Bandit Rider

29in29

2012-02-01T20:21:00.000+13:00

Okay, so Fuzzy has posted up another Blog challenge. This time around the challenge is to post a picture per day for the month of February. That's pretty much the only rule but I'm going to attempt to make the pics bike related.

It is also going to be a little bit of a challenge as I'll be heading off on the TT2000 later in the month and leaving computers and internet connections behind - not to mention a couple of reasonably long days riding somewhere in there. But, we have the technology - I've managed to work out (not that hard really) to post pics here from my phone so look forward to some great phone camera quality pictures...

Anyway here's #1: the mighty DL waiting for me to take it home. And what's that parked next to it? Well, it is actually Mark's Bandit being let out for the day...

Patient Horses

Another thing to notice - an empty car park. Where's everyone else...

What you also can't see is the light drizzle falling which continued all the way home. Guess how many green lights I got...

28 pics to go!

More on the new sound

2012-01-29T18:43:00.001+13:00

If you've already watched the video on my last post about today's ride then you would already have heard my new mufflers in action but here's another sample at various road and engine speeds.

The on road shots are pretty much with the revs at around 3-3,500 in 3rd, 4th and 6th gears for the speeds shown. With my earplugs in the bike definitely doesn't sound too loud and even pottering up Scotts Road the noise doesn't intrude too much at all.

Overall I'm happy with the sound (and definitely the look) and I'll be leaving the baffles in.

Return to Scotts Road

2012-01-29T18:37:00.000+13:00

I had planned to cruise over to Woodville for the Motocross GP today but yet again the weather wasn't fantastic with pretty blustery conditions and I didn't feel like spending the day sitting out in the wind.

But long before it was even time to think about lunch I was going a bit stir-crazy so decided that I had to get the bike out even if it was just for a short ride. Well, as per usual it was well worth it and even though Scotts road has taken a bit of damage from trucks & dozers since I was last up there it was a good little ride.

So where is Scotts Road? Well it's proved impossible to draw a map on GoogleMaps as GoogleMaps seems to think that the road peters out to nothing. But if you do zoom in and follow the track you can see roughly where I went.

View Scotts Road in a larger map

Temptation got the better of me...

2012-01-26T20:48:00.001+13:00

Truly I resisted...

Ever since getting the DL I've been in two minds as to whether I should change the mufflers on it:

For: it's a V-twin and should be allowed to make music.
Against: do I want it to be rowdy when pootling along quietly on some delicious back road?

So I held off and ummed and arrred, forgot about it for a while, was tortured whenever a sweet V-twin rode past, got plenty of stick from Brian and kept a bit of an eye on Trademe...

Well Trademe ended up coming through when I had a quick look one weekend. I spotted some Remus Revolution GP mufflers and put them on my watch list and then pretended to forget about them...The auction came and went and obviously they didn't sell as the seller sent out a fixed price offer valid for three days...

So after consulting the V-Strom forum (not a lot of help there this time) and more head scratching I decided to pull the pin and on Tuesday morning took delivery of some shiny stainless steel. That night there was only one thing on the agenda and it wasn't dinner - I was straight into it when I got home.

Removing the old mufflers was a piece of cake even with my pannier racks on but it did take a bit of a wrestle to get the new mufflers on - the issue was tightening up the clamps while trying to keep the pipes oriented properly so they looked right (still may need to adjust the left one a little). After a fair bit of grunting and groaning they were on and don't they look nice?

Mmmm, shiny!

Naturally next on the agenda was the fire up and a quick test ride. Well, I have yet to have a proper ride but so far I'm reasonably impressed. The bike sounds great but I don't think it's too loud - definitely not as loud as the VTR with it's titanium Two Bros pipes. Seat of the pants also says the poor old DL was mightily strangled with the standard mufflers and it now feels like it spins up more readily and it also handles lower revs a bit better.

Anyway, here's a quick sample of the new music - I'll try and get better on bike video/audio on the weekend...

A lot of Bridges

2012-01-23T21:26:00.000+13:00

I hate coming up with titles for my posts but this one seemed appropriate as I spent a bit of time today riding over bridges or taking photos from them. I also had a spectacular day's riding!

During the week I'd been trying to decide on a ride for this long weekend (gotta love public holidays) and Mark suggested that I try out some roads inland from Kai Iwi (just West of Wanganui). He'd been through there in a car (bummer) once before and when I looked at the roads on Google Maps it was pretty easy to pick out a nice little route that would take me out into Hill Billy country and then back into Wanganui. But I had all day so where to after that? Well, having ridden Fields Track many times I'd always been curious about the sign below - it just looked interesting...

An interesting sign

And so, after a quick play in Mapsource I had a route planned - now for the weather to play ball. Saturday was spent working around home and then Sunday it rained (forecasted) so Monday was my last chance...

After a night of some quite heavy rain it was very nice to wake up early and see the sun shining so after a hurried breakfast I popped the liner back into my jacket (yep, sunny but a bit chilly) and hit the road. I took the usual back roads over to Wanganui where it was great to see some old vintage cars (there for a show over the weekend) pootling about - although I didn't see Nick Mason out fanging his GT40 replica that he brought over for the event...

On the way out of Wanganui I stopped to fill up the bike (parked up next to a big old Dodge) and then made for Kai Iwi. Here I turned off the main road and onto Rangitatau East Road - I'd done a little of this road before on the Connie while on a Toy Run but today I was going to see a fair bit more of it including plenty of delicious gravel.

The road started off nicely with plenty of nice winding corners but not long into it I found myself sliding around on some new seal (yep, no warning signs). I hate this stuff as it's always hard to tell how slippery things are - at least with a proper gravel road you know what you're in for! Anyway, it didn't last too long and after a bit more tar I found myself on the gravel proper. The gravel was in good nick and the road fairly open enabling me to potter along in third or fourth for most of it.

Rangitatau East Road

Not long after the above picture was taken I missed the turn to Kauarapaoa Road as unusually the Zumo did not let me know until after the turn-off. Well, at least it told me - no idea where I would have ended up otherwise! I had to continue on for a few km until I could find a decent place to turn around and then find the right road.

As it turned out Kauarapaoa Road turned out to be a real gem and probably my favourite part of the ride. It quickly shrunk down to a single track road with grass growing up the middle of it - a sure sign that I was riding in the wops.

I soon forgot about fourth gear and the other gears above that and stuck to second and third as I pootled along enjoying some fabulous scenery including the first of many bridges:

Yep, it's a bridge

Peeking over the side got me my favourite pic of the day.

Another bridge

Somewhere between these two bridges I'd spotted an interesting sign, "Badlands, drive carefully". I'm not sure whether this was some sort of warning (caution, you are now entering the Badlands) or whether the locals were just caring souls. Oh well, on we go...

Shortly after bridge number two I rounded a corner and arrived in Badlands proper. There was a big sign on the fence announcing where I was and hanging on the fence where a number of goat hides and the odd skull also decorated the fence posts. I didn't hear any banjos (that was possibly due to my ear plugs and the music on the Zumo I was listening to) but should I have stopped for a photo? I decided not to risk it...

On I went through more fantastic and lonely country until eventually the road changed names (to Papaiti Road) and it was time to say hello to the Wanganui River.

Wanganui River

Pretty soon I ran out of gravel and the tarmac lead me along the river and into Wanganui where I stopped for a quick McLunch before tackling Part Two of the ride.

Part Two started with a quick squirt up the Paraparas (drool) and then onto Fields Track (more drool) to my next turn-off into the unknown.

Yes, it's a bridge (Fields Track)

Whangaehu Valley Road turned out to be a great ride too with nice gravel and the odd stretch of tar. There was even one descent where it was suggested (by a sign) to use low gear - I choose second and idled down quietly hoping I wouldn't meet anyone coming the other way. There were also a few bridges:

Mind the puddle

A particularly nice bridge (which I didn't actually have to go on)

Along the way I had to move over for the odd vehicle and dodge peacocks, cattle and just the odd sheep.

1,000cc Ag bike

Eventually I popped out onto a more familiar road (Mangamahu Road) and it was time to make a decision. I had planned to ride through to Hunterville as I thought that I might need gas but according to the gauge I still had around half a tank left so instead I opted to ride through to Marton via Turakina Valley Road (a wee bit more gravel) and Makuhou Road. From Marton it was just a short ride back through Halcombe and Feilding to home base. Six and a half hours and 377km of magic riding!

GPS Map thingee:

More pics (unfortunately I didn't manage to get all the bridges I rode over).

I may have to re-think BMW's

2012-01-16T19:24:00.000+13:00

I need this farkle!

Playing in the shed

2012-01-15T17:52:00.002+13:00

Another weekend of average weather so I didn't really get out for a decent ride but got to potter around in the man-cave instead. After a bit of a quick tidy up and setting up an old stereo for better sounds in the cave I decided to have a play with making a new mount for the GoPro for fitting to the DL.

I ended up making a smaller version of the one that Dad made me for on the Connie. This time around I already had a piece of metal (must have been a shelf support or something) with a right angle bend in it and even some holes in the right places for it's new use. So really the only thing I had to do was cut it to the right length for the job and file off the nasty sharp bits. I then just bolted it onto the pannier frame using an existing bolt. Time for a test run...

For such a simple job I pretty happy with the results. I could have mounted it a little better to get less of me and the angle is also off a little but overall not too bad. I'm also very impressed with how little the vibration comes through onto the video - at idle the camera was vibrating quite a bit. GoPro's rock!

New Year's Day Ride V2

2012-01-07T12:26:00.000+13:00

George and BeemerGirl both suggested that it might be quite neat to speed up the images in my New Year's Day Ride video so here it is - 5 hours riding condensed to 3 minutes, 44 seconds:

BTW: the dial you can see is not my tacho ;)

Dom, I'm usually riding with the revs between 3-5,000. On the gravel I'll let them drop below 2,000 when in first or second - otherwise I keep 'em over 3,000. On good asphalt she occasionally sees a few more than 5,000 but it's generally not necessary...

Off to the beach

2012-01-05T21:00:00.000+13:00

Long weekends rock! A few weeks ago Meanie and Cowboyz decided that it was about time that a decent mob of us got together for a ride and a BBQ to see in the New year. The plan was to ride to Castle Point on Monday and then follow it up with a get together afterwards for a BBQ. Unfortunately the weather wasn't the nicest on Monday but fortunately Tuesday was still a holiday so it was easy to simply change the date and hit the road.

View 03-01-12 Castle Point Ride in a larger map

Ten bikes left Ashhurst at around 9:30 and made their way out around Aokautere and over the Pahiatua Trackto Pahiatua where we stopped briefly to regroup before taking to the back roads down to Alfredton.

Alfredton

After another quick break we were back onto the delicious Route 52 to Te Ore Ore just out of Masterton. Here the bikes with a decent range waited while the nervous riders with smaller tanks nipped into Masterton to top up their tanks.

At the turn-off: left to Castle Point, right to Masterton

Once we were all sorted again it was time to head for the beach. The road out to Castle Point was in superb condition with all the riders arriving at the beach with big smiles on their faces. Here's a quick sample of some of the ride:

At the beach it was time for a bit of a break and we probably spent an hour or so there taking it all in, talking bikes and most of us picking up a bit of sunburn.

Castle Point

Once we had had enough of Castle Point it was time to retrace our wheel tracks back to Masterton where once again there were a few smiles present as people insisted on putting more fuel in their bikes (including one doubter on his red Connie).

From Masterton I led us to the turn-off that would take us through some more back roads to Mauriceville and then onto Eketahuna. I was soon passed by some more enthusiastic riders but really enjoyed the nice cruise that kept us away from the main road and the holiday traffic.

In a continued effort to avoid the main road (and because it's our preferred route) we took the turn-off to Mangamire and headed for home. It was along here where one of our number (mounted on a poor wee VT250) proved that there is such a thing as too much confidence. He had been pushing things a little and ended up going into a right hander a little too hot. He realised this and tried to slow up which took him out wider in the turn where he eventually ran out of room and took a diversion into the drain. Luckily he had scrubbed off most of his speed and the result was very little damage and no injury - lucky lad.

