Established 1993

The national newsletter of the Triumph Owners’ Motor Cycle Club of New Zealand Inc. Published Quarterly MARCH 2014 www.tomcc.co.nz

TOMCC is a member club of WATOC

2014 National Rally, celebrating Twenty-one years of TOMCC NZ Inc

More photos on pages 6 & 7

The President's Choice winner at our 2014 National Rally.

Membership Subscription Payment Changes as per the committee meeting 8 February 2014 It has been decided to simplify the annual subscription payment date for all members. Going forward the due date for all subscription payments will be 1 July. This is in the same month as the anniversary of the founding of the club, making it easy to remember. The current stipulation in the constitution will still apply allowing 14 days for payment of subscriptions, that is, your subs must be paid by 14 July. For the purposes of the long service awards, if your renewal is received after this date your membership will be deemed as starting from new and any credit you may have towards a long service award will be lost. To facilitate this change there will of course be some gains and some losses for members depending on when their current anniversary for payment lies. The feeling was that our fees are rather minimal as it is so this adjustment should be palatable to most people. New members will still be able to join at any point of the year using this sliding scale: July, Aug, Sept, Oct, all $35 Nov & Dec, Jan, Feb all $25 Mar, April & May $15 June is free. Current members fees and due dates will be amended on a month by month basis until unified on a similar sliding scale but of course without the badge payment of $10: July, Aug, Sept, Oct, all $25 Nov & Dec, Jan, Feb all $15 Mar, April & May $5 June is free. There will no doubt be a few hiccups with adopting the new system but we do ask you to please bear with us while we work it through. It will all work itself out ok in the end and also make the membership secretary’s job very much easier. The changeover for this will commence on 1 May 2014. 1

2013 WATOC Challenge results Name Rider/Passenger Club Bike (s) Events 1 Erik Hundsdahl Rider TMCOC DK Speed Triple ’94 11 2 John “JC” Curtis Rider TOMCC UK Daytona / Speed Triple 10 3 Kent Karlsson Rider TOMCC S Daytona ’00 8 4 Marja Leena Revholm Rider TOMCC S Street Triple R ’09 7 5 John Young Rider TOMCC UK Tiger Explorer 5 6 Dave Thompson Rider TOMCC UK ’70 TR6 / Speed Triple 6 7 John Witherington Rider TOMCC NZ ’68 T100C / Bonneville T100 6 8 Eva Nilsson Passenger TOMCC S Rocket lll 7 9 Mats “Otto” Nilsson Rider TOMCC S Rocket lll 7 10 Jesper Hegaard Rider TMCOC DK Trophy 1200 ’95 6 11 Edward Gould Rider TOMCC UK Sprint ST 955i 6 12 Adam Palmer Rider TOMCC NZ Speedmaster 3 13 Peter Nettler Rider TMOC D T140 ’72 3 14 Phil Loom Rider TOMCC UK Street Triple ’11 6 15 Dan Christoffersen Rider TMCOC DK Bonneville sidecar ’81 4 16 Birthe Munk Rider TMCOC DK Bonneville T100 ’02 6 17 Kees Stappershoef Rider TOCN Bonneville ’10 3 18 Kenth Olof Sjölin Rider TOMCC S ’70 T100 / Speed Triple 5 19 Palle Munk Rider TMCOC DK Sprint RS ’01 5 20 Richard Turner Rider TOMCC UK Daytona sidecar 5 21 Palle Sørensen Rider TMCOC DK ’69 TR6 / Speed Triple 3 Those who almost made it: Sam Thompson and Frank Robyn-Fuhrmeister

What is WATOC? km 8317 6896 5990 5670 4425 4209 4179 3380 3380 2903 2541 2326 2232 1829 1570 1223 1197 1110 866 813 612

