Newbie Ride - Saturday 7th May 2005

[Madguitarist!]

Madguitarist I have definetly worn in your right kneeslider, and got some light scrapes on the left. Got knee down at 160kmh which was cool.

Good to see you boys working hard!!

[Zed]

...Hightlight of the day a copper near Wellesford wagging his finger at us as we went past. You naughty boys!

Good weather, good roads, good wheelies and knee down action. What more d ya want?

Like I said, that cop is one of the "good guys". I waved at him down the hill on the way into Wellsford and recognised him as the Community Constable who helped me immensely last year when I binned my CBR6 on the road to Maungawhai Heads. Glen (SpeedMedic) knows him and phoned him to come and help me last year when he picked me and the 'write-off' up at the scene of the accident and drove me to his house where I used his phone, drank his coffee, and waited with Glen for my wife to come up and collect me in the cage...but that was last year! Anyway, on our way back from having a refuel, drink, and natter we saw Andy the policeman again as he was driving towards us in a 50k zone and he pointed to us - I waved back! I'm glad his brake lights didn't come on, he's a good man.

Mr swanman, I enjoyed riding behind you as you practised your wheelstands & kneedowns...and you want to sell your R1 for a cruiser or summat?

[dveus]

Cheers for the company guys. The run back from Wellsford was good fun, don't think the bike dropped below 10k revs the whole way.

[Zed]

Thanks for organising this ride FEINT, it was a great turnout with over 20 bikes! Your Titanium Silver 636 looks hot too.

I bowled up to Shell Westgate around 3 mins past 9 and there were about 10 bikes waiting, the rest of the KBr's arrived within the next 15 mins. Mr Feint said some encouraging words, paired some of the newbies up with a 'pro'-partner, had a minutes silence for Flyin, and we were off up SH16.

Wow, what a new experience riding all the way up to Kaukapakapa at under 80kms!! I quite enjoyed it as you get more time to look at the scenery, which one of the newbs did instead of looking at the road!! (I'll let him tell the story if he so wishes)

I hope the new riders who partnered up got something out of it, I tried to ride as smooth lines as possible and demonstrate practical braking methods for my noob...Feint's girlfriend? Wots her name/nick? At one point a fellow KBr got between my noob and I so there was about 10mins where she was following his lines, eh MDU!

'Everyone' got to Kaukop in good time (10.15amish) and 5 of us decided to continue up SH16 to Wellsford...time to lift the tempo a bit!

Nice meeting some more KBr's for the first time, MDU, Cary, dveus (good one you for coming up from Papakura), Shade (nice leathers!), THE UMFAAN, pommie girl, Madmax, Slashwyde...and others I've met before, FEINT, Limmy, Madguitarist, swanman, KK, Ricksta, eric (happy b'day again).

Overall it was a great ride with great road and weather conditions - I had NO hairy moments whatsoever and managed to enjoy myself totally (at times on one wheel ) on a great little 3 hour ride! Now whens the next one?


Zed

[Waylander]

Looks like ya all had fun. Now, where are the pics/vids so I can get my fix?!?

[pommie girl]

Just wanted to say thanks to Feint for organising, to Madguitarist for being so patient with me around the corners and to everyone else for making it such an awesome day - really enjoyed myself.

Swanman - always good to meet a fellow pom, glad you won't hold the fact I'm english against me!!

Looking forward to the next get together! Can I put an order in for some more gorgeous weather please...

[Kwaka-Kid]

cheers guys! awesome day, enjoyed it.

Sorry couldnt control myself right untill the end but made sure Erik had my bud so i could go for a wee little blat with my old riding buddy shade!! Cheers boys, and everyone else.

Some good smooth riding was demonstrated! Top effort to all i say, and cheers for the company erik/richard and helping cain the old dirtbike this arvo!

[Shade]

Was a fun day -

Cheers to all those who attended. Was good meeting you guys!! Thanks to Feint (nice bike dude!!) and good meeting ya Zed (again, nice bike!)

Everyone rode really well, with only one mis-hap.

Was nice to be able to ride with KK again too, always wicked to watch him pile into corners and lift the front at intersections *grin*

Cheers
Shadey

[Zed]

Was a fun day

Sure was! Hey dude where'd you get your leathers from? Do you know if KBC suits are still available in NZ or on the Net?

