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Thread: My trip round the Coro Loop – Fri 16/05

  1. #1
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    My trip round the Coro Loop – Fri 16/05

    Cue "This isn't facebook fuck off"
    Posted here because it’s about me and the bike not the loop itself…

    Well shit. After 6 months of being without a bike, then 2 months of riding around the city I decided to treat myself and the bike to a proper pootle.
    This was a good opportunity to test fuel economy on the open road too. (I’d never had the chance since I found out the previous owner machined his spark plugs to make them fit. Needless to say that threw the largest of spanners into the workiest of works. Story and pics another day.)

    8:23 – Greenlane

    It was obvious I was excited about the ride because I slept through my alarm.
    No matter as it was Friday and I wasn’t leaving till 10:00 sharp.
    Got up, made some delicious sandwiches, had breakfast (Even though I never eat breakfast, always make sure to before going on a day trip!) and had a shower.



    9:00(ish) – ready to depart but traffic still a mare.



    10:17 – leaving right on schedule…. I still don’t understand why I was late.



    11:44 – Arrive @ Café Sola in Thames to judge their coffee and use their wifi. Also helped to thaw out my throttle hand which had seized harder than a Gypsie’s on a dollar. Coffee was really good and the lass who served me had an awesome hair-do! Checked in with The Lady to let her know I’d made it through the most dangerous part of the journey (Auckland) and continued on my way to Tairua…

    I always get the same feeling when I make that theft hand turn onto the Kopu-Hikuwai Road. It’s hard to describe but I’d class it as 5 parts excitement 4 parts nostalgia and 1 part apprehension. I only add the last part because I’ve witnessed firsthand how people get excited or want to keep up and end up making mistakes.
    Also almost been a part of it myself….. stupid bloody SUV passing a tractor up a hill round blind corners….. ANYWAY… I was met with that familiar feeling and the warm fuzzies were cut short 2.5km later when I was stuck behind a van. Ahhh the joys of tourist roads.

    Having not ridden on the open road in 8 months and never having been on a cruiser round the Coromandel I was taking it easy cos I knew my lines were going to be a little bit rusty. Ne’er did I imagine they’d be what they were. I proceeded to tell myself off every second corner because my lines were utterly shit.


    Fast forward a bit, just about to enter Tairua and I’m noticing the rear cylinder is kicking up a stink like it used to when the plugs were effed. I recalled a conversation I had with my mechanic who said “Just rev it”.
    I revved it.
    Problem went away.
    Excellent result.


    12:39 – Tairua
    I pull over to let the bike cool down a bit and use the public toilets. Send the lady another message advising I’ll be out of contact for a while cos this is where my favourite twisty bits start.

    Wait, no I lie, this is where lunch starts.

    Nomnomnom.

    Decided to park up about 20km out of Tairua at the top of that hill where you can stop on the side of the other side of the road (Going anticlockwise). Yea real specific and yes, the sandwiches were amazing.


    14:10(ish)
    - I get some more gas in Whitianga. As this is the third stop I’ve had I can now confirm across three trips I have an average of 19km/l, Much better than the 14 I had before….. actually I have no idea if this is good or not.


    THIS is where the fun part started…

    Up until now the roads had been powerfully average. Much worse than I remember. But over this hill was great. I’d built up a significant amount of confidence and knew where to position the bike.
    Man it was amazing! Corners just seemed to link together, I was alone on my side of the road and I had no close calls with other drivers. The west coast of the Coromandel is a great road, people poo poo it a lot but to be fair, with a good run of traffic, it’s an amazing stretch.

    It’s very hard to describe but I’m sure you know what I mean. Everything clicks.

    15:30(ish) More gas in Thames and time to relax and cruise back to Auckland. Unfortunately I caught the start of the traffic and had two close calls from people failing to give way. Great.







    Never going to neglect my rides like that again. It was so much fun to finally be back on the road and it was a big plus that I got a sense of personal achievement out of it.

    Thank you for reading. Not even sure why I posted this but if one person enjoys the read then great! If not, I had fun typing it.







    Too long, didn’t read??



