Waikato scooter rides?

[awa355]

The slight drop in cruising speed was there from the start of using the lower profile tyre. Whereas the engine buzz at 80kph with the standard tyre felt just right, with the smaller tyre, that same engine feel appeared about 70kph.

Returning from Blackwood Yamaha with the new tyre, it was the old bike again. The usual hum thu' the bum was there and a glance down showed 80+kph. I always prefer to keep the revs back a bit when sticking to a regular ride. Opening the throttle saw 90kph without trying to wring it too hard.

The fuel consumption increase was barely 3kpl so I would put that down to the smaller tyre. The air filter gets cleaned fairly regular and the chap at Blackwood said if I'm happy with the speeds I'm getting, then not to go messing about trying to fix what doesn't need fixing ( yet ).

Incidently, I am wrapped with the attitude and attention from the staff at Blackwood Yamaha. Twice now their final prices have been less than the original estimate to supply and fit tyres. $80.80c for the new Pirelli fitted,

The local Honda shop in Te A quoted $140 for the same service. ( $82 for a Michelin and approx $60 to fit it.).

[CrazyFrog]

Good result then, new tyre way cheaper than belt/variator roller replacement!
Well done on your local dealer too, listening to customer, great service and price. What is the other dealer thinking, $60 for fitting!

[awa355]

For this ride, I had planned to explore the South Manakau heads etc. Other needs at home meant I had to change my plans somewhat. So Port Waikato became my destination. Every one goes straight up SH1 or SH22. I wanted to get there by riding side roads I had not thought about before. A look at the map gave me a plan. Also, I wanted to include Onewhero on my ride to locate a farm owned by a long gone uncle that I had visited as a child.

Friday morning, showery squalls and heavy gray clouds were sweeping overhead, but at 8.30am Buggsy and I barrelled out of Te A and up the back roads to Ngaruawahia.

The Waingaro road was in good nick and soon I was turning onto the Rotowaro road. I tried to capture the stream that trickles down alongside the Waingaro road but was too much shade. I’ll include it anyway.



Slofox and I had tossed up which of us would target the Waikato tag, in the end he left it for me. Got to Glen Afton and after cruising the streets, found the sports club. ( old tag ). Since this tag was posted someone had collared the sign off the front of the building.

After this I knew there were not going to be any refueling stations on my planned route before arriving at Port Waikato. From there my plan had been to ride down the coastal roads to Te Akau. So from Glen Afton, I decided to continue into Huntly and refuel there. This meant a bit of backtracking but nothing major. The rain finally starting falling at this time, so I pulled up by the mining road tunnel and pulled my rain gear on. Sure enough, as I got going again, the rain stopped. As the wind was quite strong and cold I left the gear on. After Huntly, I rode back along the Rotowaro road and turned right into Waikokowai road. This was a new road for me and I loved it. Lots of sweeping corners as the road follows a low ridge that runs across the farmlands. Nothing extraordinary to include as a photo as far as the landscape goes. This road comes out at Heatherington rd, a right, then a left into Rotongaro road. Another ‘ new ‘ road for me. This is like the Wakokowai rd, wide road, corners that twist left then right, It follows the high ground between the Waikato river and SH22. Here is a view of how the road looks.



Over to the right the views look out over Huntly and the river. This road runs between two lakes that were formed by the Waikato river changing its course in some historic time. Lake Whangape is quite scenic and covers a large area. These lakes are part of a wetland reserve. Rotongaro road ends at the Glen Murray road. Turning left and a few k’s along I sweep right into Churchill rd. This drops down to run alongside the Waikato river. Some straight sections here, also a stretch of gravel that badly needs a grader over it. I stopped on a small bridge to snap this shot looking out to the river from a tributary.



Churchill road meets sh22 at the Pukekawa golf course. A left then right into Logan road, then left into Kauri rd and onto the Onewhero road. A lovely little village, I snapped the new tag at a hall then sat on the grandstand at the local sports ground and had a cup of tea and sandwiches. It was really pleasant sitting there with just the occasional vehicle going past, and the school kids laughing and playing in the distance. I will cover the rest of the ride in the next post.

