BIlly Apple Interview

Here's a LINK to an interview I did with Billy Apple, a New Zealand artist, about an exhibition he's put on at the Christchurch Art Gallery. The exhibition features the only Britten V1000 that is still actually raced.

That's me and Billy (above) having a beer upstairs at Smash Palace. (Photo by John Collie)

Bad Evil's Norton

Bad Evil finally got a bigger bike! He's bought Ben's '74 Commando off him. There's a bit of work to do on it as Ben had it sat in a shed in Lyttelton for quite a while, but Bad'll have this up and running in no time. Looking forward to going for a decent open-road ride with Bad and with two Nortons from the same year. Will put up some more photos soon once Bad's got it ready to roll.

Footnote: Sucks for Ben to be having to sell this bike! Sorry 'bout that mate. Hey at least it's still sorta in the 'family' eh.

Methven Street Races 2014

Went for a ride with the lads to the Methven Street Races in the weekend. First day it hasn't rained in about three fucking weeks! So great to get out for a good blast on the Triumph again. The roads were still a bit wet on the way out, but it's mostly bloody straight so didn't really matter.

We were pretty keen to see Campbell Johnson racing his Kwaka. Campbell's only recently got into road racing (used to race dirt bikes), and he's been doing really well... here he is on the Kawasaki, #76, at Methven:

Campbell got a few third places right up the ass of ol' man Ornsby, and then managed to pick him off in the final race getting 2nd (just behind a very hot BSA Rocket III).

Checkin out the pits was awesome as usual. I was particularly impressed by the number of real old bangers there this time. I've seen a couple of these there before, but it seems like every year there's another one or two there. Watching these race is a real pleasure!

Took off after the last race and went to Hororata for a beer and a pie... (and took a selfie on Jimi's camera on the way)

Sound of Thunder 2014

Went to the annual Sound of Thunder event at Ruapuna yesterday with Jimi, Joe, and Malcolm. Unfortunately I couldn't hang about all day cause I started teaching again next day and had a whole pile of work to do in preparation for that. Anyway it was good to see a few races and some of the bikes out there. Marty Winders, who I got to know last year when he helped me out with fitting the T150 tank to the Thruxton, was racing his green machine Triumph Speed Triple. Made me realise the only thing better than watching motorcycle racing is watching it when there's someone you know in it!

Anyway, hopefully I can spend longer at the track next time!?

Greg Leaman's '51 650

Spent an increasingly excellent night in Greg Leaman's garage lastnight talkin shit, drinking beers, and playing rock and roll. Good times! Greg's '51 Triumph (pictured here) will feature in the next issue along with whatever I can salvage from the "interview"!? I even got to have a hoon on his bike and trust me, it was fuckin' wild!

Electricity comes from other planets

Local lad Simon Lawrence built this far out little electric motorsickle... hopefully there's gonna be something in the next issue about it and the whole 'deal' with electric motorsickles... 

The 'Maori' motorcycle

"In a small North Taranaki coastal village there's a man who is busy recreating the machine behind one of New Zealand's great motorcycling mysteries"

This is an interesting article! Would love to pay this chap a visit on our next Nth Island tour...