Anyway, we soon had the bike fished out of the undergrowth and eventually coaxed it back into life. From here the ride got a little less interesting with no more mishaps as we made our way back over the track and home. For the record, the silver Connie managed the 340 odd km on about 20L returning 5.9L/100km - pretty good all things considered...

The only thing remaining to do for the day was to partake in a very nice barbie at Meanie & Monies which just put the icing on the cake! Another great day out on the bikes with a pretty decent bunch of ruffians!

First farkle of the year

2012-01-02T16:14:00.000+13:00

And it's only the 2nd of January!

Brian spotted these cheap little LED bulb replacements in at Supercheap and they've got 25% off today...

There was actually quite a selection but we sorted through them and just tried to find the brightest. The idea is to replace the bulbs in the two little running/park lights and perhaps end up being more visible on the road...

Amazing how small they can make these things

A piece of cake to install - just remove a little cover under the nose and there they are. Bulbs can be put it the wrong way around so test before replacing in reflector.

Bulb on the left, LED on the right

Comparison

Job done

I'm not sure if they're a lot brighter but they are definitely are a whiter light. Look nice but probably not the best "investment" I've made - $19.50.

New Year's Day Ride

2012-01-02T15:35:00.000+13:00

The weather forecast for this long weekend was looking pretty rubbish but I had decided that I was getting a ride in no matter what. And so, after mucking around a bit in the morning I loaded a map into the Zumo and got the DL ready.

I had decided to visit a few great gravel roads around Mangamire, Eketahuna, Alfredton and Pongaroa figuring that the wet weather would have put paid to the dust and that I may even end up with a new layer of mud. Rather than a map of the route I did something a bit different today and so here is a short video that I made using Garmin Connect and some video capture software - hope you enjoy...

Leaving Palmy in the dry I made my way over the Pahiatua Track and then onto the Mangamire road where i eventually turned off to find some gravel.

Pic of the day I think!

Initially the gravel was a bit tricky but the closer I got to Eketahuna the better (and faster) it got. I only saw one car too but man did he give me a fright!

In Eketahuna I stopped for a drink and some lunch and to take off my jersey. I'd stuck the liners back into my gear planning for bad weather but it hadn't eventuated and I'd also forgotten how hot you get riding a big adventure bike on slow tight gravel!

From Eketahuna it was time for some more great gravel and rabbit dodging through to Alfredton and then onto Route 52. Here I had planned another little diversion (a new one) but when I looked at the narrow track leading into the wops I thought the better of it - I had no idea what the road would be like and I didn't feel like getting into trouble while out on my lonesome.

Bugs having a race with me

So I ended up taking 52 all the way to Pongaroa before turning off and heading towards Waihi Falls. Instead of going to the falls I turned off onto Towai Road to head for Coonoor.

Towai Road (I think)

As you will see on my slideshow the weather changed to the worse as I climbed the big hill and I disappeared into thick fog - I hate fog! It got so bad that I could barely see the front of the bike and I ended up having to stop to clean both my visor and glasses.

After I dropped back down out of the fog it started to rain and I also missed a turn that would have taken me back to the Pongaroa-Pahiatua Road so I ended up on the Weber Road instead. This probably was for the best as the weather was starting to get worse and by the time I got to Woodville it was bucketing down and I was getting wet. The trip home over the Saddle was very interesting - one huge rear end slide and plenty of splashing through water running over the road - but I made it home wet and in one piece!

Regardless of the weather it was still great to have got out on the bike for the first ride of the New Year - the bike even ended up cleaner than when I left...

And now for something completely different...before setting out I managed to get the GoPro setup to take pictures at 5 second intervals so instead of video I ended up with about 1,300 photos which I have made into a slideshow. Because there were so many of them I made the video so they only display very briefly so don't blink when you watch it - I would have been better to use less pictures and displayed them for longer. Anyway, what do you think?

A few pics here too.

A Year in pictures

2011-12-31T20:55:00.000+13:00

Idea shamelessly stolen off Trobairitz - just some of my favourite pictures from each month of the year.

January

Whangamomona

February

Fields track

March

Crown Range Road

April

Whariti

May

Rangiwahia

June

Turakina Valley

July

Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu

August

"Somewhere near Taihape"

September

Tikokino

October

#10

November

Pori Road

December

Wanganui

Happy New Year!

Xmas

2011-12-28T21:24:00.004+13:00

No bike riding this Xmas - doh!

But I did get to catch up with these little urchins (and their parents) in the 'naki.

Alex, Caitlin, Billy & Isla

And this was the view from the front yard...

Mt Taranaki

Christmas is done & dusted so time to wish everyone a Happy New Year! Take it easy and ride safe!

Back to work and a challenge...

2011-12-28T18:52:00.000+13:00

Yes, back to work today...but the weather is due to go bad again tomorrow and it's another long weekend this weekend...

There's been a few blog challenges going around lately so I thought I'd start one of my own: how many people at your place of work ride bikes to work? The below picture was taken today when we probably only had a maximum of 30 staff at work. So, counting the scooters, not a bad result eh?

The fleet

BTW: that's Mark's push-bike in the corner - he rides that to work instead of his Bandit. Also missing from the pic is at least one other scooter, a GSX750F and Brian's VTR or Connie...

Okay, now let's see some more parking lots...

Merry Xmas!

2011-12-27T10:40:00.002+13:00

A bit late but...

I have been a good boy...

2011-12-21T18:44:00.000+13:00

Glad to see someone working on my gift...

Pro Italia Multistrada gift wrap. Seasons Greetings. from Sean Matic on Vimeo.

Stolen from twowheelsblog.com

Favourite Five

2011-12-12T20:20:00.001+13:00

Time for another Blog challenge. This comes from Roger from All things Rogey and the challenge is to post up my five favourite photos of the year. The rules are that I must have taken all the piccys and there must be at least one including me (egad!).

Ok, so here is number one and while it may not include any fantastic scenery it is a memorable shot. I took this just after finishing my tenth Grand Challenge and the Connie's fifth. The Connie made the ride easy...

Ready for more

Number two is taken the day after buying the DL and is my first decent ride on the new bike. The ride was also memorable as it was my last ride across the Gentle Annie before it was completely sealed - also my first dirty ride on the DL.

Somewhere on "The Annie"

Time for another shot of the Connie. I couldn't really decide on a pic from the Southern Cross or some other ride but then I remembered - the Connie actually did two Grand Challenges this year. Earlier in the year I had the opportunity to re-run the 2010 GC as I'd pulled out after assisting at an accident. So here she is at 3:30am in Ashhurst after 1,000 miles in 18.5 hours. Did I mention it's a fantastic machine?

Blown LHS headlight bulb and all

Number four is the most recent of the pictures - taken on Saturday during the Coast to Coast. To me it just defines why I bought the DL - exploring out of the way places and seeing new sights.

Coast Road

Ok, you asked for it (actually, come to think of it, you didn't - blame Roger) a pic of me accidentally taken while playing with the GoPro - and no, the camera did not break!

Eeek!

Linkee to Roger's post.

Wanganui Ulysses Toy Run

2011-12-11T20:23:00.001+13:00

Today was the Connie's turn for some exercise and the purpose of the ride was to attend the Wanganui Ulysses Toy Run, my second Toy Run of the season.

Brian, Mark and I saddled up and made our way across to Wanganui by the main road for a change (geeze, they've chopped those trees down near Bulls!) and made our way to the race course where the ride starts. Here the BBQ was already in action and we were quick to line up for a couple of pigs in blankets prior to the ride start.

At about 1pm we had a quick ride briefing before mounting up to follow Santa's DR800 out of Wanganui and back the way we'd come. At Turakina we turned inland and started taking a series of back roads that would eventually take the riders into Marton for a pitstop.

The ride then carries on back to Wanganui where they have a bit of an after match function but as we'd already been to Wanganui once today we pulled out before Marton and made our way back home via Feilding where it was nice to take off hot riding gear and grab a cold drink.

Not a bad weekend's riding!

Coast to Coast

2011-12-11T19:37:00.001+13:00

Yesterday was the 19th running of the Woodville Lions Coast to Coast and about number 11 for me. In the morning Mark and I cruised out to Himatangi where we met up with Meanie and Monie and signed up for the ride. By the time of the riders briefing there was probably at least 200 bikes waiting with more late stragglers still arriving as we were leaving.

From Himatangi we quietly rode into Foxton before turning towards Shannon where the four of us pulled out of the line just long enough to top up our tanks to avoid the mad rush at Woodville. Tanks filled we managed to get back into the procession as a lot of bikes were still coming through from Foxton.

With the gorge still shut and the Saddle being the most popular detour for traffic it was good that the ride took us over the Pahiatua Track and then through Ballance to Woodville for the lunch stop. In Woodville we enjoyed a BBQ lunch and chatting with other riders before sneaking off early ahead of the pack to avoid being held up or taken out by idiots.

Woodville

We weren't the only ones to do this and Mark and I ended up passing quite a few cruisers on our way through to Pongaroa. In Pongaroa we went our separate ways as I was keen to try out an alternate (read: gravel) route to Akitio while Mark was not quite that keen - even though it was 10km shorter in distance. Coast Road turned out to be a great ride with about four sections of very fast, easy gravel and some pretty nice scenery too.

Coast Road

In the end Mark beat me to the beach by about 2 minutes but I was quick to point out that I'd stopped twice and had been riding on a slightly more tricky surface than him...

Downtown Akitio

While we were waiting for the others to arrive we grabbed a cold drink and parked up to watch the rest of the bikes come in. After chatting with the others and checking out the beach we decided to skip the prize giving and head home.

Boat retrieval

I tucked in behind Mark as far as Waione (at the Route 52 turn-off) where I pulled over and convinced Mark that he needed to sample a V-twin for a while. From then on we had a blast riding back towards Danniverke - swapping the leader every now and again so we could both have the opportunity to see (and in Mark's case hear) our bikes in action.

Normally we stop in Danniverke for fuel but the Bandit's gauge had a couple of bars left on it and I figured the DL would be ok too so after a few rude gestures at Mark we bypassed Danniverke and then took some more back roads that eventually hooked us up with the Saddle Road for the last leg home. A coffee at Mark's and a chat about the ride and the bikes and that was it - home for tea! Another Coast to Coast done and dusted (this time with dust included).

More pics here.

Great vid!

2011-12-08T20:13:00.001+13:00

The mighty Wee

2011-12-07T21:04:00.001+13:00

If a Wee is this much fun, imagine a Vee!

Lube Tube

2011-12-04T11:17:00.001+13:00

When I got the DL one of the great farkles already on it was a Scott Oiler for keeping the chain in good condition. On a bike like the DL I reckon an oiler is a necessity - it doesn't take much riding on a gravel road or in wet conditions for the poor old chain to get a bit dry and therefore be more prone to wear.

On purchase the reservoir had obviously been filled up and the oiler was doing it's job quite nicely. But when I looked at the reservoir placement (see picture) I wondered how the heck I was going to fill it.

Reservoir tucked well out of the way

After trolling the web I happened upon what I thought looked like quite a neat Scott oiler accessory - a "Lube Tube". Not only does this give you more oil capacity for the oiler but I thought that it would mean an easier way to top up the reservoir. $80 later and I had one.

Lube Tube tucked in under the seat

When I first fitted it I made the mistake of filling it up quite full prior to installation and shortly after hooking it up noticed oil leaking down the side of the reservoir and running down over the exhaust - damn! I checked everything and it looked like everything was all setup right so I started wondering what was wrong - was the reservoir itself cracked or damaged in some way?

Anyway I gave up on it for a while and removed it so I didn't have oil continually leaking everywhere. But earlier this weak I decided to give it a go but with very little oil in the lube tube. On hooking things up I squeezed some oil from the tube into the now empty reservoir and watched to see what happened. After a couple of days riding around there was no leaks but also no lube on the chain - I figured things were a bit blocked up or something - time for some closer inspection.

Yesterday I played around with the oiler, setting it to the flow rate to the prime position and running the bike on the stand. By the time I was due to leave for the CDMTC Toy Run I had got nowhere so turned the flow rate back down and gave the chain a squirt with some chain lube in a can.

But on arrival at Feilding I was pleasantly surprised! There was oil on the chain and even on the wheel - it was going but maybe with a bit too high a flow rate. I adjusted the flow rate again and then rode the roughly 85km of the Toy Tun and this is what the chain looks like now (the white stuff is the spray on chain wax).