[awa355]

Part 2. After a light snack I set about finding the old Richardson farm. My cousin had told me it was at the end of a narrow gravel road called Millars rd. On the map this wasn’t too far from the village so off we went. Turns out that sometime between the early 1960’s and yesterday, Millars rd has been tarsealed. Still narrow and plenty of Pukekos to aim for, at the end of the road, I thought I could recognize the old farm house, now a shearing shed.
The road I had picked out to travel out to the river mouth was Klondyke rd. On the map, this was a narrow winding gravel track that zig zagged through the hills untill ending on the main road to Port Waikato. The first 6ks were sealed then the gravel started. A sign warned about logging trucks and other hazards. The state of the surface was the worst I had struck for a while. Big potholes dug out by dual trucktyres , corrugations deeper than the Raglan/Kawhia road. It was virtually stop start riding with the speedo barely lifting off zero. What clinched it for me was the metal, razor sharp edges, it needed a second run through the crusher. I decided the tyres were worth more than my ego so turned around and accepted that there are some mountains that Buggsy and I cant climb.
Back on the Onewhero rd and we turned left into Kohanga rd and a nice relaxed ride later were on the Port W road. At the beach the wind was blowing off the sea quite hard. Buggsy tried sunbathing while I cleaned up the last of the tucker…



Very relaxing to sit and watch the surf. I thought about my fuel levels and how far back to Te A via the Te Akau coastal road would clean my reserves up. I had not fueled up since Huntly. By this time, I was sort of dozing off and the idea of leaving the more demanding part of the days ride till last had lost some of its appeal. So for the second time on this trip I backtracked on my plans. Stopped on the outskirts of the village to capture the river as it flows into the sea. It really looks more like a harbour than a river. The photos don’t show the murky colour of the water, , sorry aucklanders, I forgot you guys drink this stuff.



The sun had come out for the ride back. For this return I stuck to SH22 untill Churchill road then I followed the same roads I had ridden on the way up. The ‘new’ roads I had found were just as much enjoyment to ride a second time this day. Here is a short clip made up from the roads on the way back.



Refueled at Ngaruawahia and cruised on home. I should have done the coastal ride first, on my way up. I would have been fresh and keen as. 45 years riding have taught me that nothing is for certain when leaving home on a bike. This ride was 360k with all the extra trapseing around I did.
It was a year ago I bought Buggsy, today saw us 40k short of 15,000ks. The scooter still has the original plug, the air filter has been cleaned regularly and it has only run on Caltex 2 stroke mineral oil. When I had the new tyre fitted on Thursday, the mechanic said the exhaust was almost as clean as when new. No build of of carbon. I was hitting 85-90kph on the flats so for a 100cc 2t It is going well.

[Moi]

Another great day's riding and exploring...

I always enjoy reading the "Adventures of Buggsy and Awa" - when is Peter Jackson buying the film rights and who's playing Buggsy? - Awa has to be played by George Clooney...

[oneblackflag]

Nice report. I tend to get very nervous about fuel heading out that way, haven't made it to Port Waikato yet; so there's no gas there eh? Need to get myself organized and put my larger tank on.

[awa355]

Nice report. I tend to get very nervous about fuel heading out that way, haven't made it to Port Waikato yet; so there's no gas there eh? Need to get myself organized and put my larger tank on.

There is gas there at the store, if you want to pay $2.54c a litre.

[oneblackflag]

There is gas there at the store, if you want to pay $2.54c a litre.

Ok thanks, yea think I could squeeze that out of the wallet.

[craisin]

good pics nice country

[awa355]

I'm doing a run on the back roads to Tekuiti then back along the Rangatoto's to Maungatautari on Sunday. Either that ride or the Kawhia Waitomo roads?

Another KB rider is coming down from Auckland with his scooter, anyone local with a scoot or older/smaller bike that is happy to run around the 80k mark would be welcome.

[awa355]

Midmorning Sunday and Danchop pulled up in his camper van. It was nice to meet up with someone from the KB membership. Dan and I swapped stories and plotted a route out that Dan hadn't ridden before. We decided to head out to Kawhia, then return via Harbour road and Waitomo.

Unloaded his Suzuki 125 from the van and got kitted up. While Dan was fuelling up, I spied this lovely special parked across the road. The only name on the bodywork was 'Clevant'. I would have loved to see under the bonnet.



We left town and rode through some very dry brown farmland. Rain is sure needed. It was neat to have another scooter for company on the Kawhia road. The 125 4 stroke had too much grunt for Buggsy on the long hills. We stopped at the lookout as Dan had not been on this road before.



