Biker down on Catlins Scenic Route (18 February)

[scumdog]

Near midday 18-02-07 a North Island biker touring in group heading north near the Catlins Lake south of Owaka was killed today, road dry tar-seal, weather warm and sunny, traffic light

The following NOT confirmed but appears to have 'overcooked' it on a 75kph left hand bend, crossed centre-line and hit 'Wicked' camper type van head on and died at scene, none of the other bikes involved.



Due to consideration for family etc I won't add further detail re age, bike, group size etc until later.

Ride safe.

[98tls]

rip.............................

[Chisanga]

R.I.P. condolences to friends and family.

[Jantar]

Oh Hell,

I hate this waiting for details, as most of us know a group touring through that area yesterday.

RIP.

[Dooly]

The guy's details are on the NZ Herald site.

I checked it to make sure it was'nt Zukin & co.

[crazybigal]

shit i think i may have talked to that guy 2 weeks ago.
We were coming back up the west coast and went down to jacksons bay for a look and a group in their 40's 50's were pulling their boat in and said they were from up north to and were going to tour down there in a few weeks on their HD's.
nice people, if it was him R.I.P dude.

[scumdog]

He was on a red & black R1 from memory - but then I'm not good at I.D-ing sprots-bike wreckage........

And as in the papers, his wife was riding in the group, she was second on the scene poor woman :( :weep: .

Not a happy day for all concerned.


Another motorcyclist was injured in another crash at Tuatapere in Southland, bike vs van again.

[oldrider]

R.I.P Biker whoever you are.

[crazybigal]

yeah not nice for her.
we came through there a few weeks ago, nice and sunny, great ride but some tricky corners with some large stones on them. been some roadworks in there.


He was on a red & black R1 from memory - but then I'm not good at I.D-ing sprots-bike wreckage........

And as in the papers, his wife was riding in the group, she was second on the scene poor woman :( :weep: .

Not a happy day for all concerned.


Another motorcyclist was injured in another crash at Tuatapere in Southland, bike vs van again.

[Beemer]

This is what it said on Stuff this morning:

A 49-year-old man died when his motorbike and a van carrying three German tourists collided in South Otago yesterday.

Senior Sergeant Lane Todd, of Balclutha police, said the two collided on the Owaka-Papatowai road, about 40km south-west of Balclutha, at 11.30am.

He named the dead man as (name removed) who had been travelling with his wife and friends on a motorcycle tour.

I'm not sure if he was a tourist, but very sad in any case. It doesn't give any detail about his wife and friends, but hopefully they are all uninjured.

[Dooly]

The guy was from Matamata according to the Herald.

[yungatart]

The rider was not one of the ride for life guys.
Zukin and his crew are all safe and well.
RIP dude, and condolences to your family and friends

[crashe]

RIP to the rider.
Condolances to his wife, family and friends.

["D" FZ1]

I have just found out about this accident.The guy was was one of our customers. A really nice guy and not a hard rider by any means. Condolences to his family. Not nice at all that his wife had to witness it. RIP mate.

[nudemetalz]

Oh that's terrible.
It's sad reading about these things.

RIP fellow biker :(

[j_redley]

It sucks reading about people dying, especially under these sorts of circumstances. RIP...

[Indiana_Jones]

R.I.P. :(

-Indy

[dawnrazor]

The following NOT confirmed but appears to have 'overcooked' it on a 75kph left hand bend, crossed centre-line and hit 'Wicked' camper type van head on



Can you just clarify why you have described the camper van as wicked and capitalised it and put it in parenthesis.

And before I'm accused of trolling again, my reasons for this are because after I read that sentence as you wrote it, I'm getting some very mixed messages and very unclear information. Information by the way that is nothing short of gossip, as you have stated it has not been confirmed.

In a situation like this, I think speculation has no place, and such details are not even neccessary. Lets not forget someone has lost their life in a horrific manner, to report it like this is horrendously dissrespectful.....

The ambiguity in you description is terrible, whether you intended it or not.

Starting a post like this should carry a weight of responsibility, thought and care should be applied to the wording...leaving out personal details is just not enough...

[Street Gerbil]

RIP Biker, whoever you are.

[wendigo]

Can you just clarify why you have described the camper van as wicked and capitalised it and put it in parenthesis.


'Coz thats what they are. Noticed a lot of them when I went for a blat down to Dunedin. Wicked campers ->http://www.wickedcampers.com.au/.

[MSTRS]

Indeed. If it was a bus, it might be described as a Newmans bus, for example

[Hidalgo]

RIP, Condolence to Family & Friends.

[Toaster]

Gives me chills just thinking about it. RIP rider, my thoughts and sympathy goes out to your family.

[Daffyd]

'Tis a terrible thing anywhere, but it seems to hit harder when it happens less than 20 kms from your home.

My prayers and condolences to the rider's family and riding buddies.

[Buster]

R.I.P.

Take it easy out there guys.

[dawnrazor]

'Coz thats what they are. Noticed a lot of them when I went for a blat down to Dunedin. Wicked campers ->http://www.wickedcampers.com.au/.

Okay thats that clarified.

However this just reinforces my other points. Ambiguous superfluous information has no place in a post of this nature, especially when it could not be confirmed in the first place.....

[DemonWolf]

R.I.P - thoughts go out to friends and family and loved ones

[ynot slow]

not a lot you can say that means anything to the family r.i.p says it all

[scumdog]

Okay thats that clarified.

However this just reinforces my other points. Ambiguous superfluous information has no place in a post of this nature, especially when it could not be confirmed in the first place.....

I cannot be responsible for the lack of knowledge of others and was unaware anybody in New Zealand had NOT heard of the Wicked camper vans as there are so many of them around the country AND they are always vividly sign-painted with the word "Wicked" painted several times in large letters in a conspicuous way on the van.

And what difference would NOT knowing the above have made in this instance??

The unconfirmed can now be regarded as fairly well confirmed...<_<

The previous unconfirmed information was as much as I could glean at the time BUT I wanted to leave a window of variation there incase there were changes to what was initially known.

[Zukin]

RIP Rider

It was a scary feeling knowing that we were only a hundred meters or so from this fallen rider :shit:
We decided to take the more scenic gravel road around the lake, and all we could see was an ambo etc.
When we reached Owaka we realised it was one of the "other" riders from another group that had we had been leapfrogging around the South Island.
I can confirm that they were very disiplined riders, and always gave us a toot and a wave where ever we passed tracks.

Really put a dampner on the day, and it was hard to concentrate on the remainder of the day! It much of been much worse for the other riders in the group.

The local community was great to all riders that afternoon.

Scott & Carissa

[Ixion]

I cannot be responsible for the lack of knowledge of others and was unaware anybody in New Zealand had NOT heard of the Wicked camper vans as there are so many of them around the country AND they are always vividly sign-painted with the word "Wicked" painted several times in large letters in a conspicuous way on the van.

.

For what it's worth (bugger all) I had never heard of "Wicked" camper vans, but assumed from the way you put it (especially the capital W) that it was some sort of brand name or tour group identity (as it turns out to be ). So I think the usage was reasonable .

[shafty]

RIP fellow Rider, Ride Free

[crashe]

For what it's worth (bugger all) I had never heard of "Wicked" camper vans, but assumed from the way you put it (especially the capital W) that it was some sort of brand name or tour group identity (as it turns out to be ). So I think the usage was reasonable .

I gotta admit, that I too, had not heard of them ('Wicked' camper vans) either.


Now having said that, I suppose I will now see lots of them floating (ok meaning driving) around Auckland or outer Auckland areas.

[Blackbird]

I gotta admit, that I too, had not heard of them ('Wicked' camper vans) either.


Now having said that, I suppose I will now see lots of them floating (ok meaning driving) around Auckland or outer Auckland areas.

I think they must be fairly new to the scene. They have the word "Wicked" in bright red joined writing plastered across the front of their van. Generally smaller vans than the Kea and Britz type. Maybe aimed at the cheaper end of the market.

[NighthawkNZ]

:( R.I.P condolences to the family and friends :(
hate hearing this kinda of stuff

[joflo]

The rip rider was part of the Honda riders club, I have 2 friends who are on that tour, they were 5 mins behind the tragic accident, condolances to the wife