Nothing beats riding one's motorcycle

[Hitcher]

Nothing beats riding one's motorcycle.

Seriously.

Today Mrs H and I unwrapped and inflated our respective steeds and headed north into a gusty norwester, deciding to brave the interminable drudge that is SH1 north out of Wellington on a holiday weekend.

Surprisingly the traffic wasn't too bad. After some breakfast at Raumati, the wind dropped. The road through Otaki was quite wet, the earlier gloom clearly bringing some much needed rainfall to this area.

The traffic up SH57 through Shannon was happy to bop along, and soon we were stopped at the Mobil at Ashhurst for a top up. The day by now had brightened appreciably, so it was onwards to SH54 via Colyton and on to our date with coffee and cake at the Exchange Cafe in Taihape.

Eventually we tired of basking in the sun and admiring our bikes, and headed south. This time we turned off at Mangaweka and took the back road through Rangiwahia to Kimbolton, Colyton and Ashhurst once more. The Rangiwahia Road has to be one of the best motorcyling roads anywhere. Love it, I does.

We refuelled in Woodville before heading south down SH2 into a magnificent northern Wairarapa autumn afternoon.

For a change we turned right at Newman for a detour through Nireaha and back onto SH2 immediately north of the ANZAC bridge. What a peach of a road that is, clean as a whistle with some lovely sets of tight but predictable corners.

After some dinner at Greytown, we had yet another Rimutaka crossing to savour, something I never tire of. Although we had the hill largely to ourselves tonight, it was blowing a screaming westerly and a fair measure of added concentration was required. The wind continued to puff and bluster all the way home from there, but nothing could take the gloss off a most excellent day's riding.

The Aprilia SL750 Shiver is an amazing bike to ride, and today it again demonstrated its competence on a comprehensive range of riding conditions. Aprilia should sell hundreds of these in New Zealand, but I'm in too good a mood to dwell on why that's not going to happen.

I thought I'd break with my recent practice of not posting ride reports and see if it rekindles interest from Kiwi Biker contributors in discussing the joys of motorcycling, rather than the incessant whingeing that seems to have become the usual form of discourse on this forum. Indeed I've been guilty of it myself.

[Genie]

Thank you kind sir for sharing this story.

Yes, this reflects the true heart of a kiwibiker....out there, riding.

Riding....end of story.

[kevfromcoro]

Good post H....
Yeah sometimes we all put up a few whingeing posts..........iam a bit guilty of that too..
Well i have just bought a Yam TDM....love it......
Have spent a few bob on it....... mainly bags, ventura rack... GPS on the way......
Decent set of tyres.......
Iam setting up to go to asia and do a bit of riding..........
Bikes are cheap to hire over there.. i know.....
Nup there is nothing like your own ride......
The bikes coming too.........

[Ronin]

I for one have always enjoyed your ride reports. They are a joy to read and remind me I need to ride more.

[Maha]

How long has Rangiwahia to Kimbolton been sealed?
It been many years since I have been through that way, it was metal.

[Genie]

Well best you ask the boss for a few days off and go travelling before it gets too cold, you deserve a holday/

[Hitcher]

How long has Rangiwahia to Kimbolton been sealed?
It been many years since I have been through that way, it was metal.

We're you on horseback at the time? It's certainly been sealed for at least 30 years, by my reckoning.

[98tls]

Nice read Hitch,bit off topic but on my way up to the Methven St racing i took the inland route 72 for a bit of scenery etc,at a single lane bridge i got a bit cheeky and bypassed the queue of cars as there was plenty of room at the front,first car waiting to go over was a late model very expensive Jaguar coupe,very nice indeed and upon crossing the bridge he seemed happy to play so away we went,ate up the long boring straights very quickly until at lose your licence speed an oncoming car flashed his headlights warning us of impending doom (remember when everyone did that way back) so the pace abruptly slowed until said copper was passed,got away from him and whilst parked up in a layby 1/2 way across another one lane bridge he went passed with a cheerful (enjoyed that) toot of his horn,nice.The way things used to be.Sorry mate bit off topic just that reading about your ride reminded me of my day.

[Virago]

Yesterday I got the old Virago out. You know it's been too long when there's a cobweb across the ignition switch...

Meeting up with a few other locals (11 of us on a wide range of bikes), we headed off for a gentle pootle to Lawrence.

