Kawakawa - Orere Point seal "repairs"

[Moise]

I rode back to Auckland yesterday through Kaiaua - much more pleasant than SH2 and the motorway. But I nearly had a moment on one of the corners coming down the hill to Kawakawa. This part of the road has recently been patched in places with chipseal. There was a patch heading into a LH corner that looked like the perfect place to brake, but in fact the metal had come off sections of the patch and there was loose gravel on the corner entrance.

I manged to slow right down before the corner, so no drama. But it could really catch you out in poor light or at night. Given that one patch is coming apart, then the same thing may happen on another part of the road.

Would be nice if some of the small fortune we pay in rates every year was used to repair Auckland's rural roads properly.

[Black Knight]

This same thing happened to me about 2 years back-60KPH into a very sharp lefthander-immediate sunstrike and noticed the loose gravel from the torn up patch 2 seconds too late.Both wheels washed out and bike and I ended up on wrong side of road.Got home and grabbed a broom and went back to sweep up-after taking pics.Rang the roading contractor-big outfit-who denied being at fault,but then rang me back confirming roading staff had used a faulty mix.
My bike and gear had a bit of damage,got a $1000 cheque in the mail which more than covered.

[Jin]

Funny you made this post I was going to do the same thing about a week ago. They "repaired" this nice bit of twisty road about 3 weeks ago for what reason I have no idea as there was nothing wrong with the seal in the first place.

Its now in a worse state with the "repair" in some parts halfway fucked and chipping off. Pissed me off i thought about turning back and taking photos of it its a fucking disgrace the standard of work the roadworkers are doing in auckland parts.

Got me thinking who is actually supervising these idiots and signing off the work is complete and to acceptable standard? Report to council the shoddy and dangerous work being done ot the roads?

[Akzle]

this one time, i was riding on the road. And some bits were different to others.

...But i rode accordingly and got where i was going without feeling the need to moan about it.

[WNJ]

this one time, i was riding on the road. And some bits were different to others.
...But i rode accordingly and got where i was going without feeling the need to moan about it.

Driveway to your mums place doesn't count ,

[trufflebutter]

this one time, i was riding a sheep on the road. And some bits were different to others.

...But i rode accordingly and got where i was going without feeling the need to moan about it.

I am guessing the sheep did though?

[SVboy]

this one time, i was riding on the road. And some bits were different to others.

...But i rode accordingly and got where i was going without feeling the need to moan about it.

Axle riding!!! Is this your fantasy post? We all know its nothing like your sad little reality.

[Kickaha]

Would be nice if some of the small fortune we pay in rates every year was used to repair Auckland's rural roads properly.

If they built them properly they wouldn't need to repair them

[pete376403]

If they built them properly they wouldn't need to repair them

If they built them properly Fulton Hogan et al wouldn't have a nice guaranteed annual earner.

[eldog]

If they built them properly Fulton Hogan et al wouldn't have a nice guaranteed annual earner.

Yup moan about the cost and cheaper, shorter term repairs no worries. Till it all turns to custard and then forced to do it properly while having spent 2x on what it could have done in the first place.

Sick of poor quality road works and numb nuts leaving 1 tonne of loose chip all over the place. They have sweepers use them. Just slack buggers.

I think they now self assess their jobs that's how the get the OK to move on, another cost cutting feature. But no balls to do the job properly and come back and finish it off.

Next time they chip seal the road and leave a heap of stones in the road verge grass they can come back and remove it before I mow it.


ITS ONLY GOING TO GET WORSE, KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR LOOSE STONES AND WET TAR BLEED

[Moise]

Yeah it has got worse. No one seems to sweep the roads afterwards, our street was resealed 2 years ago and there are still loose stones on the sides because they never did a final sweep. The standard of rural road maintenance has plummeted since the Super City was formed. There are so many bare patches of tar on the Pohutukawa Coast road that I wouldn't want to ride it in the rain. SH2 isn't any better though.

Sorry for the rant, but this is killing people. There was a recent coroner's report on a crash in the Dome Valley which identified the shit road condition as a factor.

[Jin]

Whats the process to make complaint about roads?

[Madness]

Whats the process to make complaint about roads?

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/ne...newthread&f=33

When I ride that hill behind Kawakawa Bay I often do a recon lap first, followed by a couple of warm-up laps before putting down any fast laps. A road best suited to motards IMO.

[Bass]

This is an interesting one.
I'm a great believer in "Ride to the conditions", but this particular repair came close to taking me out as well.

I came through there after dark, 2 up, when it was first breaking up and there was gravel all over the road.
It's fairly tight and all the bends are blind. Consequently, the danger was invisible until the last second, especially under lights.

Because it's tight, I wasn't going especially fast and so was able to momentarily straighten up and lose some speed but it has taken out at least one biker (on his feet, so no serious injuries I believe).
The rest of the road was fine and invited pressing the bends.

Sudden and unexpected change in the conditions, but only 1 of the conditions - all the rest remained the same. Only takes one I guess.

Salutary lesson that pressing on through a series of blind bends invites being caught out by just this sort of thing. It could have been any one of a number of hazards, most of which are NOT down to poor contractors or should have signage. Looks like " Ride to the conditions" doesn't always mean what I want it to mean.

Bugger! Takes a heap of the fun out of it but.

[Moise]

That must have been an interesting moment. I was going reasonably quickly, and saw the gravel while I was on the brakes just before I started to lean into the corner. So I stayed upright and braked hard.

It's a perfect example of why you shouldn't go hard into blind corners. You never know what might be there to catch you out!