    Too bad.
    Quote Originally Posted by nodrog View Post
    you dont get 180+ hp out of 998cc by being nice to trees.

  2. #2
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    Sorry I couldn't leave out pics of the sandwiches.
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    Quote Originally Posted by nodrog View Post
    you dont get 180+ hp out of 998cc by being nice to trees.

  3. #3
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    Hey, I enjoyed it so it was worthwhile. How many kms was the ride (if you counted).

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    Sounds like a day well spent, needs pics though

    I love driving on those roads around the Coromandel, I'm still to ride them on a bike though - will be soon. Took the Subaru up to Port Charles last month, a lot of gravel up that way, but the sealed parts have been improved/extended a lot.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bender View Post
    Hey, I enjoyed it so it was worthwhile. How many kms was the ride (if you counted).
    I didn't do Miranda/Kawakawa bay etc so was about 480 including detours.

    Quote Originally Posted by 5ive View Post
    Sounds like a day well spent, needs pics though

    I love driving on those roads around the Coromandel, I'm still to ride them on a bike though - will be soon. Took the Subaru up to Port Charles last month, a lot of gravel up that way, but the sealed parts have been improved/extended a lot.
    ah yes pics! I will remedy that.... how could I forget??
    Quote Originally Posted by nodrog View Post
    you dont get 180+ hp out of 998cc by being nice to trees.

  6. #6
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    Good read, nice trip. I lived in Tairua for over 20 years. I ride the hill quite a bit, a lot of friends over there.

    Hikuwai is actually Hikuai.......

  7. #7
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    I did the loop for the first time during Anzac weekend. I went the same way around as you, but would go the other way next time as you'd be on the coast side of the road. Would also start in Waihi and ride through Whangamata then back to Kopu before heading up the east coast.

    But what is with placing all those safety signs at the corner entries? No way am I going to take my eyes off the road just before a corner!

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Moise View Post
    I did the loop for the first time during Anzac weekend. I went the same way around as you, but would go the other way next time as you'd be on the coast side of the road. Would also start in Waihi and ride through Whangamata then back to Kopu before heading up the east coast.

    But what is with placing all those safety signs at the corner entries? No way am I going to take my eyes off the road just before a corner!
    Yea I've done those routes before but I prefer anti-clockwise for some reason.

    Also I prefer to be on the lciff side of the road as you'll get campervans etc running wide more often than cutting corners. From what I've experienced anyway.



    Also 2nd post edited for pics.
    Quote Originally Posted by nodrog View Post
    you dont get 180+ hp out of 998cc by being nice to trees.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Hiflyer View Post
    Also I prefer to be on the lciff side of the road as you'll get campervans etc running wide more often than cutting corners. From what I've experienced anyway.
    Have only encountered a couple of 'loose' campervans so far, I seem to have more issues with the idiot locals in 4wds on the stretch from Thames to Kennedy Bay.

    A lot of them appear to use both sides of the road on blind corners, and also love to travel at 60km/h in 100km/h zones, and 80km/h in 50km/h zones.

    "What 'slow vehicle bay'?"

    Nice pics, but too many food shots. Now I'm hungry.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by 5ive View Post
    Have only encountered a couple of 'loose' campervans so far, I seem to have more issues with the idiot locals in 4wds on the stretch from Thames to Kennedy Bay.

    A lot of them appear to use both sides of the road on blind corners, and also love to travel at 60km/h in 100km/h zones, and 80km/h in 50km/h zones.

    "What 'slow vehicle bay'?"

    Nice pics, but too many food shots. Now I'm hungry.
    hahaha to be fair the closest call I had was when someone came round the corner almost knee down and leaning over the centre line on an S1000r. But god that bike sounded good! And yes yes too many food shots but that always happens to me, get too excited and forget to take pics when I'm out!
    Quote Originally Posted by nodrog View Post
    you dont get 180+ hp out of 998cc by being nice to trees.

  11. #11
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    Im hungry…. thanx Will investigate the coro…. gimmie a bell if you want to do it again and il meet you at the tag turn off or something.

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