Things that go bump in the night, Karapiro February 2014 I had been looking forward to the rally for a long time, so long in fact I could no longer find my registration number email! Seven of us gathered at the Drury BP after work to ride down to the rally, Pete and the ute with BBQ, EZIUP and other supplies had left earlier at lunchtime to set up base camp. It was a good ride down, enough traffic to keep the speeds sensible but Highway 1B is always a nice bit of countryside to ride through. We arrived in Cambridge and stopped for a bite to eat and refreshment at a couple of local hostelries. The short run was uneventful and we arrived at the ‘Twenty One’ easily, with enough time to pitch camp before dusk. A very nice site and well set up on first impressions, everything necessary was there. Good looking job Waikato. Everyone seemed to be in good spirits and the festivities commenced quite quickly really, haha. It’s always good to catch up with people who you don’t see often at these national events, how short my opportunity was to be was soon to be revealed. Good music, dancing in the hall and lots of groups undoubtedly talking about the big T. I was having a ball and very definitely would not have passed a breathalyser test by the time the night arrived. This was to be my downfall ( literally) in the early hours of the morning I wandered off to find the loos, on my way I spotted some bushes in the darkness, Aha! The Male Prerogative appeared appropriate. Off I strode into the darkness only to find that the area was terraced. In the dark I stepped straight off the top of the crib wall, as Fred Dagg said ‘Over she goes Trev’ and hit the ground some 1.5 metres below. This is where things started to get a bit hazy, I remember coming round (I think I blacked out for a second) and not being able to move. Hmm, I managed to pull myself up the crib wall but my first attempt at a step put me flat on the deck again. I did manage to work my way somehow along the wall to where I could climb back over to where I could hear my name being called. By this stage I was just crawling but managed to stand up so people noticed me. Well TOMCC support is legendary and there was no shortage of help from then on. It took a few goes to convince the drunken gentlemen to relinquish their mission to return me to my tent. ‘Call the ambulance I am broken’ was my mantra. Finally the ladies turned up and took control of the situation much to my relief as I had just started to go into shock. Funny how all that St Johns training doesn’t help when it’s yourself! Much concern and care was applied until the ambulance arrived after which I remember nothing until A &E at Waikato hospital. Now Charlie had his angels and I for sure have mine. Major respect and thanks to Judi, Bounce and Tracey for looking after me, you are indeed my angels. Tracey followed the ambulance and sat with me until 4 am when I went up to a ward. Now that’s another story, but the short of it was I was operated on Tuesday afternoon and was sent home on Thursday. Why it took 3 days I don’t know, I was only in theatre for 45 mins but I am grateful for all the attention I did receive and there was nobody there less injured than myself so that’s a result. So that’s the whole truth and nothing but the truth, yes I was a bit fog and mist but the blood tests at A & E show I wasn’t that bad at all. Sadly just another innocent accident because it was dark. No fuss here, nothing to see, all crowds please disperse. On a high note I did get the Hard Luck Prize, plus the boys put my bike in the line up and I won the Dealer’s Best Hinckley Twin prize too. Many thanks to Bayride for the voucher. Thanks to all for their concern and help and there is no charge for the entertainment factor, you all are most welcome. Best Regards Rik The Frogman Reid 2

WATOC, the World Association of Triumph Owners Clubs has been active since 1997. One of our own TOMCC NZ members, Geoff Walton, is one of the WATOC founding members. The purpose behind WATOC is to bring Triumph Owners together, share information and make the Triumph World for members much smaller. To further this each member club has an International Liaison Officer who is in contact with other Triumph clubs worldwide. Contrary to what some think, WATOC is not a governing body and has no authority whatsover over any of the independent Triumph owners clubs around the world. WATOC promotes communication between the various member clubs and encourages all Triumph riding members internationally to take part in the annual WATOC Challenge. Every year WATOC organises its own rally, the WATOC Rally Of The Year. This takes place in a different country each year, usually a country of one of the member clubs. We can now confirm that for 2019 it will be our turn to host the WATOC Rally Of The Year here in New Zealand. It is of course hoped that a number of our European friends will be able to attend. The format will be similar to our own national rally but beginning on a Thursday instead of the usual Friday. More details will be provided as the organisation of this event progresses. THE WATOC RALLY CHALLENGE To encourage members to visit Triumph or british bike rallies in other countries, WATOC also runs The Watoc Rally Challenge. The rules are simple: put in some mileage visiting a minimum of 3 overnight events in your home country and overseas. This is reasonably easy and cheap for our European friends but not so easy for us in New Zealand. So for us here we are able to use a trip to the North our South Island, or vice-versa, to qualify as an “overseas” trip. When you have fulfilled the minimum 3 rides for the challenge you will be awarded a badge at our annual national rally. As you can see in the table at the top of the page, two of our members were well placed in the results. If you’re interested in taking part in the challenge please contact me by phone or email and I’ll send you out a score card. Ken Spall WATOC ILO for NZ

BITS & PIECES

A small number of WATOC badges are still available at $10 each plus postage (in NZ). If you want one please get in touch with me. Also we still have some copies of our club history book, The First Twenty Years 1993-2013, at $20 each plus $2.50 postage (in NZ). Contact details on page 3.

Triumph Owners Motorcycle Cycle Club NZ Inc

AGM Minutes 8 February 2014, Hora Hora, Lake Karapiro, NZ Meeting opened at 9.30 am..   Glenn Mills opened meeting with apologies from: Darryl Payne - Regalia Officer. Kevin McLouglin - Wellington Co-ordinator. Peter Free - Canterbury Co-ordinator.   Glenn had the Area Co-ordinators introduce themselves to the members present and explained that they are also part of the national body.   Glenn advised that there were three changes to the national body: Darryl Payne is the new Regalia Officer. Geoff Morgan is the Website Administrator which was a position created by remit last year. Chris Martin is the new Taranaki Area Co-ordinator.   Glenn thanked Geoff Thompson former Taranaki Co-ordinator for his services.   Glenn spoke about this being a National Club and, as said at last years AGM, there is the need for more interaction between Areas. Reminded members to use our social media, these being: Triumph Times newsletter edited by Ken Spall. TOMCC NZ Website run by Geoff Morgan. TOMCC NZ Facebook page run by Darryl Payne. Note there are also two Area facebook pages, these being: Tomcc Auckland & Tomcc Wanganui.   Membership Secretary report by Sharon Rowan Membership sitting at 459 members.   Newsletter Editor report by Ken Spall Ken needs your stories and photos of trips, events etc for the newsletter. So please keep sending them in. There are still copies of our history book, The First Twenty Years1993–2013, still for sale at $20 each, contact Ken Spall.   Treasurer’s report by John Milligan Copies can be obtained from John Milligan.   World Association of Triumph Owners Clubs (WATOC) report by Ken Spall. Ken advised he will remain the New Zealand representative. Ken explained about the WATOC Challenge and anyone interested in competing can contact Ken Spall for further details.   TOMCC NZ Awards. Glenn presented awards to: Keith Randle   (Mad Farmer) Waikato 20 years Life Membership. Darryl Payne Canterbury 20 years Long Service Award. Terry Hancox Canterbury 20 years Long Service Award. Doug Brown Canterbury 20 years Long Service Award. Wayne Watson Canterbury 20 years Long Service Award. David Niles Canterbury 15 years Long Service Award. Rodger Griffin Canterbury 15 years Long Service Award. Ken Spall Otago / Southland 15 years Long Service Award. Bob Anderson Wanganui 10 years Long Service Award. Stephen Elliott Canterbury 10 years Long Service  Award. Pete Mitchell Canterbury 10 years Long Service  Award.

