Keystone19
18th July 2006, 14:10
When one is required to attend a conference on the Gold Coast, one must arrange appropriate after conference activities. Hiring a motorbike seemed a sensible way to fill in some time.
A friend and I went halves in hiring a 2005 Kawasaki Z750 naked bike ($200 for 24 hours including helmet, jacket and gloves from www.scootntoot.com.au) and headed into the hinterland.
I was a little nervous - the guy only hires out open face helmets (to stop people speeding he reckons!) - and no armour in the jacket and only jeans on the bottom half. To be honest i felt naked...
Anyway, as you know, it only rains about 2 days per year on the Gold Coast. Yep, it rained on the one day we decided to hire a bike! Despite the wet roads we headed inland to Nerang and up to the Hinge Dam. From here we headed further inland to Natural Bridge. Being inclined to enjoy the outdoors we went for a wee ramble into the rainforest. Beautiful place - highly recommend it for a visit. After leaving here we headed across into New South Wales through the twistys. This would be a stunningly fun road in the dry - I mean it was fun in the wet on a bike neither of us had ever ridden before - in the dry it would be awesome!
Heading back into Queensland the rain finally caught up to us. We had managed to stay relatively dry for most of the trip but then the heavens opened. Despite wearing two pairs of jeans and boots, it took about 30seconds to be completely soaked.
Despite the wet it was a lot of fun. The Z750 is a very easy bike to ride. Nice upright position, good pull out of the corners, even power throughout the range and handles well in the wet. The suspension was set up way too hard for me but it is the easiest bike I have ridden with a pillion on the back. As for being a pillion, that is not a pleasant experience. Too hard and the foot pegs too high. It was a fight for the front seat between the two of us!
I'll definitely be back to do that road again though - in the dry!
A friend and I went halves in hiring a 2005 Kawasaki Z750 naked bike ($200 for 24 hours including helmet, jacket and gloves from www.scootntoot.com.au) and headed into the hinterland.
I was a little nervous - the guy only hires out open face helmets (to stop people speeding he reckons!) - and no armour in the jacket and only jeans on the bottom half. To be honest i felt naked...
Anyway, as you know, it only rains about 2 days per year on the Gold Coast. Yep, it rained on the one day we decided to hire a bike! Despite the wet roads we headed inland to Nerang and up to the Hinge Dam. From here we headed further inland to Natural Bridge. Being inclined to enjoy the outdoors we went for a wee ramble into the rainforest. Beautiful place - highly recommend it for a visit. After leaving here we headed across into New South Wales through the twistys. This would be a stunningly fun road in the dry - I mean it was fun in the wet on a bike neither of us had ever ridden before - in the dry it would be awesome!
Heading back into Queensland the rain finally caught up to us. We had managed to stay relatively dry for most of the trip but then the heavens opened. Despite wearing two pairs of jeans and boots, it took about 30seconds to be completely soaked.
Despite the wet it was a lot of fun. The Z750 is a very easy bike to ride. Nice upright position, good pull out of the corners, even power throughout the range and handles well in the wet. The suspension was set up way too hard for me but it is the easiest bike I have ridden with a pillion on the back. As for being a pillion, that is not a pleasant experience. Too hard and the foot pegs too high. It was a fight for the front seat between the two of us!
I'll definitely be back to do that road again though - in the dry!