Canterbury: 22July ChCh to Lake Taylor, Loch Katrine [Archive]

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Transalper

21st July 2006, 13:46

Been talking to a F650 rider i know and we intend riding to Lake Taylor/Loch Katrine on Saturday.
Conversation stands as something like this...

Lake Taylor/Loch Katrine, sounds ok, it's not tooo far. I was two up last time i went to the locked gate at the Loch and had done Hanmers Jacks and Jollies Passes earlier that day.
I'd like to be home by about 4pm so maybe 10:30am depart (after poping in and grabbing a Subway to take for lunch).

Anyone interested is welcome.
It's a fairly easy ride (tyres not an issue), formed dirt roads from a bit after Hawarden to the Lake then just some potholes proberbly full of water on a flat road/track to the Loch.

merv

21st July 2006, 16:07

Transalper

21st July 2006, 17:17

Did you see this thread of mine a while back http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=13566 we always dreamed that we could go all the way over Harper Pass to Otira but got past No. 3 hut at least which is way beyond Katrine? No locked gates in those days of course because there weren't so many 4x4 dudes spoiling it for us.
Some good photos there merv.
I'm not sure how far in you can go if you get permisson for DOC or whom ever, but nowdays there's a locked gate not far past where you first get to Loch katrine.

Going to get Subway at 10:20am from the one on the corner of Hills Rd and Shirley Rd.
Should be getting on the road 10:30am to head north. I'm never early!

just in case anyone wants to join us.

far queue

21st July 2006, 17:59

The locked gate on the track to Lake Sumner has a combination lock on it. To get access you just need to ring DOC in Chch during normal office hours to get the combination. There's a restriction on the number of vehicals allowed through per day, and the combination is changed regularly, so you've left it a bit late to get through tomorrow.

I'm told that the dirt road to Lake Taylor is in good condition at the moment and most of the fords now have a concrete base. I'm also told that the 4WD track from Lake Taylor to Katrine is in crap condition at the moment although the bikes will cope with it OK, however there's is one ford there that may give you problems. In good weather it's 3-4" deep in bad weather it's 2-3ft deep and swift and there's no option but to cross it or turn back. I would expect it to be on the deep side at the moment. It's around 2-3km from the Taylor gate.

I used to go into this area lots in the past, but haven't been there for about 4 years now. I have mates who still go there regularly in a 4WD, their last time was 2 weeks ago.

I'm keen to do the trip to Sumner again after daylight saving has resumed.

But have fun tomorrow.

Transalper

22nd July 2006, 08:41

Wow, look at that weather, clear blue and calm

merv

22nd July 2006, 10:55

Have fun.

You got snow there today like we had in 1975? http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=13647

I always enjoyed doing donuts on snow more than on sand, though sand of course is great too.

laRIKin

22nd July 2006, 12:14

I drove by at about 10:30 just to see you guys off. (took the dog for a run at the river)
I didn't see any bikes so drove by.

Glade to see that you got a great day to do the ride, I didn't think you would of, because of the crap weather the day before and thought that you were a tad keen to try.

merv

22nd July 2006, 13:13

Looking though my records I have one more photo. This was taken in November 1977 and was the last time we went to Lake Katrine - don't know why I didn't take more photos on that trip just took the one of Mrs merv and a mate of mine on the shore of Lake Katrine. That mate was the one that had the Bighorn that never went on a ride with me, but with his XL250 once he bought that, no worries. We moved to Welly a few months after I took that photo and we've been stuck here ever since.

far queue

23rd July 2006, 10:01

So, how did the ride go yesterday? The weather was great here all day, what was it like up there? Got any pics for us?

merv

23rd July 2006, 10:57

Yeah I wouldn't mind seeing what it looks like 30 years on.

