Note: not planning to make any videos with the helmet cam. I don't enjoy watching them (just about make me sea sick) so won't go there.
Monday, September 12, 2016
Sunday, September 11, 2016
Sproing?
Last week most of the country got a pretty good hammering with cold temps, high winds, rain, snow, closed roads and all the drama - nice. Yesterday things started changing for the better and today ended up being a right cracker! No excuses for not getting out for a pootle then?
Absofreekinlutely! With the more old Connie still awaiting the fitting of it's new shoes the Tenere was the one to get all the excitement.
I left home fairly late with not much of an idea on where I was going but heading out towards Ashhurst, all I could see was brilliant blue skies and this ginormous, big aerial thingee sitting up on top of the ranges. Off to Whariti it was then.
The road up the hill starts off as nice gravel but as you climb higher there are some rougher bits and it gets steep and windy in places. Its also a good idea to keep an eye out for cars as its a nice place to go on a good day to take in some spectacular views.
As you can see, the little GoPro takes reasonable photos. What a shame that I only took my little point and shoot for the pics at the top. Dumb move!
The trip down probably took me a little longer than the trip up. I took things quietly over the rougher stuff as I wanted to have brakes when I needed them. I actually had only one ABS moment when I braked a little harder and ended up with no brakes for half a second.
Hitting the bottom of the hill I carried on into Woodville where I parked up next to a 1600 Bemwa and grabbed some pastry wrapped roadkill for a quick lunch.
Seeing as I'd only done around 70km and it had only just gone half-past lunchtime, I reckoned that I should to try and find some more gravel. I decided to ride through to Hopelands and then try out a few roads I'd ridden past before and ignored.
My GPS track tells me where I went but darned if I can really remember (well the road names anyway). I took a lot of turns and only stopped to make sure that each road I took didn't have "No Exit" written under it's name on the road signs. I ended up finding some great gravel that eventually spat me out on the Pahiatua-Pongaroa Road.
Back on SH2 I started making my way towards home. But in Mangatainoka I spotted a turn-off to the left and decided to explore it - hey, the sign didn't have "No Exit" on it...
Well, as it turned out, someone needs to fix that sign...Yep, I got to ride this short bit of tar in both directions...
Back on SH2 yet again, I decided that I'd had enough and pedalled my way back home via Meanie & Monies (important motorcycle related chit chat) for a date with the lawn mower.
Brilliant little ride on a brilliant Spring day - so has spring finally sprung?
More pics here.
Absofreekinlutely! With the more old Connie still awaiting the fitting of it's new shoes the Tenere was the one to get all the excitement.
I left home fairly late with not much of an idea on where I was going but heading out towards Ashhurst, all I could see was brilliant blue skies and this ginormous, big aerial thingee sitting up on top of the ranges. Off to Whariti it was then.
The road up the hill starts off as nice gravel but as you climb higher there are some rougher bits and it gets steep and windy in places. Its also a good idea to keep an eye out for cars as its a nice place to go on a good day to take in some spectacular views.
 |
| Aerial thingee dead ahead |
 |
| Now, where's my flag? |
 |
| Can you see my house? |
 |
| There be the track |
 |
| Only the odd bit of this white stuff lying around |
The trip down probably took me a little longer than the trip up. I took things quietly over the rougher stuff as I wanted to have brakes when I needed them. I actually had only one ABS moment when I braked a little harder and ended up with no brakes for half a second.
 |
| The odd mushy bit |
 |
| He wanted that side of the road more than me... |
 |
| Those jokers weren't out on the trip up... |
Seeing as I'd only done around 70km and it had only just gone half-past lunchtime, I reckoned that I should to try and find some more gravel. I decided to ride through to Hopelands and then try out a few roads I'd ridden past before and ignored.
My GPS track tells me where I went but darned if I can really remember (well the road names anyway). I took a lot of turns and only stopped to make sure that each road I took didn't have "No Exit" written under it's name on the road signs. I ended up finding some great gravel that eventually spat me out on the Pahiatua-Pongaroa Road.
Back on SH2 I started making my way towards home. But in Mangatainoka I spotted a turn-off to the left and decided to explore it - hey, the sign didn't have "No Exit" on it...
 |
| Looking straight back at Whariti |
 |
| Not looking at Whariti |
 |
| Stortford Lodge - not as I remember it... |
Back on SH2 yet again, I decided that I'd had enough and pedalled my way back home via Meanie & Monies (important motorcycle related chit chat) for a date with the lawn mower.
Brilliant little ride on a brilliant Spring day - so has spring finally sprung?
 |
| More dotted lines for my map |
 |
| Guess how high Whariti is... |
Monday, August 29, 2016
Cleaning out the cobwebs
A combination of not very friendly weather and a bit of a cold (near death experience - nearly as bad as man flu) has meant that the bikes haven't had a lot of exercise. Yesterday I decided to ignore my suffering and get some fresh air in the best possible way known to man.
With the sun shining and the washing hitting the spin cycle, I wheeled out the Tenere and started getting ready for action. By the time I had hung out the washing and geared up it was raining...Never mind, I was going!
After topping up the bike I pointed it North and made for Vinegar Hill. Along the way I managed to shave a little bit of weight off the bike (unintentional but man, E-07's are not bad kit) before catching up to a big fat Volvo SUV. He was obviously an awesome driver as he floored it when he noticed me sneak up behind him and then demonstrated his superb technique by using all of the road regardless of whether he could see around the corners or not - nice.
