The weather changes have been noticed and with the finer weather there is definitely more motorcycling take place. We have been told by the weather readers on the tube that we are in for an early spring, evidence of which is already visible. Hopefully it doesn’t mean that we will have a extremely wet summer.
We have recently purchased some nice original motorcycle brochures that came from an old motorcycle dealer in Australia. Williams Bros were a dealer in the 1920 and 1930s. The story as told to me was that they used to go around other dealers and get the brochures for various other makes when new and stored them in a cabinet. When the estate was wound up the granddaughter inherited the cabinet and then on sold them to a dealer. Enter Barnstormers with a bulging wallet, actually we had to eat cat food for a month to finance the purchase but it was well worth it. A lot are as new with very little staining or foxing and as with a lot of older booklets just rusting staples. A few to name are Rudge, Sunbeam, OEC, Douglas, SOS, and James. There is also a parts book for a 1920s Henderson 4. Carn’t be too many of these around. These will be put up on the site within the next few months so keep on checking in..
Next month is the Christchurch swap meet which is held at the Canterbury Vintage Car Clubs premises at McLeans Island on the 7th to 9th October. Since it is about 10 years since I have been, Knobster and I have decided to attend. It will be interesting to see how things have changed especially since there has been an overall decrease in most swap meets throughout New Zealand. And in preparation for the possible cold I will be packing my Kermit the Frog onesy. We will report on the event upon our return, including any valueable purchases that we relocate up norff.
One group that I have the utmost admiration for is the Indian Owners Register of New Zealand. These guys would have to be one of the keenest groups out there and are not shy in using their bikes. They celebrate annually with a national rally alternating each year between the North and South Islands. Next years rally is on the weekend of 24th to 26th February 2017 and will be around the Coromandel Peninsula. Great weather and fantastic scenery will make this event a must for any Indian enthusiast. Might even trundle down on my non Indian v twin to spectate. Have a look at their website, we have put a link up to it on the left or click here.
It has come to our attention that the Indian 1937 Sales Catalogue is not there. It reverted back to the flipping book that we originally tried and discarded. Not really sure how long it has been AWOL but with 1344 views somebody wants to view it so it is back as a pdf. Click here to see it.
The Burt Munro Rally 2016 is on the week of 24th to 27th November 2016. This will be the 11th and the event is getting more popular every year. With beach racing (weather permitting), speedway, a motorcycle show and street racing there is something for everybody. Now would be the time to start planning your weekend. Click here to check out their website.
Nelson Motorcycle Museum. Some of you may or may not know that the new Nelson Motorcycle Museum has closed owing to personal health reasons of the owner. Not what the owner was hoping for and we at Barnstormers wish him all the best. Appreciating his efforts in putting this display together the owners of Richardson Truck Museum in Invercargill have purchased the motorcycle collection and are going to install it in a purpose built complex in the Invercargill township. So, it will just add to the attraction of the Burt Munro rally weekend of things to do.
The New Zealand Classic Motorcycle Racing Register is having their annual Classic Racing Festival at Pukekohe Park Raceway on the weekend of 4th and 5th February 2017. Still in the planning stage so no other details yet but as always a great venue with great racing. Mark it on your calender now.
For those who may have observed that yes we have achieved over 530,000 page views since Knobster rebuilt the site 3 years ago after we suffered some hacking issues from people with nothing better to do with their time. Combined with the 388,000 views of the site before we were invaded we are quickly approaching the magic 1,000,000 mark. So what will happen when we do you may ask? Well, Knobster will turn into a giant carrot and I promise not to grate on him (get it – grate – ha ha!!) Pretty sad really. So stay tuned.