The day was perfect. No wind, and temperature in the mid-20s.

The group spread out, with the 600cc+ fang-boys setting off in front, and we cruiser-loosers bringing up the rear. It was no race, and we all enjoyed the delights of the Manuka Gorge in our own way.

In the back garden of our favourite cafe at Lawrence, we shared some bowls of chips and wedges, wash down with fine coffee.

The ride back through the Gorge was again a delight. At Waihola we turned off the main highway, and headed over the hill to Taieri Mouth, and wound our way back up the coast to Dunedin.

A good ride. Good company. A great afternoon.

[Maha]

We're you on horseback at the time? It's certainly been sealed for at least 30 years, by my reckoning.

Yeah it snowed in Ashhurst the same year.

[whowhatwhere]

Great read, thanks Hitcher. Can't wait until tomorrow, got a Tag to go and fetch (started a UK game inspired by the ones on here). 280 mile round trip - bring it on!

[AD345]

Seldom has a truer word been written.I've had a shit couple of weeks, our whole club has, after one of us was killed just riding to work. The only riding we've been doing has been following his body hither and yon as we laid him to rest....

Finally got a chance today to get out, just me and a brother, everyone is taking their own route back to being in the saddle and it will be a while before we get a good sized group again...

Anyway, we headed out over the twisty bits of the Bombay hills to old SH2 and then ducked down and through Miranda, the chance to just blast along the straights was relished and all I could hear was the wind, all I could see was the mottled grey of our every changing road surfaces, all I could feel was THRUMMMM and all I could think was lean...push..look...on...off...onn....onnn. Powered through Ngatea and then Awaiti Valley before hooking back across the arrow straight roads to Tahuna.

Pub was shut. 11:45 am obviously being too early.

No worries, the best bit is the next bit, Tahuna to Ohinewai, cruiser heaven.
Torque curve fat? Check
Power rolling? Check
Sweepers..........ahh the sweepers

The drag pipes and the Slash Ness swepts howled a duet for 34 kilometres of thunder

Beyond the vanishing point I could smell napalm and hear Valkyries

Fucking love it

[KoroJ]

Yeah it snowed in Ashhurst the same year.

and I guess they still had pumps in Kimbolton.......or was that before they put them in??


.........For a change we turned right at Newman for a detour through Nireaha and back onto SH2 immediately north of the ANZAC bridge. What a peach of a road that is, clean as a whistle with some lovely sets of tight but predictable corners............

...almost as peachy keen as continuing straight across SH2 and heading around through Mauriceville.

Sounds like a nice wee jaunt Mr H. I should start a thread to whinge about not being invited.

[MaxB]

(snip)
No worries, the best bit is the next bit, Tahuna to Ohinewai, cruiser heaven.
Torque curve fat? Check
Power rolling? Check
Sweepers..........ahh the sweepers

The drag pipes and the Slash Ness swepts howled a duet for 34 kilometres of thunder

Beyond the vanishing point I could smell napalm and hear Valkyries (snip)

Fucking love it

Tahuna-Ohinewai is pretty good fun 'at pace' too, just look out for the law near the Tahuna School. Fair enough too, it goes to a 50k zone there.

[FJRider]

I took a tootle down through Gore to Winton and back to Alex through Queenstown (up the lake road through the Devils staircase) ... Three of the five hours it took in heavy rain. enjoyed every minute of it though ...

Need new boots ...

[davebullet]

A handsome ride. Some 544kms by my estimation.

For the descriptively challenged like me, here are some maps for the route the Hitchers took (pending QA). 3rd is the overall route. 1st is the Rangiwahia road section. 2nd, the Newman detour.

If you want to load the route yourself, here she is:
http://maps.google.co.nz/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Wellington+Urban+Mwy&daddr=SH+57+to:Fitzherbert+East+Rd+to:SH+1+to:taih ape+to:Rangiwahia+Rd+to:Kimbolton+Rd+to:McLean+St+ to:North+Rd+to:-40.613171,175.640144+to:Hutt+Rd&hl=en&geocode=FUaCiv0dAElrCg%3BFd4Rlf0dpmd0Cg%3BFZSjmP0d OJl5Cg%3BFT4poP0dlBR6Cg%3BFX6Uov0dcnd6Cilx9nLL2m5q bTEKfJ1z0II6hg%3BFbRFn_0dSip8Cg%3BFUVtm_0d00l4Cg%3 BFVJymP0dTH57Cg%3BFboilP0dweR4Cg%3B%3BFZ73iv0dFjds Cg&mra=dpe&mrcr=4&mrsp=9&sz=13&via=1,2,3,8,9&sll=-40.626461,175.694904&sspn=0.064882,0.154324&ie=UTF8&ll=-40.426042,176.522827&spn=2.082423,4.938354&z=8

PS: Aprilia Shiver only $13,995 at the moment - brand spankers. Saw me one in Motorad.

