Brass Monkeys

[Stylo]

And left a couple of weeks earlier. That road has been closed since 25th May.

So...presumably they were all riding the big trailbikes that can 'Go anywhere ' ?

It's tyres, not horspower that will determine the length of the journey , I'm still laughing .......

And, I've been over that pass a few times, but....never in winter.......

[Jantar]

So...presumably they were all riding the big trailbikes that can 'Go anywhere ' ?

It's tyres, not horspower that will determine the length of the journey , I'm still laughing .......

And, I've been over that pass a few times, but....never in winter.......

From the photo in the ODT I believe they were on road bikes. The pic was an old army indian.

[Muppet]

http://www.odt.co.nz/regions/central...s-rescued-snow

I know people down there, I'll bloody find out who they were!

[Stylo]

From the photo in the ODT I believe they were on road bikes. The pic was an old army indian.

You're joking ' An old army Indian' ?......my first trip over the pass was in the early '90's in September and on a Yamaha XT600 Tenere .....lots of snow even then .....

[RobMac]

I’ll fess up as one of the group and give you all the facts, not the sensationalized stories printed in the papers.
First off these comments are my own and from my perspective, there were about 15-18 people who passed bikes under the gate on the Northern side of the pass and met at the top around midday. These people were from about 4-5 separate groups travelling on bikes ranging from dual purpose adventure bikes, road, trail and vintage.
There was no snow on the road on the northern side of the pass and didn’t start till after the second corner on the way down. At no stage was it shoulder deep, although some drifts on the corners were probably just above the knee. For the most part it was slightly above ankle deep.
The group I travel with have used this road to get to the Brass Monkey for the last few years and we were expecting the snow to only be on the road for about half of the track down which wasn’t the case this time around.
The Indian (my bike – which is a Chief not an army (741)) was abandoned because the clutch had cried enough, not because it was stuck in the snow. The only other bike that was left out overnight was a mid 70’s Ducati that also had electrical problems and could not travel any further, again not because it was stuck.
Most of the group rode/pushed all the way down to the hotel where the police were notified that there were others further back. The local farmer and Police then went by 4WD tractor back up the road, followed by the grader. 1 group of 3 (group I was with) were still making slow progress out at this stage and were met approx 2kms from the hotel and proceeded to ride out after the grader had been through. The last group of 4 was approx another 2kms up the road and had put up their tents and were in their sleeping bags settling in for the night – these people also packed up and rode out after the grader went past.
While we were heading along the road during the evening a further 2 groups of 4-5 bikes passed us, these guys were not part of the original group but more people who had ignored the signs.
Search and Rescue were not called out, neither was anyone from a 4WD club as they were not needed.
While we were all tired after the days activities I do not believe anyone was in danger and most people then carried on to the rally, although a few did stay at the Danseys Pass hotel for the night.
I returned on Sunday morning and along with the Ducati owner went with the farmer who collected our bikes with his tractor and brought them out for us – mine I will have to go back and collect, not sure what happened to the Ducati.
My 2 mates and I apologized to the farmer and publican for the unnecessary hassle we caused and I also paid his charge out rate for his tractors time, again not sure if others contributed to his expenses.
Yes our actions were stupid and it is not something I will be repeating again in a hurry.
I suppose we could have stayed home by the fire all weekend – but suddenly you’d find life had passed you by.

[Transalper]

Good on ya mate.
A much more realistic or plausible picture that makes.
News papers are terrible at getting the facts straight.

[Crasherfromwayback]

Never know until ya try mate!

[thepom]

Good to hear a more truthful version than what the gutter press does......

[Howie]

I’ll fess up as one of the group and give you all the facts, not the sensationalized stories printed in the papers.
First off these comments are my own and from my perspective, there were about 15-18 people who passed bikes under the gate on the Northern side of the pass and met at the top around midday. These people were from about 4-5 separate groups travelling on bikes ranging from dual purpose adventure bikes, road, trail and vintage.

Good write up of what actually happened. Shame about the clutch on your bike.

I rode over Danseys Pass after a Brass Monkey back in the mid eighties on a GSXR750, with a BMW, and a Ducati Pantah for company, think we rode past at least 4 road closed signs, but had been told it was due to a slip that was easy to get past. Some of the problem is that sometimes those high passes although closed can be quite easy to navigate by bike.
So maybe it would be better for the LTSA/ council responsiable for those closed roads to advertise more widely the reasons for the road closure, particularly when events like bike rallys etc are on.