Geoff Walton Canterbury 10 years Long Service Award. Greg Chalmers Northland 10 years Long Service Award. Rick Weller Taranaki 10 years Long Service Award. Russell Bakalick Waikato / BOP 10 years Long Service Award. Alan Abbott Wanganui 10 years Long Service Award.   Glenn presented a gift to Terry Hancox (Canterbury) for attending every TOMCC NZ National Rally.   WATOC Awards Ken Spall presented awards for the WATOC Challenge to: Adam Palmer (Auckland) placed 12th. John Witherington (Otago/Southland) placed 7th.   Rallies Auckland are hosting the 2015 TOMCC NZ National Rally in Rotorua, 24 to 26 Januray 2015. Canterbury are hosting the 2016 TOMCC NZ National Rally subject to confirmation. Taranaki/Wanganui are hosting the TOMCC NZ National Rally 2017.   2019 WATOC Rally of the Year WATOC have asked for it to be held in New Zealand and hosted by TOMCC NZ. The format is the same as our rallies with the exception that we have been asked to extend the rally to Thursday to Sunday. Details to follow.   General Business. Keith Randle (Mad Farmer) - Waikato , took the opportunity to thank Ken Spall and John Witherington for their work on the national body.   Nigel (Canterbury) spoke on behalf of Bondi from Gisbourne offering accommodation or just call in and say hi.   John Witherington (Otago / Southland) thanked all the members who responded to the 2013 Sept Triumph Times Newsletter questions asking about Meriden and earlier Triumph bikes within the club and those who added their names to the Breakdown List. It was explained that there was a limited response to the breakdown list but the list will be put out with one of the newsletters. Wayne Woodward (Canterbury) raised under general business a proposal to change the membership subscription renewal to a common date. The national body was asked to consider this and make changes if they agree with the idea. There was no objections to this raised from the floor.   Glenn thanked again the Waikato / BOP members for hosting this national rally. Meeting Closed 10.28 am.

Photo Credits

Photos in this issue of Triumph Times were kindly supplied by: Bill Spice, Chris Reid, Chris Williams, Mich Pollock, John Witherington, Ray Hayward and Ken Spall.

Triumph Times Editor: Ken Spall Phone 03 489 -1740 Email: [email protected] 7 Glasgow Street, Mosgiel Otago, 9024, New Zealand The deadline for the next issue of Triumph Times is 13 June 2014 3

DISCLAIMER

Opinions expressed in this publication are purely individual and not to be attributed to the Triumph Owners Motor Cycle Club (NZ) Inc. as a whole. Nor does publication imply any endorsement, either by Triumph Owners Motor Cycle Club (NZ) Inc. or by its committee.

All past and present members are invited to the TOMCC NZ 21st Birthday Party Friday 11 July 2014 6pm – Meet and greet at the Sideline Sports Bar, 331 Stanmore Road, Christchurch. Saturday 12 July, 7pm to midnight – Social Night at Ouruhia Hall, Guthries Road, Marshlands, Christchurch. Catch up with your old mates. Partners, friends and associates all welcome. BYO and a plate for supper please. Sunday 13 July – If you would like to attend and require Backup day for ride and final farewells. accommodation, billeting can be arranged with local TOMCC members, or if you have any questions please contact: Chris Reid 03 383 3351, or 027 226 4375

