Rimutaka Hill new sign- Motorcycle high risk route [Archive]

30th November 2014, 12:38

So I was ambling over to the Rapa this morning to scrub in some new tyres (love these PPs) and to greet me at the bottom of the Te Marua side of the hill is a new sign. Well I've not noticed it before. It has a picture of a motorcycle with the words - HIGH RISK ROUTE

Shagging a prostitute without a rubber is a HIGH RISK ROOT. Lets see signs like that outside brothels

Bollocks I said. Bloody soft cock do-gooders, poofters laying the blame for all the world's ills at our feet. Bet they were all SUV drivers who came up with this pearl of wisdom. I'd love to place a sign beside it. Motorcycle High Enjoyment Route - GO HARD!

Well bugger me though. On my way home, up the Rapa side there's a big traffic jam and when I get to the front there seems a bike or two may have had ..an incident. No one looked hurt, just a few Riders parked up milling around their bikes. Hope it was just a break down or they stopped to plant some native trees, because we're a good bunch of citizens. I can just hear the car folks saying, Didn't they read the sign?

Maybe if they erect a 'High murder zone' sign as you enter Auckland it will reduce the daily occurrence.

How about something more useful like;
DON'T SPILL DIESEL AND SHIT ON THE HILL
Or
DON'T CROSS THE #$%^ CENTRELINE

pritch

30th November 2014, 13:03

IIRC there is a sign on SH43 "This is not a race track". Dunno where they got that idea. :whistle:

If we get some nice weather I'll head out and check the sign, it's about that time.

James Deuce

30th November 2014, 13:06

Went both ways through the Napier-Taupo Rd yesterday. "High Crash Area" signs everywhere.

Don't drive stoned, we all said.

unstuck

30th November 2014, 13:12

Don't drive stoned, we all said.

Why? Got some stats to show how many accidents are caused by stoned drivers?

One of those signs between lake Hawea and Makarora, been there for ages too. Would look good in my cave.:shifty:

roogazza

30th November 2014, 14:03

Good on ya MD ,very funny.
Not windy over there today ?
Blowing a gale here,mate still rode in for coffee at midday tho.
How bout this !!!! :bleh:
306142

merv

30th November 2014, 14:45

This is the sign I've seen on SH43 Forgotten World Highway and I presume its like that.

Katman

30th November 2014, 14:58

DON'T CROSS THE #$%^ CENTRELINE

Good luck selling that idea to the Welly Riders.

Kickaha

30th November 2014, 15:18

How about something more useful like;
DON'T SPLILL DIESIL AND SHIT ON THE HILL
Or
DON'T CROSS THE #$%^ CENTRELINE

Or "Don't ride like a retard"

Ender EnZed

30th November 2014, 15:21

Now that I've been made aware I guess I'd better refrain from crashing.

T.W.R

30th November 2014, 15:40

30th November 2014, 15:55

Could be worse!
Could be one like this below that have a similarity to a fighter pilots trophy board <_<
It's nearly 5yrs since the pic was taken so it's probably got a few more stamped along it now

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=306160&d=1417318559

Interesting. At first glimpse I thought it was deaths which sent a shudder up my spine. But 'accidents' is a broad brush and could be minor non events and over what length of roadway are they recording?

Fair enough though if a stretch of road has an abnormally high number of serious and fatal bike crashes then the motorcycle community needs to look at itself and do some soul searching.

I just doubt these sort of measures make a difference. Lets put signs along our coastline- warning people drown at sea. There ya go, problem solved with a warning sign. Boaties are now safe knowing they can drown at sea.

T.W.R

30th November 2014, 16:07

Interesting. At first glimpse I thought it was deaths which sent a shudder up my spine. But 'accidents' is a broad brush and could be minor non events and over what length of roadway are they recording?

Fair enough though if a stretch of road has an abnormally high number of serious and fatal bike crashes then the motorcycle community needs to look at itself and do some soul searching.

I just doubt these sort of measures make a difference. Lets put signs along our coastline- warning people drown at sea. There ya go, problem solved with a warning sign. Boaties are now safe knowing they can drown at sea.

It's at the start of the Black Spur Rd, Healesville thru to Whittlesea north of Melbourne takes in Kingslake where the bushfires were :yes:
probably 60km+ of narrow two lane rd through forested foothills. Only travelled it mid-week which didn't excit me much....most local bikers do early morning weekend strops to avoid traffic

Dogboy900

30th November 2014, 16:19

The sign at the bottom of the Rimutakas has a picture on it which appears to be an aged touring bike so I figured I was all good to go on my aged sports bike :D
Had a great afternoon up there yesterday despite the wind.

