The Punk and The Godfather

Fancy popping down to Dordogne for the weekend to ride a couple of classic Jap muscle bikes? Oh, all right then, said Rod Gibson and John Holt.

First it was Harleys on Route 66. Then Enfields in Cambodia. Now it seems almost every country on the planet is playing host to bike touring holidays, run by and for those whose ideal holiday aspirations run a little further than spending a week in a Center Parcs bubble. But, while exotic locations are well within the reach of the seasoned traveller (until the cheap flights bubble bursts), we shouldn’t be tempted to forget the superb terrain that lies just over the Channel. Easy and cheap crossings now made possible by Eurotunnel mean that mainland Europe is a mere 40-minute train ride from our shores, and popping over to France for a few days is no more difficult than calling into Tescos for a pint of milk. And you can take your bike, so you actually get to see a little of the country you’re visiting instead of merely experiencing a 30-mile radius around your chosen holiday destination. Having a choice of tasty bikes on offer at the far end is the icing on the cake, the goal that gives you a destination to aim for.
Of course, when someone else has gone to all the trouble of arranging accommodation, bikes and stunning scenery to ride them in, all you really have to worry about is the weather. But pick a destination like Dordogne in south-western central France, and that’s almost guaranteed too. Almost…
Paul Bishop-Bailey and his wife, Julie, have recently decided to dip a toe in the waters of classic bike tourism and, when we visited, were in the final stages of setting up their classic bike holiday business. What attracted us to Paul’s and Julie’s operation was, of course, the choice of bikes on offer. Their small but growing stable of Jap classics gives the punters the chance to actually get to ride some of the bikes they may have dreamed of owning, without the hassle or expense of buying or restoring their own.

After a two-day ride across Europe to get there, I was looking forward to swinging my leg over something a little less lumbering than the landcruiser American V-twin I’d chosen for the trip. Which is why I was thrilled to spot these two Suzuki musclebikes the minute Paul swung open his garage door 10 minutes after we arrived, and why I was pulling my helmet and gloves back on before we’d had the chance to down our welcoming cups of tea.
I suspect most readers of Mechanics will need little in the way of introduction to the Suzuki GS1000 which, along with the Kawasaki Z1000, set the benchmark for performance four-strokes as the 70s died away in a froth of glam rock. As such, the big GS was one of the godfathers of modern bike design, the in-line, transverse dohc four fathering a bloodline that continues to thrive today. But, if the GS thou was the godfather, the arrogant-looking Katana had to be the first of the new wave punks, throwing down the gauntlet to the old guard with a swaggering style all its own.

Classic Motorcycle Mechanics December 2005 edition

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