ST 1050 Suspension Makeover – and yes, it really works In the last newsletter I recounted the experience of riding the new to us Sprint down to Christchurch in some pretty foul weather. While it was undoubtedly horrendous weather for motorcycling we still were not really feeling the love for the great grey beast in the finer weather that followed. In fact we had pretty well got to the point where we had decided that modern motorcycling was not for us and the funds would be better invested in another classic. Specifically we just never really felt totally at ease with the handling. It should have been pretty good but it felt wayward and inconsistent particularly if entering a corner a little ‘hot’ where it would push the front wide. I played with the suspension which undoubtedly improved things, I asked my local bike shop to revise the settings (his comment was ‘you are going to hurt yourself on this thing’) but again while this improved the bikes feel it was still dodgy. Solo it was ‘acceptable’ but as soon as Vicki climbed on the bike would settle alarmingly. Vicki is fairly petite at just a few cm’s over ‘Hobbit’ so it should have coped easily. With the rear settling it was plain ‘chopper’ weird and not ideal, as we had bought it as a pillion bike. This left me wondering, I mean this was an expensive bike when it was new and had a range of adjustment and still we couldn’t get comfortable and handling as we expected. Maybe I just couldn’t ride a modern bike properly. After a bit – we decided that maybe we were not imagining things but there were enough great things about the bike to persevere and give it a thrashing with the cheque book… We knew there was a great bike hiding in there, it just needed a chance to shine. (hey it’s a Triumph after all) We had two options – DIY or professional help. With our lives at stake on a 120hp unguided missile we decided to call in the Pro’s and the first job was to talk to Mr Robert Taylor at Kiwi Suspension Solutions (KSS) in New Plymouth. Robert advised us that he had indeed worked on a few ST’s and recommended a total rear shock swap and replacement ‘Racetech’ springs with gold emulators up front. We gulped but following Roberts recommendation we went with a new brand UK built shock custom built to our needs (revalvable and rebuild able) and we still managed to produce a result at an affordable price. The Nitron shock was duly ordered and paid for when it arrived at KSS. All that was left was to make an appointment for the fit out and set up! I settled on a Friday so I could maybe have a long weekend and on a Thursday evening after an interesting trip through a thunderstorm (what the heck is it with this bike and bad weather?) and an utter lack of beds in New Plymouth I headed off. Who would think a garden festival would be that popular? But I lucked out and in the pouring rain the camping ground took pity on me and after a great night’s sleep I rocked up to Kiwi Suspension 8:30 Friday morning. After a coffee, Roberts’s lovely wife Kaye dropped me back into New Plymouth while the bike was re suspended and I idled about sucking up flash coffee and going through the museum at my leisure

(ardent history buff – tragic I know) on a stunning Taranaki day. By 3:30 I was back at KSS marvelling at how darn fussy these guys are. The front end was done and the shock went and adjusted many times before it was pronounced ‘ready for a test ride’. Robert went first and being finally happy gave me directions to the testing country roads to make sure I was satisfied. He needn’t of bothered as by the other side of the car park I could tell I was on a different bike altogether. Yes – it was that different. It felt connected to the road like never before and so smoothly predictable I just couldn’t believe it was the same bike. It was smoother in a straight line as well, before my hands would go numb after 20 mins or so but I rode home the whole way (4 hours plus) and never had a tingle… Having both wheels under actual control and not bouncing around has transformed it on the highway. 2 up it is everything we dreamed of owning. Trundling over the Paekakareki Hill road it just rolls over from side to side on the tyres smoothly and easily. I can tightly hold a line at speed and hit an apex where I want and still be able to adjust the turn in point as required. It feels safer and so much easier to ride that the price was forgotten in 5 minutes and we just kept on riding with stupid great grins. Honestly its that much better and Vicki could feel it before we cleared our street.. So – if you are an old school Meriden man who has never felt comfortable on your modern – maybe you should think about suspension! Its been the best bang for our buck ever! Ps – our ST 1050 is Japanese market one and as such, may have been more softly sprung than usual. Also these bikes tend to come with progressively wound springs which were the big trend a few years back but in practise – most of your travel gets sucked up in static sag as soon as you push it off the stand. The racetech linear springs and emulators have transformed the front. Once the front is set and the rear rebound, Roberts advice is to leave these adjustment well alone and only adjust the rear preload (remote adjuster) so that the bike settles to the preset ride height with pillion or luggage or both (we do this via a board with solo rider headlight height taped onto it and just adjust so it’s the same according to the load, write down the setting and job done. 5 clicks for Vicki and 5 plus whatever if we have gear – simple. Useful info: NITRON shocks - http://www.nitron.co.uk/ Kiwi Suspension Solutions Ltd 11 Manadon Street, New Plymouth 4310 Phone: 06 7512100 Fax: 06 7514551 [email protected]

Paul Nuttridge TOMCC NZ Wellington

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Canterbury TOMCC Christmas Picnic Canterbury’s Christmas Picnic was once again a resounding success with member’s families enjoying a well organised event. Of particular note was the reappearance of Don Cooper who having chauffered Santa Claus for the 1994 Christmas Picnic repeated the task for 2013 with Santa Claus having undergone something of a gender-change.

