First Blue Haze EoMR Ride 2022

 

 The first end of month ride for 2022 saw 15 bikes and riders line up for a short run around the Manawatu/Horowhenua countryside. It was great to see Stuart out 're-fettling' his Water Bus again and also some other smokers making an appearance. Roger was out with his Benelli 2c and Grant had his similar era Suzuki GT250A out for its first run with the Haze as well. Sticking with the 250's, John brought out his Aprilia RS250 and what a wonderful example of how two stroke technology progressed well into the nineties. It was also good to see Paul D out on his immaculate H2 and it was running beautifully as always. Rich decided his T500 needed a descent run after an engine rebuild with Steve on his Kawasaki H1a out again for a spin. Also great to have Glen on his ruby red CBX 1000. Graham had his ever reliable GB 400 Honda out as well and John Rs BMW R60/6 out on familiar roads with Errol on his immaculate Triumph Bonneville enjoying the outing. Max's Yamaha FZR 750 was as fresh looking as always and the moderns on the ride had Bruce on a Ducati Monster, Ray on his triumph Tiger and yours truely on the GSR 750 Suzuki. All up, 15 of us meet at Memorial Park.

The route for the ride was a short run from Palmy out to Ashhurst, Aokautere and then onto our final destination in Shannon. The first stop at Ashhurst saw no problems and the diverse sounds of the bikes as they left for the run down to Aokautere was music to the ears. From Glens melodious six cylinder CBX to the triple two strokes turbine like whine and the two stroke twins unique rumble. Mix this in with the Grahams GB thumper and the other four stroke twins, triples and fours it made for quite a parade of sounds going down the road. The Aokautere stop passed without incident and it wasn't until Linton a familiar teal coloured motorcycle was spotted near the air hose at the petrol station. This is one of the really good reasons why riding in a group is a great idea. Help is not far away. Luckily for Stuart he was able to get a hold of his wife who came and rescued him.What did that cost you Stu? 

Further on down the road another familiar bike was spotted on the side of the road. Errols Triumph had decided it didn't need its tools and side cover, but luckily this was discovered early in the piece and all was retrieved. After eventually getting to The Horseman's Cafe and good cuppa, a bun and putting the world right it was time to go home. Thanks for a great morning out guy's.

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.