Recent content by Graelin

I started in club Motocross then in 1975 and 76 did road racing. Suzuki T500 in unlimited class then RD350 and Rd 400. I was asked to ride Ducati Importers ride in the 6 Hr Castrol but it did not run that year. Then joining MOT meant no motor bike or time to race. Married Kids you know the...

Yes I was the local hoon too. At my second interview two questions raised. Wheel-standing RD400 in third gear. I fibbed saying it was only second gear. Next question related to a prolonged high speed pursuit . The poor local sergeant said “we just can’t catch him.” This bike followed the...

You will notice my bike had two sirens. Because the cable broke so had electric one. We could not get a replacement cable. The cable ones took a long time to stop.

Definitely tyres have improved. The original tyres we had on traffic bikes were rubbish. I argued for top quality tyres to be fitted to the Yamaha. Government stores told me they were “just round pieces of black rubber” to them! I got my way and I think it was Continental that I had in the...

Yes there are stories of 650 Yamahas throwing officers off. I have seen some photos of standard bikes converted to traffic bikes so may be them.. I was one of the few who preferred the Yamaha. This was what I swapped. I found it a boring bike to ride. The Yamaha despite all its faults had...

We had to clean the bikes our selves. We were very proud of our bikes and generally they were kept immaculate by each officer who was assigned it. We took them home with us. It was a great time to be paid to ride in the country back roads.

That is amazing build. I have never seen one and do look out for them. There are New Zealanders who have a site for collecting bikes and cars. Ministry of Transport Collectors Group. The MOT was a specialist Traffic Officer body seperate from Police. It was amalgamated in 1992.

Thanks the one where the BMW was an old negative that I converted. It was posted from NZ to Australia where I live now by my friend a couple of months ago.

I had no battery issues. The only way to start it in a hurry was to wind the motor over on the starter, it would spin but not start and at the same time pull out the kick start and then use one kick and it would fire up. The Yamaha dealer could not work out what model it was. He said it...

Catching up with an old riding friend in 1979. A rear view of the Police Special. He has just found me and sent this photo recently

My bike buying is probably over as retiring soon with my Royal Enfield Himalayan and 2000 BMW R1100S. A lotto win would change this lol.. Just hope that these old photos are a bit of history of these bikes.

In 1978 and 79 I was issued an XS650 Police Special. This was used in country patrols on State Highway and country roads in Waikato district New Zealand. I was originally issued a Honda CB750 and preferred the Yamaha so did a swap. Most Traffic Officers would have preferred the Honda though. I...