Contact Us

There are lots of ways you can contact the VJMC, but please be aware that the Club is run by a dedicated team of volunteers and many of them also run their own businesses. Consequently when you contact them you may find that they are not available to take or return your call immediately.

All enquiries 01454 501310 (Please follow options)

PO Box 1949
Yate
Bristol
BS37 0BX

Office hours Mon-Thu 10am- 4pm

We do not operate a parts location/advice service.

Club Officers

Chairman: Steve Cooper

I joined the VJMC back in 1998 for the cheaper insurance and then found myself getting involved at shows and events. I’m trying to work out how long I’ve been a committee member and I think it was around 2003 probably; now I find myself as Chair. I have to thank everyone who has gone before me in this and other key roles – you have made the club what it is and I’m so grateful for the opportunity.

The last few years haven’t been easy for motorcycle enthusiasts, the classic bike scene or clubs but the VJMC is still doing well and membership levels remain buoyant. Much of that is down to dedicated committee that go the extra mile ensuring the club runs smoothly.

There’s some new faces in this issue of the Member’s Handbook and everyone is fulfilling a vital role. One aim going forward is to ensure the club offers outstanding service to all its members. Yes, times are challenging and changes sometimes have to be made in the background but we want everyone to be getting something tangible from their membership.

It doesn’t matter if it’s the shows and events we attend and run, the local sections who do so much for the grass roots members, or simply reading Tansha - hopefully you get a ‘feel-good’ factor from some facet of being a member. Riding, fettling, restoring or just simply enjoying Japanese classics is what it’s all about.

Have fun, ride safe and I look forward to meeting you at some point.

Tel: 07495 381082

Email: chairman.vjmc@gmail.com

National Show Coordinator: Andy Bolas

Andy Bolas

As National Show Coordinator I, with the help of Ella, organise the National shows the VJMC attend throughout the year all over the country, these include events such as CRMC events, World Superbikes at Donington Park, the largest classic motorcycle shows at Stafford Showground and many, many more. We display a varied range of bikes from original and standard, to tastefully modified. Whether you have a 1960s rare bike or a 2010 GSXR1000 you are more than welcome to come and show them with us! Any member can exhibit their bike(s) and help out on the national stand. If you are interested in attending any of the national events, please get in touch

Tel: 07906 556561

Email: shows_vjmc@yahoo.co.uk

I process all membership applications and renewals as well as keeping the membership database up-to-date. If your contact details change or if you have a query about your membership or payments, please contact me.

There are several ways to pay for your membership – through your LoveAdmin Account by making a payment through Paypal or you can set up a one-off or annual Direct Debit by ticking the “Pre-Authorise” box. Alternative ways to pay are by phoning the office and paying by card or sending in a cheque with your membership number on the back.

Data Protection is important to us, so we only collect essential personal data from you. For example, we need your name and address so we can send you a Membership Card and magazine; and we require your Date of Birth as Full Members must be over 16 years of age We make every effort to keep your data as safe as possible.

You can also ‘Opt-In’ or ‘Opt-Out’ to whether you want your local section to contact you with details of their meets, ride-outs and events. If you change your mind at any time, just contact me to update your details.

If you have any queries about the data we hold on you and how we use it, then please contact me.

Opening Hours are 10am-4pm Monday – Thursday. Please leave a message if I don’t answer and I’ll call you back as soon as I can.

My name is Paul Wright and I am the Northern Coordinator for the club. I am a retired construction manager of many years, and have a big passion for motorcycles, Riding/doing them up and going to club and bike events all over. I am sure some of you already know me from the northern quarter, this is me at the Sammy Miller Museum for the Honda Fireblade 30th Anniversary, if I can help with any club activities please get in touch.

Hi, my name is Dean Showering and I’m delighted to join the Committee as the Southern Section Coordinator.

Following in Andy Hodder’s footsteps is going to be a hard act to follow, so firstly I’d like to thank Andy for all his hard work. Many of you already know me and yes, I’m the other half to Julie, the Membership Administrator, and no I didn’t have my arm twisted (or did I?) I’ve been a member of this great Club since August 1993 when, like the Chairman, I joined for the insurance discount, but went on to enjoy section meets and the annual Rally. I therefore felt it was time to give something back after so many years of enjoyment.

As Southern Section Coordinator I’m the first port of call for the Section Leaders in the South of the Country. I still work full-time, but I’ll try and get round to some of your events. In the meantime, if I can help you with any of your Sections events and activities, please let me know.

My role as communications officer has several facets. I am responsible for placing advertisements in the motorcycling press, hopefully with the end result of generating interest and awareness in the VJMC and boosting membership. Look out for our ads in the Classic motorcycling press, particularly when there is a feature on a classic Japanese motorcycle(s). Titles I shall hopefully be working with include Old Bike Mart, Classic Bike Guide, Classic Motorcycle mechanics, Classic Racer, More Bikes, Real Classic, and others.

I also occasionally place adverts in race meeting programmes. I am also responsible for press releases, so if your section has any VJMC events occurring, please let me know, and I will do my very best to get them publicised in the relevant press. I will also be working with motorcycling based media groups that have a web presence, such as The Classic Bike Hub, to try and promote the VJMC, and its events, in this arena. Also on the web, I will be using social media to try and increase awareness on the VJMC, and all of the services it provides. I will be targeting owners and clubs of specific marques and models through Facebook and Instagram, and making them aware of the benefits of being members of the club. In particular, I hope to raise awareness of the fact that the VJMC welcomes all Japanese Classics over 15 years old. I have recently helped a section create their own Facebook page. If you feel I could help your section with this, please get in touch.