It works!

Where the oil meets the chain

So now I enter the trial in error phase of setting the optimum flow rate. Apparently this can be a bit finicky so I guess I'll be doing a bit of experimenting. I think I'll leave it as is for any riding this week and the Coast to Coast charity ride ( I'm intending on investigating some gravel while on the Coast to Coast) and see what it looks like then.

And now to an important question: does the bike need a bath?

CDMTC Toy Run

2011-12-04T10:37:00.001+13:00

Yesterday was the 25th running of the Central Districts Motorcycle Touring Club's Toy Run (what a mouthful) and so as the owner of nine badges from previous rides I thought that I should add number ten.

Brian, Linda and I rode over to Feilding and met up with Mark to have lunch prior to the ride start. By 1pm there was a reasonable number of bikes - some decorated and some not - parked up waiting for the ride to kick-off.

Disgustingly blurry pic of us waiting for the kick-off

After a quick ride briefing Santa and his escort led us out of Feilding and onto Halcombe. From there we wound our way around a number of back roads before returning back to Palmy to donate our toys and get that important badge.

View 2011 CDMTC Toy Run in a larger map

Toy run number 1 of the year done and dusted. Wanganui next week...

Me and my shadow

2011-11-30T19:18:00.001+13:00

Rachael from fuzzygalore.com posted a pic of her and her bike's shadow and asked to see other bloggers do the same. So here's a couple:

The first on the Apiti Loop with about 3-4,000km on the clock:

And this great one by Cowboyz on the Forgotten Highway with about 70,000km on the clock:

Sorry none of me behind the bars on the DL yet - to be continued...

IOM madness

2011-11-29T21:34:00.001+13:00

This was posted on Kiwibiker tonight - some awesome footage!

And I ordered my own copy of TT3D - can't wait to get it and crank up the stereo...

Lets ride Annie

2011-11-20T17:09:00.001+13:00

Yesterday was the Hunterville Lions "Lets ride Annie" charity ride (funds raised going to Ronald McDonald house) and so I had an excuse to ride the Gentle Annie (Napier-Taihape road) for the third time this year...

So after an early rise (man, it's Saturday!) I rode down to meet Brian and Manie (riding down from Normanby on his K6 Bandit) and a few other local riders at Freedom Suzuki. After filling in our entries and chatting with others it was time for us to ride up to Hunterville to the official start of the ride.

Brian ended up leading us out of Palmy, across to Feilding and the Halcombe road. Here the group got split up a bit with a few riders deciding to make themselves scarce - the cop just out of Halcombe must have given them a bit of a fright...

View Lets ride Annie 19-11-11 in a larger map

In Hunterville we gassed up and completed our sign-on before grabbing a quick coffee prior to the ride briefing. While waiting Al turned up on his Tigger and Colin (from the BRR) on his Wee - both keen to ride Annie again.

Hunterville

Soon we were on the road again and after a quick re-group at Taihape it was onto the Annie itself. With a lot of different bikes on the ride and riders of different riding styles we pretty soon spread out and people could ride at their own pace. The road is definitely seeing some use as it is getting a bit broken up in places and there was the usual loose metal in a number of places. This road is a fantastic ride (for it's scenery and it's hills and corners) but it is certainly one that needs to be ridden with some caution. I got separated from Brian, Manie and Al for a while as a another biker had a whoopsie while pulling over to let others past - poor guy, trying to do what's right and getting a kicking for it!

Al eventually caught me up near the front of the ride but eventually went past as I settled into a slower pace as we neared the more demanding, windy and poorly surfaced sections. But further on he actually came back the other way - he had noticed that the bike that had been following him had disappeared from his mirrors and fearing the worse turned around to make sure that he was ok. Apparently the guy had pulled of the road for a breather so all was good and Al was able to then catch me up and follow me into Fern Hill.

Here we waited for a while but with the other riders still somewhere on the Annie we carried on into Hastings to our lunch stop and managed to get a head start on the sossie eating. Actually, not long after we arrived the rest of the mob started coming in in dribs and drabs all drawn to the smell of the barbie I guess.

Lunch

After lunch it was time for a prize draw and to my delighted surprise I was one of the lucky recipients of a Freedom Suzuki gift voucher! Awesome, thanks Barry (that's him on the left in the picture above)! The ride from here was to take in SH50 and then SH2 back to Palmy and then Hunterville for a bit of a get together but as Manie had to get back to the 'naki we took the opportunity to sneak away a bit earlier than the rest and just head for home.

On SH50 we had to ride through a few decent showers and at the end of the road Manie was getting a little worried about his fuel so we ended up ducking into Norsewood to sup from the sole petrol pump in town before carrying onto Dannevirke. Here I took us in closer to the ranges and we took in Topgrass and Pinfold Roads before heading up over a wet and busy Saddle and dropping into Ashhurst. In Bunnythorpe we said goodbye to Manie and made our way home. Another great ride over Annie - that's two for the Connie and one for the Vee, may have to even that up...

A few more pics here.

2012 Wee-strom

2011-11-19T16:33:00.001+13:00

Had a wee look at the new Wee today and it is a very nice looking bike and bound to be a load of fun. It is a bit of a shame that they haven't been able to move the oil filter as it's still pretty vulnerable sticking out the front (just like on my Vee, although it at least has a bit of protection in the form of it's belly pan) although there is no oil cooler there as well like on the Vee.

Anyway, not ready for a change yet but here's some videos:

This next one needs to be watched from about the 2 min mark (although perhaps if you understand French you might get something out of the first bit)...

VFR Crosstourer

2011-11-17T21:07:00.001+13:00

Finally the version of the VFR that makes sense...and it's got a reasonable tank on it...

Another pad change...

2011-11-17T20:35:00.001+13:00

At the Grand Challenge the Connie was scrutinised prior to the ride and the guy checking my front pads mentioned that they were getting down. I already new this as I know that they last around 25,000km and the bike was sitting on about 74,000km - but I had checked before leaving home and they looked pretty good.

Actually when the guy had another look from a better angle he also agreed with me and the bike was passed as fit for it's 1,000 miles in 24 hours - phew! But riding it on the weekend (for it to complete it's Best Bike duties) I was starting to get the odd squeak from the front end - time for those new pads eh? So tonight was the night and here's a few pics of the job.

Pin removal

Spring removal

And finally pad removal - 7 to go!

It is actually a pretty easy job you just need to be gentle when pushing the brake pistons back, make sure that the pads are around the correct way (I know of one bike coming back from a bike shop with at least one pad in the wrong way) and everything is out back together properly...

With 8 pads to do it is a bit of a fiddly job and took me (a ham fisted, strictly amateur mechanic) around half an hour to do. I then brought a light in closely and checked those pads were around the right way and called it job done!

Old vs New

Now we'll just have to go for a pootle this weekend and see if they work eh?

C1KC

2011-11-15T20:02:00.001+13:00

Saturday was the fifth running of the Capital 1,000km Cruise and things didn't quite go as I had planned...

I did get a little ride in though and still had a good time (except for sweating through a speech).

Congratulations to Mark and Shelley and I hope the Bandit behaves itself on the honeymoon!

Blown around

2011-11-08T20:58:00.000+13:00

Oops, nearly forgot to post my Saturday ride...

On Saturday I realised I hadn't ridden a bike since Monday and that was obviously not cricket at all so it was time to fire up the Vee and go looking for gravel again. While I was fluffing around getting ready I decided that I wanted to revisit Pori Road which I had last ridden with the Back Road Riders in June as part of their Waewaepa Wanderings ride. I remembered the great climb up the hill and some fantastic scenery which I didn't get a chance to photograph.

Excuse the poor map - Google Maps refuses to believe that Pori Road is not a dead end...and I didn't download my GPS track (doh!).

To get to Pori Road I first took to the Pahiatua Track and it was here I first hit some pretty serious wind. The Vee is a fair bit lighter (and possibly a bit more top-heavy) than the Connie and I found myself getting blown around a fair bit. But I managed to stay on the road to my first stop at Pahiatua for fuel.

Gassed up it was time to head for Route 52 via Mangaone and Pa Valley Roads. These roads wind through great dairy country (mind those cow crossings) and you eventually pop out on Route 52 just North of Alfredton. At Route 52 I turned left and rode about another 4-5km to the Pori Road turn-off.

The first bit of Pori Road takes you "up the hill" and you eventually end up winding your way around the side of the hills on a very narrow road with great views out to your left.

After a quick stop for some pics (more here) I carried on up the hill and ignoring the turn-off to Puketoi road which had proved so exciting last time (actually the road was closed so who knows how bad the mud is through there at the moment) and started riding the remainder of Pori Road that I didn't get to ride last time.

Eventually the road actually becomes sealed and takes you onto Pahiatua-Pongaroa Road - right for Pongaroa and left for Pahiatua. I managed to stop myself from going right to take in some more great riding and turned left for Pahiatua and home - once again battling the high wind on the track.

Another nice little ride to sort out that itch I had...

Grand Challenge Write-up

2011-11-04T10:59:00.000+13:00

Yep, finished my write-up, here it is. Hope it doesn't put anyone to sleep...

East Coast traffic...

2011-11-02T12:27:00.003+13:00

At least they sort of kept to the left...

GC Route and Timeline

2011-11-02T10:50:00.000+13:00

I've just been playing with Google Maps and my GPS tracks to create a bit of a timeline for the Grand Challenge. Most of the times have been taken off the GPS tracks except for Opotiki where I was missing some information but I know I arrived there at about 20:30 and have a fuel docket with 20:38 on it (I was interviewed on camera when I arrived and started to fill up). Distances are from Google Maps except final GPS odometer reading.

View Larger Map

13:00 Depart Turangi (Points A & G).
15:42 Fueling up in Wairoa, quick bite & drink.
17:38 Checkpoint 1, Tokomaru Bay (Point B), pit stop, drink, bite to eat, 461km.
20:30 Checkpoint 2, Opotiki (Point C), longer pit stop, fuel, interview, pie, drink, 696km.
23:28 Fueling up in Wairoa, gas and go.
00:55 Checkpoint 3, Havelock North (Point D), pit stop, drink, bite, no fuel, 1,065km.
02:08 Waipukarau, fuel only.
03:32 Checkpoint 4, Eketahuna (Point E), punch card and go, no fuel, 1,250km.
05:17 Taihape, fuel, quick drink and bite.
06:21 Checkpoint 5 (Fields Track, SH4 intersection), punch card and go, no fuel, 1,472km.
07:30 Arrive Turangi (Points A & G), 1,619km (GPS).

So, nine stops in all (and these are what kill ya times) but these had to be planned around fuel availability and of course the checkpoints were compulsory. I could have made it from Opotiki to Napier/Hastings on a tank and so missed out the second fuel stop in Wairoa but that may have fouled things up for what would have been the next two fuel stops to get home - I made have needed to make a diversion to find stations that were open.

All in all I'm pretty happy with how the ride panned out and my 18.5 hour time - well within the allowable 24 hours!

A bit more...

2011-10-31T21:34:00.000+13:00

More of the East Cape - getting darker now and the bugs are hell bent on killing themselves on the camera housing. Oh, and the gravel detour is still in place...

All done!

2011-10-31T14:39:00.001+13:00

Yes, I'm back home after completing my 10th Grand Challenge. I will save most of the story for later but will say that this was a tough ride but in the end I did it very easily - I felt very good for the entire ride (no tired moments) and enjoyed the whole thing. The route was very challenging (see map) but the Connie was more than up to it and brought me home in 18.5 hours (including stops) - a truly fantastic machine!

This year we were being filmed again so I had to have a little play myself. Not wanting to have to get on and off and start the camera all the time I decided to go for broke on the East Coast and just let the camera run from Tokomaru Bay right around to Opotiki. I'm not sure how much video I'll post as the video does get spoiled by the camera fogging, bog splatters and finally darkness but the below might just give you a little taste.

A few pics here and more later...

