Aprilia RS250. The Last of the Blue Haze Sports Bikes

The weather at this time of the year is a bit hit and miss if you are after appropriate riding conditions. For our July ride we struck a relatively warm and sunny day and we were also fortunate to have along for the run a couple of new people on their modern bikes. Kenny turned up on his very green BMW and John brought along his Aprilia RS250. This had the likes of Dion swooning all over it as he knows all to well that it was the last of the two stroke sports bikes. John has had it for half a year and he has been thoroughly enjoying it. It truly is a work of art and one that some people might like as a centrepiece in the living room! Also along for the ride was Rich on the mighty T500, Kim on his H2, Brian on his Yamaha XT600, Ian on his GSX 600, Paul was taking his H1b out for a spin, as was Dion on his KH400 and yours truly on the XJ. A wander up to Hunterville was the chosen destination and as we exited the city via Railway Road the haze at the city limits was probably mistaken for the passing of a steam train. We then proceeded through Feilding and headed up Makino road to our first stop at the top of Cheltenham hill. After videoing the departure I had to really give the old Yamaha a bit of a work out to catch up with the crew and we eventually arrived at our destination and decided to visit the local Motorcycle museum located in what used to be a bank. There was an interesting variety of machines to look over whilst waiting for our cuppa. Our return journey home was via the back roads that run parallel to State highway one. I decided to have my first play with the Gopro the family gave me for my birthday and I am looking forward to having a bit of fun with it on our rides. As can be seen from he video the roads we prefer to take are the back roads, and the more corners the better. After rejoining the main drag we ended up bidding farewell to the Feilding lads at Halcombe and headed towards our final stop at Mount Stewart. With a quick debrief from our ride we headed home with a wonderful dose of the sights, sounds and sensations unique to motorcycling.
Roll on spring for more of the same!

What to do with a spare H1!

During these winter months one can spend a little to much time wandering around the world wide web. However once in a while one comes across something that challenges your thinking, and so it was with these photos. Most modified H2s are of a sporting or cafe nature with very few willing to explore a different aesthetic. So here are a couple of photos to provoke and peruse!
PS. As some one has pointed out, this is not an H2 motor, but an H1.
Thanks Paul

VJMC Rally 2014

Just letting everyone know that the dates and venue for next years national VJMC rally have been tentatively made. Here's what Judy wrote in the last VJMC news letter.

"Angela and I went and had a look at Tatum Park for our next rally venue and it looks ideal for what we need this time around. Good accommodation and heaps of space outside for a barbe- que and other things we are planning to do.

Next year is the 25th Anniversary of the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle club in New Zealand so we are looking at making it a really special Rally to celebrate in style.
The date we are looking at is Friday the 14th to Sunday 16th March 2014, we are also looking at extending it if anyone wants to come on either the Thursday or stay over on the Sunday to fit more activities in. We have a heap of ideas of places to go and things to do so it is a matter of how to best fill the time space that we have. We are looking at a cost of about $260 which will cover the accommodation, all meals on site and entry to a tour of the Tui brewery with a beer tasting, plus the cost of something else we are planning so if we get the numbers it should be a really great event."

For those who don't know where Tatum Park is, it is half way between Levin and Otaki and north of Wellington on State Highway 1, so is easy to find. 

View Larger Map

Check the venue out here

http://www.tatumpark.co.nz/

25 years of the VJMC running in New Zealand is pretty special, so write this into your diaries and start restoring/fettling/finding that special Jappa to ride to this very special event. For those of you overseas,

come on over and enjoy some kiwi hospitality.
To join the New Zealand VJMC and find out more about the rally email Angela at

russ.ang@xtra.co.nz

I see red, I see red, I see red!

