Kiwi Rider Mar 2025 Vol.1 | Page 22

Auckland Vespa Rides is a What ’ s App group for reaching Auckland Vespa Club members to inform of gatherings and rides . Run by the redoubtable Julian Kroll , it is semi-informal , and when the message went out to meet up at the Auckland Museum and ride in convoy into the heart of Newmarket ’ s annual Italian Festival in Auckland , there was lively acceptance , and quite a few jumped on the group chat . Inevitably , on the day , some got sidetracked , others ’ vintage machines had hiccups , and a few others were daunted by the looming threat of wet weather . The twelve assembled Vespas including a

couple of pillions , plus a Gilera and a Belladonna , gathered in perfect weather right in front of the museum and chatted , before moving off into Newmarket , and then riding around unitl they reached the end of Nuffield Street . To say the day was popular would be to understate it by several orders of magnitude . Thousands thronged the closed streets , Kent , Osborne and over the other side of Broadway , Nuffield Street . The Vespa tent was manned by stalwarts of the Vespa scene , and we rolled our bikes manually through the cheerful crowds to surround the tent and were directed to park on the footpaths . As the road was the main thoroughfare it was
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