary. we eventually popped out just south of Woodville and were soon sitting outside the Windmill Cafe shooting the breeze mostly on matters to do with motorcycles.

Glen shared his youthful fascination with motorcycles and the awe he had for the six cylinder CBX 1000 when it came out in the late seventies. He never got around to owning one. Until now that is. He is  'scratching that itch' and now has a big tick next to CBX 1000 on his bucket list. 

Following along behind Glen it was wonderful to see and hear the CBX on song. Are they the ultimate street bike of the seventies? For many yes. With its sophisticated mixture of in your face mechanical engineering mixed with candy paint and chrome it certainly stands out. Even today.  These bikes are becoming increasingly valuable so it is great to see one out and about being used. I do believe that amongst our group there is another one hiding away in a garage. Now wouldn't it be wonderful to hear two of them wandering around the countryside together? Eh PC?

Role call

Ray - Triumph 900 Tiger

John - BMW 600

Glen - Honda CBX 1000

Rich - Suzuki 650 Vstrom

Gary A - BMW GS650

Gary W - Suzuki GSR 750