The weather was spot on. No wind, plenty of clouds, the tide was going out as we cruised around the harbour into Kawhia. The usual little clusters of motorbikes outside the shops ( and local dunnies ). Dan rolled a ciggie as I wandered out along the wharf. Quite a few fishing off the wharf. Nobody was pulling anything up but they all seemed to be enjoying the sun and relaxing.



Dan was keen to try a whitebait sandwich back at the Oparua Roadside Cafe, so after a short ride around a few streets, we headed back out . I had never stopped at the Oparua store before. It had everything. As good as any place in Kawhia. Dan got his whitebait sammy and I murdered an ice cream.

Harbour road wound its way through the hills and when we dropped down to the bridge marking the start of the upper harbour, we swapped scooters. The narrow front tyre on the uz125 certainly made for a different feel to the steering after riding just the one bike for so long. Dans Suzuki had 52,000k on the clock but ran beautifully. It has a longer foot pan which would suit taller riders wanting their feet further forward than the Yamaha allows. At Kinohaku we stopped for another break. I topped Buggsy up with fuel. Dan did the entire 206k on the one tank full. Another plus for the 4t motor.

At TeAnga, I explained about Marokopa being down the road. Dan remembered having been out that way a long time ago, We headed off for Waitomo with Dan leading. This is a short clip of me chasing the Suzuki through a few corners.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eHa3Bx-TmI

The video is very poor compared to the actual video filmed. I'll try and improve it. I have just noticed the camera was loose in its mounting. I had used an after market mounting clip, and it is a fraction looser on the base than a genuine GoPro clip. Here is another effort to load a reasonable video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vApTV...ature=youtu.be

At Waitomo we had a short stop and watched the tourists being fleeced at the local shops. Left into Waitomo Valley road, ( some new sealing ), across the back of Oto and home via the Ouruwhero road. After a coffee and wind down, we loaded Dans scooter back into his van and he headed back to Auckland.

It was a boomer day and thanks Dan for making the effort to come down. A neat man with some interesting yarns about his courier work.

[danchop]

yeah thanks for the tour Arthur I really enjoyed it,its good to see a route from a local.and that white bait fritter was up there with the best ive brought when living down the south island.
hope you enjoyed the snapper

[awa355]

I had planned to do a night ride starting about 11pm and simply riding ‘ somewhere’. Two nights before, my sister talked me into going over to Whangamata to watch the Beach Hop car parade. As I hadn’t been before I decided this might be worth looking at.

I got home from work about 10.30 and had planned to go over about then, while the sky was clear and no sign of fog as the early morning ride option promised. As it was, I was knackered when I got home so chose to get some sleep and take my chances in the morning with the fog. I wanted to be at my sisters place before breakfast so it was up and away by 3.45am. I figured, about 2 1/2 hours riding. I had put the thermal lining in my 2nd riding jacket the day before and lined up the heavier gloves as I expected a mostly damp cold run.

Turned out to be cool with only the occasional wisp of fog. The first stop was Morrinsville to have a stretch and re arrange the clothes. Nothing worse than riding when a trouser leg is twisted inside your wet gear, or you can feel a draught coming in from a gap between two garments. This is what Morrinsville looks like at 4.30 in the morning. Not a good pic, and no smart arsed comments about the disabled carpark. Okay?





Because I had used the scooter for work the night before, the fuel tank was not totally full this morning, so at Te Aroha I topped up from the extra fuel container I usually carry. This part of the Waikato east of Hamilton is always boring. No hills, stuff all corners. Sitting at 80kph doesn’t help either.

After Paeroa the ride was far more enjoyable. The gorge was empty of traffic apart from Buggsy and me, infact, the whole ride through to Whangamata saw barely any other vehicles. Waihi was quiet, looked nice at night with the old styled street lamps. This was the first time I had ridden the Waihi-Whangamata road in the dark, and it wasn’t much fun. The scooter lights have a decent enough beam length but poor width. This meant when leaning into right corners I was looking into the darkness for my cornering lines. Just took it easy right through into the township then headed out of town to my sisters place. It was 6.30 when I got there so with the stops and the slow speeds through the tight stuff, I was quite happy with my time.
Lorraine woke up and we had a cuppa, then I went and put my head down for an hours kip.