Those of us of a certain level of 'maturity' remember a great kiwi band called Split Enz. One of there signature songs we new well and would sing along to with a DB draught in hand was I See Red. It was this song that came to mind when lining up for a ride last weekend we had some new bikes appear and a new face. It was great to welcome Ian Brayshaw to the fold on his lovely red Suzuki GSX600F. He is returning to motorcycling after a decade or so of mortgages, family and running a business. A familiar story to many! Bruce Sagger appeared on his latest purchase, a very bright red Honda VFR 750. These bikes are proving to be very popular amongst our members with three joining the fleet in the last six months. The third red bike was Dions recently acquired Marlboro Yamaha TZR 250 a bike he has been after for a while now.  It was a good turnout considering the dreadful weather we had the day and week before with seven of us gathering at Manawatu Motorcycles. Paul on his GT750, Kim on his H2, Alan on his trusty A7 and yours truly on the XJ. We decided on a shorter run towards some sunshine near the sea through Shannon with Foxton being our final destination. The run through to Shannon was very foggy with many thankful for wearing their polyprops and many layers under their jackets. After a brief stop at Shannon we eventually popped out into some beautiful winter sunshine just short of Foxton. We definitely lingered at the cafe next to the windmill soaking up the sunshine and enjoying the horse drawn tram clip clopping around its circuit. The ride home through Himatangi was a nice cruise in the sunshine soaking up a bit more Vitamin D.

Why Aren't All Hardware Stores Like This?

Over the summer I was fortunate enough to head down to the bottom of the South Island for a family reunion in Bluff. My father and I cruised down in his 2002 Stype Jaguar (which is probably the next best thing if you are not on a bike!) and had a great road trip. It has been a while since I have done such a trip and you definitely re appreciate the differences between the north and south of New Zealand. Not only does the countryside roll out a wide range of vistas, but the people celebrate life in all sorts of fascinating ways. Maybe this is because much of New Zealands early colonial development began in the south with a culture of self reliance and creative application of technology that has manifested itself in all sorts of ways.
E Hayes in Invercargill are a hardware store who have a long history in the south originally as engineers. They are best known for the collection of Burt Munroe bikes and paraphernalia they have in store. What I hadn't appreciated was their large collection of other motorcycle and cars they have on show throughout their extensive store. I have put up mainly photos of the two stroke race bikes they have yet this is only a small part of collection.

http://www.ehayes.co.nz/

Enjoy and visit when you can!

The mighty SType. 4.2 V8. 30+ mpg True!

Remember these!

Just a small part of the store

 1973 Yamaha TZ 350A timed @ 152mph

1978 TZ 750E 140bhp 185mph

TZ350 x 2 = TZ700/750

1994 Yamaha TZ250 V twin 87bhp 150mph

1981 RG500 180mph

1991 Honda V twin two stroke

There were a lot of Aerial square fours spread around the store

This is only a small part of the store.

lovely Yamaha flat tracker

Lovely Corvette

There was a lot of other heritage machinery!

5 Brave Souls Risk the Rain and get Sunshine

As I was unable to attend the end of month ride Sir Al has kindly provided a report.

Which way?

A stop at Turakina

Tidy original XT

RG in tourer mode

There's nothing like a J-bus

Another Suzuki triple

RZ500LC

Big bore 300 KR engine

Waiting for Kai at the Red Lion

Sunday 26th May was our VJMC / Blue Haze end of month ride. The sky looked threatening, but 5 hardy types (and me) turned out at Manawatu Motorcycles at 10am. Rich riding his faithful T500, Kim on the H2A, Paul on the J-bus, Dion on his RG, and Brian on the Yamaha XT600 trail bike. I was odd man out on the modern.

We decided to head west and Dion organised a visit to Wayne M's collection of bikes in Whanganui. A good decision as we enjoyed a pleasant day's ride under mostly blue skies. We took as many back roads as possible there and back. Wayne's collection of restored, part-restored, original, and un-restored bikes was interesting, particularly the Lucky Strike Yamaha RZ500LC, and a collection of Kawasaki KR 250 tandem twins in varying states. These very trick machines hold a special interest for Dion as he's spent many happy hours scratching around the back roads on a KR, and of course many more trying to start one! He climbed on and gave it a few kicks for old-times sake. There were KX 250 and 420 motorcrossers, and a KX being turned into a track bike. For something different a rare 3 cyl 2-stroke Suzuki car. These may have been called a Fronte (?), and have the air-cooled triple rear mounted with a fan driven off one end of the engine and shrouded to blow air over the engine. Wayne has Banshee snail chambers which will be adapted to fit the little car. Should be interesting.
We left Wayne's around 1.30 and headed to the Red Lion pub for refreshments before returning to Palmerston North. An interesting day out for all, and Wayne is keen to bring the RZ500 out on some of our rides in the future.