Yamaha SR500 on October EoMR + Classic Racing

October sees the beginning of the riding season down here at the bottom of the South Pacific. Octobers EoMR saw a nice coincidence with the Blue Haze Racing 'Division' at a NZ Classic Motorcycle Register race meeting at the same time as our end of month ride. We had mixed turnout of moderns and classics with Sir Al on his Kawasaki 750 H2 being the oldest on the day. He does such a great job keeping it up to scratch and when one is looking at it, it is hard to believe it is still mostly original. Even better is that he still brings it out to play regularly and isn't scared to 'punt' it a bit at times. Graham brought along his latest acquisition, a Yamaha SR500. Graham loves his singles with a BSA Gold Star and an NSU Max at home in his garage. He is a serial tinkerer of all sorts of bikes and it sounded like he had a few interesting 'modifications' in mind for the SR. It was good to have Jason back out on the Katana. Suzuki did such a good job of downsizing the Katana and it is interesting to see how it has become such an important part of its design language with its current Suzuki 1000 Katana. Warren decided his VJ23 Suzuki RGV needed a bit of a run and as the final iteration for Suzuki of a light two stroke sports bike it is really quite remarkable. Try 70bhp and a 134kg dry/164 wet weight and this is a serious scalpel for straightening out bends. 

Just as a side note; it has been interesting to see how two strokes are far from being an extinct technology. From petrol weed eaters and chain saws through to large Rotax direct injection outboards, ski doos and even brand new motorcycles for the road. These are not motor scooters but legal on road bikes such as the Langen 250 Vee twin and the the Paul Lewis developed Salt Motorcycles. There is still a place for this wonderful technology amongst all the other current engine developments in  the world today. If you are more inclined towards the race track you can still buy a V four two stroke race bike called the Suter. I am sure a descent Lotto win might see some of the race day crew add one to there garage to ride along side some of its descendants the lads seem to be getting out onto the tracks recently.

It was the first time I had seen Tims Suzuki TR500 with its Steve Roberts frame and period appropriate colour scheme. Well done. It sounds like Mark and Tim are still fettling the bike so nice to see it is not going to be a living room centre piece. The  Yamaha TR250 and CBR 600 also seem to be getting some great track time as well. Kim was also out on his ever reliable Aprilia RS250 enjoying his racing with Dion doing some major sorting out of his stroker before it will also rejoin the fray in the near future. 

We did a leisurely ride over to Manfeild from Memorial Park via Ashhurst and Valley Road and on to the track via the Rosebowl Bakery and Cafe in Feilding. The moderns were definitely an eclectic mix of bikes that reflect a balanced mix of road bikes from the East and West that is very evident today. With Rich and yours truely on the Suzukis and Paul and Gary A on the Moto Guzzi and BMW respectively. A bit different from back in our day in the seventies and eighties where the Japanese marques definitely dominated the road bike scene.  

Role Call
Sir Al - Kawasaki 750 H2
Paul H - Moto Guzzi V85 TT
Graham - Yamaha SR500
Gary W - Suzuki GSR 750
Warren - Suzuki RGV 250 VJ23 SP
Jason - Suzuki GSX400 Katana
Gary A - BMW F 650 GS
Rich - Suzuki 650 Vstrom

'Race Affiliates'
Kim - Aprilia RS250
Tim - Honda CBR 600
        - Yamaha TR250
Mark/Tim - Suzuki TR 500 Daytona
Wayne - Yamaha RZ500
            - Yamaha XJ550

Robert Holdens Suzuki GSX550 Rides Again : September EoMR

 

Some might say our September end of month ride was a Suzukifest; and they would be absolutely right! One of the  the real joys of end of month rides or going to rally's or races is the anticipation of what sort of machinery will greet you when you arrive. One person amongst the crew who has contributed his fair share of EoMR surprises is Warren, and this month was really special. He had managed to put back on the road Robert Holdens original Suzuki GSX550E that he raced in the early to mid eighties. This was during the time when Holden was a part of the Wellington Motorcycles team and it was modified and raced by others over a number of years. The likes of Tim K and Paul McQ were amongst them and Warren was also one who enjoyed the 'charms' of  the this particular bike back in the day. Really neat to see this very tasteful restoration so a big hat tip (or is that helmet tip?) to Warren. 

As can be seen from the photos it was a really interesting turnout of other bikes, mainly Suzukis. It was good to see Barry out and about with his GT550 with its distinctive poppity pop exhaust sound and accompanying occasional wisp of smoke as well as Jason on his Suzuki Katana 400. Grant had his mighty Suzuki GSX1100 out for spin. Bruce and Max had there Suzuki Bandits and Ray on his Triumph Bonneville and Kenny on his BMW 1250? and your truly on the GSR.  With this being the first run for Warrens bike we decided on a shorter ride out just in case the 'fettling' got a little challenging. Warren also put out an invitation to come and have a look in his shed to see his collection of more than interesting bikes! more on that later.

A pie run to the Rusty Radiator was the chosen destination wth Warren taking the lead just in case.... He took us via our previous route through the back of Feilding and Lees Road with 'just in case' not coming about we arrived at our destination to find pie warmer adequately stocked. After plenty of discussions about many things and the pies consumed and cups drained we headed back into town with most of us following Warren on 'just in case' escorting duty. We are pleased to report that he did make it home with Warren mumbling about s few more fettling tasks needed. As you can see from the photos he has a very eclectic range of bikes in his collection and most of them are able to move under there own power. He still has a very full choice of restoration projects and as time goes by we look forward to there appearance on our end of month rides and thanks Warren for the inspiration to spend a little more time in our own sheds moving our own projects along.

Any Excuse for a Pie. August EoMR

 

As we all know, the weather over the last few months has not really been conducive to out door activities with motorcycling being one of them. Our recent Sunday end of month run certainly looked to be that way with the weather forecast promising a highly likely chance of precipitation with the possibility of 'clearing' weather as the morning progressed. Calculations were done and fingers were crossed as the GSR was wheeled out of the garage and pointed in the general direction of Memorial Park. Peering down Main street towards Memorial Park one could see a lonely figure parked up in our usual meeting spot. Roger and his Moto Guzzi V50 quickly came into view and after parking up a conversation around a fine winters day in Levin was told with deteriorating weather on the way up to Palmerston North. In short order we were joined by Warren on his GSX1100R, Paul on his Moto Guzzi V85TT and Sir Al on his CB650F. A quick scan of the skies suggested a westerly direction was our best bet to avoid precipitation with Warren having pre plotted a new route to one of our favourite destinations, the Rusty Radiator.

The journey out of town through to our turnoff at Whakarongo was uneventful, but as we headed towards Bunnythorpe the first shower made its presence felt. The turn off to the right around the world famous roundabout (smallest in the world apparently) had us heading off towards our next turn off down Reids Line. This is not an unknown route so far but continuing on down Reid line to Durie Rd and heading into Feilding was. It was then onto Kawakawa Rd and then along to Lees Rd, Rakehou Rd and finally to our destination in Halcombe. A really great variation on our usual rides. Our arrival was fortunately well timed with the clouds parting to reveal sunshine and as we ate our pies and our gear dried out some of us decided on taking the long way home via Makino Road. Nothing like a good ride, great company, a cuppa and a pie to set you up for a positive start to the week ahead.

Lets hope Septembers EoMR run is a little more encouraging with some fine, warm weather!

A Suzuki GSXR1100 G Comes Out for a Spin

 Fronting up to our meeting spot at Memorial Park at the end of July one was greeted with a very cosmopolitan selection of bikers. But my attention was immediately grabbed by a sight not seen very often these days. A 'Slabby' was amongst this mixture and it certainly stood out with its distinctive blue and white paint scheme and the double headlight arrangement. It is very much the 'uncle' of the Suzuki GSR750 I had arrived on and it certainly didn't look too elderly amongst the other bikes in the line up. It was good to be able to contrast it with the previous generation of performance bike equivalents with Sir Al and Kim bringing along there Kawasaki H2's who 10 years or so previous to the arrival of the GSXR 1100 on the the scene were cleaning up on the racetrack alongside the Z1. The amount of technical progress between these bikes is quite stunning looking back. The slabby was not only more powerful, better handling, frugal but an easier bike to live with on a day to day basis. Great to see it out and about Warren.

After a brief discussion the destination for our run was to be the Woolshed Cafe and with another lucky day weather wise we headed out Napier Road on our well worn route over to our first stop at Stanway for a bit of a chat. It is a lovely spot up on a plateau where on a good day you have lovely views north to the mountains. It was then off to our final destination via Pryces Line and Wilson Rd to the Ohakea turnoff (where the home for the Air Forces new Boeing Poseidons seems to be nearing completion) and on to Sanson and then our final destination, the Woolshed cafe. A great yarn and some great food finished off a great winter ride!

Roll call

Warren - Suzuki GSXR 1100

Sir Al - Kawasaki 750 H2

Kim - Kawasaki 750 H2

Stuart - Kawasaki KLE 500

Bruce - Kawasaki ZXR 636

Roger - Moto Guzzi V35 Imola II

John - BMW 600/6

Ray - Triumph T100 Bonneville

Gary - Suzuki GSR 750

Errol - Royal Enfield 650

Kenny - Moto Guzzi V7 850 Stone

Brent - Harley Davidson Road King

Rich - Suzuki Vstrom 650