WORDS: ROBERT COCHRANE
PHOTO CAPTIONS: KICKBACK MOTORCYCLE SHOW NOV 2018
Robert Cochrane recounts the beginnings of the
NZ BSA Club and what’s in store for the future.
B
ack in 1976, after a very successful Cold
Kiwi trip and more letters to Polly Palmer
(BSAOC Public Relations Officer) in the UK,
and Ken Hume (NZ BSA Register) in Auckland,
permission was given for my brother, John, myself
and some friends to start an NZ BSA Club.
An advert in the ‘Evening Post’ MC sale column
saw 13 BSA riders gather at the Fern Valley tea
Rooms in Akatarawa Valley and an enthusiasm
for the brand and idea of a club was very strong.
Contact details and phone numbers were added
to the growing list of owners and Ken Hume
provided his 65-person NZ BSA Register to the list.
From that original Fern Valley ride/meet people
were keen to see a club started, so it was agreed
I would keep in touch by phone and our next
meeting would be promoted in the Evening Post.
I headed over to the Porirua Grand Prix and in
those days there were no BSA T-shirts or baseball
caps but I wore my BSAOC UK Club lapel badge
on my ‘trendy’ old secondhand suit jacket.
Near the dummy grid I said hello to a friendly,
bearded English gent and we started a
conversation about BSA B50 Gold Star SS 500s.
He had purchased his ‘71 model in the UK, ridden
it across Canada, part of USA and had landed in
NZ with his Canadian girlfriend Lynn. John and I
must have talked for at least 30-plus minutes and
when I mentioned I was trying to start a New
Zealand BSA Owners Club he said he was a
member of the Kapi Mana MC Club and had
KIWI RIDER 77