[Ixion]

It sounds as if everybody had a very safe and enjoyable day (except perhaps for Mr Ricksta, but even he seems not too unhappy about his little mishap)

I am very glad.

It is very good to see so many new riders coming along and enjoying themselves. At one point a few years ago I almost thought that motorcyling was a dying art, and that when the present successors to the old farts like me had in their turn shuffled off , or were restricted to wheelie'ing Zimmer frames, the whole mystery would be no more. So it please me no end to see such enthusiasm from the new riders, and such helpfulness from the older hands. [Shuddup you pompous old fart ]

Unfortunately, I was late for work this morning (as usual) and by the time I nana'ed past the Caltex station the East Auckland contingent had all gone, so I did not get to say Hi.

Maybe next time

(As I write Li'l Rat Bike is scrabbling about my ankles, diving between my legs, yammering away , "Can I go next time ? Huh, Huh ? Can I go? Take me on the next one , Huh, Please, please, I wanna go too. Can I go next time, please, please , lemme go on the next one. "

We'll see. Oh shuddup for Heavens sake)

[MikeL]

Glad you guys had a good ride. Would have joined you but I had a prior engagement. There are few things that take priority over riding, but earlier in the week I broke a tooth and spent two hours today in the dentist chair having a crown preparation plus another repair. I must say that modern dentistry makes the procedure quite tolerable, apart from the painful extraction of megabucks from your wallet at the end...

[Zed]

It sounds as if everybody had a very safe and enjoyable day (except perhaps for Mr Ricksta, but even he seems not too unhappy about his little mishap)

I am very glad.

It is very good to see so many new riders coming along and enjoying themselves. At one point a few years ago I almost thought that motorcyling was a dying art, and that when the present successors to the old farts like me had in their turn shuffled off , or were restricted to wheelie'ing Zimmer frames, the whole mystery would be no more. So it please me no end to see such enthusiasm from the new riders, and such helpfulness from the older hands. [Shuddup you pompous old fart ]

Unfortunately, I was late for work this morning (as usual) and by the time I nana'ed past the Caltex station the East Auckland contingent had all gone, so I did not get to say Hi.

Maybe next time

(As I write Li'l Rat Bike is scrabbling about my ankles, diving between my legs, yammering away , "Can I go next time ? Huh, Huh ? Can I go? Take me on the next one , Huh, Please, please, I wanna go too. Can I go next time, please, please , lemme go on the next one. "

We'll see. Oh shuddup for Heavens sake)

You're a hard case Ixion!

By all means please come on the next one. The atmosphere and adventure on the KB rides is invigorating! It's also called a 'weekly fix' for me at present.

[mini_me]

Sure was! Hey dude where'd you get your leathers from? Do you know if KBC suits are still available in NZ or on the Net?

mt eden m/cycles have a couple of two piece suits in stock atm...
edit: just remember he got a sale for both jacket and pants @ 550 (i think that was for leather not textile, but cant be sure)

[erik]

Yep, it was a good day. KK, no worries with leading Sutage on the way back. Hopefully I went at about the right pace. I made sure I slowed down quite a bit on the downhill twisty bit at the top of Old North road on the way back.

For the newbies on the ride, I highly recommend the BRONZ riding course. It teaches road placement skills and gets you to practice handling the bike, doing figure 8's, emergency braking, weaving between cones - all good fun and good for building confidence, skill and a familiarity with your bike. Even just practicing some of the stuff in a carpark on your own can be helpful, or if you want tips on exercises to try, take a look in "Profficient Motorcycling" which covers a fair bit of the stuff in the BRONZ course. That said, riding on the open road requires skill you'll only get by practicing on the open road (or a track, I guess?).

KK, thanks for letting me have a go on the dirtbike I hope you've got the handlebars straightened after my off... What did I actually do? I just remember the rear sliding around a bit and not being able to keep it upright, I guess my brain couldn't keep up with what was happening.
It was really different to riding my roadbike. Riding back home I was missing the peaky powerband of the two stroke (not to mention the extra grunt) and trying to slide the rear...

Anyway, it was a good day and great to meet a few new people and catch up with others I already know.

[Shade]

Sure was! Hey dude where'd you get your leathers from? Do you know if KBC suits are still available in NZ or on the Net?

Hey Matthew,

I got mine from Mt Eden about 9 months ago i think. They were 1299 retail, and they ended up doing an awesome deal on them for me.

Worth taking a look i reckon.