Club History
The "Standlake Few" August '95
Dave Pitcher , John Storrie, Les Bensley, Phil Underwood, Pete Warner, Fred Dear, Ken Menzies, Ralph Petts, Pete Mosedale, Mike Prestcote, Shaun Chandler, Simon Wade, Phil Nixon
A brief history of How, When, Where & Why the Kettle Club was formed:
The Kettle Club was formed in late August 1995 at Standlake Oxfordshire, England by 14 KETTLE owners from various counties within the UK, now known as “The Standlake Few”, all with an obvious interest in owning and riding or just interested in the inimitable Suzuki GT 750.
The seed was sown from an even smaller number of enthusiasts, the majority of which were members of another classic Japanese motorcycle club. Other classic motorcycle clubs & mixed model clubs were, and still are, very good clubs for a variety of Japanese motorcycles. However, there was no specific club for the Suzuki GT 750 and with other classic one make (manufacturer) clubs emerging we thought it was time that the KETTLE was put on the map. With this in mind, not only did we think it was time for the KETTLE to emerge as a leading classic, we also thought it was time for it have its own stage. The Kettle Club is only one of a very small number of one model clubs in existence. With out doubt it is one of the most successful.
Not only are we a very successful one model club, we are also a very successful motorcycle club. In the first three years of the Kettle Club’s existence we attracted well in excess of 400 members. By the beginning of November 1998 our membership has exceeded 500. Our press coverage has been seen around the world in various classic motorcycle magazines.
In October 1997 & 1999 the Kettle Club won the coveted award of best club stand at the Classic & Motorcycle Mechanics show at Stafford. One comment from the show’s organiser at the 1997 show was that our amazing display of 29 individual Suzuki GT 750’s was that, " it was the best club stand ever in the history of this particular show”. Another motorcycle magazine stated our stand would not have looked out of place at the national motorcycle show at the Birmingham NEC.
In August 1998 the Kettle Club won another prestigious award, namely 'Best Club Stand' at the Vintage Motorcycle Club’s event, 'Festival Of A Thousand Bikes', held at the world famous race circuit Brands Hatch.
This was the pinnacle award for the Kettle Club. The Kettle Club was the first club for Japanese motorcycles in the seventeen year history of the event to be selected as the “Featured Club”. With a spectacular display of 61 Suzuki GT 750s parading and later having a free for all around the circuit (in both cases having the track all to ourselves!) was without doubt one of the most exciting motorcycling moments ever for our members, a never to be forgotten moment. A spokesman for the V.M.C.C. reported in the motorcycle press that , “ The Kettle Clubs fantastic display has set standards that other clubs are going to have great difficulty matching”.
