Riding from Auckland to Wellington on a 250?

[DarkLord]

Long 250 journeys are fun but they are very frustrating when sitting at 100kmph. There's not much power left when you are doing those kind of speeds so passing cars can be a mission.

I can't wait till I can afford the SV650 I'm saving for..... it will be far less frustrating for that exact reason on long trips.

[dblancer]

I did a ride once up to Wanaka and back from Dunedin with my Dad and his VStrom.

Most notable things were, making plenty of stops was good. The bum and the wrist gets pretty achey after a few hours.

On the GPX its about 8000rpm at 100km, so flicking between 8K-14K most of the time during passing and the like.

I averaged about 4.7 litres per 100km too which was pretty good

[slofox]

Waaaaay back in 1975, I rode my Benelli 250 from Christchurch to Maungaturoto (that's in Norfland in case ya din't know). One overnight stop. Neither the bike nor myself broke...

[cheesemethod]

Planning on doing this on a GN250 soon. Should be a bit of a laugh. IMO keeping you mind in the game for that long is just as important as your body.

[High_Voltage]

Haha if you can do it in a gn250 ill have no prob on my zxr250 man cant wait till i get it back from the shop and then a sunny weekend comes around

[StoneY]

Ok, true story

My Mum at age 40ish brought her first real motorbike, a GN250 (had a scooter before) at what was then Action Suzuki in Porirua (many moons ago, 82,83?)

She had a pack rack fitted, placed her luggage in the new rack bag, thanked the very young Robert Holden for preparing the bike,(he worked there!) and rode it to Whangarei (that was the run in ride)

She did it in less than 12 hours including dinner in Auckalnd with my auntie

Local northland Suzuki dealer did the run in service and she came home down the east coast

So all you guys with small bikes, HTFU! Its just a longer commute, cant let my Ma show you up now can ya?

[Gareth123]

I rode from Christchurch to Invercargill to Picton and then back to Christchurch on a GN250. It would only really sit at 90km/h. Was so boring. Heading into Invercargill it was so windy I was stuck at about 40km/h. My arse was so sore by the end of it though. I want to do it again but I'm still running the engine in on my 145. Blew the last one up

[DarkLord]

I've just sold off my Hyosung GT250R and have upgraded to a 2001 Suzuki SV650S. I took the bus to Auckland, picked the bike up and rode back. I've done the ride from Auckland to Taupo many times on the Hyo, and doing it on the SV was the most I have enjoyed that ride, ever.

250cc engines just aren't really built for long distance riding like that as it's already using most of the engines power just to sit at 100kmph. The Hyo was cheap to run and reliable but I had the feeling that with the amount of extensive long distance riding I was doing on it (plus nearly redlining the damn thing just trying to pass a car) I imagine it probably wouldn't do the engine much good in the long run.

It is so much easier and fun on a bigger bike. The SV sits at 100kmph in 6th gear at about 5,500 RPM and it still has enough torque to scream past any car.

I had some good times touring on my Hyosung but I am glad they are over now.

[Juzz976]

I get up early the occasional weekend and just ride and long distance too. wind rain sun whatever doesn't matter, the old FZR250 loves it, yeh you're pulling 9k on the tacho but 250's have misleading scale plates as marketing ploys.
Last year one of my sat rides I clocked just over 1000k's with minimal stops, got a numb feeling in my right hand for a wee while but thats all.
If your 250 cant plod along in 6th doin 100k's they maybe its in need of a tune or its a hyobag.

DO IT - at least once, theres a sense of achievement at the end and you'll have more respect for your bike too. There's respect for anyone who can do big k's on a 250, not only as a rider but also as someone who has confidence in the vehicle they maintain.

[Karl08]

Gotta do it Bro! Gonna hit AKL on the Mighty GN- my furthest so far is New Plymouth and back (in middle of winter).

Enjoy it!

[lamedog]

Just did it on Tuesday for the ACC protest. Awesome turn out and great experience. Below my brief trip details.

My Bike: Honda CBR 250 RR MC22
Left Auckland at 7pm Monday night. Got to Taupo about 10.45pm. Got very cold that late at night especially with the wind chill factor.
Left Taupo about 6am Tuesday morning for trip through to Wellington. So very cold on the Desert road and had a strong cross wind with periods of rain. Stopped and took a pic of Ruapehu in the morning blue sky. Still a lot of snow on the mountain.
Anyway got down to Sanson with the SH1 group. I'm told 3000 of us in convoy. Couldn't see the start or end of the convoy. Continued through to the police college and waited to park. Awesome turnout. It was around 11:30 when we arrived. From there we went through to the caketin and parked. That short ride was slow going especially with the heat of the sun, bikes and road.
Got a 2 hour break with the walk to parliament and back. Body was still quite sore at this point.

Left for Auckland at about 2pm. Followed a couple of groups but ended up taking a wrong turn. Off to Wanganui. Turned around and decided to go up State highway 4 but turned one turn too early. Ended up going up the wrong side of the river. That road is quite a nice road. I was a little intrigued to where it might end up so continued on until it got to dirt. Turned back and got onto SH4. Wasted about 30-60 mins doing that. By now it was about 5:30pm.
Continued up SH4 to national park and up to Auckland. Didn't know the road south of the national park was soo windy which would have been great if not for my aching body. It started to rain when the roads got a bit straighter again.
Got to Te Kuiti about 9pm. By this time it was pouring down and quite dark. Skipped onto SH39, followed a couple of trucks and met a few bikers around Huntly. Safely got into Auckland before 4 or 5 detours for roadworks. Ended up getting home about midnight.

Great experience and learned a lot. Would recommend it but on a more comfortable bike (or with more time). I didn't have earplugs or a neck warmer which would have helped a lot. If you can, go with some mates, it helps with the boredom. Also the road quality north of Taupo is a lot better than that south of Taupo. I only say this because I felt every bump and it goes through your knees, hips and spine.
I stopped 9 times for fuel for the entire trip and a few more for breaks and didn't have any more padding than the stock seat (do highly recommend the more padding the better though)

So I hope you enjoy your trip.