New camera mount

2011-10-24T14:39:00.001+13:00

I had the folks here last night to see the AB's claim the cup (phew!) and this morning the old man made me up a mount for the GoPro. It's a sturdy bit of ally bolted to the bike via the muffler hanger and has an old ball mount on the end allowing me to mount the camera facing either forwards or backwards. It has to stick out a fair way to see around the bike but looks ok when the pannier is on.

Seems to work fine and is a lot more sturdy than the suction mount. I also tried a different back on the camera housing - this one is not waterproof as it has ports cut into it to allow for better audio capture.

No hassling my flash riding gear...

RIP Marco

2011-10-24T11:57:00.000+13:00

Absolutely terrible news from the Malaysian GP

Music

2011-10-22T11:09:00.000+13:00

Someone's idea of the top ten best sounding bike engines: http://www.motorcycle.com/how-to/top-ten-best-sounding-motorcycle-engines-91156.html

They can't of ever hear my old VTR bellowing through it's titanium Two Bros cans...

BRR Gravity Canyon to Gentle Annie

2011-10-18T21:25:00.001+13:00

We've had a lot of rain lately and sitting at home on Saturday listening to it fall on my roof I was thinking that all the rain would be settling the dust nicely for the BRR ride on Sunday. Unfortunately come Sunday it was still raining with a vengeance so the old rain suit had to be pulled out and pressed into action.

On my way out to the meeting point I discovered that the vents on an adventure helmet work really well at letting the rain through so while the rest of me stayed dry, the beard got a good rinse out (should be right for a while now eh?) - all part of the "adventure" I guess. Arriving second I parked up with Rob to await Colin and Graeme. When Graeme arrived we heard that even Neil was keen and was splashing his way down from National Park for the ride - that's dedication for ya!

The plan for the ride was to take in as much gravel as possible on our way to lunch at Gravity Canyon, then a wee bit more gravel to meet up with the Napier-Taihape road followed by just a little more gravel to get us home. Sounds good eh?

The first bit was just a quick little loop to the West of Kimbolton followed by more gravel on Ridge Road into Apiti. After Apiti we rode through to Rangiwahia on Main South Road (previous visit) and then were led by Graeme off on a series of back roads (mostly gravel) that eventually led us to our lunch stop at Gravity Canyon. Here's some video from some of these great roads:

After lunch we had a date with Gentle Annie so we headed North for a bit before taking in a diversion to the River Valley Lodge to check out the lodge and the great scenery.

The ride in and out of the valley was really neat with the last bit before the lodge being quite steep, narrow and rough - no problem when taken quietly though. Video of the trip out below:

Out of the Valley we were on the home stretch to the Napier Taihape Road but on perhaps the longest stretch of gravel for the day. Matawhero and Mangaohane Roads were pretty much all gravel but it was in very good nick and a pretty easy and slightly faster ride than some of the roads we'd ridden earlier in the day.

Eventually we reached the end of the road and the intersection with the Napier-Taihape and stopped briefly before...

...deciding to turn around and head back the way we'd come - yes, it's a great road! Unfortunately for both Neil and myself the rain came back with a vengeance and we both had problems with bad visor fogging (time to get a fog city) which slowed us up a bit - and the slower we went the more fogging we got...

Never mind, it was still a good ride and once back out off Matawhero road Graeme was able to find some more gravel (a lot of it fabulously tight and twisty) to take us into Taihape for a drink and some fuel.

Our trip home took us down SH1 for a piece before turning off just North of Ohingaiti and tackling some familiar gravel (Mangamako, Waipuru, Mangapapa and Lower Pakihikura Roads). After popping out on Vinegar Hill the rest of the ride was on seal back through to Feilding and home.

Another brilliant ride and I'm really glad I decided to put on that rain suit and get out there!

More pics here.

Friday night fail

2011-10-14T21:42:00.000+13:00

Tonight I had planned to take the Connie on a bit of a decent run to get some miles under my belt before the GC but things didn't quite going as planned. Mark had been intending on joining me but he let work get in the way and is suggesting next week as an alternative.

Anyway, I decided that I needed a ride and thought that I'd head out to Ashhurst to do the FNR. I got out there just before six and settled down to wait for the rest of the mob to join me. And so I waited...

With nobody showing my 6:15 I decided that I was it and that a quick jaunt would do and rode off through Ashhurst towards the valley.

View Larger Map

Before I left I also decided to play with the GoPro and fiddled with it to set it to take pictures at timed intervals rather than video. The idea was to see what sort of photos it was capable of and then maybe put them into a slideshow. This is what I got:

Ashhurst

Home!

It turns out that I should probably read the instructions for the camera - wrong setting!

Anyway, besides the camera fail I had a nice little cruise (although had to battle the low sun for a bit) and surprised the dog by getting home early from an FNR for a change. Didn't even get to check the new bulbs properly...

Let there be light V2

2011-10-13T20:55:00.002+13:00

For a while now I've been running uprated bulbs in the Connie. First up I tried some Navra +50's which were ok but did not last. Next up was some Phillips X-Treme vision +80's and these have proved very good.

The +80's are probably still more fragile than the original bulbs (I reckon I get about 20,000km out of them) and I've burned through 3 +80 bulbs so far. They also offer very good illumination - I reckon on a straight piece of road they're picking up fluorescent signposts at out to 800m. Until tonight the bike has been running one original bulb (due to bulb #3 blowing) and one +80 but I had a set of the new Phillips +100's sitting on the bench waiting for the GC.

And so with the GC nearing I stuck the bulbs in tonight...

LHS easier to get at than the right.

So tomorrow night I may just have to give them a wee test...

BTW: all the bulbs I've tried are the same wattage as the originals and the manufacturers claim no extra heat so there should not be any concerns about melting headlight surrounds...

PS: I get my bulbs from Powerbulbs in the UK, far cheaper than sourcing locally and with free worldwide delivery. Delivery is generally within 7 days.

PPS: Mark is running some Osram Night Breaker +90's in his Bandit and they seem to be doing the job nicely for him.

Xmas time

2011-10-07T21:01:00.001+13:00

Well, not quite but I've been ~~wasting~~ investing money again:

First up, a cheap pair of riding pants so that I don't ruin my good Alpine stars while charging around in the dust/mud on the DL. The brand is RST and they are maybe a little long in the leg but seemed to do the trick on my little squirt last Sunday. Hopefully it'll be at least 9 months until I need to test their waterproofing...

RST Razor Textile pants

My next purchase was probably even more necessary - a new helmet. My old Shoei RXR that I use to ride to work in or knocking about town (I have another Shoei XR-1000 as my number one helmet) is just about toast. I've had it for ages and the lining is starting to break up on me but the fit and everything else is still good - it has done pretty well.

With the arrival of a dual-purpose bike into the stable I decided that maybe I need a helmet designed for that sort of riding. I also didn't want to spend too much on a helmet that could potentially get knocked around so ended up with an Airoh S4 which seems to fit well although it is a little tricky putting my glasses on. I haven't used it on the bike yet so have an excuse for a ride...

Airoh S4 - need to remove some stickers eh?

Gonna be famous again

2011-10-04T18:02:00.003+13:00

Yep, looks like the Rusty's are making another video of the Grand Challenge. Details here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rusty-Nuts-MC-25th-Grand-Challenge-2011-Documentary/258717830834290?sk=wall

Here's the promo for the last video (look for a couple of Bandit Riders towards the end):

BTW: I'm in group 1 with lift-off at 1pm!

A different Apiti Loop

2011-10-02T19:48:00.002+13:00

The Apiti Loop as I generally ride it consists of taking Pohangina Valley East Road right around the Pohangina Valley to Apiti and then returning home via Kimbolton and Feilding. Today I took a slightly different route that takes in the opposite side of the river and although a shorter route takes a wee bit longer to complete due to a reasonable amount of gravel.

My ride started out with a quick bite in town before filling the DL up at Ashhurst and then heading out the valley. Instead of turning right to take Pohangina Valley East Road I carried on into Pohangina itself and then continued along the river following Pohangina Valley West Road (you never would have guessed it's name eh?).

This road quickly turns into dusty gravel which was in a similar condition to some of the gravel I rode last weekend - fairly recently graded with plenty of gravel and not much in the way of nice, well worn tyre tracks to ride in (dagnabbit). This slows me down a bit but is all good practice for the next BRR ride eh?

Part of the way through Pohangina Valley West Road I came around a corner and spotted a fantastic view out across the valley. No jamming on the brakes and stopping in a hurry on this sort of surface unless you want to end rolling in the dust so after pulling over quietly and parking the bike I had to walk back to take in the view and nab a few pics.

While there a farmer and his daughter pulled up on a quad and we chatted about the nice view, the farmer even asking if I was lost - they must have to point the odd biker in the right direction eh?

Pohangina Valley West Road eventually runs out at Makoura Road and taking a left here starts you on the final run to Apiti - a right would take you back out onto Pohangina Valley East Road. The gravel through alternated with being a bit nasty (lots of gravel and no tracks) to being nice and smooth with great ruts to follow (nearly hit the speed limit).

From Apiti I was back on a great and familiar sealed road so I had a pretty quick ride through to Kimbolton before turning off at Kiwitea to tackle a few roads that the Back Road Riders had taken me on the very first time I went out with them.

This time around it wasn't raining as I took in Coulters Line, Ridge Road and Finnis Road so the riding was a bit easier although you do have to take a bit of care on the windy and narrow roads. Finnis Road eventually becomes Taonui Road which had me home in about another twenty minutes - easily home in time to watch the All Blacks wop Canada. Another great day out.

More pics here. BTW: the "fog" in the video is condensation on inside of the GoPro's case and I've been getting a bit of it lately. It's a known issue and there is a fix...

Friday night ride

2011-10-02T11:19:00.000+13:00

Daylight savings has kicked in and that means that it's time for the Friday night rides to start back up. The FNR's are a great way to help wind down after five days of work and let off a bit of steam.

This week's ride was just a quick blast over Vinegar Hill and then back via Halcombe. Leaving Ashhurst were 7 black bikes (including far too many Trumpy's) and a sole red VTR250. We covered the ground to Cheltenham pretty quickly and were soon out onto Vinegar which is in superb condition and which managed to put smiles onto everyone's faces.

At the regroup we were joined by another black bike (Bogan on his Honda) and yet another Triumph (Barry and Mel on the Daytona). They'd come from different directions to hook up with the ride and after a bit of a chat on the side of road we turned towards Hunterville for the ride home.

From Hunterville Barry led us out on Rangatira Road to keep us off SH1 and on some more interesting roads. It was starting to get a little darker by now and with the odd bit of loose metal on the road a bit of caution was called for.

Back on SH1 we waved off Barry & Mel as they headed back home to Wanganui and then turned off to take in Halcombe Road back to Feilding. It was a really beautiful night out I enjoyed the fairly sensible ride back into Feilding where we all stopped to say our goodbyes and split up for the ride home.

View Larger Map

Yeehaaaa!

2011-09-29T07:10:00.001+13:00

http://www.tt2000.org/#!__registrations-list

Central Hawkes Bay Gravel

2011-09-27T20:58:00.001+13:00

Sunday was the day for the Back Road Riders September run and this time around we were heading for the Hawkes Bay in our search for gravel.

The day started off a bit unfriendly, there was a few spits of rain as I was getting the DL out of the shed and then it rained reasonably hard as I rode from Palmy to Ashhurst. The gorge is still shut so the Saddle had to be used and unfortunately I ended up stuck behind two cars who proved hard to pass on wet and greasy roads.

In Woodville I gassed up and parked to wait for the rest of the riders. By the time we left there were ten of us: three BMW's, two KTM's, two Honda's and three Suzy's. Leaving Woodville we stayed on the Western side of SH2 and quickly made our way up to Danniverke.

From Danniverke Graeme led us off on some small loops that took us away from the main highway before popping back on briefly until the next turn-off. A lot of these sections were tarseal but we also discovered some dusty gravel roads. These roads had plenty of gravel on them and took a bit concentration as the big DL tended to float around a bit with the rear wheel needing very little encouragement to break loose. I tended to take things a bit quieter and also kept the gap between me and the bike in front a lot bigger than normal to help visibility.

Our lunch stop was at the Tiko pub and it was good to be able to grab a cold drink to wash down some of the dust I'd been eating - the dusty snack didn't stop me from having a steak sandwich though.

After lunch we made our way across to Waipawa for a fuel stop although on our way across we did get take in a bit more gravel and Jas got to demonstrate how to get petrol from one KTM to another when Donna's bike ran out about 2km from town...

Tanks topped up we took in the short ride to Waipuk before heading Eastwards on Farm Road and then getting back onto the gravel on Te Awa Road and then Hiranui Road.

It was here on Hiranui Road that disaster struck. Four of us had ridden right through to Route 52 and had sat at the turn-off for some time before we decided that something must be up as we were missing 6 bikes. At first one of us volunteered to go back, then another and finally we all made our way back along Hiranui Road. We eventually arrived at the unpleasant sight of Donna sitting in the ditch on the side of the road in quite some pain.

She had had a little whoopsie and had the bad luck of having her bike land on her ankle. While her partner helped her out of her boot and held her ankle steady a couple of other riders took her bike back to farmhouse and called for an ambulance. The ambulance arrived after a surprisingly short twenty minutes and the experts were soon making Donna more comfortable for a very short ride down to where the rescue helicopter could land and take her off to hospital. Not a nice way for her ride to end.

Naturally Jason left us to it and hopped on his bike and chased after the helicopter to Hastings hospital. We also lost a couple more riders who had to get back to town so it was just six of us to continue on the ride.

After a quick tab back towards Waipuk we turned back off Route 52 and rode through to Flemmington on some great winding back roads - some sealed and others not.

Eventually we ended up on what looks like a dead end road on Google Maps - Rotohiwi Road. But here Graeme had a nice surprise for us - we had permission to follow a paper road through farmland to come back out on Te Uri Road South East of Ormonville. This road turned out to be the highlight of the ride with fantastic scenery all taken at a very sedate 2nd gear pace.

The road was obviously less maintained than the others we'd been on and offered up the additional hazards of dim-witted ewes and their young lambs and a number of gates to get through. I enjoyed it so much that I had to include the entire road in the video clip above!

From Te Uri Road we made our way back to Danniverke for a quick coffee before once again avoiding SH2 and then battling the traffic on the Saddle and making our way home. Another cracker of a ride with the Back Road Riders although I sense that summer is going to mean dust...

More pics here.

Lake Ferry

2011-09-18T16:38:00.001+12:00

Yesterday I caught up with Brian and he was keen to go for a bit of a ride this weekend and suggested a trip down to Lake Ferry for lunch today. We decided to wait and see what the day brought in terms of weather (didn't look great) and confirm the ride in the morning.

This morning I got up to a reasonable looking day and soon got the phone call from Brian - we were on. While I was getting ready these little drops of cloud moisture started to fall and make the corners of my mouth droop somewhat...Never mind, the Connie was out now and what's that sound I here - another Connie making some nice noises through it's aftermarket muffler. Yep, definitely going then!

As it turned out we only had to ride through light rain until we got out of town where things fined up for a great squirt over the track. once in Pahiatua we quickly got off the main road and made our ways towards Route 52 and the usual great ride down to Masterton. Unfortunately I wasn't feeling that flash (think I'm getting man-flu - yikes!) and I didn't enjoy it as much and spent most of this part of the ride bimbling along behind Brian with him getting away from me here and there - no matter, just try and enjoy the ride I thought.

View 18-09-11 Lake Ferry in a larger map

Instead of going right (and into Masterton) at the end of Route 52 we went left to take in some more great back roads through Gladstone and Longbush to Martinborough. From Martinborough it is just a short ride out some fast straights and few corners to Lake Ferry where we parked up and ordered our lunch.

The Lake Ferry Pub

It turned out to be a pretty popular place and as we waited we heard the unmistakable and awful sound of a Ducati dry clutch drowning out the music of the engines of both it and the Aprilla following behind. Just about no sooner had these guys arrived but a whole line of Porches turned up to swamp the cafe with latte orders.

A lot of boxers and a lonely four

Lunch put away we rode quietly back to Martinborough and then made our way up to Masterton for a top-up. Just out of Martinborough (man I hate typing that name - always gotta worry about my spelling) we got some fairly decent rain which was enough to make the well worn road fairly greasy. Luckily it didn't last long and after our top up we made for Mauriceville.

The roads through from SH2 to Mauriceville and then onto Eketahuna were simply brilliant. Next to no traffic and lovely flowing corners - the Connies got really stuck in and I'm sure that they were smiling as much as the riders. After this short blast we had a "transport" stage up SH2 before turning off to shoot through Mangamire and then back home over the track again. The only downer here was all the traffic due to the gorge closure and slow vehicle not pulling over into the slow vehicle lanes. Never mind, we had a great ride of just under 400km and I got to visit Lake Ferry on a fine day for a change (my previous two visits have been in very average weather). Top ride!

More pics here.

Mark's Stag

2011-09-07T20:34:00.002+12:00

Last weekend was Mark's stag do and he did things a little different. Rather than getting plastered, having his eye brows shaved off and eventually ending up in jail he decided that a weekend away on the bikes and some "adventurous" activities was the way to go.

So on Friday he and I packed the bikes and headed for Napier to pick up his brother Clinton. On the way up we were forced to take the Saddle (the gorge has been shut with a massive slip for about a fortnight now) and then up to Danniverke via Topgrass Road. From Danniverke it was just a quick squirt up to Napier where we discovered that we were late - or that Clinton was dead keen to get stuck into the weekend's activities.

Route there & back

Mark loaded up Clinton's gear and I set the Connie up for two-up riding and then we were off again. We had a great ride through to Taupo although the summit cafe appears to be dead and the roads were very wet in places. The PR3's felt really good in the wet and I had absolutely no issues with them. The Connie also went well weighed down by two big jokers although it was just a little thirstier than normal...

In Taupo we hit the local subway before taking a round-about route - Poihipi Road, Tirohanga Road (fantastic) and SH30 - to Rotorua. Once in Rotorua we parked up at out motel and relaxed before walking into town in search of a meal.

Saturday was the day for our adventures and after visiting the local Suzuki shop (to kill some time) we made our way to adventure number one: quad biking. We had booked a 2 hour ride with Quadzone ATV Tours and after gearing up our ride instructions included "give 'em death", so that it was we proceeded to do. The quads were 350 Yamahas with auto transmissions which made the riding a lot simpler and we had a ball blasting up and down big hills, bouncing over rutted bush tracks and of course splashing through bog holes.

Resting before the next mud hole

The guide was great and after keeping an eye on us and assessing our riding he led us on some great trails that demanded a fair amount of skill in places. We also got faster and faster as we got the hang of things and had great fun getting stuck in (or across) ruts and bog holes - it just wouldn't have been the same without the odd mishap! In fact Clinton managed to park his quad on it's side and I bettered him by ending up upside down. The guides response was the same as ours - laughing his head off!

By the end of our 2 hours we were starting to get pretty tired in the arms and shoulders but it really was a lot of fun. We're very glad we did the two hour ride as the shorter ones don't manage to get onto some of the places where we went and the trails through the bush were a blast. Another thing we were glad about was the quads, they also run sports quads and we initially wanted these but they were booked out so we got the autos which are farm quads and offer better ground clearance than the sports models - once again we may not have been able to go where we did on the sports quads.

Finished in the mud we got changed and headed off to our next activity - the luge. Once we had ridden up the cable car we grabbed a quick drink as we were all dry as an Arab's sandle after the quad biking before lining up for the luge.

Our plan from the start for the luge was to go hard and stay off the brakes. This worked very well until the first corner where we had a massive pile up with me skinning my elbow and all of us nearly dying from laughter. Pretty soon we were right back into going as hard as possible and in the end only using the brakes on 2 corners each run. However I wasn't the only one to loose some skin - while trying to chase Clinton and I down Mark came a real good cropper and grazed up his arm really well - just a shame we never saw it. After our 6 luge runs we rode back to the motel and sorted ourselves out with showers and plasters before walking up the road for tea.

On Sunday morning three cripples (damn those quads) struggled out of bed and rode back to Taupo (this time via Reporoa and Broadlands) for breakfast before tackling the Napier-Taupo road again. This time around the weather was perfect and the riding was great.

After dropping Clinton off we returned home again via SH50 and another trip over the Saddle. A nice quiet ride to top off a great weekend.

More pics here.

This weeks lottery winner...

2011-09-01T20:51:00.000+12:00

TT3D : Closer To The Edge

2011-08-28T16:34:00.000+12:00

Ok, so went to the flicks last night and don't want to spoil it for ya but, you've gotta see this film!

2012 TT2000

2011-08-27T14:49:00.000+12:00

More details up on the TT2000 Website about next years run. It looks really interesting with two options: the basic one involves pretty much following a route that will get you just the minimum 2,000km. The second "Flyer" option is more like the Iron Butt where various destinations offer up different points and the more points you get will determine whether you simply get a finisher's badge or a bronze, silver, gold or diamond Flyer award.

Leave is booked and the "Flyer" option looks appealing...

Experimenting

2011-08-27T14:38:00.002+12:00

Today I had a little play with a different mounting option on the Connie for the GoPro. I was keen to try to setup the camera on one of the panniers to be able to shoot film capturing the bike as well as the road I'm riding on. After looking at the stick on mounts I eventually decided just to have a go with the suction cup and so rigged it on top of the pannier with a bit of a tether in case the suction cup let go.

The suction cup is pretty damn strong and on my little jaunt over the Track and then home via the Saddle it managed to stay put and the video turned out pretty good.

I think I still got a bit much of the bike in the shot and it would probably be even better if the camera was mounted lower...thoughts?

BRR Brown Sugar Shuffle

2011-08-23T21:00:00.000+12:00

My riding plans for Sunday started out as being a little pootle on the Connie with Brian. The trouble with this was that I would miss the Back Road Riders latest ride - the Brown Sugar Shuffle. Ah well, can't do them all eh? Well as it turned out Brian's plans changed and he couldn't make it on Sunday so after he let me know I quickly got the DL out of the shed and sorted what needed sorting before taking off to meet the rest of the guys.

In Feilding I pulled into the BP to fill up the bike only to find Al there already and getting stuck into one last coffee before the ride. His DR was also sporting a very sensible farkle in the form of a new 18.5L tank which not only gives him a far better range (he rode past several garages without stopping on the ride) but also is see-thru so he can check out the juice situation easily.

From Feilding we took the short and boring (10km and 1 corner) ride to Cheltenham to meet the rest of the riders. After waiting about 15 mins we only ended up with the five of us: 2 V-Stroms (one of each), a DR, a Transalp and of course Graeme on his Beemer.

Right about here I'd like to put in a decent map showing our route but after turning off on Haynes Road and then Beaconsfield Valley Road, Google Maps starts to get a bit lost and refuses to accept that there are roads where we went. The map below is from Google Earth after importing my GPS tracks and unfortunately I cannot get enough detail displayed on the screen to show all the fabulous back roads (mind the moos on the road) we took. This obviously means that we had a ball navigating our way on some great gravel until popping back out onto SH54 (Vinegar Hill).

Squiggly blue line

After crossing SH1 we once again managed to find some more gravel (after some reasonably quick tarmac) to take us through Watershed, Tiriraukawa, Rongoiti and Mataroa. All of these roads were in good nick and the only real hazards were stock on the roads (Mama goat was proudly showing us her two beautiful kids - who had no idea what to do when 5 noisy bikes came past) and fine chip on the tar. This section brought us back out on SH1 just North of Taihape so we turned right and rode into Taihape for lunch.

We shuffled on in here for lunch

After such a great ride in the morning I was really keen to see what the after was going to offer and I have to say it really topped the morning ride. No sooner than we had got back off SH1 we started climbing up Pukenaua Road and started noticing some white stuff on the side of the road.

Onwards and Upwards

After a brief stop for photos and a frantic attempt to get the GoPro recording (failed) we continued on up and turned into Ridge Road which took us up even higher and into more and more snow.

Interesting parking

Yep, still winter

After another quick photo stop we really got into some interesting stuff. There were big snow drifts crossing the entire road with the only path through being the wheel tracks of 4WD's. This meant that the snow we were riding on was packed very hard and actually ice. Another issue was that the tyre tracks were only a tyre width wide (funny that) and this meant that anything low on the bike and wider than the track was dragging in the drift. We had to really ride quietly through here and I think that Graeme and I on the big bikes possibly had a slightly harder job here. In a couple of places I had the rear wheel spinning in search of traction and then was trying hard to slow down on the ice without a rear brake (the lever was buried in the snow somewhere and my legs were "paddling" in the drift) and without wanting to touch the front brake.

Now I don't want you to think I'm complaining about this - I was having an absolute ball (sweating in the cold too) and it was some really fun, exciting riding. I only wish the damn camera had been going...

Once out of the snow we were back on good gravel and apparently snow continued to fall of my bike for about the next 10km as we took in Koeke Road. I think it was somewhere in here where I must have given the guys following an interesting show when we rode through some very slippery mud on top of clay. First the rear wheel went out on my (I think it may have locked up under engine braking) and then the front got in on the act. It was a bit of a scary moment as the bike got pretty out of shape but I managed to gently persuade the bike towards some gravel at the side of the road and then all was good again and I tried to ride off like nothing had happened while the old heart also came back to normal.

With my undies still in good condition we then took in Pohonui Road before turning off the gravel and onto Turakina Valley Road and another quick photo stop by a waterfall.

Water a tumbling

Turakina Valley road took us safely back into Hunterville where it was time for another drink before the ride home. Here we lost one of our number as he was required elsewhere and we tackled a circuitous route (all tarmac) back home. Even got the camera going again...

I finally got home just before 5pm with an empty fuel tank and some great pictures after one really great adventure! An outstanding day out on the mighty DL!
More pics here.

I've been looking at cars lately...

2011-08-17T20:12:00.002+12:00

A perfect little run-about to get me to work...

Sounds great! If you hunt on YouTube you'll find a few 'busa powered Smarts too - probably even a better idea.

Next Farkle?

2011-08-16T20:16:00.000+12:00

Still chilly

2011-08-16T19:31:00.000+12:00

And it's not over yet...This is what it looked like this morning (nice and sunny but only 1 degree C when I left for work).

A bit chilly in the dog house!

Probably not riding weather...

2011-08-15T18:00:00.002+12:00

Snow in Palmerston North! The first time in the 20 years I've been here.

Shall I get the DL out for a play?

Just a taste

2011-08-14T17:33:00.001+12:00

Yeah, not much of a ride this weekend. Just a quick trip down to Waikanae and back to organise some new custom plugs - I lost one of my "Plugs for lugz" a couple of weekends ago and have had to make do with disposable foam plugs since.

The ride both ways was pretty boring - just a very light drizzle as I left home and then mostly dry roads from Shannon onwards. I did have one little bit of excitement in Waikanae when a little old lady decided not to give way to me - luckily I had read her mind and managed to keep out of her way.

At Kiwi Plugs I had some molds take of my particular ear design and was forced to try to pick from all the colours on offer before David made me up a set of "temporary" plugs which apparently will last around 6 months before the material shrinks and they no longer fit properly. I have ordered a set of plugs to be made with ear buds built in and with this option also get a free set of standard plugs. These will take a few days to be made and cure before they're sent up to me.

I will do a bit of a review when I get to try the new plugs out but after using the temporary plugs on the way home I have to say that I am impressed with their comfort and the noise reduction. I would say that so far they are superior to my old "Plugs for lugz" (the new ones seem to be a lot softer and more comfortable) and I believe that the other plugs on their way should be at least as good as some demo ones David had "felt" pretty soft in my hands. I guess I will find out soon enough...

I likee...

2011-08-08T20:14:00.002+12:00

Rediscovery

2011-08-07T19:48:00.001+12:00

Today's little pootle came about by Supersonic posting up a tag that was just too easy to not nab. Guess where it was...

Any ideas?

Before leaving home I did a bit of head scratching as to where to go to place the tag. The weather wasn't the nicest with a decent wind blowing and the sky looking pretty threatening so I decided not to go too far and rediscover Scott's Road. Years ago, back in our dirt-biking days, Mark and I used to hammer our trail bikes up and down Scott's road and it had been over ten years since I'd been up there.

New tag - gone already!

Scott's road quickly turns to gravel and takes you on a pretty rough route up a bit of hill from where you can get a pretty good view out across the plains.

The top of Scott's Road

From this viewpoint you can continue on across the tops until you eventually run out of road, although there are tracks that you can walk (or once upon a time ride) down to the Kahuterawa Valley and then make your way back into town.

The End

I didn't like my chances of being able to get the DL down the little walking track (I know there are at least 3 creek crossings) so I was forced to turn around and follow my skid marks back to the main road. (Video actually of the trip in).

Not satisfied with just 20km of gravel I decided to visit yet another old haunt, Green's Road. This takes you from Kahuterawa Road through to Turitea. The last time I went through here was on a mountain bike and I was a little concerned about my memories of a big mud hole...

I needn't have worried though as the road seems to be in a bit better nick nowadays but as you can see in the video below it does peeter out into not much more of a walking track. It was really nice through here though although I did manage to scare the bejesus out of a little puppy and had to stop while the owner chased after it. The poor little guy really took a disliking to the DL and although the owner got him back on the leash he was scared out of his wits when I pottered past - good thing I don't have rowdy pipes!

Eventually I got out of the bush and back onto the road for the quiet ride home. Not a big ride by any means but nice to rediscover some old haunts.

More pics here.

Not me honest!

2011-08-04T19:08:00.002+12:00

Audioswap Issues

2011-08-04T17:45:00.000+12:00

Frustrated with the crappy sound on my last video? Well I was...

I seem to have issues with the sound on my videos after I upload them to YouTube. I generally strip all the audio off before uploading and then use Audioswap to add some music. This takes a little while to "process" but lately it has been taking days and in the meantime the audio is just static and annoying.

Anyway the "Vanquish Vikings" video has finally finished processing and is a little easier to watch with a bit of music (another issue is the lack of choice of music for long videos - meh). So here it is again...

By the cringe!

2011-08-01T21:14:00.003+12:00

Holy crap batman!

BRR Vanquish Vikings

2011-08-01T20:57:00.001+12:00

After a bit of a frosty Saturday night, Sunday dawned cool but clear and it was time for another dirty ride with the Back Road Riders. The plan for the day was to investigate some great back roads East of Danniverke.

Saddle Road

The meeting point for the start of the ride was in Woodville and I left home far too early so was forced to avoid the gorge and take in the Saddle Road. It was a little damp in places but there was no sign of frosty bits as I headed up the Ashhurst side. Looking at the clock on the DL I saw that I was still far too early so I had plenty of time to stop for a few pics with the wind turbines in the background.

In Woodville I topped up the bike and parked up next to another early arrival, Neil and his orange Beemer F650. Shortly thereafter more riders began to pull in and by the time we left Woodville there was about 11 or 12 of us.

First up Graeme led us on a very zig-zaggy course to Danniverke. These were all sealed roads and reasonably familiar to me but just as a last little detour we were taken on a short gravel loop to the North-East of town before returning to Danniverke for a very quick petrol stop for the bikes that needed it.

Danniverke

Leaving Danniverke we took the Weber road but after a while turned off to complete another short gravel loop. The road surface on this loop was really good and this was to be the first of a number of superb gravel roads we would ride. Popping back out onto Weber Road, we carried on further until just past the Pongaroa turn-off where we turned onto Tahuokaretu Road and were immediately onto some more brilliant if dusty gravel.

Tahuokaretu Road soon became Birch Road East and then Birch Road before popping out onto Route 52 North of Wimbledon. The ride through here was simply magic, the gravel was in good nick and the scenery was fantastic. There was even a few muddy bits when riding through some more sheltered spots and the DL wore a bit of mud but seemed to lap it up and come back for more.

The ride up to Porangahau was fun with a number of dual-sport bikes being thrown around on the great winding roads. In Porangahau we stopped at the pub for a late lunch - quite late actually as they were very busy and the kitchen was slow but worth the wait.

Porangahau

After lunch we rode off towards Waipuk and after a slight navigational error finally ended up on some more gravel taking us back towards Danniverke. Once again the surface was fantastic with just the odd soft spot in some of the shady areas again. I had fantastic fun sitting in behind Graeme as he set a cracking pace on the big beemer.

Beemer chasing

Once off the gravel Graeme got away from me a bit and I started having the odd issue with sun-strike from the low sun and this where I got into some bother. As I was climbing up a small rise I entered a reasonably slow left-hander which unbeknownst (sp?) to me was strewn with reasonably large stones. Before I knew what was happening the DL and I were on the ground and lying in the dust.

Cursing myself (and road workers everywhere) I picked myself up pretty easily but had to wait for some willing helpers (thanks guys) to help heave the bike upright - 220kg of bike is pretty hard to lift back up when you're standing on marbles. The bike fired up straight away and I pottered up to the top of the hill so I could stop and have a look at the damage.

Well it seems that DL's crash pretty well (something I know now so do not need to repeat), the only breakage was the tip off the gear lever - the crash bars and handle-bar guards had done their job and protected the bike well. The only other superficial damage appears to be a bent bolt holding the bar weight on and a few small scratches on the fairing - very lucky, the Connie would have been a mess!

With the help of a couple of large spanners we managed to bend the gear lever enough so I had something to change gear with and we were off again. After a brief stop in Danniverke for petrol again we all parted company to make our way home. Despite the wee off I actually really enjoyed the ride and fully intend on taking in all of those roads again someday - it truly was a great ride!

Squiggly lines

More pics here.

Giving up bikes?

2011-07-30T16:57:00.004+12:00

I got two text messages from Dad this morning - the first was that he'd sold his SV. (He sold it because he reckons he's old).

The second - do you need somewhere to store the Connie...

An empty shed

2011-07-23T21:39:00.000+12:00

As it turned out the weather decided not to agree with the forecasters and the day turned out to be of the "not too bad" variety. This of course meant that my new rubber could be put to the test and the riding itch could be scratched.

Brian was also keen for a ride but after turning up on a Honda I managed to convince him to try a Suzuki and we hit the road. First up was a little squirt across to Marton for some fuel and some lunch before tackling Makuhou Road. The beauty of having both of my bikes out was that I could stick the GoPro on either of them to get footage of both bikes in action.

After Makuhou road we simply looped back to Marton via Pukepapa Road and then back home via Halcombe and Feilding. Just a short little ride but nice to be able to get out there.

Oh, the new PR3's - probably far to soon to offer any sort of evaluation (after all, any new tyre feels better than the shot one it's replaced) but the Connie behaved herself and the tyres coped with everything thrown their way. Now how's that for a tyre review?

View Larger Map

Perception

2011-07-23T21:18:00.000+12:00

Rubber

2011-07-22T19:55:00.001+12:00

In a previous post I incorrectly stated that the Connie has burned through 8 sets of tyres. It's really only been 7 but I did put on a second hand front after the original Battlax wore out after a meager 6,500km.

Today I put on set number 8 and chose the new Michelin Pilot Road 3's. These have been gaining a reputation for offering great handling wet or dry and I'm hoping this pans out for me.

On the Concours website some riders are reporting up to 8,000 miles from a set. I'm taking this with a bit of a grain of salt as I've heard extremely high mileage claims for PR2's - I regularly get 11-12k from PR2's. But, if they can go 8,000 miles this will mean that they should be at least as good as the 2's and then I'll be happy.

Hopefully the weather will play ball this weekend (not exactly looking that way at the moment) and I'll get the chance to scrub the new rubber in and get a feel for their performance - fingers crossed. For the moment I've added a little table showing the Connie's tyre appetite.

MotoGP - what's not to like?

2011-07-22T19:23:00.002+12:00

Gotta love these 1000fps slo-mo cameras

Off to the beach

2011-07-18T19:20:00.002+12:00

After two weeks of very average (and very damp) weather it was really nice to have a fairly nice weekend. On Saturday we had a really hard frost and very cold day but I didn't manage to get out at all so I just had to get out on Sunday...

I also had a birthday present to get to Napier so why spend $5 on a courier when I can spend so much more on petrol in the bike!

On Saturday night I sat down to look at Google Maps and Mapsource to search for some likely looking roads a way out East. It turns out that you can't really trust E-maps as one of the roads I chose looked on paper (well, screen) to be pretty dodgy looking (it looked like it might peter out and leave me with no option but to turn around) but ended out being superb gravel.

Anyway, route loaded into the GPS, I hit the road at about 9:30. My first stop was a quickee in Woodville for fuel before turning off just before Danniverke to head out to Weber and Wimbledon. This bit of road is normally a fantastic ride but not long after turning off it started raining and the roads were very slippery in places. This made for a through exciting moments but otherwise I was enjoying myself - although hoping for an improvement in the weather. I've ridden this road in all weathers (and the dark of night) so I thought it was time I filmed some of the worst of the road (it has been badly storm damaged for years) from Weber to Wimbledon.

My next wee stop was at Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateapokaiwhenuakitanatahu to grab a photo of the DL there (already got one of the Connie there) before continuing on to Porangahau.

At Porangahau I abandoned Route 52 and carried on up the coast to find my first bit of gravel of the day. Blackhead Road turned out to be very hard packed gravel, the very first bit having quite a lot of gravel on it but the further North I went the better it got enabling a very good pace at times.

At the end of Blackhead Road I turned right to go down into Blackhead and to check out the beach. Not too many bikini's on display but a nice little settlement with quite a few batches - probably a nice spot in summer.

From Blackhead I headed back towards Waipuk but then turned off to try and keep as close to the coast as possible. This involved taking in Long Range Road, Clareinch Road and Mangakuri Roads. Long Range road was good seal but the other two roads were gravel that was also in very good condition. In fact the gravel was that good that it was not unlike riding on the tar! Heaps of fun and cool to look back at the dust plume in my mirrors!

Once off the gravel it was a short squirt to Elsthorpe and then a great fang up Kahuranaki Road to Havelock North and finally Napier. After lunch with the olds I hit the road again for a nice cruise down SH50 and home to a roaring fire.

Another great winter's ride of around 460km!

More pics here.

(PS, apologies if there is no audio on the video - there seems to be some issue with Audioswap, hopefully it'll sort itself out...)

Another Milestone

2011-07-16T16:22:00.003+12:00

So, after my morning (well, hour or so) of farkling I decided to head inside for some lunch. Along the way I decided to check the mail box and was delighted to find a nice letter from the LTSA wishing the Connie a happy birthday and requesting I part with some more of my hard earned to assist in keeping ACC afloat. How nice of them...

But anyway, yep, the Connie turns four next month! In that four years she has been all over the country, worn out 7 sets of tyres and travelled just under 72,000km. I'm looking forward to the next 4 years and wondering where she'll take me next - a superb motorcycle!

I think I'll have to get her some of the new PR3's for her birthday...

Farkling Fever

2011-07-16T16:01:00.002+12:00

I've ignored the warnings and the fever has set in - today I added two more farkles to the V-Strom:

First up it was a fender extender. On my last off-road excursion the front tyre did a fantastic job of dumping mud all over the oil cooler and I figured that this was less than ideal. The fender extender was a simple mod as the front guard didn't even need to be removed - although I did undo the bolts on it so that I could move it around a bit and stop some idiot with a power tool from drilling through the guard into the tyre. Since I took the picture I found some black touch-up paint and the screws are now a bit less visible.

The second farkle was a little more frivolous, a bags connection tank bag. I really like the little glove-box on the Connie for firing little bits and pieces in and after seeing this bag on the Twisted Throttle website I decided that it would do the job for me on the DL. What attracted me to the idea was the method of attaching it to the bike - via a fitting on the gas cap. This keeps the bag from rubbing on the tank and scratching paint etc and makes for very secure fitting.

Once again fitting was pretty simple and the mount came with a good selection off different length bolts to screw it to the tank - a good thing too because after removing the four original bolts from the gas cap ring I discovered that there were three different length ones! After installing the tank mount I sat the bag on it to work out the ideal position for it and then drilled holes in the bag's base to attach the quick release top-ring. And that was about it - now I have a nice looking little tank-bag for my odds and sods.

Nun doing a backflip...

2011-07-12T19:50:00.000+12:00

Motorcycle sayings

2011-07-12T19:48:00.002+12:00

Courtesy of Bikes in the fast lane:

http://news.motorbiker.org/blogs.nsf/dx/65-motorcycle-sayings.htm

A not so dirty ride

2011-07-05T20:03:00.002+12:00

Sunday morning arrived along with a pretty reasonable frost and the promise of a great ride with friends. This week it was the Connie's turn for some exercise and so after rugging up for the ride I was off to Ashhurst to meet the rest of the gang. Here I was informed that it was just 1 degrees in temperature to which I replied, "at least it's not freezing..."

Unbelievably we were away on time and soon into the fog in the Manawatu Gorge - I hate the fog and it always seems to drop the temperature even more. Man grips set to 50% and screen raised was the order for the day.

In Danniverke we meet up with Sarge and then all got a bad shock when one of our number decided to have a lie down (luckily not on his bike at the time) at the gas station. This resulted in

a few tense moments and frantic calls to the emergency services. Happily he came around quickly but was trucked off to hospital for a bit of a looksee before being released to go home again the same day.

After our unplanned delay we carried on up to Napier picking up a Bandit on the way and parked up at the Toad Hall back-packers for brunch on the roof. A very nice day in Napier too!

In Napier we also picked up a few more local riders keen to tag along for our assault on the Napier-Taihape road - now fully sealed. Leaving Fernhill and getting onto the Napier-Taihape you immediately get into some extremely delicious riding - fast, flowing sweepers on a road with very little traffic.

About after about 20-30km of this we stopped briefly for a few pics before getting ready to get into the more serious stuff. Leaving this spot we had a spot of trouble with Monie's viffer deciding it didn't want to start (toasted battery) so we had a bit of unplanned exercise crash-starting it while half the team tore off oblivious of the issue.

Soon after this episode the road started to tighten and include more climbs and drops as we rode into hill country. We also started to encounter a lot of new seal (no signposts either) and gravel spread all over the road along with a few still damp and slippery corners. Through here Monie waved me through and we kept the pace down and simply concentrated on the ride and the scenery.

150km after leaving Napier we eventually got off this fantastic bit of road and found ourselves in Taihape for another quick stop before heading home. A quiet pootle down SH1 was followed by another great ride over Vinegar Hill to finish off a great winter's ride. I love cool, calm winter's days!

More pics here.

Mobile post

2011-07-03T12:14:00.001+12:00

First post from my blackberry. In Napier, about to tackle the Napier-Taihape. Beautiful day in Hawkes Bay!

650 V-Strom Test ride

2011-07-01T19:16:00.002+12:00

Finally, a proper article on the new 650 Strom: http://www.twowheelsblog.com/post/6671/2012-suzuki-v-strom-test-ride

Interesting to see that Simon Crafar was along for the ride...

Adventure rubber

2011-06-28T19:59:00.002+12:00

As I've mentioned before, the front tyre of the DL had been getting fairly long in the tooth and I finally got around to changing it last week (nothing like a ride on the coming weekend to give you that bit more incentive).

Knowing stuff all about adventure tyres I did a bit of research and priced a few tyres before finally settling on a Pirelli Scorpion Trail. It obviously doesn't match my rear Michelin but it was a lot cheaper than an Anakee.

Sunday was the tyre's first test and it seems to be a halfway decent tyre - so far - I will reserve my final judgment until I see what sort of mileage I get out of it. If you have read my previous ride report you'll know that the tyre was tested on all sorts of gravel roads, mud and clay and very wet tarmac.

Obviously I'm still pretty new to this adventure riding lark and do not push the bike hard "off-road" (and I don't think that I ever will) but the tyre behaved itself very well even in the very trying mud/clay conditions of Puketoi Road. Add to this a fairly spirited ride chasing down a BMW on wet roads and I have to say that I have a lot more confidence in adventure rubber now.

Check back in 10,000kms or so...

Waewaepa Wanderings

2011-06-27T20:57:00.003+12:00

My second outing with the Back Road Riders started off with a chilly ride through town and up to the ride meeting point at the top of the Pahiatua Track. Myself and another guy on a nice Beemer were the first there so we got to listen and look out for the other riders coming from both directions.

Fairly soon there were thirteen of us and it was time to get cracking. First up was a the drop down the track and then the turn-off towards Mangamire. After crossing the first one lane bridge we took in our first piece of gravel. Initially the gravel was quite deep and required a bit of care but after a while we popped out onto some really hard stuff which also had less metal on it so the pace became pretty quick - heaps of fun.

After this great little squirt we popped back out onto SH2 at Eketahuna where tanks were topped up and lunches were bought to take with us as we continued our ticky-tour. Almost straight away we were back onto good gravel which took us through to Alfredton Road.

From here we were led astray for a minute when Graeme took us left when he actually meant to take us right. Never mind, he soon got his bearings back and had us on a fantastic road (Pori Road) which took us on a great climb offering some fantastic views. The only problem here was that the damn GoPro was not recording - it is quite hard to know if you've turned it on properly and unfortunately I hadn't - curses!

After a quick regroup we started out on Puketoi road and some pretty serious adventure riding. The descent was very tricky with heavily rutted corners and a very slippery clay surface. Oh, and there was mud, puddles and rain to deal with too. This was very hard work with 1st gear being about the only one used and needing to be very careful on the brakes. I would certainly not attempt this road by myself and ideally in dry conditions rather than what we had. In the end I made it out ok but three other bikes had little lie downs, luckily with very little damage. Once again no video of this and definitely no time for photo taking either.

Once back out onto some decent gravel I came across a couple of the guys trying to get Rob's F650 fired up. It had died on him and was not co-operating with the starter button. Eventually it started again and we caught up to the others waiting for us. Unfortunately no sooner had we got going again and the poor old Beemer started playing up again. This time around we had some more expertise on hand and after removing a breather pipe the bike started getting more fuel and was soon back on song.

The next little hop took us up Route 52 to Pongaroa where we stopped for a well earned lunch (it was now 2pm). Following lunch a few of the riders kept Rob company as he rode home not wanting to carry on and possibly have bike issues in the middle of nowhere while the rest of us headed for Waihi Falls. A pity they couldn't join us for the next bit but I hope they were not needed to operate on the 650.

The trip to the Falls was brilliant with good gravel and plenty to see, the only issue being some cattle on the road again (we had already had to deal with three bulls earlier in the ride).

Back on the bikes it was time to head homeward - via some more great gravel roads of course. First up was Towai Road followed by Coonoor Road which eventually took us back onto the seal near Makuri. This was yet another great section with the road pretty condition in most places, just a bit more mud and the occasional bit of deeper gravel to keep you on your toes.

Back on the seal I had a great ride back to SH2 - sitting behind Graeme and enjoying a good pace on the wet roads (my new Pirelli seems to do the trick). At the main road we all said our goodbyes and headed in different directions towards our respective homes.

Another fabulous ride with the Back Road Riders and I even got to ride Al's DR! Can't wait for the next ride...

More pictures here.

I may have to clean the bike one of these days...

2011-06-26T20:23:00.002+12:00

More tomorrow...off to bed...

More on the new V-Strom

2011-06-24T19:40:00.001+12:00

Still no answer to my question but here's some more pics...

New V-Strom

2011-06-22T18:01:00.003+12:00

After a lot teasing Suzuki have finally unveiled the new 650 V-Strom. To me it just looks like a restyling job - a bit more of a modern look. The screen appears to be adjustable and the bike is slightly lighter. One negative is a drop in tank capacity - a real shame when the 650's are renowned for their economy and range. More info here.

I only have one question - where's the thou?

Great pic!

2011-06-15T18:49:00.003+12:00

Just had to steal and post!

Pie Run

2011-06-12T14:59:00.002+12:00

Really lousy weather yesterday - the sun was gone by 9am and once it started raining it just kept at it until sometime before my eyes opened this morning.

Today started a little better so after walking the dog and pottering around home for a bit I was able to get the Connie out for a short pootle. The ride didn't end up very exciting - just a quick ride through to Woodville for lunch and then return via the Saddle.

So nothing startling but at least I got out for a while and Connie got a little bit of exercise. Looking forward to a really nice, crisp winter's day to got for a decent squirt...

Don't Blink...