Is it just me or are there less bikes going over the hill these days? I saw quite a few on Saturday but nothing like there used to be 10 or so years ago. I guess no cafe at the top takes away a central meeting place so a lot of bikes just carry on to somewhere?

FJRider

30th November 2014, 16:33

James Deuce

30th November 2014, 17:25

I guess no cafe at the top takes away a central meeting place so a lot of bikes just carry on to somewhere?

One of the many reasons the cafe is no longer there is that no one ever spent any money there. I went in once in 20 years. I was near hypothermic and needed somewhere out of the cold. It was colder inside and the coffee tasted like arse. They must have made it with all the shit that people used to leave behind the public toilets that cost $20k a year to maintain and no one used in preference to the little hill behind them.

Ocean1

30th November 2014, 17:35

Probably more dangerous since they straightened it out, one is forced to crash at a significantly higher speed.

caspernz

30th November 2014, 18:08

unstuck

30th November 2014, 18:12

Somewhat unrelated, but I miss the Rimutaka Hill. Moved to Aucks in October and already I find I have to travel too far to get a bit of serious cornering done.

And yes the Hill is a bit of a dangerous route for bikers, for various reasons. Quite delightful when you get a clear run from top to bottom on a weekday morning after the commuters are gone :woohoo: But oh well, I'll just think of it as the good old days :drool:

Whats wrong with scenic drive, dont tell me they have straightened that out now too.

Gremlin

30th November 2014, 18:15

Whats wrong with scenic drive, dont tell me they have straightened that out now too.
Depends on where he is, but there is a lot of nice roads in pretty close proximity to the city I reckon...

unstuck

30th November 2014, 18:18

Depends on where he is, but there is a lot of nice roads in pretty close proximity to the city I reckon...

Riverhead to the top of the albany hill used to be pretty good too.

rastuscat

30th November 2014, 18:18

Signs give information. Maybe someone will benefit.

What's the issue?

caspernz

30th November 2014, 18:21

Depends on where he is, but there is a lot of nice roads in pretty close proximity to the city I reckon...

Riverhead to the top of the albany hill used to be pretty good too.

Nah it'll work out guys, in Welly I was spoiled in that I lived right at the base of the Rimu Hill :drool:

pzkpfw

30th November 2014, 18:27

Signs give information. Maybe someone will benefit.

What's the issue?

Ha ha!

Like the one before Levin, heading North, that's AFTER the few passing lanes, and just before a long stretch of yellow lines; that says something like "Slow? Let people pass you".

Shows the thought that goes into sign content and placement.

rastuscat

30th November 2014, 18:29

Ha ha!

Like the one before Levin, heading North, that's AFTER the few passing lanes, and just before a long stretch of yellow lines; that says something like "Slow? Let people pass you".

Shows the thought that goes into sign content and placement.

Yeah that's dumb

T.W.R

30th November 2014, 20:09

Aussies don't count ... there's more of them than us ...

You got your monocular specs on again huh? Doesn't matter what the nationality we're all dicing with same odds when we're out there

Motorcycling is dangerous ... by how much is up to the riders.

:eek: your kidding right? <_<

R650R

1st December 2014, 06:13

Went both ways through the Napier-Taupo Rd yesterday. "High Crash Area" signs everywhere.

They should be taken down, there's been a lot of improvements and rarely do crashes happen in same spots now.
Except for the 65k corner after the waterfall straights before you drop down into the Waipungas. Visitors love panic braking straight ahead into the rock wall on the other side of the road.

They even put flashing signs up at that tirau turnoff to rotorua yet trucks still on their side. I see a roundabout going in there, bet within three weeks of opening someone will rollover there...
So far its probably: Signs 0 Idiots 256

R650R

1st December 2014, 06:16

Somewhat unrelated, but I miss the Rimutaka Hill. Moved to Aucks in October and already I find I have to travel too far to get a bit of serious cornering done.

And yes the Hill is a bit of a dangerous route for bikers, for various reasons. Quite delightful when you get a clear run from top to bottom on a weekday morning after the commuters are gone :woohoo: But oh well, I'll just think of it as the good old days :drool:

Beware the Clevedon, Kawakawa, Kaiaua Miranda loop.... many bikes come to greif out there and bike vs bike is not uncommon. Even 15 years ago it was a risky outing...
And Riverhead rd out west another place to be eating hospital food....

R650R

1st December 2014, 06:23

Signs give information. Maybe someone will benefit.

What's the issue?

Well it will be like a red rag to a bull for many riders (but not me). they will prob go faster to prove to themselves they are good and to wind up car drivers.

