Life is good when beauties like this roll in

[Unit:Me]

We are a group of Classic Japanese Motorcycle social riders in Christchurch......We have a ride once a month. It's a very friendly bunch of guys, we stop often, if you know what I mean.

Anyone reading this who has a pre 1980 Japanese motorcycle is welcome to join us,
"It's not a beauty contest" the guys take pride in turning up looking sharp with all the chrome glinting.

You guys have got an awesome bunch of bikes in these pic's. What a great idea, pre-1980 jap classics, who'd have ever thought back then. Well, I know when I was living that era of motorbikes we always talked about it, but now years later to see these bikes we used to knock around on still out there totally respected for what they are, much bling to your group.
Next time Im in the beautiful city of CHCH, will make a point of catching up, would love to see this collection in person

[98tls]

Roy Hoskings, he used to live next door to us, pulled me up a few times but never got a ticket



He's now got himself a V Strom that he's not long done a tour of the NI on

Hoskings......thats the fella.........long time ago sorry,i thought it was hopkins.So hes got himself a vstrom eh.......hard to imagine him on one of those but am sure he enjoys it........i have awsome memories of him thrashing an old trident up through the bit of road to the conway store.....when it was there,the trident had a huge 3 into 1 on it and am pretty sure you could hear it from his place all the way to the store.You mentioned Hawkswood earlier.......i hadnt been up there for years and was dismayed to see the Hawkswood s bend was no more..........love that bit of road for sure.

[Kickaha]

i have awsome memories of him thrashing an old trident up through the bit of road to the conway store.....when it was there

you must be an old bastard if you can remember that

You mentioned Hawkswood earlier.......i hadnt been up there for years and was dismayed to see the Hawkswood s bend was no more..........love that bit of road for sure.

I thought the Hawkswood s bend was still there but no longer part of SH1 and you had to turn off to ride it, I'll check next time I'm up there

[98tls]

you must be an old bastard if you can remember that

yea but not as old as him........hes my old man..first marriage etc.yea the s bends still there i guess just not part of the main drag anymore eh.

[Hitcher]

I was standing in Havelock North on Saturday morning, talking to MSTRS on my cell (as you do), when this dude rolls by on an absolute minter Honda CB500 Four. Rego CB500. Nice. Very nice.

[Edbear]

We are a group of Classic Japanese Motorcycle social riders in Christchurch......>

Well you don't look very Japanese, even classic Japanese...!

Oh, you mean the bikes! Yeah, they way cool and a pleasure to see so many being looked after. Wish I coulda bought Inline4's 350!

[Toaster]

Wow, good pics of the old style bike. Nice one!

[HenryDorsetCase]

So are we all bidding on the ELR on tardme at present?? *I would if I was allowed to....

[MyGSXF:Me]

I thought the Hawkswood s bend was still there but no longer part of SH1 and you had to turn off to ride it, I'll check next time I'm up there

yea the s bends still there i guess just not part of the main drag anymore eh.

Yes, the bends are still there.. but not part of the main highway anymore, so yeah.. ya gotta turn off to get them now! We have a lot of our club doo's at 'The Staging Post'.. which is on the same piece of road.. awesome place!!!

[Scouse]

Well to get back on topic I would'nt say that this bike is original otherwise the heads and barrels would be the same colour

[T.W.R]

Well to get back on topic I would'nt say that this bike is original otherwise the heads and barrels would be the same colour

you need to get your eyes checked The majority of the heads are still black it's only the areas that have been exposed to the elements that have deteriorated back to plain alloy. You got to remember it's got 40 odd thousand miles on the clock.

Just a bit extra too; the original key ring was on the bike and had 'Hartley Motorcycles, Albany' on it

[Smokin]

There was a very tidy one parked up over here that was owned by a truck driver that comes into my work quite often, sold it a couple of months ago for a simular figure to a guy in Christchurch. He had parked it up because one of the coils had died and he couldn't find another until just reciently, got it running and stuck a "for sale" sign on it on the side of the road.
It was sold within a couple of hours.

[toycollector10]

I'm just breathing some life back into this.

Question. Does anyone know the guy who owns the Z1?

If so could you point him at this thread as he might be interested in joining the Classic Jap riders........But I just want to say that it's not about the bikes, it's about people. The bikes are just a point of common interest.

[speedpro]

you got that right jim and they had a thirteen litre tank which gave this one a range of about mmmm not very far.. which is why it has a twenty litre tank and jimmy steadman never forgave me for fitting an el cheapo accessory fairing blade.. but when you are 19 you have better things to do with your money .

If that is Jim's old bike it would give a lot of new bikes a BIG scare. On Woodbourne it went from 0-175mph-0 inside 1400m. The rear tyre went from new to canvas in 15km and with 8 teeth missing from the back sprocket it would still pull 9,300rpm in top, up a hill. John Faithful had the other quick one. Had to know what you were doing though or BIG meltdowns.

[speedpro]

I agree with whoever else said it. I don't think it's "original" either. There a few things that are different, nice, but different. I like it though,I like it a lot. I had a black motor Z1 that I used to race with all the good Moriwaki gear, still get teary eyed when I look at the old photos. The original '73 bottom end is still doing good things in the Mac.