Christmas 1994

Christmas 2013

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TOMCC NZ National Rally 2014 Horahora Lake Karapiro

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2013 Pre-Unit Tour to Collingwood Issues and challenges en-route

Planning for this year’s pre-unit ride was indeed a last minute affair with a number of critical factors holding things back. The more pressing issue of them all was Mr Ted going to be in the line-up of machines heading south? Following this year’s Mad Farmers tour poor old Ted had a fairly serious seizure and needed a bit of open heart surgery. Time passed too quickly and a couple of machinists dragged the chain and next minute it was the week of the ride and Ted was still a mass of nuts and bolts on the work bench. The second issue was Mike Gray’s purchase of a very tidy 1960 Bonnie he was planning to attend his first pre-unit rally on. Unfortunately after a motor rebuild Mike also seized the bike after a practise ride the week before the pre-unit. Mike still made the call to ride it to the rally even with the motor sounding a little rattly. Once Trev made the call to pull out planning commenced in earnest. Ray (’51 T-bird), Doc (Dave K on his ’56 T-bird) and Mike (’60 Bonnie) will leave Hamilton in the van on Thursday night and travel to Dave’s and Linley’s Fielding property. Pete (‘51 T-bird) was to leave from Waihi and meet us in Fielding riding all the way. There were a number of text messages and phone calls during the week of the rally. Pete delays (wisely) his leaving day from Waihi due to the heavy rain and high winds. On Thursday Mike and Doc rode to Ray’s work where the van was loaded in preparation for a late afternoon get away. We got away on time and heading south at warp speed (well we are in a Transit van), enroute we heard from Pete who had hauled up and stopped at Taihape booking into the big black pub on the corner which is well known to the a few of our members as being the Gretna. Sitting in KFC having dinner we chatted to Pete as he outlined his troubled journey to Taihape, he’d had a few issues. Now our readers may recall last year’s historic trip from Waihi to the Hawkes Bay on one tank of gas without running out. This year he was not so lucky having already run out of gas once (very close to home), losing his front brake and his back brake un-winding continuously causing Pete a few stopping concerns. We agreed to meet at the ferry terminal the next morning then continued our journey south. Our next planned stop was to be at the Ohingaiti hotel to drop off some posters and to knock down a couple of pints but to our surprise it was closed. On arrival at Fielding Dave and Linley came out to meet us and after a cuppa and a catch up we were off to the shed to look at Dave’s progress on the Vincent. It’s always good fun looking through Dave’s shed and his projects, he is doing a great job on the Vincent with the motor together (dry practise run) on his work bench. Dave had to work Friday so it was just Ray, Mike and Doc riding to the ferry in the morn-

ing and Dave’s cunning plan to catch up at Nelson on Saturday morning. We had a false start to our ride to the ferry. After fuelling up in Fielding we headed out of town to be stopped by the local law who were concerned we were riding without head lights. Isn’t it fun to tell the coppers they are wrong and to see the surprised look on his face, but he wished us well and sent us on our way. When we arrived at the ferry terminal we were greeted by the Otaki delegation and notified the ferry was delayed 1 hour. We were pleased to hear that as it gave Pete an opportunity to get to the ferry but 30 minutes later in he rolled just as we had planned. Now this is funny, Pete was up early at the Gretna Hotel (back in Taihape) so he could make the ferry. He forgot to ask the publican for the key to get the bike out so a 6:00am start turned into a 7:00am start as he couldn’t wake anyone up. The crossing was pretty calm but during that trip we received news from the Christchurch contingent that they were having issues and on arrival in Picton they confirmed they are returning to Christchurch to grab another bike, and unbelievably on the trip back just to rub salt into the wound, they got a flat tyre (1st). We continued our trip Nelson via the Junction Hotel (okay a couple of pints here) riding some of the way with the Otaki crew. Our lights were needed as we wandered our way down the final hill into Nelson. With the accommodation sorted and after dinner at a local bar we retired to the motel for a couple of rums. Now young Pete found a bit of form this evening and was keen to drink on but at 3am Ray gave up so Pete went to bed. We were up early the next morning (6am) to see Dave sitting at the front gate of the motel. Now this was pretty odd and Dave outlined for us the mammoth journey. His original ferry crossing was cancelled and he had to make a quick night run from Fielding to Wellington to the ferry. That sailing got into Picton at 1am and then he rode to Nelson arriving at 3am. Dave thought he would fuel up to use up a bit of time but as he left the service station on the road our motel was

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on, his rear tyre went flat (the 2nd). Thinking it wasn’t far to our motel he decided to push the bike which turned out to be a big mistake. 2 hours later Dave arrived at our motel and he sat on the power box at the gate until we woke up. We got a real shock to see Dave outside at 6am at least 2 hours before we were expecting him. At 8am Dave put a tyre pando into the tube and rode off to find a bike shop to get a new tube. What an effort and when he return we all headed straight off to Motueka for breakfast (sleep is only for lazy people I tell you). Mike made good use of the time and reset his points gap which had opened heaps and he was having serious issues climbing the hills. With our arrival to Motueka Mike rightly suggested we should head up to “Hot Mama’s” and a number of our members will recall the time we stopped there a number of years earlier after our national rally. Whilst having breakfast there was a steady stream of pre-units riding past and we were keen to join them and in particular we were looking forward to the ride over the Takaka hill. The sky was blue and it was an awesome ride to the summit of the hill, we lined the bikes up for the evidential photo before admiring the view and considering the ride down the other side. It was now beer o’clock and the Takaka Hotel beckoned in the distance. There was a large group of pre-units (estimated in the high 20’s) at Takaka and it was a real reunion of old mates inside. Whilst here we heard the Christchurch contingent was an hour behind so we decided to wait for them at Takaka. Right on time the trio rolled into town and it was great to catch up with Les, Lee and Dukie all on 500’s but Les was on his unit construction 500 due to his pre-unit haemorrhaging on the previous day. It was a short 22km blast to Collingwood so after a catch we decided to head off so we could settle in to our motels. At Collingwood we were allocated our rooms, settled in and then returned to the bar for the rally dinner. On the wall of the Collingwood Hotel is a large photo recently taken when the Norton Owners Club hosted their national rally there. At the end of the line-up