I did used to laugh at the ones on SH1 saying "Tired, take a break", always located on stretches of road where there is nowhere to stop.
About 5-6 years ago there was a transit project to improve narrow bits of roads for trucks and to build extra rest areas... the extra rest areas never happened.
Its all very well to say you can pull over anywhere, in reality there are often few places in a car where you can safely park away from the roadside and let the kids out of the car etc...
Cant have the slaves resting, they need their cotton supplies in the big house.

Big Dog

1st December 2014, 06:47

Riverhead to the top of the albany hill used to be pretty good too.

It has has a major bendectomy since 2000. Still a nice ride for an 80k zone.

Stupid phone / Tapatalk, apologies in advance.

Gremlin

1st December 2014, 07:52

It has has a major bendectomy since 2000. Still a nice ride for an 80k zone.
Better roads right off it tho... and mostly 100kph too.

roogazza

1st December 2014, 08:09

Nah it'll work out guys, in Welly I was spoiled in that I lived right at the base of the Rimu Hill :drool:

It was a great little scratchers road once. Kaitokes right thru to Featherston.
Many many great memories for me and many others.
70s and 80s were best I think. No yellow lines,just a center line.
Those of us old enough can just look back and smile.
The war stories I can tell (even as a fine upstanding member of NZs finest !!!).:laugh::laugh::laugh::laugh:

Dodgy

1st December 2014, 08:55

Well bugger me though. On my way home, up the Rapa side there's a big traffic jam and when I get to the front there seems a bike or two may have had ..an incident. No one looked hurt, just a few Riders parked up milling around their bikes. Hope it was just a break down or they stopped to plant some native trees, because we're a good bunch of citizens. I can just hear the car folks saying, Didn't they read the sign?

I was one of the ones on the side of the road that you encountered. We picked up a fallen rider who was headed in the other direction (South). It was a single vehicle accident (thankfully). He was okay, apart from scrapes on bike, clothing and a suspected broken collarbone. Nice guy, usual profile of middle aged new rider, went from GN250 to a 600. Could have been a combination of wind gust and panic braking (inexperience).

Local popo was really good about the whole thing and took a considered approach. I think the rider was going to get the most pain from his wife once she found out..

BlackSheepLogic

1st December 2014, 09:04

Nice guy, usual profile of middle aged new rider, went from GN250 to a 600. Could have been a combination of wind gust and panic braking (inexperience).

Don't know what the obsession in the community is with "scary" big bikes. Inexperience, training, riding conditions, speed could all have been factors but a 600 can be ridden just as good or badly as a GN250.

buggerit

1st December 2014, 09:25

Sign on the Kopu-Hikuias reads"Slow down, winters here", cant wait to see what it says now:D

Big Dog

1st December 2014, 09:50

Don't know what the obsession in the community is with "scary" big bikes. Inexperience, training, riding conditions, speed could all have been factors but a 600 can be ridden just as good or badly as a GN250.

Aye but it gets up to automatic license loss in 2nd or 3rd gear. Let's see a GN do that?

While I have certainly left a few much bigger and better bikes behind on a borrowed GN250 to say they can be ridden equally well or badly completely misses the point that there is a completely different set of risk factors involved.

Mindset is one. You don't expect to lead a pack of sports bikes on a track day on a GN any more than you expect to potter along tapped out at 90 in top gear on a 600.

Different braking dynamics are another. If all your breaking experience is on a GN your default reaction will most likely be grab the brakes for all your worth until you have scrubbed off half the speed you want to drop then ease up as much as you can before you feel there is a loss of braking then squeeze a little more. On a 600 sports bike that is more like instructions on how to lock the front or initiate a rolling stoppie.

Another major factor is a GN can take up to 2 minutes depending on load and servicing to get to 90 with an indicated 100-110 wavering. Most modern 600s you would get your money back if that could not be done in seconds.

You are right. They are not at all big or scary: provided you take the time to treat it as a different bike to your previous experience.

I expect that although I have about 100,000 kms experience on 1300s that if I was to jump on a similar sized cruiser an start throwing it around without taking the time to get to know it I would have an insurance claim to make.
Even though I have about 400,000kms experience on hypertourers, sports bikes and sport tourers the last GSXR1000 I road had a couple of good goes at high siding me just with how quickly they tip in vs how brutally quickly the revs rise relative to the Hayabusa. That was riding well sensible knowing there was a police officer who likes ticketing bikes in my mirrors.

Stupid phone / Tapatalk, apologies in advance.

sugilite

1st December 2014, 10:14

One of the many reasons the cafe is no longer there is that no one ever spent any money there. I went in once in 20 years. I was near hypothermic and needed somewhere out of the cold. It was colder inside and the coffee tasted like arse. They must have made it with all the shit that people used to leave behind the public toilets that cost $20k a year to maintain and no one used in preference to the little hill behind them.

Remember the elderly couple that ran the cafe in the 80's? Their food was outstanding (esp the toasties!), they had places to put our helmets and gear. The cafe was so popular it was a regular stop for the buses. A sea of bikes every weekend, about 30 to 40 on most sunny weekends between 1 and 3pm, up to 50 to 60 if visiting clubs came up for a ride, golden years for sure :yes:.

James Deuce

1st December 2014, 10:16

Before my time mate. I moved to Wellington in late '88. By then it was run by the dude with the "voice" and the Eccles cakes were just pies hollowed out by flies which then died of salmonella poisoning.

Dodgy

1st December 2014, 10:49

Don't know what the obsession in the community is with "scary" big bikes. Inexperience, training, riding conditions, speed could all have been factors but a 600 can be ridden just as good or badly as a GN250.

I was not being obsessive and the 600 is hardly 'big'. He has had the 600 for nine months and the GN for a year or so before that. I am not going to state on here details on the assumptions in case it leads back to the wrong people. However, the 600 has better brakes and performance and a lesser experienced rider if faced with a 'panic' situation where the natural instinct is to pull a handful of front brake whilst traversing a corner, then the outcome may not be all rosy.

Anyhow, I hope he mends ok and gets back on the bike again.

caspernz

1st December 2014, 10:53

I think the biggest thing to contend with on going to bigger bikes is the heaver weight when going into corners rather than the higher power. As for the more sudden stopping power I just use 1 finger on the brakes around town.

Nope, disagree on both counts. Compare a GN250 with Busa and the weight only roughly doubles, but the power is multiplied by about 8 or 10. As for using only one finger on the brakes in town...geez louise get real will ya!!??!!

jellywrestler

1st December 2014, 11:21

I was not being obsessive and the 600 is hardly 'big'. He has had the 600 for nine months and the GN for a year or so before that. I am not going to state on here details on the assumptions in case it leads back to the wrong people. However, the 600 has better brakes and performance and a lesser experienced rider if faced with a 'panic' situation where the natural instinct is to pull a handful of front brake whilst traversing a corner, then the outcome may not be all rosy.

Anyhow, I hope he mends ok and gets back on the bike again.

does the 600 come with experience already preloaded into it?

Banditbandit

1st December 2014, 11:42

Bollocks I said. Bloody soft cock do-gooders, poofters laying the blame for all the world's ills at our feet. Bet they were all SUV drivers who came up with this pearl of wisdom. I'd love to place a sign beside it. Motorcycle High Enjoyment Route - GO HARD!

Naaa .. riders do it to themselves ..

According to KiwiRap, the risk on the Rimutaka Hill Road has increased for all road users. Fatal and serious injury crash numbers are up from 20 to 34. The main change is the number of fatal and serious injury motorcycle crashes which have increased from 8 in 2002-06 to 18 in 2007-11. from the LTSA in 2012.

1st December 2014, 12:52

I was one of the ones on the side of the road that you encountered. We picked up a fallen rider who was headed in the other direction (South). It was a single vehicle accident (thankfully). He was okay, apart from scrapes on bike, clothing and a suspected broken collarbone. Nice guy, usual profile of middle aged new rider, went from GN250 to a 600. Could have been a combination of wind gust and panic braking (inexperience).

Local popo was really good about the whole thing and took a considered approach. I think the rider was going to get the most pain from his wife once she found out..

Good on you for helping the Rider and updating us on his condition. I considered stopping but enough good samaritans were on the job.

I hope he heals quick and doesn't give up riding. It may be posted on signs as a high risk activity but it's also a high enjoyment activity.

Ocean1

1st December 2014, 16:37

Naaa .. riders do it to themselves.

According to KiwiRap, the risk on the Rimutaka Hill Road has increased for all road users. Fatal and serious injury crash numbers are up from 20 to 34. The main change is the number of fatal and serious injury motorcycle crashes which have increased from 8 in 2002-06 to 18 in 2007-11. from the LTSA in 2012.

Time for my pet rant. They straightened the road out and doubled the available traction and someone's surprised there's more accidents and they're more serious?

And this when the official policy blurb is "safer roads, together"?

Dickheads. Becha there's more signage up there too.

buggerit

1st December 2014, 17:33

I was speaking about bigger bikes in general as opposed to sports bikes but I am sure if you never took them out of first or second gear while learning they would feel reasonably tame too. Yes some big bikes would stop better than others with one finger but as poster 1 gave the impression the guy gave it too much brake, getting a feel for very sensitive brakes was better with one finger around town from my experience.

Do you have to take your glove off for that?:wacko: