First Farkle

Yep, my first package for the DL arrived tonight and I've just spent a few minutes fitting it. Guess what it is...

And here it is on the bike:

So now I can feel a bit more confident that a rock isn't going to spoil my day. BTW, they also make a guard for the oil cooler but the bike has a little guard covering this anyway so I didn't bother getting another one. However, I did notice that the oil cooler did wear a bit of mud and stuff yesterday so I may look at a mudguard extension further down the track.

And now the wait continues for a few more packages...

Just a wee fix

Not the best weather for riding this weekend but if you count charging around on a couple four wheelers yesterday then I actually spent a bit of time out in the elements (yep, got wet) riding a variety of different machinery.

Today I had to pop out to Ashhurst for a bit and after being encouraged by Al's tale of taking his Daytona over some gravel roads I decided to take the long (well not that long) way home. It was only a very short ride but by riding out to Pohangina I was able to pick up Finnis Road and ride it back to Colyton and then home.

Very early on Finnis Road goes to gravel and snakes it way up a small hill. The gravel was in pretty good nick but the tight nature of the road (and the skill of the rider) meant that 2nd gear was the order of the day - in fact on some of the very tight and corrugated corners 1st was required. Luckily the road opened up a bit once the hill had been climbed and the pace was carefully raised a tad.

Unfortunately the ride was just too short (I think the gravel portion was only about 10km) but I did start to get a bit more of an idea on how the tyres behave in the gravel. They appear to be pretty good and you can hit reasonably deep gravel without it upsetting the bike at all - not at all as scary as on a 280kg Concours shod with regular road tyres.

I was also pretty impressed with the tyres on very wet asphalt. I certainly had my misgivings about wet weather performance prior to today but I had absolutely no issues, although I was obviously taking it very cautiously. Even so, I feel a lot better having ridden the DL in the wet now and will be more comfortable next time the skies feel the need to give me a shower.

I'm quite enjoying this taking the long way home...

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In search of Gravel

With another fine day and a new bike in the shed there seemed to be no excuse for not getting out and making the most of the day. Naturally this would also be a good chance to get to know the V-Strom better and this in turn meant that gravel roads became an option.

In the end I decided that a trip over the Napier-Taihape road was in order before they finish sealing the road completely. This is not the first time I've ridden this road (I did it years ago on my K2 Bandit) but this time around I was actually looking forward to the gravel...

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I started out by making my way over to Fielding and then heading out to Kimbolton to take the Rangiwahia road to Mangaweka. Once you get out past Kimbolton the big long straights change to twisting country roads which are a lot of fun, although you do need to watch out for loose metal and wandering stock.

With the first section of loose metal not far out of Kimbolton and a rider getting used to a new bike, I took it pretty carefully and just enjoyed the road and the ride.

Just before Rangiwahia I was held up briefly by a farmer moving some sheep but it wasn't for long and I was soon riding over the rickety old one lane bridge and out onto SH1 at Mangaweka. Next came a short stint of SH1 to Taihape where I stopped to fill up the bike before taking on the Napier-Taihape (or in this case the Taihape-Napier road).

Because I hadn't ridden this road in years it was like riding it for the first time and I have to say that it is a very good ride indeed - I would rate it up there with the Forgotten Highway. The road has tight winding sections and a lot of more open and flowing sections but one thing it always has is some pretty nice scenery.

The day was an absolute cracker and there was very little traffic at all on the road - just a few 4WD's and a group of guys on adventure bikes also out enjoying a great ride.

Recently there has been a lot of work on the road and the race is on to fully seal the route. This meant that in quite a few places there was new seal and loose metal on the road - this wasn't that much of a problem as I just took it easy and enjoyed the ride. The short (approx 10km) section of gravel was in good condition and I enjoyed getting know what it felt like underneath the V-Strom's adventure tyres.

After the gravel the road just gets better with lots of fast flowing corners eventually taking you into Omahu and out onto SH50. From here I just rode onto Napier and broke into the old's house to make a sandwich and grab a drink - they arrived shortly afterwards and I caught up with them for a while before gearing up for the return trip.

For my return trip I decided that it would be rude not to take in Middle Road so I made my way over to Havelock North and then onto this delicious little piece of road. In Waipuk I spotted a couple of familiar bikes and pulled up to say gidday to Sarge and Yod and then led them back through Takapau and Ormondville to Danniverke.

In Danniverke I topped up the tank and Yod and I waved off Sarge and headed off home to Palmy. A fantastic first outing on the V-Strom with about 470km added to it's mileage.

More pics here.

A new horse for the stable

Ok, so carrying on from my last post, I was in Wellington to test ride a bike...this went fairly well for the salesman at Wellington Motorcycles as he managed to lighten my bank account and send me on my way with this:

It's a 2008 Suzuki DL1000 V-Strom with only 12,500km on the clock well that was yesterday...The bike is pretty well sorted with panniers and a top box, a chain oiler and the little spoiler on the screen (works too).

The reason I've ended up with one of these things is that I seem to be addicted to touring and this thing will let me do plenty more of this including plenty of back roads with or without seal. Having a second bike does come with more costs but it also means that the Connie doesn't have to do all the work - it's now got 69,000km on it and the V-Strom will slow the rate at which this climbs. The Connie will still be the number one tourer for trips away and I still can not see the day when I look at selling it - it is a fabulous bike!

Before going the "thou" route I tried out the 650 version and really, really liked it but had to ride the "thou" before making a decision. In the end price had a lot to do with it (used "thou's" are cheaper than new 650's and come with plenty of farkles already) and I guess I really do like having that extra grunt!

So thanks to Lance who rode it back from Wellington for me I'm back to having two bikes in the shed and having to make decisions like which bike to take for a ride!

A few more pics here.

Christchurch Quake Appeal ride

Righto, so yesterday was the day of the Christchurch Quake Appeal ride but I had also arranged to test ride a bike in Wellington so it was going to be tricky to do both things in one Saturday morning.

In the end Brian, Lance (conveniently borrowing the Connie's pillion seat), Mr & Mrs Supersonic and I met up in the square and pootled on down to Papakowhai where the ride was starting from. After making a donation to the appeal Lance and I carried on into Wellington to look at bikes...time for another post...