British Bike Day

Words & Photos by Peter Douglas

Honda 750 flat tracker

THE BRITISH MOTORCYCLE OWNERS HELD THEIR ALL BIKE SHOW IN MACKAY ON THE WEEKEND OF 17TH AND 18TH JULY. Except for the usual hiccup in 2020, this show has been held annually for the last 37 years at various locations, but in more recent times has found a permanent home at the old Paxtons Wharehouse on the river bank. The upside of this is when you need a break from bikes you can just sit and admire Mackays beautiful blue Pioneer River.

1915 Royal Enfield

There were 105 bikes on display and with this year’s show commemorating135 years of Royal Enfield, there was a good line up of Enfields from the early days to the new 650 Interceptor. The showstopper in this lineup was a beautifully restored 1915 Royal Enfield outfit.

The British Club had a lot of bikes on show ranging from 1912 and 1914 Triumphs, a Douglas, a good selection of BSAs, Nortons, Triumphs etc through to some of the newer Triumph offerings.

Strong presence from the VJ brigade

Even though some of these bikes are well over 100 years old, they are not “Trailer Queens”, and are ridden at historic rallies regularly. The 1914 Triumph Junior recently covered 400 kilometres during a four day rally. Best British Bike Award was given to a very nice Triumph T160.

VJMC Mackay Area has supported this show for a number of years and this year our members had 10 bikes on display; a 1967 KT120 Suzuki in original barn find condition that always draws a lot of attention, a Suzuki Katana, Yamaha XS 2 and SR500, Honda CBR1000 and VFR800, Kawasaki H2, Z1000, Z900, and Z1R. Ash Taylors 900 Kwakka picked up the Peoples Choice Award and Best Oriental Award, and Brian Sopeers Z1000 won Best Working Bike. We talked to many people over the weekend and are hopeful of picking up a couple of new members.

1912 Triumph Roadster

The Venue was Paxton’s Warehouse Yamaha 400 Enduro

CB750 in race trim

Neat CB360 Bike of The Show went to Ronnie Stayts turbocharged Kawasaki ZX12 Land Speed bike. This missile has recorded a speed of 215mph, but his target speed is 250mph. Rather him than me!

Other Japanese bikes of interest were a couple of CB750 Hondas, one in race trim and another as a flat track machine, both beautifully presented and sounded pretty spectacular. Paul from Emerald who owns these bikes even forges his own pistons for them.

In all it was a good weekend and a chance to catch up with others who have been involved in the biking scene for years.

6 cylinder CBX 1000