Suzuki 2 Strokes

My Classic Japanese Group just returned from our annual 4 day trip around the South Island of New Zealand. The weather was fantastic and the roads were mostly empty, so we could belt along as we wished We had 21 riders in the group and all the bikes returned safe and with no mechanical problems. We always take a back up van but she wasn't needed this year. We left Christchurch on the Thursday morning, climbing over the mountains that separate us from the West Coast and then along this beautiful and deserted coastline up to Karamea for the first day. The second day took us through the Buller Gorge to Methven and then up to Motueka whilst day 3 was through to Nelson to visit a bike museum before going through the Rai Valley to Blenheim for the night. The final day was a fantastic run down the Coast from Blenheim through Kaikoura and back home to Christchurch. I have put the names so you can google the routes because if you want an amazing overseas ride, with great scenery, brilliant roads and no traffic, this is a route to be considering.

Day 3 was an absolute highlight and a bit of a mind spin for the boys. We visited the New Zealand Classic Motorcycle Museum in Nelson and had a visual feast. There are 280 bikes on display and they are all owned by a single guy. (Sadly not a Jappa amongst them ) The layout has some similarities to the Barber Museum with some bikes stacked up on racks. This is a truly professional display with fantastically presented machinery. Unfortunately, we were only permitted to take photos for personal use but if you google this place, they have individual pics of the bikes on display. I have always been keen on the Brough Superior but never seen one in the flesh so to speak. Well, in this one museum, there are 6 on display If any of you are headed down this way, do consider visiting this place, they have done a great job. I believe that the whole package (including bikes) has cost this one guy about $11,000,000 200K of that was for one of the Broughs. The collection features British, European and American bikes from the early 1900's through to the 1990's or so.

On the trip we also visited two private collections that were also mind-blowing. I shall post some pics of them later. Here's a few pics of the machinery we ride down here. We did about 1500Km over the four days - still reliable after 40 years these old girls




Spot the interloper ... one big waddling BMW snuck into the troop. It's the size of the bloody Bismarck and about as gainly too



I sat behind this RE5 for about 20 miles one of the days. Man, that exhaust note is something else - the pitch is such that it gets into the very bones of your skull. Never again - the local cattle agreed with me and ran for it whenever he went past





My J Buffalo. Ran beautifully until the last day when she spat a baffle from the top right pipe. Which of course meant the cone went flying Luckily the eagle eyed driver of the back up van spotted it and retrieved it for me (no baffle though - which meant a noisy ride home )



At the peak of the Pass through to the West Coast. There had been new snow a day or so before and in places it was down to the roadside. Fingers were numb by this point



Pit stop on the West Coast of the South Island - all bush and few people here



One of the locals

Very nice. I'll hopefully be visiting NZ in a couple of years when we do the 'big tour" in my retirement so I'll look for those bike museums then hopefully.

Good report there Mike, thanks for the photos and the J looks very tidy.

Thanks, for sharing. That would be totally awesome to experience so many vintage bikes at one place and one time. I would love to ride an RE5 just once, to experience what it's all about. Lovely, silver CBX in one of your pics. Lots of nice bikes.

Glad you guys liked the pics. We are privileged down here to have a great combination of some fine biking roads and low traffic volumes. There is an active classic Japanese bike scene in our city - as is evidenced by the number on our 4 day trip. I'm constantly amazed at what pops up though - just yesterday I came across a beautifully restored L model Buffalo that is only a few streets from my house, yet I knew nothing about the guy.

The Kawasaki GPZ in one of the photos had literally not been started since 1992 but the owner dragged her back in to the daylight (as his Z1 is being restored), gave the carbs a thorough cleaning, changed a gasket and brought her along. The beast didn't miss a beat over the whole trip!

Allan, the J is a very enjoyable bike to own and ride - though I have to admit the instruments are one part I still need to address. So, don't go retiring in the next couple of years as I will probably need to call on your services

On day 3, we pulled into the camp ground where we had previously booked in. However, the woman behind the desk was struggling with how to fit us all in as she apparently had another large group of bikers about to arrive. After some gentle exploring of the situation and hearing we had booked under our name of "Classic Japanese Motorcycle Group", she suddenly burst into laughter and then went very red faced. She had been awaiting the arrival of a group of Japanese motorcycle riders and had become confused as there were no Asian faces amongst our lot

MikeH1A wrote:On day 3, we pulled into the camp ground where we had previously booked in. However, the woman behind the desk was struggling with how to fit us all in as she apparently had another large group of bikers about to arrive. After some gentle exploring of the situation and hearing we had booked under our name of "Classic Japanese Motorcycle Group", she suddenly burst into laughter and then went very red faced. She had been awaiting the arrival of a group of Japanese motorcycle riders and had become confused as there were no Asian faces amongst our lot

That was funny, lol !