But it's new and needs running in, so we had to go for a ride. As it is his gravel bike, you probably won't see it running with my Tiger roadie very often so we thought that for the first ride would should actually do that and get a couple of pics of the two tigers.
When Colin left home the weather was nice but by the time he got here the wind had got up a bit and there was even some moisture in the air - time for a pre-ride coffee then.
Finally getting underway, we headed out up the valley and got stuck into enjoying the delicious Pohangina Valley. As we'd had a bit of weather lately, we had to keep a pretty good eye out for debris on the road and other winter hazards.
Keeping an eye out for hawks was a reasonably good idea too as I had a really close call with one who was struggling for lift - it was close enough to smell the possum on his breath I tell ya. Should have had the camera on - I'm pretty sure it would have filled the screen.
Cruising around the loop I was looking for a place for a photo op so we popped into Rangiwahia for a minute to snap the Tiggers.
From Rangi, we made our way through towards Mangaweka before carrying on up to Taihape on more great back roads. Just one small herd of cattle to squeeze past and the odd interesting site along the way.
I nabbed a bit of footage of the ride but the GoPro played up a bit again. Stopping and starting recording all by itself and also not recording video but recording sound (over a frozen image) a few times. Frustrating.
As you can see from the video, the weather had definitely improved and it was really nice in Taihape where we stopped for a fairly average lunch.
After lunch we fuelled up before catching up with Glen and all his projects and heading back homewards.
On the way back we turned off SH1 just before Ohingaiti to dodge more winter related wreckage through to Pemberton, then Kimbolton before checking to see if my folks had any coffee. Thank goodness, they did.
Caffeinated up, Colin went one way while I went another to get home after a nice little ride on our fantastic felines.
Seriously nice weapons Andrew. I took an IAM member for his advanced test who had the 1200 Explorer. On twisty, undulating seal, I had to use the KTM quickshifter to stick with him on occasions and it was all down to the torque the triples deliver from very low revs. I'd have another Triple in a heartbeat, albeit a 765 😄.
ReplyDeleteThe 1200's quick shifter is nice too ;) It's not got the torque off the bottom like the Super Ten but the T-plane engine has a very character and note. Much nicer than ole 800 & 1050 Tigers - I found them a bit dull due to the smoothness and lack of instant torque. The 1050 Speed Triple a mate had was an exception as it was a lot more "alive", the new T-plan Speed Triple with 177hp must be fun. Funnily enough, there are those on the forums that don't like the T-plane and prefer the older "smooth" donk.
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