Ruralman

24th July 2006, 16:21

A trip report would be great.
Do any of you guys ride mid week? I have a mate who is looking after a house over Akaroa way and was hoping to ride up there in the second week in Aug (probably Tues/Weds). Thought there would be time for a good blat round the hills - used to ride there some weekends when I was at Lincoln many moons ago - I presume the roads haven't had all the corners taken out?

far queue

24th July 2006, 19:40

laRIKin

24th July 2006, 20:57

I work mid week, so I can play in the weekends - well I turn up to collect my pay mid week anyway :wait:

The roads over there are still fun.

What he said for me as well.
I'm a weekend biker.
In summer I may do a quick trip around the bays for a pie and a pint after work.

And you could go there by the back road and ride on some gravel roads.
You would think that you were over in the west coast, with out the rain (dunking for cover).

Transalper

25th July 2006, 01:10

I am only free Fridays after 1pm on and all weekend.

Re the Loch Katrine trip... i've been busy...but here goes..
We were late (I said i'm never early didn't I) getting to the Subway but then we weren't expecting anyone else anyway so figured another half an hour wouldn't matter.
At Amberly we turned inland and my friend showed me some nice dirt back roads that wound thru some hills and took us to Lake Sumner Rd. The weather was great. As we climbed the hills near Lake Taylor we passed through some ice on the road and lots more on the hills around (or was that snow?). Then it all cleared up.
Once we got to the 4x4 kind of road along side Lake Taylor we found the potholes to be full of brown water so we couldn't see how deep they were.
Most are shallow, but then a couple tryed to swollow our bikes.
You can see the F650 sliding about in there on the video I will attached to my next post.
The Transalp with the Mitas tyres was quite happy although got a bit out of shape on some of the reall slippery stuff, the sort of stuff you can't easily walk on.
We went as far as the locked gate at Loch Katrine and had lunch (attached photo), then turned around and headed home. It was hard to remember which puddles were the deep ones and the F650 was caught on tape going down at the end of a biggie.
We had a great ride and will be happy to do it again. I love riding this time of year, a little mud and water can be much more fun and interesting than lots of dust on a hot summers day.

Transalper

25th July 2006, 01:55

Another Divx encoded video for you, 1minute 42seconds long, quality not good at only 4mb.
Still, if you zoom your playback window a bit it's not the worst picture i've seen.

merv

25th July 2006, 08:03

Certainly looked a nice day for it, wish I was there. Was that the locked gate not locked?

Great video how'd you have that mounted on the bike to have such good control of where you were shooting?

Transalper

25th July 2006, 09:27

Certainly looked a nice day for it, wish I was there. Was that the locked gate not locked?

Great video how'd you have that mounted on the bike to have such good control of where you were shooting?
Um, yes, it was the locked gate, and it was open. We had only planned to go that far so didn't really have time to go further and the track looked to continue on being the same as we were on when we go to it so we just turned around there anyway.
Camera was on top of my helmet. I had put a 6mm lens in it for this trip which gives more of a handycam field of view instead of the extra wide angle 3.5mm that came with the camera. The downside of doing that was the bumps making the picture move heaps more than the 3.5mm lens. The up side was that the next bike was clearer when the shot was good, or when i slowed down and/or stopped.

Ruralman

25th July 2006, 10:52

I tried to play this video - I can hear your commentary but the picture doesn't come thru - all I see is a graphic thats hard to describe but a bit like driving thru a tunnel with all the walls illuminated and with the colour changing occasionally.
Any ideas? Thanks

merv

25th July 2006, 11:56

Ruralman you need Divx go here http://www.divx.com/ and get the free download.

far queue

25th July 2006, 14:11

Cool, thanks for that Merv, I was having the same trouble - it works a treat now. Also checked out the Waimak vid from 09/07. Excellent work on both of those vids Transalper.

Transalper

25th July 2006, 14:38

Cheers, and I guess you know what my latest interest is.:blip:
Come ride with me, i'll make you a star:not:, famous in our own little world :rofl:

Ruralman

25th July 2006, 16:10

Ruralman you need Divx go here http://www.divx.com/ and get the free download.

