Have bike, will travel – it could be the motto of the Tauranga Classic Motorcycle Club.

'It's just a great excuse to get out on the old bikes and rediscover places in your backyard,” says Allan ‘Wattie' Watson, about his club's monthly week-day run he organises, taking them off the beaten track around Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Coromandel.

Tauranga Classic Motorcycle Club member Allan ‘Wattie' Watson (foreground) at Matahina Dam with other members of a recent road trip. Photo by Elaine Fisher.

'There's a group of us who just meet up and head off with a general plan,” says Allan, who is usually the only member riding a ‘true' old classic.

Coast and Country caught up with the group on a recent trip to the Eastern Bay of Plenty, where they'd stopped at Matahina Dam on a typical 250km ride. Explaining what they were doing, Allan says it is just a group of guys reliving their youth.

'Pretty much all of us rode back when we were young; that was just the way it was. So these days we just like getting out and having a bit of fun.”

'We're in no mad hurry – we just head off to a prearranged point and they are usually just taking off their helmets when I arrive,” says Allan, who refers to the slightly slower pace – about 80-90km/h – of his restored 500cc 1949 Ariel twin, compared to later model bikes.

It is one of two Ariels he owns. He also has a 1948 model in its original condition 'that looks like it needs a paint job”.

'I think it looks great and it doesn't stop it going well,” says Allan, who owned a BSA Bantam and a Francis Barnett he raced on club grass track events during his younger days.

'But that's nothing compared to some of the racing others members have done,” says Allan, who says the club's active riders are aged up to 85, like Lloyd Baker.

The club, which also holds monthly weekend rides, will host the national classic motorcycle rally in November when at least 100 riders and bikes from around the country will join them for a celebration of the classics at Waihi Beach. Bikes must be 25 years old
to be classics. For club details, go to www.sportsground.co.nz/tcmcc