Old bikes add life to New Brighton
Vintage motorcycles roaring through the sand drew thousands of two-wheeler fans to New Brighton beach on Saturday.
The fifth annual Smash Palace Bike Show, a celebration of leather, custom bikes and loud noise, paid tribute to the late author and former motorcycle enthusiast Geoff Hockley. Over 300 bikes were displayed to thousands of punters ahead of hotly contested races around the pier.
Jason Mill, who teamed up with Smash Palace’s owner Johnny Moore to organise the event, said once the idea was floated to return the bike show – which was in New Brighton in 2015 and Linwood last year – to the coastal suburb, it ‘‘just grew from there’’.
‘‘Everyone volunteered their passion and all of these stories started emerging from the community. We knew we wanted to get [Geoff Hockley’s son] Tony [Hockley] involved and, over a few beers, we made it happen.’’
New Brighton was one of the only beaches in the country used for organised racing during the early 1900s. Rather than a need for speed-style event, the vintage bikes, all pre-1985, aimed to mimic the old-school atmosphere of prewar time demonstrations.
Timing the event to fall on the same day as the nearby Volkswagen car show and popular town market made for a massive day for the suburb, Mill said.
‘‘The village was packed, there were thousands of people across the events and it was the best sausage sizzle the surf club’s ever had.
‘‘A whole lot of things came together. It was a super low tide, a full moon, and we had the right people to help with resource consent and the paperwork.’’
Tony Hockley was the judge of the Gentleman’s Tribute, named after his father’s book A Tribute to
A Gentleman, an award for the standout bike and rider. ‘‘I ended up going for a guy who turned up late, actually. There was no scientific reason but he’d been working on his bike well into the evenings and right up until 6am on the day just to get it on the beach . . . after I picked him he let me have a ride.’’
Hockley was treated to a lap of honour – which turned into six or seven laps – in tribute to his father, a founding member of the Pioneer Motorcycle Club, who he said would have been ‘‘absolutely delighted’’ by the event. It reminded him of stories of the days when spectators would flock to the sand dunes to watch bikes rip through the sand, and later horse racing events, he said.
‘‘On a day like this, there’s nothing better than getting on a bike and getting out in the country.’’