The main street was blocked off and people were setting up stalls, static displays, etc. Rock and Roll music playing over speakers. Before the cars started their parade various groups of Rock & Roll dance clubs made their way up the street putting on a show.
We were on the roundabout at the end of the street. The buggars got to our position and must have run out of breath. They started “ Line Dancing “

FFS!!!! Shoulder to shoulder varicous veins and tennis shoes. One group were from Wellsford, the line dancers must’ve come up from somewhere like Gore ?? Still, regardless of my thoughts on line dancing, they all were enjoying themselves and all contributed to the carnival atmosphere.

A still from one video clip.



The cars started rolling past and I didn’t realise how many fantastic american cars from the 50’s and 60’s were in this country. Most were modified in some way, but many were stock. A lot of memories for the crowds,
I have put in a video clip of just a few cars that I filmed. Someone said that about 100 cars made the run up from the south island.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL4kfQT_BUc


The surrounding parks all had displays, a lot of specials, retro caravans, dragsters, . By mid afternoon, the crowds, the music and the heat was beginning to catch up with my lack of sleep so we made our way back to the bach where I had a nana nap then kitted up for my ride back home. Having anticipated damp cold fog on the ride over, I had worn my heavy armoured jacket and winter gloves. I should have known better. The afternoon was back to summer weather. The road back to Waihi was heavy traffic so now that I could see through the corners, the volume of cars meant no fun through the twisties. Saw two acts of stupidity, both by motorbike riders ( 1 solo, 1 group ) passing traffic where ever they came to them. Blind corners etc. About halfway to Waihi I passed a motorcycle accident on a corner. Police were attending.

The Karangahake gorge had light traffic, the scenery was teriffic with the sun filtering through the trees onto the river. I was following three cars with a light truck in the lead. Just past the Waikino pub a harley rider with apehangers, fingerless mitts, nazi helmet and t shirt went screaming past me. A long sweeping left hand curve with the river wall on one side and the cliff on the other, he never slowed down, out and passed the lot. Lucky for him there was no one coming towards us. A short view from Buggsy of the gorge.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ToNk...ature=youtu.be

Three stand out acts of stupidity over the days riding and all three circumstances were motorcycle riders on big machines who couldn’t show an ounce of restraint.
Back to the ride, it was fuel up time in Paeroa then a steady run back across the Waikato without any further stops. I should have stayed for the Sundays events but long grass, firewood and other jobs around the place were waiting. It was a neat day at Whangamata. I would go again next year.

[Moi]

Another good read... thanks for the utube vid...

I always enjoy reading about your adventures...

Thanks

[awa355]

Ok, no vids in this entry

Gave Buggsy a major overhaul yesterday. Changed the sparkplug

I dont know if the plug had been changed in the 2,200k the scooter had done before I bought it, but I have simply pulled the plug out a couple of times in the last 16,000k, held it up to the light, checked the gap with my eyecrometer and screwed the bloody thing back in. Its always been clean, Always ran without a fart or spit, however I decided to retire that plug with a newy.

I headed off to Putaruru after waiting half the morning for the rain to go from a drizzle to heavy showers. After a long stretch of fine weather, riding in the rain was quite pleasant. It does make the cornering more interesting. Buggsy has a well worn street tread on the front and a ' knobbly ' on the back. The two tyres dont like each other much. A few weeks ago when Danchop came down for a ride around the Kawhia Waitomo roads, he commented then, about scooter tyres, They are all ok in the dry, it's the wet that sorts them out. The surface film on the road through Puahue was noticable. A couple of corners gave the front a super light feel resulting in a couple of anxious moments.

Selecting ' cruise ' instead of ' sports ' mode made for a more relaxing ride. Cruise mode is 1/2 throttle-4hp, sports mode is 3/4 throttle-6hp. ( or there abouts ).

The rain got quite heavy passing through Pukeatua as it follows the foothills of Mangatautauri but eased up by Arapuni. This confirmed what I already knew. My riding jacket and overtrousers leak like a sieve. The rain eased right off at Putaruru so after a light lunch at my sisters, I took a leisurely ride around the town. I grew up here and from the heydays of the fifties and sixties, its sad to see the town going backwards. Houses that have not been painted in 30 years, closed up shops. Here is an aerial phot of Putaruru taken back in 1955 Some readers who, like me, grew up here may find it interesting. The view is from above the PTY mill.



The showers started again as I left town. I meandered back to the dam via the Waotu road then a boring ride back to Te Awamutu. Was good riding in the rain for a change.