of bikes was our very own Mike G who rode his tidy 850 Commando to the rally. After dinner we watched the AB’s game then returned to the unit to wash dinner down with a couple more rums with our southern mates. Dave saw his opportunity and snuck off to bed now having been up for 40 odd hours straight. The night drifted on with the usual conversation (or bull shit, whatever you prefer) until the early hours and with a couple of bottles now empty the wiser ones decided to call it a night. With dawn came a change in the weather, high winds and heavy rain. The boys were shocked in the morning when we looked out the window to find Rays, Pete’s, Mike’s and one of the Otaki bikes lying down in the driveway as the wind had blown them over. Breakfast was set for 7:30am which followed directly by the AGM and those who know the Pre-unit AGM there is not a lot said but this year we set the newcomer Mike up and told him he had to speak. A quick word to the chairman to let him in on our plan and the plot was set. Mike true to form stepped up to the plate, introduced himself to the club and to the delight of all spoke of his Pre-unit experiences to date. The cat was let out of the bag by the chair person as he admitted that he had been set up and he was in fact the first new comer to ever speak at the AGM, there you go a new tradition! After the AGM it was time for the bike line up and photo out the front of the hotel, now that is a tradition and 32 Pre-units lined up outside. Dave had to set off early to catch the ferry and Les, Lee and Dukie were headed back to Blenheim. We had no plans but wanted to head to Havelock for lunch before exploring a few roads around the Sounds Road, Joe Hannah joined us for this leg of the trip. Everyone headed off about the same time and we had decided to go and look at a private museum back in Takaka. Just out of town Pete who was tail end Charlie snapped his rear chain. I think everyone there had a chain link but nobody had a chain breaker to get rid of the remnants of the original link. Pete’s bike was loaded into a van and taken to the Takaka museum where we used the grinder to clean up the chain and the messy job of putting it back on the front

sprocket commenced. By now it is close to lunch time and I recalled the local Hotel offered whitebait fitters for lunch. There was no debate we were off. Doc had a few concerns as his T-bird was starting to miss and he had a concerned look on his face. After lunch and a few kilometres down the road the miss got worse and worse and despite changing a number of parts it just didn’t improve – Doc’s T-Bird had serious issues. We were very lucky again as Murray and Pauline who also were at the Pre-unit stopped in his van and offered to ride his 3TA and Doc could go in the van with his wife (man that’s risky!). We headed through Motueka then out to Upper Moutere when we arrived at Murray’s workshop (upper Moutere is the same place where British Spares now reside). Believe me Murray has some workshop and whilst he fixed Doc’s bike we looked over all the bikes and massive assortment of vehicles which included an old fire engine, a Mk 3 Zephyr with a 15' aerial (very cool indeed). The day was quickly coming to an end and once Doc’s bike was fixed we were in need of lights to get to our accommodation of the night at Brightwater and at this point Joe left us as he was heading to Nelson and his night’s accommodation. Now Dave had left Collingwood the same time as us and when we got to Brightwater we sent him a text to see how he was getting on, but to our shock and horror he was already home in Fielding and had already had his dinner (man how did he get home so fast, is there a bridge over Cook straight now?). We were watching the box, and the weather forecast that night was making a serious turn for the worse over the next few days so after a quick couple of calls to the Interislander we all decided to see if we could make the last sailing Monday night to the mainland. Monday morning it was again a great day we headed back out to Brit Spares to visit Tim and to grab a new drive chain for Pete as we were all a bit worried it may break again. With that sorted we headed to Havelock via Nelson for breakfast then turned off to head around the sounds road. As soon as we turned the corner on the first hill Ray’s T-bird started to miss (oh no not another one). After a quick plug change this improved for 10km or so then the bike just stopped. There was further investigation and the brushes checked, plugs checked and points checked. A couple of kicks later we were off but clearly not all was well and Ray decided just to keep going and get to Picton nearer the ferry. Gee it is a lovely ride around the sounds on a fine day, even on a bike that is missing excessively. We all exchanged our tickets and headed back to the terminal to work on the bike. We couldn’t get it to run any better but definitely could get it to run worse so we thought that was pretty good. Joe Hannah turned up and confirmed the points needed replacing and we needed to try and get to his workshop in Wellington (yeh no problem . . . yeh right, shit more issues). The crossing was flat calm and the ferry more or 9

