Kaiapoi to Auckland on a bucket!

[Damien_Toman]

I bought a Suzuki FXR150 on Trademe for bucket racing and flew down to Christchurch to pick it up then ride it back to Auckland. I planned to go back via Hastings to do the Roy's Hill bucket race event on Sunday 4 Oct 2009. The drain plug was drilled, the catch bottle was in place and I had the tools in my bum-bag to remove the number plate and tape up the lights. Unfortunately the racing did not happen and the Napier-Taupo leg was rather cold (sleet - a couple of hours before the road was closed due to deep snow) but overall a great trip. Here a few of my 1900 photos from the 1200 km trip (mostly taken from my 21MP chestcam rig with handlebar wireless remote).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dty1/sets/72157622520101836/

Damien

[UNSTABLE]

Ha ha, on the way home on Sunday I saw a little bike in the rearview, and a few moments later past goes a little blue and yellow FXR loaded up with gear, just about on the rev limiter!!! Good stuff, must have been a hell of a trip.
What time did you go through the Napier-Taupo road? We got through shortly before they closed it and it was really dangerous even in a car!!!

[Buckets4Me]

good on ya
I always get someone els to bring the buckets back in a van :woohoo:

thats got to be the best way
if not the coldest

[gav]

Awesome effort! Hope you're going to ride back down for Battle of the Buckets in Dec?

[Mudflaps]

Great trip!!I used to have one of these babies too! And I used to love doing the long hauls on it. It used to go great, but it was a bit more of a "ride" cause you don't have stacks of power to get you up big hills and to burn past cars whenever you wanted:wari: We did a few "two up" missions too, from Auckland to Palmy and back. Good times. Looks like you had a great time.

[Damien_Toman]

Ha ha, on the way home on Sunday I saw a little bike in the rearview, and a few moments later past goes a little blue and yellow FXR loaded up with gear, just about on the rev limiter!!! Good stuff, must have been a hell of a trip.
What time did you go through the Napier-Taupo road? We got through shortly before they closed it and it was really dangerous even in a car!!!

I joined the Napier-Taupo road at 11:08am and arrived in Taupo at 12:40pm (details captured on the GPS). The sleet was falling hard in the hills :cold: but the roads were just wet. I had a 12-tooth on the front ready for racing so I was riding between 11.5k and 12.5k rpm (red line):scooter:. It can clock 138kph, which is actually 118kph, holding it on the limiter :yes:.

Damien

[Trudes]

Epic! Good on ya! You'll be well set for the endurance races and the BOB when they run them in shit whether!:)

[Damien_Toman]

I've had the perfect training! It will of course be sunny :crybaby:

[Damien_Toman]

Awesome effort! Hope you're going to ride back down for Battle of the Buckets in Dec?

Is that the Greymouth race? I'd love to do that some day. This year? Maybe.

[gav]

No Greymouth Street Races are Labour Weekend, too late to enter that.

Heres the info for Battle of Buckets, December this year.
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=102434

[Henk]

Is that the Greymouth race? I'd love to do that some day. This year? Maybe.

Mt welly mission to the mainland next year maybe? I'd probably be keen.

[Damien_Toman]

Would be fun. We have plenty of time. I should get a few races under my belt before I make too many plans:dodge:.

[Henk]

And I'll have time to either get my bike going properly or upgrade.
Looking forward to next weekend already, not sure about the 2 hour in November though, doubt I'll manage to qualify somehow.

[DELLORTO]

do you have to qualify for the 2 hour??

[bucketracer]

.

Yes, but its not too hard. There is the 2-Hour and a shorter race, Qualifying times are usually well within the grasp of mid pack B graders if they want it. Lots of past riders turn up to partner in the 2-hour and qualifying is more about safety and limiting the grid to something manageable. The 2-Hour can be rough and qualifying is as much about good riding attitude and composure as lap times.

Me....I am going to be a flag marshal.

.

[DELLORTO]

ive been coming front pack in b-grade lately so it sholdnt be too hard, my partner raced buckets 10 years ago and hes reasonably fit so we should qualify.

Im fit and young so the 2 hour should be my specialty, some of the royshill riders are coming up so it will be a great weekend.

Do they still do the "runnning" start? that looks great

[Damien_Toman]

And I'll have time to either get my bike going properly or upgrade.
Looking forward to next weekend already, not sure about the 2 hour in November though, doubt I'll manage to qualify somehow.