Thanks Merv - how do you know all this stuff?? - I can now see it just fine.
Looks like you've got one of those road legal knobbies on the front Tranaslper?
I've got a more dual purpose Pirelli Scorpion on mine which is OK until it hits mud and then you quickly find is limits. Gave me a fright in the turnaround by my farm workshop one day - having nearly 200kg of T/Alp not steering isn't as easy to control as on my 105 kg KDX thats for sure!
Were those big holes you were going through muddy? - it didn't look like the BM had very grippy tyres?
How about a couple of picks and description of your camera???
I reckon a movie taken off the back of your bike of a following rider going through a fast windy sealed road would look pretty cool too.

Transalper

27th July 2006, 00:56

Looks like you've got one of those road legal knobbies on the front Tranaslper?Im trying out the Mitas E09 tyres. So far so good. The big question will be how long they last.

I've got a more dual purpose Pirelli Scorpion on mine which is OK until it hits mud and then you quickly find is limits. Gave me a fright in the turnaround by my farm workshop one day - having nearly 200kg of T/Alp not steering isn't as easy to control as on my 105 kg KDX thats for sure!Indeed, The Tranaslp to me is no CRF230 in the mud. It will go through mud well depending on tyres i guess, but you still can't let your hair down and go wild.

Were those big holes you were going through muddy? - it didn't look like the BM had very grippy tyres?Some but not all of the holes had a little goo in the bottom bottom. The thing was that we couldn't see in to any of them no matter how deep or shallow they were. Judging by the broken ice in lot's of them, a 4x4 had been through earlier that day. Proberbly the one we saw at Loch Katrines edge with a boat in the water.
The BMW's tyres were more road than off road and they were quite worn. He's just got a Blackbird for road touring so will put some sort of Knobbs on the BMW next.

How about a couple of picks and description of your camera???
Only had the camera about 3 weeks and very much still getting to know it.
Got it from http://adventurecamera.co.nz/products/camera.htm
Note the $450 price is for the camera only. You still need a heap of stuff to make it function. I spent about $780 including 2 sets of Batteries, a Remote, Long cable Mic, second Lens (comes with 3.6mm and i got a 6mm too), Cable Ties and Tie mounts... I think that's about it.
I made my own water restant container to house my handicam which is what you plug it in to to record with. Your handi cam needs to have an analogue input to receieve the signal and if you want to use the remote it will need a (very rear nowdays) LANC port.
For more specific specs the actual camera manufactures web site is http://www.ktnc.co.kr/product_04_01.asp#
KPC-HD230CWX is the number on the side of the box it came in.

I have to say i think if you've got the money you'd best look at the http://helmetcamera.com.au cameras too. They have an agent here too and appear to have a more complete kit so I guess that's why theirs costs more.

I reckon a movie taken off the back of your bike of a following rider going through a fast windy sealed road would look pretty cool too.All in good time. Very busy at the moment. But it wont be on my bike, there are better riders on sport bikes around here that i think i'll mount it on for that.

laRIKin

27th July 2006, 18:07

Here is a site to help you pick out a camera to use as a helmet cam.
http://www.dogcamsport.co.uk/avcamcorders.htm
You really only have the pick of Sony and Canon.

I have just picked up a Sony handy-cam from the Pawn Shop for what I thought was a good price.
So if I'm a good boy I will soon (maybe) also have a helmet cam as well.:scooter:
And are going to use some 6" pvc pipe to protect the camera.
So for the mo I will have to ride ahead to film (tape).

far queue

27th July 2006, 21:40

And are going to use some 6" pvc pipe to protect the camera.
Man, you're gonna get some looks with a lump of sewage pipe stuck to your helmet :gob:

laRIKin

28th July 2006, 17:40

What can I say.:brick:

I know, next time you get stuck in deep water I'm going to leave you there until I have time to take a pic of you.:nya: