Most memorable ride ever

[Big Dave]

Perth to Rockhampton.
Te Anau to Milford Sound.
Queenstown to Glenorchy
Australian Alps covering the V-rod launch.
Waipoua forest
East Cape
Whangamata to Waihi
Coromandel Peninsula
Kangaroo Valley NSW
Queen Charlotte Drive
Takaka Hill
Wioeka Gorge
The Kaimais
22 to Raglan
Motueka Valley
Arthurs pass

to name a few.

[Divot]

Last year on my 883 Sporty. Auckland, Taihape, Wellington, Picton, thru Queen Charlotte Sound Road to Nelson, Buller to Westport, up to Karamea and back to Westport, down thru Greymouth and Reefton to Hanmer Springs, on to Akaroa for the 2004 HOG rally, on to Tekapo, Cromwell, Te Anau, out to Milford and back, up to Wanaka, Franz Josef, Aurther Pass into Christchurch, Blemhein, Havelock back thru the Queen Charlotte Sound Road to Nelson, Wellington then back to Auckland. 14 days of great riding.

Nothing beats those South Island Roads!

[Str8 Jacket]

Watching Str8 Jacket take on the bank! and the three cows standing perfectly side by side (like the AB front row) staring at her!

lol! And on my damn birthday too! those cows were definately a crack up! Though im pretty sure that they were giving Matt (BL) the "eye"...

Unfortunately my two most memorable rides both ended in a crash. My most memorable would have been when I wrapped the GN round the pole. I doubt i'll ever forget that, ouch!

[Ninja51]

Summer 2002. My ZX9R (click on image above) in convoy with my ex-mrs on her Thundercat.
Northampton, (UK) to Portsmouth. Cross channel ferry to Le Harvre. First night stop at Blois (Loire Valley). Second night stop at Poitier. Then two weeks enjoying the delights of the southern Dordogne. Next, east to the Auvergne. Then on to the Alps. (Join up with organised tour courtesy of Bike Magazine - day trips, treasure hunts, quizzes, prizes and partying). On to Reims and the Champagne region with forty other like-minded bikers. Overnight R&R then a final blat to Calais (and Dover) and then home to Northampton on the UK's cage infested and roadwork ridden road!. Best fun I've had without taking my clothes off! Total distance: 3500miles in three weeks. But that was then and this is now. Is it any wonder I chose to ship the 9R out here so that I can discover NZ in much the same way?

[DMNTD:Me]

Hell too many to choose from.
Favourite stretch of road is the Waipoua Forest in Hokianga.
Was MY race track in my backyard until I moved to Whangarei 5 months ago. Still not too far away these days. Learning the coast runs over here at the mo.

[Hailwood]

Have to agree with South Island did the IMOC Tourismo in 2000 Picton, Nelson Creek, Fox, through Haast(via Jackson Bay for fish and chips..an absolute must!!!) to Queenstown, Te Anau, Glen Tanner (on road to Mt Cook), Hanmer Springs, Takaka, Mapua and back to Picton and ferry to Wellington..10 days about 25 bikes..brilliant roads, beautiful scenery, great people...................

[ducatilover]

ummmm i havnt ridden for long but i think last sundy will be one of my most memorable rides......'sigh' i hope i dont have anymore rides like that....but i had a good ride on the friday before that, coming back from palmy theres a certain corner on the pahiatua track i love, its one of those 35k hairpins that tightens on itself, i entered at the wider end and did the most perfect line i've ever done [not saying much for me] and as it tightened the bike was going the perfect speed, i was doing what some of you told me too in a different thread and was looking at the vanishing point and gripping the outside of the tank with my knee [outside knee ofcourse] whilst having one arse cheek off the seat and nearly kneeing down, my mate following on his gn was quite suprised because i was going a wee bit faster [about 30k atleast lol] and he reckons he saw sparks when my footpeg brushed the gound......and after all that i'm still a imature useless twat of a rider who did 160 on cold tyres, riding a bike i'm not legally ment to ride fell off at the posted 160 passing a cage in a very slight sweeping corner not looking at the vanishing point properly [would have seen the corrugations] hit said corrugations and was inable to controll bike crahsed and miraculously walked away, fuess i'm not a very good rider no matter what i thought as i left that morning.... rant over sorry about that guys

[Macktheknife]

35 yrs on the road,and you want me to pick one ride? Recently The Lost Weekend was very memorable.

Back in the 70s a mate and I spent a week in the Coromadel on our old BSA singles.We lived off the land and camped out with no tent - on beach's,in boathouses,porches of baches and in caves,we crashed,got stuck,got lost,on the road and in the bush,chased by bulls,and explored every road we could find.I broke a valve spring,over reved and bent a valve....we stripped it down in a tin shed with a sand floor,my mate went back to Auckland and returned with a valve,I fitted it and we were on the road again.Still a memorable ride nearly 30 yrs later....

Great story!
I know how trips like that go, I had one about 15 years ago. Blew up a clutch in nowhere'sville and had to rebuild it in this guys cowshed, with parts from his tractor. Good times. Hoping this summers trip round South Island will be a cracker too.

[Madmax]

riding down to boxing day races on a Kawasaki mach111
ran out of gas twice no bloody garges open,
(in the pissing rain)
then having a spin round the track while they
still puting up the bales.
riding the ZX10R home from the bike shop
(in the pissing rain)

[vince25]

mine was just before my last bike got pinched. Was a ride from Bloodstock stables by Bombay (i forget the town) through the city and into the shore. whole motorway was blocked off, just for us bikes. i was alone in the sense that i didnt know anyone there, but i have never felt like such a part if a group as that. i think there was something like 1500 bikes there. it was an amazing feeling.

[Kornholio]

I remember all my crashes vividly :/

[VasalineWarrior]

My first time on the Masterton-Castlepoint run in the wairarapa, chasing down Velox and crazylittleshit and actually keeping up. So many beautiful sweeping corners... (all 55-85km/hr). This road is a Mecca guys and if you havent tried it then you have to give it a go!

[Biff]

Chch>Kaikoura>Nelson Bays>Buller>West Coast (Punakakei (Pancake rocks FF))>Arthurs Pass. 2 days, 1 OFC, no tickets.

Please scuse any mispelling of place names.

[T.W.R]

too many good ones over the years, rallies & trips, but the most recent would be coming home from Wanganui at the start of the floods a year back, travelling through the kapiti coast in torrential rain to get to the ferry, the porirua motorway was like a river, the ferry crossing was a beauty ( last one of the day)the old chunder roll was going full noise!, dry ride from picton to seddon then more rain to kaikora arrived in the dark fuelled up, left there, struck 2inches of snow on the hundalees, lost the feeling in my hands ( half hour defrost at scargill at 10pm ) got home at 12.15am the best adventure i have endured on a bike.
even topped the 91 punakaiki rally that got washed out due to the lovely west coast rain ( that took my leather jacket 2wks to dry out) or any of the brass monkey rallies i've done

[takarada]

ran into the side of a car in taranaki street, flew over the car and landed 30 feet away - that was the most memorable event. The flight was quite a cool experience but the landing was rough. made a mess of the bike tho.

Bandung to Jakarta on suzuki 125 - motorbikes are not allowed on motorways in indonesia so it involved a lot of minor roads. about 6 six hours for 160km. That was before the terrorist stuff happened, I wouldn't try it now.