taking the day off friday and riding to new plymouth [Archive]

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Lazy7

27th March 2006, 15:55

so i crew for a guy who runs a rally car in the xtreme series around NZ. first rally of the year is taranaki and i am riding down there to help out, probably friday morning.

was going to go the back way branching off before hamilton and go

pukekohe
ngaruwahia
te awamutu
otorohonga
te-kuiti
Mokau
New Plymouth

anybody done this on a bike. anything i should be aware of? is there a better route?

better yet, anybody want to knock of work and come with me for a ride?

Mental Trousers

27th March 2006, 16:04

Cut out Te Awamutu by going down the west side of the Waikato river at Ngaruawahia. Follow that through Whatawhata all the way down to Otorohanga.

SH22
Ngaruawahia
Whatawhata
Otorohanga
Te Kuiti
Mokau
New Plymouth

DemonWolf

27th March 2006, 16:06

Yep agree with Mental Trousers... there are patches of road works, but mainly sign-posted (so no worries).

When ya heading back?

sAsLEX

27th March 2006, 17:26

Yeah that way is good, can cross the river at Rangariri and get off SH1 earlier as well, pops out in Ngarawahia

SwanTiger

27th March 2006, 18:16

I've always wanted to do State Highway 3 from Raglan along the coast by Motorcycle.

As others have mentioned, the only real hazard is road works which is usually extremely well sign posted. With the weather we've been having lately it would be to be careful riding near cliffs where small rocks and other debri may of fallen onto the road - something Transit doesn't usually put signs up for.

Enjoy your ride :)

Lazy7

27th March 2006, 19:09

most likely coming back sunday. will stay a couple of nights for the rally and to straighten out again!

thanks for the tip. will go west!

Firefight

27th March 2006, 20:26

will prob be on 22 Friday about lunch time, will keep an eye out for you man.

F/F:sunny:

Motu

27th March 2006, 20:35

I've always wanted to do State Highway 3 from Raglan along the coast by Motorcycle.

You must be looking at the Motorcycle Atlas,it's marked as route 3 there - but it's not SH3,that goes from Hamilton to New Plymouth.I went from Raglan down to Marokopa on saturday...excelent roads,but you might want to take an adventure bike...

Cross the river at Rangariri and follow your nose down the ''middle'' route,it's called SH39 from Ngaruwhahia to Otorohanga - not exactly a challenge on a bike,but a nice back way all the same.I spent a lot of time going to Taranaki in the 70s,that's the way I always went.

Mental Trousers

27th March 2006, 21:55

Cross the river at Rangariri and follow your nose down the ''middle'' route,it's called SH39 from Ngaruwhahia to Otorohanga - not exactly a challenge on a bike,but a nice back way all the same.I spent a lot of time going to Taranaki in the 70s,that's the way I always went.

It's lame compared to how it was over 10 years ago. Used to be a lot like SH22 but you had to know the turn offs cos the intersections/roads were all oriented to getting people to Kawhia instead of Otorohang (and fair enough too!!!)

Motu

27th March 2006, 22:52

I spent a lot of time going to Kawhia back then too,so used to know those roads pretty well.It's a series of roads linked up - so is SH22 for that matter,as people use a route more and more the road is modified to reflect traffic flow.

Lazy7

1st April 2006, 19:29

well - just got back.

there and back in 36 hours. i am a bit sore.

but wow - roads between te kuiti and new plymouth are brilliant.

weather was fantastic. bike went well. all and all a very good weekend...

except.

the reason for going was to crew on a mates rally car.

and the engine blew up on it 7km into the first stage.

so - bit of a waste of time going really. everybody well and truly gutted.

nadroj

1st April 2006, 20:28

Lazy7

2nd April 2006, 09:24

haha. no - thank christ.

he picked it up from an engine and rally car builder in Hawera, just outside of new plymouth.

7k's in it blew holes through the top of 3 and 4, probably running too lean. i have a feeling it was overboosting as well. running 2bar. too much in my opinion.

but yeah. was gutting, was brand new evo 6 rally car. and it was going/setup really well

nadroj

2nd April 2006, 10:00

Not Glen Smiths old car?

And lucky you didn't wait till today to ride home.... rather wet.

Results link - http://www.taranakicarclub.org.nz/rally/results/crrs/index.php

Lazy7

2nd April 2006, 11:51

Not Glen Smiths old car?

And lucky you didn't wait till today to ride home.... rather wet.

Results link - http://www.taranakicarclub.org.nz/rally/results/crrs/index.php

yeap. glen smiths old car.

the guys did a fantastic job on the rebuild, everything was brand spanking on it. great looking car. the setup was fantastic too. we took it for a bit of a blat and the handling was sublime. Matt was slowly getting use to the dogbox as well. reckons it was a HUGE step up from his old 3.

just a bugger something went wrong with it. not really 100% sure if it was tuned wrong or just bad luck - but something was definetly up. when they checked the motor, it had burnt 2 of the plugs out and put holes in the pistons. either 2 much boost or not enough gas. the result was poping the dipstick out and covering the engine bay in oil.