less empty, most of us stretched out and went to sleep. It was well after 8:00pm when we docked in Wellington and Ray was very apprehensive about the ride out to Plimmerton. The T-bird was not responding under load and we had the huge Johnsonville hill to get up but on approach Ray held it in 3rd gear all the way to the top. Now something our readers may not have worked out but we were into our 3rd night/ evening ride requiring lights and most of the time there were four or five Triumphs blessed with wiring from the prince of darkness himself but on all these rides every bike had a charging system and every one of the bikes lights worked perfectly, prince of darkness my arse. The ride out to Plimmerton was uneventful as we just sat on 85kmh most of the way, Joe turned off to his place and as we got to the traffic lights tight by the motel Rays T-Bird coughed and stopped. Tuesday morning dawned and the forecast rain and wind had arrived. We checked out of the motel and rode the 3km trip back to Joe’s workshop. A couple of hours of issues later we were off heading up to Levin for breakfast with the wind now much stronger and this caused the odd sway across the road with those Foxton straights causing heaps of trouble. On our arrival to Shannon Mike, Doc and Ray turned off toward Fielding to return for the van and Pete continued his way north and what I suspect will be a very challenging Desert Road ride. Our drama was still not over as just as we got to Dave’s up a short gravel road Doc succumbed to the road doing a big tank slapper then into the dirt he went. Luckily both Doc and the bike went more or less unscathed. With the van loaded we were off back to Hamilton but drama on this trip was not quiet over as Pete sent us a text about 4:00pm to say he has just gone past Turangi and has a flat rear (3rd). We purchased another tyre Pando which only worked for 10kms or so. Pete’s bike went into the van and he got to ride Docs T-bird to Taupo where Pete was forced to stay the night and wait for the morning to buy a new tube. It was on the last leg of the trip that we heard from the southerners who informed us Dukie just out of Christchurch got a flat tyre (4th). Checking with the group afterwards, Ray and Doc did about just under 590miles, Pete did over 1100 miles from Waihi and Mike doing 800 miles from JOFA but Dave taking the cake with his two long hauls from Fielding and back. The issues: 4 flat tyres, 2 stuffed sets of points, 2 reset points, 1 broken chain, 2 pre-units into a van for a journey (1 in a van twice), loads of oil leaks & one gravel road off. Next year my understanding is the rally will be around Wellington, I just hope we have a better run next year. Ray Hayward TOMCC NZ Waikato

North to Triumph Rally at Lake Karapiro 7th to 9th Feburary What a risk to go anywhere expecting fine weather, this ‘summer’! A win by Nige on the horses at the Otaki Railway pub, allowed us a feast of king prawns for lunch overlooking the Napier marina. A night of utter luxury at the balcony pub there, as we supped on rum and vodka and slipped into a huge spa bubble bath – individually! My arse failed to find purchase on the bottom as I slid continuously under the mass of foam, with a large vodka held high. Slightly hung over but clean, on the 4th, we headed up to Bondi’s and Karrie’s place on the outskirts of Gisbourne. It’s a work in progress, but what a pad it’s going to be! We all settled in for a heavy night in their new large garage. They made us feel most welcome. Naturally, we both blamed Bondi, the next morning, for sending us on the gorge road through to Opotiki. We wanted to around East Cape! But what a ride. With steep gorges and tight corners, we crank and roared our machines up hill and down dale. Traffic was light. Met a pleasant couple from England, travelling by car around N.Z. They must have thought us two simpletons for taking the wrong route. Hell, I have travelled it two times before….Bondi! Next night we were at the Strand Motel on the waterfront at Tauranga. We recommend it, though I, even got somewhat tired watching the many timber trains lumbering right passed, on the waterfront. A feed of snapper on the wharf, was our tea. Another good day with no rain! On the 7th, we crossed over to stay at my favourite pub at Raglan. Again we had a great run after leaving Huntly, stopping at a pub/ spar at Waingaro. What beaut tight winding roads. Rally time! Both of us were pleased to see our mates who travelled up from the South Island and those we have missed for a year. Chris and Nichola Reid, Woody, Pete and Sue and of course, John Worthington and Ken Spall from the deep south. Then Bondi arrived … A heavy drizzle was falling when we woke on Saturday. We both had sore bums from riding seven days so we didn’t venture on the organised run. It seems that the sun was shining just out of the valley. Saturday night’s band was bloody great! We weren’t subjected to bang wallop with the 208 version of ‘Smoke on the Waters’ thank god! Professional musicians playing novel versions of songs most of us knew. The food was adequate but boring. Though my liking for Nepalese curries might have influence that comment. The chocolate roll dessert was a delight! Our thanks goes to the rally organisers for a well run rally. We should know, for we helped organised the last one at Kaiapoi. A lot of work. Nige and I discussed a run through the ‘Forgotten Highway’, but since we had both done it before, we opted to ride down to Te Kuiti and into north Taranaki. I had not been on that road since the mid 1970’s. What a blast! Great corners and then the sea. I almost thought I was riding in the Buller.