I have also started a member’s benefits section, liaising with retailers and service providers to offer discounts and other benefits to VJMC members. These are listed in Tansha and in the members only area of vjmc.com.

If you would like to talk to me, I am always available for a chat. I look forward to working with you all again over the coming months.

Age Related Registration – Use this service if you have an imported motorcycle or have lost the UK Documents. Fee for this service is from £35.00.

Retain Registration (V765) – Use this service when you have the old UK log book (VE60, V5 or RF60) to recover the original UK registration number. Fee for this service is from £45.00.

We can accept email and postal applications, just go to our website vjmc.com. Click ‘Machine Dating’ then, either click A) DVLA service for Age Related scheme requirements

or click B) Requirements for V765 to retain the bikes original registration number.

There are VJMC forms to download and included in them is a checklist of what you need to send, please ensure you attach everything needed.

The conditions you need to meet are placed upon us by the DVLA and not the Club. We are aiming for less than a two week turn around but, most delays are normally down to poor or inaccurate information supplied, so applications will take a lot longer if there are any issues.

Dating letters are only valid for 12 months, we do offer a replacement service if you lose your letter whilst it is valid in the first 12 months, and the fee is £20. In any other case, a new application is required. We will view every case on its merits, but if we can’t replace the letter for whatever reason then a new full fee is chargeable.

We are occasionally asked to assist in overturning a ‘Q’ plate and obtaining an age related registration instead. DVLA are very reluctant to do this and will only do so in exceptional circumstances. Please initially contact the relevant marque Dating Officer for advice as to your chance of success. If an application is made then the fee whether successful or not is from £45.00.

Tansha (the Japanese name for bike) is the VJMC’s magazine which is published six times a year in February, April, June, August, October and December.

Tansha contains articles by club members on a wide and diverse range of subjects. Technical items are especially popular as they give readers an insight into specific areas such as carburettors, ignition set up, cam timing etc. Even if the subject matter isn’t necessarily about your bike there’s very likely something useful you can learn from such topics. Tansha features stories of how members got into biking, tales from the race tracks, reminiscences of earlier biking experiences, trips and events attended by members, reports of our support at classic race meetings, coverage of the motorcycle shows up and down the country and even prosaic musings relating to motorcycling.

The club’s magazine cannot be created without input from you, its members. It’s what you do, where you go and what you ride that makes up the content. If you’ve an idea to write something but aren’t sure how to go about it, please contact me and I’ll help get you started. Even better you’ll receive two months extended membership for every article published over 500 words. Tansha is your magazine so write in and have your say!

As Assistant Show Coordinator, I help Andy Bolas organise VJMC National shows and events. We do multiple events throughout the year up and down the country as Andy has mentioned. For many years the VJMC has been a major sponsor of the Classic Racing Motorcycle Club aka ‘CRMC’ in return the VJMC put on a display of bikes at each of the rounds, members who bring their bikes to display get free entry and get free lunchtime parade laps at the tracks. See National Co-ordinator Andy’s info for more details.

On any website the navigation needs to be obvious, intuitive and easy to use. The VJMC website’s navigation is in the Info Bar which contains the ‘major’ areas of the site. The whole website has been designed as interactive so that the site is ‘alive’. It also has many features that, often, you would have to phone the VJMC office and request items such as Membership Forms, Merchandise Order Forms, Machine Dating Forms, Expenses Forms etc. Now they can be downloaded and edited and mailed or emailed. Members can apply for new membership and membership renewal online with LoveAdmin.

The second area of note are the online shops. We have online trading with Amazon and eBay. Amazon is a global shop-front for suppliers of just about any item you care to mention. I, personally, have been using it for years with great customer service. There’s a superb range of classic bike books all in one place. Everything is categorised to make finding them easy. Payment is encrypted so, no risk. You’ll note near the top left are Amazon and eBay links. These are the VJMC affiliate links. Any purchase made via these links provides a small commission which is used to offset the cost of hosting the website. This is at no cost to the purchaser. So please use these links – every little helps!

It is true to say that a website is never finished. More, and new, information comes to hand and will be included. In addition, there’s the constant promotion of the website (and hence the club) to the whole world, not just the UK. We are the Premier Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Club in the world and our website should be right at the top of searches so we are the most prominent. So, have a look around; it’s your website.

VJMC has been on social media since 2012. This is very active. We have LinkedIn, Twitter and Pinterest accounts, but, by far, the most popular is Facebook. We have a general interest group and trading group. We now have 30000 and 12000 subscribers respectively. Have a look at: www.facebook.com/groups/vjmcuk and www.facebook. com/groups/VJMCBuySell/

I’ve been a VJMC member since 2021, and I came across this club via CRMC – I’m a racer (not a particularly good one though), and I race a Honda NC30 and have a CBR600RR for hill climbs.

I’m a member of the North Yorkshire section, but don’t go to many meets. Usually only Oliver’s Mount, but I live not far from Squires Cafe if you know it. If any of you have met me it is probably at one of the CRMC events, where I also participate in the VJMC PR5 parades, or at one of the national shows...

AutoThreads is our main merchandise supplier for embroidered VJMC regalia and their webshop is linked on our website in the ‘Merchandise’ section. If you can’t see what you want, give them a call, they are very helpful.

If you are interested in printed regalia, go to Glassyard Speedshop online webshop. Select the item and ask them to print the VJMC logo on it for you. Again, they are very helpful.

We also have a small selection of items for sale on our website, neck warmers, lanyards, stickers, patches and caps.

For those Sections who need trophies for events, please get in touch with me to discuss your requirements.and I can order those for you. The trophies we use are the same ones used by CRMC for their race podium winners.

The Club For Classic Japanese Motorcycles

For Japanese Motorcycles 15 years plus