To bring or not to bring? (My KTM to NZ) Advice please...

[Flying Naartjie]

Greetings from Africa!

Plans are afoot to make a move to NZ later this year, many things to consider of course, not least of all my biking future. Here in S.Africa we have a fair bit network of Gravel Highways to explore, making it a very succesful marketplace for Adv bikes. Most popular here are the Beemer GS Bikes, but Katooms, KLRs, and TransAlps also get their fair slice of the market.

My question: I have a Katoom 950SE, do I bring her with me or sell up here and buy a road bike when I get to NZ? I'll be based in Auckland and need a bike I can commute on to work but also have fun with/explore on weekends. If there's not much Gravel riding in the Auckland / Northern regions then I might as well sell the Katoom and pick up a decent Jap Street bike for the same money (My Katoom's worth about NZ$14000). But if there is a fair bit of gravel/forest to explore I'll bring her with coz to replace her in NZ would cost closer to NZ$18500 used...if I could even find one used.(New they are NZ$23000!)

I've read a few posts saying that there's not much "proper" Adv roads left in the North Island, most roads having been "sealed" (not sure what that means) or small gravel roads that don't go through to anywhere...

Any advice fellas? :confused:

Cheers, FN

[warewolf]

Greetings from Africa!G'day and welcome!

"Sealed" means sealed with tarmac/ashphalt etc. Yes there's heaps of gravel road riding all over NZ, even in Auckland and Northland. Read some more posts, there's shitloads describing gravel road rides all over the place! :clap:

You can import your bike tax-exempt if you have owned it for more than 12 months and you keep it for 2 years. Do your maths, sounds like you have, it will cost you less than the $4500 price difference to ship it here.

[car]

My question: I have a Katoom 950SE, do I bring her with me or sell up here and buy a road bike when I get to NZ?

If you like your bike, it's still worth considering shipping it even if the sums don't quite add up, IMHO:

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?p=1141395#post1141395

[cooneyr]

If you don't restrict your riding area to Auckland and its environs and you'd be please you bought the SE over. If you ever get the hankering for a trip down south you'd be very pleased to have bought the SE over. Ride around central north island and youd be please you bought the SE over. Stick some semi slicks on the SE and do the Coromandel loop and you'd be pleased showing the sprots bikes how to do it :D

Hmmmm if it were me I'd bring the SE over given the economics of it! Besides you'd be about 1 in a million over here - bugger all SE's around.

Cheers R

[Badjelly]

I've read a few posts saying that there's not much "proper" Adv roads left in the North Island, most roads having been "sealed" (not sure what that means) or small gravel roads that don't go through to anywhere...

Well it's probably fair to say that most of the gravel roads in the North Island don't actually *go* anywhere much (as most of the main routes have been sealed) but you can have a lot of fun on an adventure bike going nowhere in particular.

About this "sealed" thing. Road building methods in NZ are ... crude: chuck a few stones on the road and seal it with some tar (hence the name). So the roads tend to be bumpy, with a patchy covering, and topography dictates that they are seldom straight for very long. Ideal for a large-capacity adventure bike, I should think.

[Badjelly]

I've got a good idea: send the KTM over and I'll ride it round for a few months, just to check things out for you.

[cooneyr]

......About this "sealed" thing. Road building methods in NZ are ... crude: chuck a few stones on the road and seal it with some tar (hence the name). So the roads tend to be bumpy, with a patchy covering, and topography dictates that they are seldom straight for very long. Ideal for a large-capacity adventure bike, I should think.

Ahhh - its actually called chip seal these days. Tar hasnt been used since the coal gas plants shut down (in the late 70's I believe - wasnt old enough to remember). Bitumen (by product from the petrol, diesel, kero separation from crude) is the black sticky stuff now days.

Flying Naartjie being from south africa and obviously exploring the back country should be well familiar with chip seal as I understand it is not uncommon over there. Dont think that we (NZ) are the only ones lucky/unlucky enough to have chip seal. It is widely used around the world on lower volume roads (i.e. somewhere less than around 10,000 veh per day).

Cheers R

[Flying Naartjie]

Good morning KBs, and thanks for the feedback.

Okay, I'm almost convinced I should bring my orange pet with me then. Just a few more questions:

1) How much of a hassle is it to get the bike registered for NZ use? I've read some government fact sheets (http://www.ltsa.govt.nz/factsheets/44.html) and they talk about emissions compliance and the like, is that as complicated as it sounds?

2)Speed Limits. I believe the speed limit is 50Kph around town. The SE in second gear rolls along at 60Kph at about 20% throttle opening (I.e. just off idle) and if I change up to 3rd, at 50Kph she will labour and almost stall. Slowest smooth cruisingspeed is about 70Kph in 3rd at a very low throttle. I guess I could experiment with a smaller sprocket up front to raise the revs so I could still use 3rd without going over 55Kph but it will be a frustrating ride. So I'm thinking a smaller capacity bike (like a DRZ400) is probably great for cruising around at legal limits without getting frustrated.

Last year the SE was off-road tested by a local TV biking program. The dash-mounted camera filmed the clock reading 204Kph on a gravel road at 2000m above sea level (On Pirelli Scorp MT90, in case you're wondering). At sea level the bike will do 220Kph but that is irrelevant because there's a warning on the handlebars NOT to exceed 160Kph as the tyres will disintegrate. On the plus side I could have 5th and 6th gears removed completely and gain a 1.5Kg weight saving!:woohoo:

Cheers, FN

[clint640]

Hi Mate, A 950 SE is definitely a good bike for NZ. My 640 E (which is made to do much the same sort of stuff as the 950 SE just a lot more slowly!) has been all over NZ's highways & backroads, out on the racetrack, trailrides, takes me to work on sunny days etc etc.

It will have to meet the Euro 2 emissions regulations, which I would guess it does, see if you can get the paperwork to prove it from your local KTM people & you should be good to go.

Cheers
Clint

[warewolf]

I'm pretty sure that as a used private immigrant import it won't have to be modified at all, even if it didn't meet our current standards. As long as it is road legal now in your home market it will be accepted here.

[Oscar]

Hi Mate, A 950 SE is definitely a good bike for NZ. My 640 E (which is made to do much the same sort of stuff as the 950 SE just a lot more slowly!) has been all over NZ's highways & backroads, out on the racetrack, trailrides, takes me to work on sunny days etc etc.

It will have to meet the Euro 2 emissions regulations, which I would guess it does, see if you can get the paperwork to prove it from your local KTM people & you should be good to go.

Cheers
Clint

I've had the KR 950se since Saturday.
Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaark!

[warewolf]

Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaark!'Nuff said?!

[NordieBoy]

'Nuff said?!

Maybe it was a typo and he meant "Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaart!"




The SE is certainly a beast of a bike, just see what they did at the Baja 1000 with one :D