Manawatu Gorge

Bondi style hospitality

Bypassing New Plymouth we stopped for lunch at Inglewood where we hauled on our wet weather gear for the first time on tour. No rain, so off the gear came at Bulls. A party was raging when we finally arrived at our ole haunt, the Railway Hotel, a really friendly bikers pub. Thanks Lindsay. Next day the late ferry to Picton and the night at Blenheim. We parted next day, Nige to Oxford in northern Canterbury, me down Tophouse, the Upper and Lower Buller Gorge, back to Westport. Thanks for a great trip Nige and thanks to the gods for NO RAIN. Chris Williams (Willie) Canterbury TOMCC NZ

Nigel and Willie enjoying (separately) bubble heaven in Napier

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TOMCC NZ Breakdown Assistance The purpose of this list is to offer member’s assistance in case of a breakdown or an event while travelling out of their own area. For further information, additions or deletions, or if you wish to be added to this list please contact [email protected] or your area coordinator.

Christchurch Phil Garrett 027 441 5954 Wayne Woodward 027 285 3083 Geoff Walton   & Chris Devos 03 324 8385 Trevor Saul   (Rangiora) 027 296 7066 Murchison Sue & Chris   Donavan Otago Ken Spall Southland John Witherington   (Invercargill) John Holgate   (Lake Hawea)

03 523 9016 or 027 892 1544

Breakdown assistance & accommodation Breakdown assistance & accommodation Breakdown assistance & accommodation Breakdown assistance

Breakdown assistance & accommodation

03 4891740 or 021 269 9530

Breakdown assistance

027 247 2853

Breakdown assistance

027 432 2917

Breakdownassistance

027 369 0018

Breakdown assistance & accommodation

021 0291 0605

Breakdown assistance & accommodation

Bay of Plenty Judi Nightingale   (Papamoa)

021 324 063

Accommodation

Taupo Dig Young

021 244 4090

Breakdown assistance & accommodation

Gisborn Arthur Bond

022 140 6252

Breakdown assistance & accommodation

Wanganui Alan & Dayle   Abbott Baz & Mel Sharon Rowan Beano Bob Anderson

06 347 7550 or 027 245 7771 021 843 564 or 027 225 1313 027 256 5595 021 175 2696 07 345 3333

Levin Ron Schiphorst

027 442 1345 or 021 164 6045

Waikato Ray Haywood   (Hamilton) Keith Randle   (Te kuiti)

Breakdown assistance & accommodation Breakdown assistance & accommodation Accommodation. Breakdown assistance & accommodation Breakdown assistance.

Breakdown assistance 11

If undelivered, please return to 7 Glasgow St, Mosgiel, Otago, New Zealand

The Triumph Owners Motor Cycle Club of New Zealand Inc.

Canterbury TOMCC NZ Twilight Ride, Sunday 2nd March In Febuary the TOMCC NZ Cantebury was to have a twilight ride out to the Cust pub in North Canterbury. So seeing as I live in Rangiora I decided to ride out to meet the lads out there. Before I went I called in at my local watering hole “JR’s Bar” for a quick Guinness. Mark the owner of JR’s asked where I was headed and I explained about the twilight ride to Cust to which he replied, “bugger, then why not come to JR,s”. He went on to say that if I could get the riders into his bar he would put on a FREE barbecue for us. So a quick word with Chris Reid out at Cust, and it was all on for a day ride ending at JR’s in Rangiora. Leaving time for the ride was 11am from the Yaldhurst pub car park. Neil Pascoe and myself had a hard night in JR’s on Saturday night and with eyes propped open with match sticks, Neil and I with “her indoors” on the back of the Bonnie, rode out to Yaldhurst in fine warm weather. I was expecting 10 to 15 bikes to turn up, well 10 bikes turned up then some more, and then some more turned up! With the pub owner getting a bit irate about us crowding out his car park, 40 bikes left Yaldhurst along the Main West Coast Rd and turned off at the Alsbury corner onto Bealey Rd heading for Hororata, Bealey Rd is a long stright road across the Canterbuty Plains on which some thought they where in the Isle of Man TT races, others on an easy Sunday ride, with me somewhere inbetween.

From Hororata we headed north to Waddington across the Waimakariri Gorge bridge and ended up at the West Oxford pub for a break and a few ales in lovely warm sunshine. On the road again, 40 Triumphs rumbling down the main drag of Oxford turned a few heads, turned left at the end of the main drag and a brillant ride through Ashley Gorge to Loburn and from there to Rangiora and JR’s Bar. With 40 bikes parked outside the pub a few of the locals stopped to take photos while most of us went out to the beer garden at the back known locally as “JR’s National Park” owing to all the ferns growing in there. We all eventually managed to get some grog and JR’s turned on a magic barbecue for us all. After being fed and watered it was left for everyone to find their own way home ending a good ride with good company. Trevor Saul TOMCC NZ Canterbury

OTAGO/ SOUTHLAND TOMCC NZ

Just a reminder that we have a regular monthly ride on the first Sunday of each month, meeting at 11am at the Z Service Station on Anderson’s Bay Road, Dunedin. All members, friends and family are always welcome to attend.

Remembrance

Sam Hellier Member of the Northland Chapter of the Triumph Owners Motor Cycle Club NZ Passed away suddenly 7 October 2013 A very well respected member of the Northland Chapter and other motorcycle clubs throughout New Zealand A short message from Sam’s Wife and Family “He was born to ride, lived to ride and he’s in the wind” Arohanui, Matt, Dylan, Stevie & Jay 12