Hi from the UK! (Maelstrom)

[Maelstrom]

Well hello everyone! I'm currently living in the UK although we are hoping to move to NZ later this year with any luck. Thought i'd start to make some biking contacts before touch down as i'll obviously be leaving all my old buddies behind :bye:

Hoping to ship my bike over and looking forward to some new roads. Been a biker since 16 although had a couple of lay-offs between then and now due to various reasons, money, family, house purchase, etc.... :zzzz:

Anyway, long story short, bought a '98 ZX9 last year and did a fair few miles in the UK and Europe. Soooooo good to be back on two wheels again! With any luck I should just be able to squeeze in one last visit to the Nurburgring before my nine goes in the crate....awesome experience last year.

Off to tour the forum now :)

[Mrs Busa Pete]

Wecome to the site i think you will enjoy we talk a lot of shit but there is also a lot of really good advice that comes with it as well. What party of New Zealand are you moving to. dont know is you have heard of the web site but have heard it is quite good www.move2nz.com i have had a lot of clients recommend this site. Good luck Wendy & pete

[NZsarge]

Welcome dude, hope the shift NZ goes smoothly for you, where abouts are you gonna settle? :D

[jimbo600]

Welcome ya Janner

[Nasty]

Welcome to the KB site ... great to have you on board!

[Toaster]

Welcome to KB and your pending move to NZ... it's a pretty good place when compared to Antarctica ("Well this sucks" Penguins in some stupid kids movie). No I haven't been drinking during the day again.

[Macktheknife]

Gday and welcome to KB, we are all nuts here but that is seen as a good thing.
Good luck with the move to NZ, where are you hoping to settle? Plenty of ex-pat brits here too, will ensure a welcome.

[kiwifruit]

welcome to the site :)

[Edbear]

Gday and welcome to KB, we are all nuts here but that is seen as a good thing.
Good luck with the move to NZ, where are you hoping to settle? Plenty of ex-pat brits here too, will ensure a welcome.



Wot 'e said! And nice bike, too! One of my favs, and one of the best road sport bikes ever built!

[ceebie13]

Well hello everyone! I'm currently living in the UK although we are hoping to move to NZ later this year with any luck. Thought i'd start to make some biking contacts before touch down as i'll obviously be leaving all my old buddies behind :bye:

Hoping to ship my bike over and looking forward to some new roads. Been a biker since 16 although had a couple of lay-offs between then and now due to various reasons, money, family, house purchase, etc.... :zzzz:

Anyway, long story short, bought a '98 ZX9 last year and did a fair few miles in the UK and Europe. Soooooo good to be back on two wheels again! With any luck I should just be able to squeeze in one last visit to the Nurburgring before my nine goes in the crate....awesome experience last year.

Off to tour the forum now :)

Hi Maelstrom...

You realise you have just posted a carbon copy of my biking life!!
Pom. Lived in UK. Me too. (not Plymouth though)
Moving to NZ. So did I
Shipping your bike out. So did I
Bike: '98 ZX9. So was mine (moved on now, but fond memories)
Had a break from biking for various reasons. Me too.
Done loads of European touring. Me too
Even ridden the Nurburgring...Me too!! (still have the polo shirt bought in the souvenir shop!)

Spooky eh?
Word of advice..do NOT use Frontier Forwarding to ship your bike.
We look forward to welcoming you to NZ. You'll love it!
Meantime, welcome to the nut house!

Rich
PS You're not planning on living in Wellington are you??

[Swoop]

A hearty welcome to the funny farm!:yes:

:ride::yes: :yes:

[hitch]

:spudwave: welcome, hope you enjoy your new venture :scooter:

[Maelstrom]

Thanks for the welcome. No idea where we will be settling yet, will depend on how many contacts I make at the NZ Expo in London this saturday and whether a job opportunity comes from any of them. Won't be putting in our EOI till probably June at the earliest mind, although we hope to have the house on the market next month (just finishing off some overdue DIY...uggg) :sick: If the house sells quickly (mirror image of ours at the other end of the terrace sold in just over a week!) then we'll move into rented until the visa comes through. Reckon it will be December time if we're lucky but who knows!

Thanks for the move2nz website tip...am already a member there! :)

Hey ceebie, you aren't my long lost twin are ya? Have two 'ring stickers on the bike but no polo shirt...might get something like that when we go back again this year.

Edbear, yep, i'd agree with that...getting a bit long in the tooth now for some people but the old girl still flys and I scared the crap out of myself at the Nurburgring on her! Stopping is another matter though...just ordering a Brembo Radial 19x20 to hopefully improve the awful front brakes!

Jimbo, nice place you used to live, been there a lot mate. Was out on the Plymstock to Kingsbridge road the other day, then to Totnes and back through Avonwick to Plymstock again, had a scream! Ring any bells? :D

Anyway, thanks again for the welcome :yes:

[jimbo600]

Jimbo, nice place you used to live, been there a lot mate. Was out on the Plymstock to Kingsbridge road the other day, then to Totnes and back through Avonwick to Plymstock again, had a scream! Ring any bells? :D

Anyway, thanks again for the welcome :yes:

Rings plenty bro' Dodging tractors and crockles. Yep, good roads alright. But if ya think thats good, wait till you see the South Is. Plus if you say you're English when you get pulled, then the cops immediately defer to to the lower rank of colonial and let you go! Just kidding, they're fuckers mainly.

[Edbear]

Stopping is another matter though...just ordering a Brembo Radial 19x20 to hopefully improve the awful front brakes!



:gob: First time I've ever heard criticism of their brakes! You must ride her pretty hard! Then they weren't designed as track bike, really, so I guess it's highlighting the difference between road and track riding. Maybe also a sign of the progress with the newer sports bikes too.

If you can handle the 'ring well, you'll enjoy the track days over here and may be tempted to join in the local race scene as well. There're a few KB'rs racing here.

[Maelstrom]

:gob: First time I've ever heard criticism of their brakes! You must ride her pretty hard! Then they weren't designed as track bike, really, so I guess it's highlighting the difference between road and track riding. Maybe also a sign of the progress with the newer sports bikes too.


Well i've got a '98 C1 with the 6-pot Tokico calipers and they are renowned (over here at least) for being quite poor once the miles have set in. Mine has just over 30,000 (50k) on her and the brakes have been getting worse. Doesn't help that Kwak decided to feed twelve pistons from a tiny 14mm master cylinder either. :shit:


If you can handle the 'ring well, you'll enjoy the track days over here and may be tempted to join in the local race scene as well. There're a few KB'rs racing here.

I don't know about 'handle it well', as I said, I scared myself to death over there but not enough to stop me going back :drool:

Anyway, didn't get a Brembo in the end as I found this on Ebay instead. Billet machined instead of cast, integral brake light switch rather than £15 add-on and £40 cheaper! Beautiful bit of kit, really upgrades the front brakes!

[Maelstrom]

Well, almost a year since the post above and I'm now actually in NZ! Living in Christchurch and just waiting for our belongings and, more importantly, my bike to arrive. Looking forward to getting out on the roads and meeting some people off here in person :2thumbsup

[fire eyes]

:banana:Welcome!

[munterk6]

Good onya mate.....ya done good!:scooter:

[Bikernereid]

Hope you are enjoying your time over there, how have you found the change? I am hoping to head that way soon.

[WelshWizard]

Welcome to KB