From Hunterville I took Ongo and Turakina Valley Roadz as far as Pohonui Road where I turned off for my first bit of gravel. I took this as far as Okaka Road which I then took down to Papanui Junction.
Dropping down the hill the gravel changed as I hit stretches that had either been graded or had a bit more metal dumped on them recently. Turning back onto Turakina Valley Road the gravel conditions stayed fairly similar but with the roads a bit more open the speeds increased and I started to get a bit more into the grove. The S10 was loving it and I think its heft actually helps in this sort of stuff.
Further North there was a very short bit of seal before I hit the best conditions of the day - beautiful hard packed dirt with just a delicate sprinkling of stones! This is definitely where whales love to play and after avoiding a couple of dozen sheep on the road the hammer was dropped. You gotta love hooking top gear on the gravel! Magic!
Popping back out onto the seal near Tangiwai I made contact with Neil and then hooked up with him for lunch in 'kune. Another coffee at his place and it was time to head home.
A bit of SH1 took me South almost as far as Taihape before I'd had enough and turned off again to go in search of gravel. Some good back road tarmac got me a fair way further South and finally onto Watershed Road for that last little bit of gravel.
Watershed Road was a lot of fun but I have to say by the end of it I was feeling a little jaded so a quiet cruise home back over Vinegar Hill was the order of the day rather than more twisties or gravel - shake your head if you must...
Anyway, I pretty good day out on the bike and I certainly enjoyed the feel of the E-07's on the gravel - great Adv rubber!
With the sun shining and the washing hitting the spin cycle, I wheeled out the Tenere and started getting ready for action. By the time I had hung out the washing and geared up it was raining...Never mind, I was going!
After topping up the bike I pointed it North and made for Vinegar Hill. Along the way I managed to shave a little bit of weight off the bike (unintentional but man, E-07's are not bad kit) before catching up to a big fat Volvo SUV. He was obviously an awesome driver as he floored it when he noticed me sneak up behind him and then demonstrated his superb technique by using all of the road regardless of whether he could see around the corners or not - nice.
From Hunterville I took Ongo and Turakina Valley Roadz as far as Pohonui Road where I turned off for my first bit of gravel. I took this as far as Okaka Road which I then took down to Papanui Junction.
Dropping down the hill the gravel changed as I hit stretches that had either been graded or had a bit more metal dumped on them recently. Turning back onto Turakina Valley Road the gravel conditions stayed fairly similar but with the roads a bit more open the speeds increased and I started to get a bit more into the grove. The S10 was loving it and I think its heft actually helps in this sort of stuff.
Further North there was a very short bit of seal before I hit the best conditions of the day - beautiful hard packed dirt with just a delicate sprinkling of stones! This is definitely where whales love to play and after avoiding a couple of dozen sheep on the road the hammer was dropped. You gotta love hooking top gear on the gravel! Magic!
Popping back out onto the seal near Tangiwai I made contact with Neil and then hooked up with him for lunch in 'kune. Another coffee at his place and it was time to head home.
A bit of SH1 took me South almost as far as Taihape before I'd had enough and turned off again to go in search of gravel. Some good back road tarmac got me a fair way further South and finally onto Watershed Road for that last little bit of gravel.
Watershed Road was a lot of fun but I have to say by the end of it I was feeling a little jaded so a quiet cruise home back over Vinegar Hill was the order of the day rather than more twisties or gravel - shake your head if you must...
Anyway, I pretty good day out on the bike and I certainly enjoyed the feel of the E-07's on the gravel - great Adv rubber!
Thursday, August 25, 2016
Farkle fixing
A while ago I fitted an SW-Motech GPS mount to the Tenere and while it's a cool bit of kit I couldn't quite position the GPS so that it was easy to see and did not block my view of the Tenere's information centre (that's dash to you yokels out there).
Anyway, the solution to my problem was to engage the services of my old man and nephews Alex and William to help sort it.
The solution to the problem was to make a plate that would allow the Garmin cradle to be mounted slightly higher on the mount. To do this we cut a piece of aluminum to size and the boys drilled 6 mounting holes in it. Later Dad painted it and then I eventually got my hands on it to install.
As you can see, the bottom 4 holes mount the plate to the mount. The top 4 then are used to attach the GPS cradle. In the pics you can see all the ugly scavenged bolts I used and maybe one day I'll replace these with some nice black ones...
So does it work? Well, of course it does! That small "lift" has allowed me to adjust the GPS position so that it is easy to read from the seat and the gauges are not blocked. That is, except for the very top of the rev counter but I don't really need to see the needle hitting redline - that should be fairly obvious...
So, very happy with the homemade mod and lucky to have a team of engineers to call on for complicated jobs like this one...
Anyway, the solution to my problem was to engage the services of my old man and nephews Alex and William to help sort it.
 |
| Alex after a quick spin to see if the wheels would fall off |
As you can see, the bottom 4 holes mount the plate to the mount. The top 4 then are used to attach the GPS cradle. In the pics you can see all the ugly scavenged bolts I used and maybe one day I'll replace these with some nice black ones...
So does it work? Well, of course it does! That small "lift" has allowed me to adjust the GPS position so that it is easy to read from the seat and the gauges are not blocked. That is, except for the very top of the rev counter but I don't really need to see the needle hitting redline - that should be fairly obvious...
So, very happy with the homemade mod and lucky to have a team of engineers to call on for complicated jobs like this one...
Tuesday, August 09, 2016
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