Rimutaka newbie

[marty]

Did 'The Hill' for the first time yesterday. On a DRZ400SM. After riding it 500km on the factory seat. NOW I UNDERSTAND!! Except for the wet run up the eastern side, the diesel spill on the east side (didn't cause me any issues though), some road works, and some line changes due to those really hard plastic markers that are nailed to the road (especially near Muldon's corner) right on the apex....

And Fields Track is in fantastic condition apart from about 1km of roadworks.

And Paihatua Track was pretty cool too.

And the hills on SH6 between Blenhiem and Nelson - holy shit they were fun at 7am this morning!

[Bald Eagle]

So what is it that you UNDERSTAND ?

[marty]

it's a bit like harleys. you don't really 'get' them until you ride one on a freeway in the USA. in a t-shirt and fingerless gloves and open-face helmet. and tassles.

rimutaka is a bit like that. everone down there raves about it, but until you've ridden it, you can't really get a handle on what it's really like. some rave about the coro loop, but i'm just bored with that now.

[blackdog]

will be a lovely ride over tonight too, you know where to meet?

[marty]

Bike is in Nelson now - I'm back in the Waikato unfortunately

[blackdog]

Bike is in Nelson now - I'm back in the Waikato unfortunately

you'll be back

once is never enough...

[Ocean1]

rimutaka is a bit like that.

The SM would have been right in it's sweet spot, good that you did it now.

As you can see, though, it's about to be a whole lot more suitable for the R*/GSX/CBR/ZX* brigade.

[marty]

yeah the SM constantly surprised me - 5th gear most of the time - just sitting in the rpm range that it liked - not sure what it was (no rpm gauge) but who cares - it was what it was! it ran out of revs too quickly in 4th and didn't really make any difference. interestngly, it didn't like doing 50km/h in 5th - laboured really badly. preferred 3rd, but it is really loud!

happily cruised on the flat at 110-115 indicated. actually it would do 110-115 just about anywhere! probably about 5km/h slower in reality. no change-down to overtake when doing 100km/h and actually quite snappy when doing so!

[Madness]

Nothing beats the Rimutaka Hill on a good day except the Rimutaka Hill on a good day when the Police close the road on both sides and you're stuck at the summit with 3/4 of a tank full of gas. I nearly ran out I had so much fun.

[marty]

i wish i had have got a pic of the 'MOTORCYCLISTS - THE ROAD IS NOT A RACE TRACK' signs.

[C.Linnell]

I haven't done Rimutaka, but an awesomely fun North Island road is the Mountain between Mangamuka and Kaitaia. Seriously.

http://goo.gl/maps/DKTi

[Gone Burger]

rimutaka is a bit like that. everone down there raves about it, but until you've ridden it, you can't really get a handle on what it's really like.

Bingo - right there. Welcome to the taka fan club mate. I love having that playground in my back yard.

[Banditbandit]

If you like the Rimutaka Hill - have a look at the Waioeka Gorge between Gisborne and Opotiki ..

[marty]

done that. it's ok

[sinned]

If you like the Rimutaka Hill - have a look at the Waioeka Gorge between Gisborne and Opotiki ..

I hill (especially Rimutaka Hill) is very different to a gorge (referred to in the US as "twisties"). There is nothing like a nice hill climb and Rimutaka is very nice, and was so much better before the yellow no passing lines.