Henk, with your existing cornering skills (shown in my photos like this one http://www.flickr.com/photos/dty1/3947390734/sizes/o/in/set-72157622284290869/ ) and a faster bike:2thumbsup, it would be no trouble. My FXR will be road production standard with electric start etc. I'll still have a go. I'll do 2 hours myself if I qualify:banana:. I did a long race in England over 20 years ago - was a fantastic learning experience. This should all be easy after my 1200 km trip from Christchurch (Kaiapoi) last weekend through the Napier-Taupo road wintery conditions:Punk:. I was on the red line most of the way with a 12-tooth on the front. The race track will be much easier with all the traffic going in the same direction! :woohoo:

[Henk]

The two hour itself doesn't bother me, have done plenty of 3 hour hare scrambles and enduros and rode no mates at Raglan Rocks 4 hour at one stage. Not sure what the format is for the 2 hour though? Can you no mates it?
Thing will be to get on the grid. Time will tell.

[bucketracer]

.

Yep they do the Le Mans start and one of the rules for the 2-hour is that there is two riders and no one rider can do more than 65min total. There must be at least one rider change, personally when I tried it I lasted about 20mins (or less) before succumbing to sea sickness. :sick:

.

[Henk]

.

Yep they do the Le Mans start

Have to buy a friend then by the looks. It'll have to be someone fitter than me too, I'm only going to run if someone is chasing me and waving a stick in the air.

[Damien_Toman]

Well, Henk, if my bike is still intact by then, we could enter as a team! Do you have to use one bike? If so, we could use my FXR150 if you like.

[Henk]

Will see how it goes. I suspect the manouvering in the pits is going to put the MotoGp silly season to shame. I've got a mate sort of lined up to ride my bike if he's keen, I've also vaguely committed to someone else if that falls through. Still have to figure out how the qualifying is going to work.
Done two man races off road before, somelet you use two bikes some don't. Mate I have lined up has done those with me in the past, a 4 hour relay wasn't the ideal time to find he hated my TM the first time he rode it.

[Damien_Toman]

Ah.. no probs ... sounded like you were desperate! I might just take some photos.

[Henk]

Nah not desperate. Might drag the old 300D out next weekend and see if I can get a few snaps myself. I have serious camera envy of your kit.

[Damien_Toman]

The 300D is a good camera. You just need a good 200mm lens for Mt Wellington. L-series f2.8 is best with good Ultrasonic motor for fast servo focus. The lens will cost much more than the camera but will last for a long time as you upgrade camera bodies. With my full-frame body, I often use the Canon x1.4 converter with the 200mm f2.8L prime at Mt Wellington. You won't need the converter with the smaller sensor on the 300D. I'd like the 300mm f2.8L but at $7500 it is a bit expensive. I do have the 400mm f5.6L but it is too long for most of Mt W. even on the 5DMkII full frame body.

[Damien_Toman]

Nah not desperate. Might drag the old 300D out next weekend and see if I can get a few snaps myself. I have serious camera envy of your kit.

How about a few snaps of your new FXR150 and all the cool mods? :yes:

[Henk]

There aren't that many cool mods at the moment. It resembles a collection of neglected bits at the moment. I've been busy taking things away. Exhaust is in 4 pieces right now, 5 if you count the bit that was floating around in the mufler that I'm not going to put back.

[Damien_Toman]

There aren't that many cool mods at the moment. It resembles a collection of neglected bits at the moment. I've been busy taking things away. Exhaust is in 4 pieces right now, 5 if you count the bit that was floating around in the mufler that I'm not going to put back.

Sounds like major surgery.

[Henk]

Going to hang it under the bike to get it out of the way. Since the electric start didn't work anyway I took that away which gave me some more room for a catch bottle, got rid of the dash and then got stuck into the wiring loom and took awa all but the about 5 wires that you need to make the bike run. Most of the loom feeds into the dash for uneccesary things like the speedo and gear position indicator. Hopefully I didn't take away anything critical in my enthusiasm. got a number board and tailpiece coming from Hazzard so when that turns up I'll get the hack saw out again.
Figured the bike was never going back on the road so I might as well do things properly, besides, I like playing around in the garage.
Tempted to butcher the gas cap and take the ignition away so I don't have a key to lose. I think a mate of mine might have a pre butchered cap of a GSXR400 in his shed, if it fits I'll swap it out and just run a kill switch.

[Damien_Toman]

Sounds comprehensive. I'll be keen to check it over at the next meeting. I still haven't made the one-way decision to make mine purely a racer. It is still road registered and all the bits can be put back on at this stage. I'll see how things go. I still have not had a race yet.

[Henk]

The further I got into mine the more obvioius it became that it was never going back on the road. Even with the price I paid for it by the time it was ready to be re-vinned it would have been cheaper to buy a road legal one. Having a great time chopping bits off it though.
Next meeting feel free to have a look, but not too close, when it comes to welding I specialise in seagull. Just happy that I managed to get it all back together and the pipe still fits, bit louder now though which isn't neccesarily a good thing.