Mr. Hitcher - have you upgraded the suspension on your Shiver?

[Paul in NZ]

Yes, sometime we either take our great fortune to live where and how we do for granted and other times we simply forget to enjoy our bikes. In my case its been a time of working in foreign parts with insufficient time to enjoy anything.

However last night I embarked on my of epic trip to the video shop via the beach (to check the weather / ocean in case it was better to go for a paddle / fish). No mighty Shiver nor trusty Triumph for this trip, no, the lime green AC50 / A100 hybrid was kicked into life and a blue smokey haze rose into the sky over Raumati South.

People react in two ways to the mighty 50. The raucous crackle of the pipe suits a bigger vehicle but its too much for some. These scowly faced cumudgeons don't see the humour of such a thing or I expect anything so I tend to ignore them. Others smile and swinging through the bends by the shops (having purchased yet another 'winning' lotto ticket) one lady not old enough to even remember 1971 pointed and laughed out loud.

Apart from this - there was only 1 'I used to have one of those' incident and soon I was at home. Not 544km, barely 5km but it was still fun - hilarious fun and it made my day brighter.

[sinfull]

Yep, was one of those days yesterday, where i missed doing a track day due to a 3 am finish at my daughters 16th, so moped around on here, reading depressing whinge threads for the first part of a late start !
Then a 2 pm appointment for my lovely Heidi meant we couldn't get away till 3, so while she was out i dragged her little (soon to be redundant) scorpio out and squirted a bit of air in its inflatables while waiting !
She hasn't ridden the thing for months, due to the fact she actually prefers to go pillion on most of our rides, seeing the average speed is usually slightly more than the scorp can handle !
My boy had stayed overnight after the 16th and needed to be at work in PAraparaumu by 4, so that was an excuse for a short ride without getting tangled in the bumper traffic !
So a quick stop at the Waikanae gasso to refresh her stale fuel and we went for a 40 min loop around the coast, sticking to 50 kph areas as much as possible, haha found that 3rd gear was the best for the FXR, to avoid the chug chug of a slightly out of tune, lumpy cam combination !
Confidence is what Heidi wants to build, so we went hunting for slow urban windies with as little traffic as possible, we found a few for her to sweep round, while i zigzagged in and out of a few white lines and played slow races with other traffic at intersections !

Not the distance i would have liked, but funnily enough i really enjoyed the relaxing pootle !

Might have a wee ganda at the rain radar and perhaps persuade Heidi that we need to follow that very same route you took, just to do a speedo callibration !

[Tink]

Thanks Hitcher, I also enjoyed that post, believe it or not! :

I ride the Franklin rodes for my confidence, and when we do spread further afield I tend to slow down a lot... Heidi obviously has a good mentor! As to the Franklin roads, I am still in awe of you guys on Victories such nice solid good looking bikes, way to big for me to ever own one. My heart goes out to the great guy ... and his family!

[yungatart]

Sounds like a lovely day, Hitch. Nothing beats riding motorcycles witht he love of your life, eh?
Sadly, our little jaunt was cut short, and with family arriving today from Yrup, we won't get a chance to go out....

[bezajel]

Great post Hitcher. I've been very much appreciating riding in the last few weeks, even my very wet (and subsequently very cold) ride to Palmy via SH2 last Sunday. Loving it :)

[Hitcher]

A handsome ride. Some 544kms by my estimation.

For the descriptively challenged like me, here are some maps for the route the Hitchers took (pending QA). 3rd is the overall route. 1st is the Rangiwahia road section. 2nd, the Newman detour.

PS: Aprilia Shiver only $13,995 at the moment - brand spankers. Saw me one in Motorad.

Mr. Hitcher - have you upgraded the suspension on your Shiver?

Sir, you are a Prince. Thanks for those maps! And your distance estimate is pretty much spot on.

