Observations of a commuter on SH1...

[Chillidog]

Well, a couple of months ago, I picked up a little Suzuki GSX400 "Impulse" for the purpose of joining the ranks of the "all-weather, day-in, day-out SH1 Welly commuter group". Yep, it's a bit like sitting on a hair-dryer, but hey, it's pretty-well spot-on for a cheap run in through those lines of cars and wagons. Anyway, here are a few ramblings/observations to date. Just wondered what other folks think....

1. When it's slow/static, most car drivers are actually OK when it comes to positioning the car to the left or right, in order to let bikers through - I've not had any real incidents of 'block outs'....

2. But, once traffic's moving, it's fairly common for the race-mentality to kick in, and some car drivers just can't stop themselves 'having a go' to get past a bike, no matter what the speed is...

3. There's a lot of multi-tasking in the cars - coffee-drinking, breakfast-eating, make-up appliance (using the rear-view mirror) - jeez, no wonder there are so many low-speed arse-end shunts....!

4. Sun-strike in the late afternoon on the northbound Ngauranga Gorge sends car drivers into a totally random and unpredictable heavy braking and lane-swapping mode.

5. No hassles from the cops (thus far....). I think that there are 2 cop bikes that occasionally patrol the area, with one sometimes sitting at the bottom of the gorge just before the merge (looking, I think, for folks cutting across the median strip onto SH2 ?).

6. The section of SH1 between Porirua and Mana should be re-named to something that describes the frequent hurricane force nor'wester that blasts across that area like a cross-cut saw. A 45-degree riding zone - scraping the pegs and still going in a strainght line... !

7. New 'Matangi trains' for the area....well, I hope that it gets a few more cars off of the road, but I don't think that they'll temp too many of the daily bikers to hang up their gloves...!

Happy and safe riding folks !

[BuzzardNZ]

Regarding the Impulse, I had one of those in the very early 90's. Must say, after owning 15 bikes, the Impulse was my favourite bike. Was way ahead of its time back them. Quick little fucker it was. Had a 2 stoke like powerband. i.e gutless under 7k rpm and then after that it was wild.

I got mine up to about ( est ) 215kph with a pillion, funny actually, as the speedo only went up to 180kph and I saw the needle run about 3 centimetres past that.

One thing to beware of with these bikes, is that the electrics tend to fry themselves. I needed the rectifier replaced twice and it destroyed 2 batteries, even after that, it was never the same and the mechanics couldn't sort ot out Which was why in the end, she had to go

[Str8 Jacket]

I love my race to work in the morning. It's just a shame that not everyone else around me seems to know that it's a race.....

[Pwalo]

I usually head down the Gorge before 7am, so lane splitting isn't a problem, but the trip home is always 'exciting'.

The traffic light GP is always a bit of a laugh, and as you say, the sun strike always seems to catch drivers out (although I'm pretty sure it's been the same for a few days). So far I haven't come across anything on four wheels or more that's quicker than the SV off the mark.

[pzkpfw]

A lot of the cars doing #5 cut right across into the far right hand lane in one go. Always gives me the freaks thinking about potential lane splitters from SH2.

[cheshirecat]

Yes it's strange how some cagers will do almost anything to overtake a bike - then get uncomfortable with your front lights targeting, sorry, intercepting their rear view mirrors

[Headbanger]

I found that traffic is so light at 7am that it was quicker for me to just take my wagon.....

[Pwalo]

I found that traffic is so light at 7am that it was quicker for me to just take my wagon.....

Too true. Still prefer taking the bike though, especially as I've got covered parking at work!

[IdunBrokdItAgin]

My main oberservation from commuting in welly is that it is bloody idiotic that the ferry arrival happens during the evening rush hour.

This is usually why it is so random on the gorge as all the cattle trucks/ campervans etc slowly crawl up the hill while cars shoot about the lanes trying not to get caught behind them. I've seen some crazy manouvres on that strech of road.

[Ryster]

[QUOTE=Chillidog;1129866670]
6. The section of SH1 between Porirua and Mana should be re-named to something that describes the frequent hurricane force nor'wester that blasts across that area like a cross-cut saw. A 45-degree riding zone - scraping the pegs and still going in a strainght line... !


I hate that stretch of road, no matter how nice of a day it seems you always end up riding on your side down there, the first few times i thought the bike was gonna be blown from under me.