T.W.R
6th May 2010, 09:04
After spending a bit of time over the ditch in Melbourne and the surrounding area I made some observations that cemented a few thoughts I'd had towards our motorcycling here in NZ
We Don't Know How Lucky We Are :yes:
Although the roading system around Melbourne & surrounding suburbs is pretty amazing the congestion is ridiculous, toll roads make commuting expensive (the system for locals is a lot better for regular users, but one piece of road with 5 toll gates within 10km make it a good revenue collector for the powers that be). Luckily we only had to deal with what's called the Eastlink mostly and fortunately didn't have to deal with rush hour traffic (mid evening & mid morning traffic was well enough to handle). One noticable thing was the attitude of drivers, far more accomodating & considerate than us kiwis :yes: we'd be well versed to take a lesson from our aussie counterparts :niceone:
Getting away from the city the roads change considerably and a comparable to our highways though the proper highways make ours look like sidestreets. Standard rural roads are a bit dubious by comparison and the speed limits are well :blink: different (mostly 80km/h, reminded me a lot of the early 80's here when the open road limit was 80km/h). The Hume Hwy however is a bit better with a 110km/h limit but with fixed speed cameras in a few locations and roving HP cars making themselves noticed. They place speed cameras on quiet backroads and hit people hard for speeding (saw an infringment notice for $145 for 67km/h in a 60km/h zone).
Black Spur (Maroondah Hwy) one of the top bikers roads in the state is an amazing piece of road but ruined by sheer numbers of traffic and 80km/h speed limit :shutup: one would either vapourise one's licence in no time or become a hood ornament from frustration caused by lines of vehicles crawling up beautiful pieces of road. We moan about a favourite road being busy with traffic but we really don't know what busy IS! Signage dedicated to bikers is a good thing to see, unfrtunately the only one I managed to take a pic of was the deaths since 2000 but there are warning signs on the roads for users to be alert to motorcycles
The main species of bikers seem to be adventure riders on mid size dual purpose bikes or Power rangers on the race reps (everyone seen was in colour coordinated leathers etc) trying to get somewhere fast but literally doing stop/start riding between the queues of traffic or midgets on Harleys creeping along city roads at walking pace speeds.
Bikeshops aren't too dissimilar to here though Peter Stevens shop was neat with elevators etc for the second story
Pics:
1) Bimota TESI 30 at Bikeshop in Ringwood (P.O.A)
2) Maryville (Heart of the Black Saturday Bushfires)
3) Black Spur (Maroondah Hwy): bushfire damage & 80km/h and mid arvo traffic
4) Corner sign on Black Spur :innocent: co-pilot was driving
5) Line up of Victories outside Victory shop on Elizabeth Street
6) Motorcycle deaths sign at Healesville (gateway to the Black Spur)
We Don't Know How Lucky We Are :yes:
Although the roading system around Melbourne & surrounding suburbs is pretty amazing the congestion is ridiculous, toll roads make commuting expensive (the system for locals is a lot better for regular users, but one piece of road with 5 toll gates within 10km make it a good revenue collector for the powers that be). Luckily we only had to deal with what's called the Eastlink mostly and fortunately didn't have to deal with rush hour traffic (mid evening & mid morning traffic was well enough to handle). One noticable thing was the attitude of drivers, far more accomodating & considerate than us kiwis :yes: we'd be well versed to take a lesson from our aussie counterparts :niceone:
Getting away from the city the roads change considerably and a comparable to our highways though the proper highways make ours look like sidestreets. Standard rural roads are a bit dubious by comparison and the speed limits are well :blink: different (mostly 80km/h, reminded me a lot of the early 80's here when the open road limit was 80km/h). The Hume Hwy however is a bit better with a 110km/h limit but with fixed speed cameras in a few locations and roving HP cars making themselves noticed. They place speed cameras on quiet backroads and hit people hard for speeding (saw an infringment notice for $145 for 67km/h in a 60km/h zone).
Black Spur (Maroondah Hwy) one of the top bikers roads in the state is an amazing piece of road but ruined by sheer numbers of traffic and 80km/h speed limit :shutup: one would either vapourise one's licence in no time or become a hood ornament from frustration caused by lines of vehicles crawling up beautiful pieces of road. We moan about a favourite road being busy with traffic but we really don't know what busy IS! Signage dedicated to bikers is a good thing to see, unfrtunately the only one I managed to take a pic of was the deaths since 2000 but there are warning signs on the roads for users to be alert to motorcycles
The main species of bikers seem to be adventure riders on mid size dual purpose bikes or Power rangers on the race reps (everyone seen was in colour coordinated leathers etc) trying to get somewhere fast but literally doing stop/start riding between the queues of traffic or midgets on Harleys creeping along city roads at walking pace speeds.
Bikeshops aren't too dissimilar to here though Peter Stevens shop was neat with elevators etc for the second story
Pics:
1) Bimota TESI 30 at Bikeshop in Ringwood (P.O.A)
2) Maryville (Heart of the Black Saturday Bushfires)
3) Black Spur (Maroondah Hwy): bushfire damage & 80km/h and mid arvo traffic
4) Corner sign on Black Spur :innocent: co-pilot was driving
5) Line up of Victories outside Victory shop on Elizabeth Street
6) Motorcycle deaths sign at Healesville (gateway to the Black Spur)