My Shiver will be off to see Mr R Taylor in New Plymouth presently. My recent experience on a KTM 990 SMT reminded me what a great investment really good suspension is.

A Shiver is an exceptionally good motorcycle and would be even better with sexier suspenders.

The Shiver at Motorad is a 2008 model year. People should only buy this on the condition that Motorad replace the speed sensor and retape the connections as specified by Aprilia prior to purchase. Of course they won't do that. They don't appear to believe anything about my experience last year with Triumph NZ Ltd and that the issues I experienced were reasonably common amongst all 2008 Shivers.

Whoops. I am becoming unduly negative. Slaps self on face.

[OutForADuck]

Whoops. I am becoming unduly negative. Slaps self on face.

Hitch, having spent all the weekend in the garage either painting or between coats drying, trying to get the track bike ready, I have not had a ride all weekend.

After all that is what we are all about, even a nice little pottle out to the a coffee shop for lunch would have been enough, but then what do I find, a great report from your good self and not a negative whinge in site... Sir you are a scholar and a gentleman.

[sinned]

Nothing beats riding one's motorcycle.

I thought I'd break with my recent practice of not posting ride reports and see if it rekindles interest from Kiwi Biker contributors in discussing the joys of motorcycling, rather than the incessant whingeing that seems to have become the usual form of discourse on this forum. Indeed I've been guilty of it myself.

I have just completed 3 days and close to 1000kms in a cage so tend to agree that nothing beats riding one's motorcycle. BTW plenty of bikes on the road this weekend - not mine though.
Please post more positive stuff - I believe there are more than a few of use who appreciate it.

[shafty]

That is indeed a great route, well done. I have good memories of those roads and look forward to revisiting them.

And Cheers DB for the great maps. Great post, good reminder.

[FatHead]

Being relatively new to this site I stumbled across this thread and thought hey why not I had a nice ride recenty so I will share.

Kicking off in Waikanae on the lovely Kapiti coast I set out on my 5 day adventure to the winterless north with much gusto and limited long haul experience on the latest steed one 1993 GTR1000.
(My trips on black beauty are normally limited to commuting Home to Welly and back each day with my longest trip so far being a jaunt to see little Bro in Dannivegas.)

Saddled up and set off first stop was to be Ohakune for a Mountain Kebab ( have been hankering for one for some time but we dont go this way very often any more), happens that my situpon was not up to that distance in one hop so a quick stop at the gas station south end of Waiuru and a chat to some south islanders that I came across on a BMW gave me a short tooshy break then onward to Ohakune and one of the better Mountain Kebabs I have had.

After a nice break and a bit of Human fuel I was off to my next stop in Taumarunui to get Go juice for the rest of the first days ride. Fueled up and set off for gordonton to meet with a great guy who sells MB Accessories on line to return some gloves that were on the small side, return completed after a chat about his steed and I was off to my final destination for the day in Albany. The gods being unkind I hit the Auckland southern parking lot just as it was filling up for the days commute home, Bike at high temp I stopped at Greenlane "Mick and Donalds" (arent the phrases of our children great) for a bite and a get out of traffic break.

Day 2 saw an afternoon start as my riding companion for the day was working until mid day so I went and spent some time at Motomail and found someone who was willing to expend some time assisting with finding my first pair of proper riding boots (which I later purchased after a very leaky commute in my old work boots). This leg was Auckland to Taipa (Far North) to see my parents for a couple of nights.

Having done the visit on Day 3, day 4 was back to Auckland with minimum fuss. Next Morning (day5) I was advised that a Zero Dark 30 start was in order to avoid the Northern Parking Lot so it was that my riding buddy and I set out minus Breakfast for Putaruru (his destination for the day). Turned off at the thames junction from the motorway and blipped along some nice roads as the sun riz from the hills to our left. Went for a nice biker style breakfast in Tirau and then on to Putaruru where I lost my riding companion.

Here comes the good bit that wasn't planned. Having left Putaruru Heading out I spotted a sign in
Tokoroa pointing at Turangi, I have always previously had reason to head to Rotorua or Taupo on the trip south so had never been this way before so figured hey why not! I turned off and found a gas spot (was only half way into a tank but figured safe rather than stopped in the middle of nowhere was a go). Then set off into the unknown. No sooner had I left suburbia than I found some of the nicest roads one could want on 2 wheels with nice long sweeping corners and some great views of the lake and came out at a familiar crossroads at the north end of the desert road. I had plenty of gas so blasted off in a southerly direction home.