2011-06-09T18:35:00.001+12:00

Cracker of a day

2011-06-08T19:57:00.002+12:00

Last weekend was a long weekend and early on the weather forecast was looking decidedly crappy. I'm not really sure what the forecasters were smoking but in the end it was nowhere near as bad and Palmy actually had a record high for this time of the year on Sunday. As luck would have it I chose Sunday for my wee pootle.

Before I left I had already decided to head over towards Marton and ride the gravel section of Turakina Valley Road and then ride through to Hunterville. At Hunterville I was then going to have to work out my route home...

After a quick stop for lunch (left it pretty late in the day to head off eh) in Feilding I took a few back roads over towards Marton but then skirted the town itself and made my way to Turakina Valley Road.

I knew that there wasn't a lot of gravel on this road (having ridden it a few times - the last time on the Connie) but then the front tyre on the DL is still awaiting replacement and I was just after a nice potter in the countryside.

This section of Turakina Valley Road is pretty short and after the gravel and another small section of tarseal you arrive at a crossroads. Left will take you through to Wanganui and right will get you to Hunterville. This road is another cracker and I've ridden it quite a few times including twice on the Grand Challenge - once in the darkness where navigation did prove a slight issue...

Well, on this occasion there was no excuses for poor navigation but I have to say that the road is a bit worse for wear in places with a lot of road works, including a small section of gravel.

As you'll see from the video the DL was thriving in the conditions and I had a great wee fang to Hunterville.

From Hunterville I decided to ride through to SH54 (Vinegar Hill) and then investigate a road that I thought I'd ridden years before (and accidentally got into some gravel). As it turns out I think I got my roads wrong but boy did I find a goodee!

The road in question was Lower Pakihikura Road and after a few amazing hairpins the road then started to wind itself around the side of hill and offered some fantastic views across the valley. After a while the road did eventually turn to gravel and in places it was a little too "marble-like" for me with a fair bit of caution being required. I'm hoping a new front tyre is going to improve this sort of riding but I'd rather be slow and stay upright than quick and over a bank...

Along the way the road surface alternated between nice gravel, more marbles and even some gravel-less dirt (nice). I also had to make a couple of turns based on instinct rather than stopping to look at the Zumo and decided on following the sign posts to Ohingaiti.

Eventually I popped out onto a familiar road (and one with tar mixed in with the gravel) which took me through to Pemberton. From here I was forced once again to finish off my ride with a glorious squirt through to Kimbolton and then home.

All up I was away from home for about 3 hours and rode something like 220km. I have to say that this really rates as one of the best rides the DL and I have been on so far (Ok, so the Napier-Taihape loop was fantastic too), it was a truly magnificent day and the scenery and the ride were just magic! I hope for many more like this one!

More pics here and a video playlist below.

Great vid!

2011-05-30T20:42:00.001+12:00

Love the attitude!

What the heck did I hit?

2011-05-29T16:33:00.002+12:00

Prior to today's pootle I was checking my tyre pressures and lookee what I found when looking at my rear!

There is another smaller gouge on the other side of the tyre too so I must have hit something! I've got no idea or any recollection of hitting anything but it looks quite nasty.

The tyre does appear to have a very slight leak although I'm not sure if it's due to this damage or one of the many other nicks (amazing how much damage a tyre picks up with no issues). Anyway, what do you reckon - keep an eye on it and keep riding or think about replacing (I've had 10,000km out of this tyre so far)?

Tag hunting again

2011-05-29T15:53:00.003+12:00

Wow! What an absolute cracker of a day today! A bit of a chilly start (but still no frosts yet) but a beautiful bright and sunny day. To stay inside in front of the computer today would just have been a terrible waste. A nice easy tag also added another incentive to get off my couch and onto the Connie.

I'd better not go into too much detail on where I went (although the video may give away some hints) but after filling up and snaffling Bogan's tag I headed out of town for a nice little ride of oh, say around 100km.

Anyway, so far the riding this winter has been pretty damn great!

Bogan's Tag

2011-05-29T15:37:00.004+12:00

I just had to post this!

One of our local clever-clogs has been in the process of developing his own electric bike and the other day he managed to nab the Manawatu tag on it and also post up a new one.

I reckon he's set a few records here: 1st tag on an electric bike and 1st tag on a home built special! Hat's off!

Spot the new farkle

2011-05-28T16:11:00.002+12:00

10 points to the first correct answer...

...Points not redeemable for anything of actual value - enjoy!

Cool or what!

2011-05-25T18:35:00.002+12:00

Found on another blog - Steve McQueen fanging a CR250! Even a safety message in there...

Reminds me that I must watch "On any Sunday" again...

Rangitikei Reconnoitre - the video!

2011-05-25T17:48:00.001+12:00

I had a bit of bad luck with the GoPro and only managed to record one of the gravel sections we rode on Sunday. Here are a few snippets from this section:

Reconoitring the Rangitikei

2011-05-23T19:02:00.002+12:00

A visit into Freedom Suzuki the other day ended with an invite to join the Back Road Riders on Sunday for a ride around the Rangitikei district. The promise was a good ride on some back country roads with a good bunch of guys and a fair dabbling of gravel. Sounded interesting...

On Saturday I still hadn't decided what I was doing so hit up Al to see if he was keen. I think that the magic word "gravel" hooked him big time and he started making keen noises right away. The next morning another "keen" text from Al had him telling me he'd see me in Feilding for a coffee before the ride - now I had to go! Ah well, I wanted to meet his new DR anyway...

Tanks filled and coffee downed it was time to head off and meet the BRR's. Pretty quickly it became apparent that the DR goes alright as it disappeared towards Halcombe with the DL frantically giving chase. In Marton Al wisely decided to put 1.6L of gas in his bike not knowing exactly how far it was until the next fuel stop and then we went off to meet the rest of the group.

Parking up we quickly got introduced to some of the guys (and determined that yes, they would not mind if we joined them for a pootle) and then it was time for a quick check over of some of the bikes before mounting up for the ride.

And now for the ride...well you're not going to get a blow by blow of all the twists and turns we took because while a knew a few of the sealed roads we rode, I soon got fairly lost when we took to the gravel - you'll just have to zoom in on the GPS track.

The first bit of gravel was somewhere out the back of Marton and soon confirmed what I suspected about my 14,500km old front tyre - it needs replacing! Yep, in anything that looked like clay or slippery mud things got a bit exciting! Never mind, I managed to keep everything upright and still had a big smile on my dial when we paused for a quick regroup once out of the gravel.

From here we managed to find another gravel section and a few windy sealed roads to take us to our lunch stop at the Flat Hills Cafe. As luck would have it we arrived between bus loads and were soon into a bit of tucker to keep us going in the afternoon.

After lunch we rode up the main drag to Mangaweka before turning off (Te Kapua Road) and heading into the wops again. The road quickly turned to gravel again and this section was quite long and was a bit tricky in places - at times the noob in the group (me) held things up a bit but all the guys were great and didn't give me any grief. I have some video of this so hopefully will get that uploaded at some stage.

Once again we popped back out onto SH1 and this time we turned off on Toetoe Road which took us in a round about way to Rangiwahia. I really enjoyed this section - the gravel was in great nick and it was a lot easier riding for me. I even hooked into top gear on the last big gravel straight - awesome!

After a quick stop in Rangi we carried on to Kimbolton where we stopped again for refreshments. It was here that we could either decide to head home or take up the offer of some more gravel. Somehow or other I had my arm twisted and I tagged on behind the gravel gurus...

Not long after turning off the main road we were not only into the gravel but also the rain. This made progress for me a bit difficult. I was having a lot of trouble seeing through my visor - if it was down it fogged up (even with a Pin-lock) and if it was up I risked getting my glasses wet. In the end I had to make the decision to have the visor up while on the gravel. So now I was getting quite wet and battling my way through some quite tight gravel roads. Somehow it was all still a heap of fun but I do need to say a big thank you to the TEC who was forced to pootle along quietly behind the now blind noob on a DL...

In Hiwinui we had one last stop to say goodbye before everyone split up and aimed their bikes for home. What a fantastic day out - this adventure riding rocks! Now for a new tyre...

More pics here. Video to come...

Luck?

2011-05-16T18:53:00.001+12:00

I don't think luck begins to describe this:

Blown away

2011-05-14T19:02:00.003+12:00

Well I've finally sorted out a decent mount for the GoPro (a RAM mount on the clutch reservoir) so it needed to be road tested.

Today was very windy but was still supposed to be offering the best weather for riding so I decided to go try out a road that I'd been down once before (on a road bike) but turned back due to it going to gravel on me. After checking it out both on Google Maps and my GPS software I discovered that rather than being a dead end, it takes you basically from Apiti across to Rangiwahia. Further investigation showed another little loop worth investigating around Rangiwahia so I ended up programming a route into the GPS to make sure that I didn't miss a turn in the middle of nowheresville.

View Orua Valley in a larger map

Geared up I rode out through Ashhurst and then turned off to ride around Pohangina Valley East Road - a favourite of mine and it was nice to be riding it in daylight again after my last ride through there in the middle of the night. I pretty much had the road to myself and it was good riding as the valley offered a reasonable amount of protection from the wind.

At the end of Pohangina Valley East Road it was time to detour from the usual route around the Apiti Loop and take in Main South Road. This was the road I was road I'd wussed out on previously. It turned out to be a pretty nice ride through to Rangiwahia as the road dropped down to the Orua river a few times and then rolled on nicely through the countryside. As you can see from the video the gravel was reasonably deep with no nicely defined ruts to ride in so I had to take things pretty carefully (still getting use to this gravel stuff) but it was good to get in some more gravel riding practice.

Once back in Rangiwahia I began searching in earnest for the road that the GPS was telling me was there. The idea was to take in another little loop (probably gravel) before heading back home via Kimbolton. The trouble was the road was not where it was supposed to be (both Google Maps and my Garmin were lying) and when I gave up and turned homewards I eventually spotted the place where I would have popped back out and noticed the no exit sign at the turn-off...Maybe the road will go all the way through to Rangiwahia one day...

Next up was a superb ride through to Kimbolton. The road was mostly dry and clean so the V-strom got a little bit of a work out and the smile got wider on my dial - a really fantastic bit of road! From Kimbolton I settled down and cruised home battling a blustery cross wind most of the way - still a cracker of a ride!

Zumo stats

Distance: 168km
Riding Time 2 hours, 2 minutes
Av Speed: 82.4km/h

Great music, great bikes

2011-05-12T07:18:00.001+12:00

I just had to share this: Johnny Cash and classic bikes...

A KIND OF PASSION, a tribute to classic motorcycles and the people who love them from Squadra Sutge on Vimeo.

Bandit Rider

29in29

More on the new sound

Return to Scotts Road

Temptation got the better of me...

A lot of Bridges

I may have to re-think BMW's

Playing in the shed

New Year's Day Ride V2

Off to the beach

First farkle of the year

New Year's Day Ride

A Year in pictures

Xmas

Back to work and a challenge...

Merry Xmas!

I have been a good boy...

Favourite Five

Wanganui Ulysses Toy Run

Coast to Coast

Great vid!

The mighty Wee

Lube Tube

CDMTC Toy Run

Me and my shadow

IOM madness

Lets ride Annie

2012 Wee-strom

VFR Crosstourer

Another pad change...

C1KC

Blown around

Grand Challenge Write-up

East Coast traffic...

GC Route and Timeline

A bit more...

All done!

New camera mount

RIP Marco

Music

BRR Gravity Canyon to Gentle Annie

Friday night fail

Let there be light V2

Xmas time

Gonna be famous again

A different Apiti Loop

Friday night ride

Yeehaaaa!

Central Hawkes Bay Gravel

Lake Ferry

Mark's Stag

This weeks lottery winner...

TT3D : Closer To The Edge

2012 TT2000

Experimenting

BRR Brown Sugar Shuffle

I've been looking at cars lately...

Next Farkle?

Still chilly

Probably not riding weather...

Just a taste

I likee...

Rediscovery

Not me honest!

Audioswap Issues

By the cringe!

BRR Vanquish Vikings

Giving up bikes?

An empty shed

Perception

More Slo-mo video

Rubber

MotoGP - what's not to like?

Off to the beach

Another Milestone

Farkling Fever

Nun doing a backflip...

Motorcycle sayings

A not so dirty ride

Mobile post