90 mile beach..

[junkmanjoe]

have you ridden this beach, your thoughts on it plzzzzzzzz as i intend to ride it this coming labour weekend....

which direction is best to ride it.. where to get on and off....

JMJ

[george formby]

Ride South to North, come off at Te Paki stream to give the bike a splash of fresh (ish) water.
Start your ride from Ahipara, Waipapakauri or Hukatere ( through the Aupouri forest)
Check your tides, half tide out is best. Enjoy, it's a blast. Don't forget it's classed as a public highway & may be policed.

[martybabe]

Ride South to North, come off at Te Paki stream to give the bike a splash of fresh (ish) water.
Start your ride from Ahipara, Waipapakauri or Hukatere ( through the Aupouri forest)
Check your tides, half tide out is best. Enjoy, it's a blast. Don't forget it's classed as a public highway & may be policed.

Good stuff George. Whilst we're at it, does your vehicle have to be road legal and what is the speed limit please? Cheers.

[george formby]

It's classed as a public highway, national speed limit applies but check when you get up their, just in case the hoons have mucked it up. Take plenty of fuel. Gas at Awanui & Kaitaia in the south & Waitiki Landing & just south of Pukenui (Houhora) on the way back. Watch out for buses, banzai 4x4's & horses.
Ride cautiously, if in doubt stop & check ahead. Take a disc for your sidestand.

[varminter]

Been down in a car, the dodgiest bits were stream crossings, too high up the beach and you can get a drop of at least a couple of foot, so it pays to cross lower down but you soon get the idea. I was also told that there was quicksand in the Te Paki stream (gullable, that's me) so I want down rather fast so I didn't sink It sounds like good fun,.

Wash the bike after, salty sand gets everywhere, my car smelled like dead fish until I got it all out..

[phill-k]

I live up north and I'm not sure but after a couple of bad accidents / deaths on the west coast beaches out from Dargaville I thought I read somewhere that the speed limits on our beaches were being seriously lowered. As labour weekend will be regarded as the start of the season up here you can bet they will police this. I will try and find out the facts but be aware of this, and have fun.

[junkmanjoe]

cheers guys.. will im not out to brake the sand land speed record, but to enjoy the ride.

whats the sand like hard packed or quite soft in places..
is there the left hand rule or just what ever goes... Bus............... kinda stuff...

whats the creek like, soft bottom, is that the only way out..

JMJ

[.chris]

cheers guys.. will im not out to brake the sand land speed record, but to enjoy the ride.

whats the sand like hard packed or quite soft in places..
is there the left hand rule or just what ever goes... Bus............... kinda stuff...

whats the creek like, soft bottom, is that the only way out..

JMJ

Hey Joe

I did 90 mile beach in a bus about this time last year, was pretty easy going and simple enough to follow the creek out back of the beach (water levels dependent of course).

As part of the tour we did some beach dune surfing and I remember thinking these dunes would be some wicked fun on the bike.

[Taz]

I did it way back in the early nineties on a CX400 Custom with a few other road bikes including a GPX750, XJ900, GPz600r etc. It's not all thet technical Joe. You'll (we'll) be fine. Can I come? Huh Huh?

[junkmanjoe]

. It's not all thet technical Joe. You'll (we'll) be fine. Can I come? Huh Huh?

only if you help push.................its fukn heavy ya know, my fat 9fidy.....

starting to map my route north vire west coast,,,, trying to stay as close to the coast as possible..looks fairly doable... most roads , gravel link up quite nicely...

JMJ

[.chris]

only if you help push.................its fukn heavy ya know, my fat 9fidy.....

starting to map my route north vire west coast,,,, trying to stay as close to the coast as possible..looks fairly doable... most roads , gravel link up quite nicely...

JMJ

I am also keen to tag along. And as far as pushing, will only be needed if you slow down. There is a simple way to avoid that

If you need somewhere to stay in AK you are welcome here.

[Crisis management]

Joe, a couple of points to consider with the 950....my 990 was heavy on the sand so don't take the kitchen sink and consider your tyre selection!
Where Chris was skipping along Muriwai on the 690 I was digging a trench on the unloaded 990 and wheelspinning like a bastard, so get your tide height correct so you have firm sand and maybe make sure you have a wideish / low pressure rear on?

I found the 990 was ok at speed (80 to 100) but slower it really wanted to sink in and was a bit of a pig with the front wanting to dig in. You need to be able to slow for traffic and fishermen so check the speed limits up there and be prepared to slow down a bit and have to fight the front...plan well ahead!

Only other problem I had was ironsand adhering to the wheel pickups and showing a fault in the braking system (that might just be the flash 990 ABS system tho)

Be really carefull about obeying the road rules on the beach, there are way to many hoons on unregistered trail bikes pissing people off and labour weekend will be busy and (hopefully) well policed.

[.chris]

Don't let crisis scare you, it is only getting on/off the beach that is the hard part (as long as the tides are ok) once you are on the beach on the firm sand it is pretty much like riding on a smooth road, I find going about 60kph the bike sits nicely and hardly breaks the surface of the sand. But a bigger bike would require more speed to achive the same thing.

Tires on sand is a tricky one, smooth tires work quite well (Sahara/MT 90 etc) because they do not break up the sand so much so you do not sink in, but a good knobbly can give you that added traction, but that traction can also just end up digging holes for you.

[Crisis management]

Don't let crisis scare you,

Wasn't trying to scare him but I was well aware of the difference between your 690 and my 990 that day at Muriwai, the extra weight made a lot of difference to the amount of work involved and the way Joe packs, weight may be a factor!

[slofox]

I lived in Dargaville for nine years. Rule of thumb was to stay close to the water. Sand is harder there. Gets soft the further you are from the wet. Don't do what I did first time on the beach and stray into the soft. Was stuck about twenty metres from the road...durrr...