[cruza]

I’ll fess up as one of the group and give you all the facts, not the sensationalized stories printed in the papers.
First off these comments are my own and from my perspective, there were about 15-18 people who passed bikes under the gate on the Northern side of the pass and met at the top around midday. These people were from about 4-5 separate groups travelling on bikes ranging from dual purpose adventure bikes, road, trail and vintage.
There was no snow on the road on the northern side of the pass and didn’t start till after the second corner on the way down. At no stage was it shoulder deep, although some drifts on the corners were probably just above the knee. For the most part it was slightly above ankle deep.
The group I travel with have used this road to get to the Brass Monkey for the last few years and we were expecting the snow to only be on the road for about half of the track down which wasn’t the case this time around.
The Indian (my bike – which is a Chief not an army (741)) was abandoned because the clutch had cried enough, not because it was stuck in the snow. The only other bike that was left out overnight was a mid 70’s Ducati that also had electrical problems and could not travel any further, again not because it was stuck.
Most of the group rode/pushed all the way down to the hotel where the police were notified that there were others further back. The local farmer and Police then went by 4WD tractor back up the road, followed by the grader. 1 group of 3 (group I was with) were still making slow progress out at this stage and were met approx 2kms from the hotel and proceeded to ride out after the grader had been through. The last group of 4 was approx another 2kms up the road and had put up their tents and were in their sleeping bags settling in for the night – these people also packed up and rode out after the grader went past.
While we were heading along the road during the evening a further 2 groups of 4-5 bikes passed us, these guys were not part of the original group but more people who had ignored the signs.
Search and Rescue were not called out, neither was anyone from a 4WD club as they were not needed.
While we were all tired after the days activities I do not believe anyone was in danger and most people then carried on to the rally, although a few did stay at the Danseys Pass hotel for the night.
I returned on Sunday morning and along with the Ducati owner went with the farmer who collected our bikes with his tractor and brought them out for us – mine I will have to go back and collect, not sure what happened to the Ducati.
My 2 mates and I apologized to the farmer and publican for the unnecessary hassle we caused and I also paid his charge out rate for his tractors time, again not sure if others contributed to his expenses.
Yes our actions were stupid and it is not something I will be repeating again in a hurry.
I suppose we could have stayed home by the fire all weekend – but suddenly you’d find life had passed you by.

Sounds a shit load better than odt.

how ya getting bike back? coming down with parts or putting it on a truck?

[jellywrestler]

You're joking ' An old army Indian' ?.
.

certainaly is, looks like a chief to me!!

[Stylo]

certainaly is, looks like a chief to me!!

I was waiting for a little balance in the story too...good reply

[That looks like fun]

Good on ya mate for putting the truth out there
I am always a little nonplussed at how quickly some jump to abuse those who have made a mistake.
Reminds me of the story of the stoning where some bloke called Jesus challenged the person without sin to cast the first stone
A solitary stone sailed from the back off the crowd and struck and killed the accused.
Jesus muttered under his breath "sometimes Mother you really piss me off"
(Apologies to the religious among us)

[rustic101]

From the photo in the ODT I believe they were on road bikes. The pic was an old army indian.

Who takes their 1937 Indian through that - Rob are you crazy????

[RobMac]

Good write up of what actually happened. Shame about the clutch on your bike.

I rode over Danseys Pass after a Brass Monkey back in the mid eighties on a GSXR750, with a BMW, and a Ducati Pantah for company, think we rode past at least 4 road closed signs, but had been told it was due to a slip that was easy to get past. Some of the problem is that sometimes those high passes although closed can be quite easy to navigate by bike.
So maybe it would be better for the LTSA/ council responsiable for those closed roads to advertise more widely the reasons for the road closure, particularly when events like bike rallys etc are on.

We'd asked at the pub the night before and had multiple answers, closed, open, closed to campervans, no snow, slip, all good etc etc.... although the locked gate should have been enough....

I've got AA Plus (extra $65 per year), they are organising picking it up and getting it back to wellington.

Not crazy, at the end of the day it's just a motorbike - steel and rubber. Not much different to the roads that were around when it was new. The story got that wrong too, it's a '47 not '37.