A great extended weekend with just myself and the road for most of the trip. Must do again as soon as the brownie points accumulate enough.

My only gripe (yes I had to get one in) was the dozen or so times that I was halted from the easy flow by our every present firends with lollypop sticks and bright orange vests.I know this time of year they are out to get as much done in the fine weather as they can but waiting for over 3 minutes behind a set of temporary lights is not great when the temperature needle is heading for the red zone. #gripe end#

If I can work out how its done I will add some pics from my furthest north destination.

[Genie]

I got out on my bike today, I really should have cleaned the flithy beast before public display but it was a spur of the moment decision to ride to work. Only 10 minutes each way but I got to look at my bike parked up by the sea in between coffee's.
Every corner there and back was smooth, each gear change up and down was fluid, wasn't quite Chch and back but still a ride none the less.
I just love to ride my bike.
Tomorrow is cleaning day and I shall make my bike shine!

[Maha]

I should be doing the very same Genie.
Had good intentions of cleaning it today when I got home, let it cool for a couple of hours but the motor was still 63degs.
So maybe in the morning?
Still, got out for a ride at least, thats what counts I guess.

[H00dz]

Awesome post, Heading down to Welly for the first time from Gisborne and looking forward to it. Any tips or road that shold not be missed????

[Toaster]

Good ride report. Great ride up that way and some very nice scenery. I am keen to plod along that way again when time permits.

Yes it is indeed good to see some 1. bike/biker related stories posted and 2. something positive.

I am all for humour and having a dig at your mates with clever witty comments/jibes, but some of the obviously crap-mouthed abuse people dish out is a tad pathetic.

[sinfull]

Yeah, knocked over a few miles this weekend ! Did a 3 or 4 hour loop around the block yesterday and felt totally underdressed for the first time, i guess it had to happen lol !
Thought i'd give riding a miss today and spent an hour or so rigging up 25 traces to drag a k out to sea on a surf skiff, but got to the beach and saw more white heads than you'd find at a grey power convention, so didn't even bother unpacking anything out of the van !
Had just dived into my second Heiniken, with a sour (so i'm told) puss look on the face, when the ominous sound of a couple of motorcycles rockin up my drive sorta changed my outlook a little, God bless em !
45 min later i was meetin up with 8 or 9 other riders at the local, for a ride up to palmy for the hell of it !
H had decided to sit this one out (could tell by the way she sat down and got comfy she wasn't too keen on this ride, into what was sure to end up being a weave through a traffic jam to end all jams !)
Arrived at our destination to find 1 or 10 famillia faces, so it was an hour or two of shit talkin !
Next thing i knew the crew i went up with, were ready to whip back down the highway home ! Nadda, i wasn't (or was it a hair on the neck) so a couple of us stayed and talked just that little bit more crap with a few others !
Wasn't too much later 5 bikes rolled out toward levin to visit a mate there, hadn't visited him at his place so was good to see the joint before he moves out in a few weeks lol !
Thats where i got the call 20 minutes into the visit, that one of the lads in the original crew had gone down further up the road, no word as to which one, just word that they were parked up with ambo's and cops everywhere !
So the visit was cut short and 3 of us headed off to track em down to see how he was !
Saw nothing bar the traffic cue an accident usually leaves in it's wake (could just about pick where he took the fall, by the traffic thinning out again)
So we split and headed in our homeward directions, smiles and i went onward to Otaki which is where we caught up to the ute carrying a bike i recognised well, a quick chat through the window and found he was ok, but i will have a leg cast to sign !!

I do enjoy riding that Harley, it may not be as nimble as the triumph but it still gets around ok lol
The traffic was bedlam from levin to Otaki but could still drive a tractor down the inside !
Feel for my mate who won't be riding for a month or three, but it was a good weekends riding !

[Genie]

Got a wee ride in yesterday morning, the sun was shinning and the road was prefect, not much traffic and not much dew on those shady corners. Managed to find myself a patchof gravel on one of those wet, shady corners, just thankful I have slowed down, was a nasty piece and hope no other riders get skidded out, I wanted to grab my broom and sweep the road clean!
Enjoyed my ride so much, just to get out there and breathe, loving this fesh crisp air, sharpens one's senses and lets you know you're alive