Sun 15th Auckland to Coromandel

[bane]

Can the boys that carried on to do the loop (ZRXED, Mental Trousers, Beyond) let us know if all went well?

Cant believe you guys went back to Kopu and missed one of the best roads in NZ (Coro to Whitianga)

Great ride - although got very hot. Nice pace with Mental-trousers, Chickenfunkstar, Teflon and zrxer.

Came across the most destroyed ZX10 Id ever seen, just south of Coroglen (not with us) - very trick with full Ohlins components, but very very second hand after what must have been a huge off. Apparently rider (left by the time we got there) was well enough to get into a car.

catch you guys next time

[Scouse]

Hey there Fishslayer we carried on unfortunately the was one off, Cory came off the TL1000 just out of Whitianga then just past Coroglen we saw a silver ZX10 on the side of the road all writenoff looking not part of our group he took off from Coroglen about 15 minuts before us when we arived he was no where to be found there were some cage drivers around all pretty pissed off with the rider for some reason.

[Kornholio]

unfortunately the was one off, Cory came off the TL1000 just out of Whitianga .

Damn...how is he dude??

[terbang]

Glad you had a good one (jealous) see ya on the next..
Hope noone is hurt there..

[chickenfunkstar]

Nice days riding in the coromandel, had a good time as usual.

Nice riding with you all.

[Karma]

Sounds like a scavenger hunt to me!

Was it left unguarded?

[bane]

Sounds like a scavenger hunt to me!

Was it left unguarded?

well apart from the 10 cagers about, yep.

did ask Mental-trousers if he wanted an Ohlins steering damper

believe me, wasnt much else worth savaging, the ZX10 was *destroyed*

[Scouse]

Damn...how is he dude??

he's ok Korn left him at Coroglen waiting for some of his mates to turn up with a trailer

[Kornholio]

Ah sweet as... hows teh bike?

[Scouse]

Ah sweet as... hows teh bike?

Hmmm hard to say but it was leaking lots of oil but I dont think its a writeoff

[Mental Trousers]

Well, that was fun (mostly)

Teflon and myself turned up at Kopu petrol station about 10:10am. A full 40 minutes later the Auckland crew wanders in. Once we fired up to head out, half went the anti-clockwise route (the litre club mad bastards + some others that didn't know they were mad bastards). The rest of us went clockwise.

It was a fairly slow trip up. Fishslayer had his lady on the back and was taking it easy, while a few others weren't going anywhere in a hurry. Stopped up the top of the hill for the photos then carried on.

Lunch at the Pepper Tree was good as usual (the Lamb Shank Pie is very nice). A bunch of us then took off towards Whitianga.

A few corners up the hill from Coromandel we found 2 bikes and one of the guys sitting by the side of the road. Apparently the black bitsa TL1000 had the gearbox sieze coming around a corner so the owner was off finding tools to remove the chain so he could freewheel it down the hill.

The rest of the ride to Whitianga was very pleasant, with not too much traffic and at a reasonable pace.

We regrouped at the Shell in Whitianga, gassed up and rolled out again. Unfortunately Teflon lost the backend on a series of 45k corners approx 12k out of Whitianga. Apparently they're a notorious set of corners and there's plenty of people getting pulled out of the shubbery on them. The bike went down and just slid (on the side that already had a little bit of gravel rash) and ended up blocking the road. It didn't roll or bounce so it'll be repairable. However, he rolled and bounced and was lucky that the body armour prevented any broken bones. The spot he had his off was less than 1.5k from my inlaws place, so I rang the sister inlaw and then shot up to their place and grabbed the car and trailer. Took that back down the road and picked up the TLR and took it back to the inlaws with 4 bikes following (the other 3 bolted). We parked the bike up there and I gave Teflon my inlaws number, then we cruised down the road to the Coroglen. After a beer we shot the gap, leaving Teflon to prop up the bar until his mate arrived with a trailer (they must get very used to having bikers drown their sorrows there).

A bit further down the road we came across the remains of a ZX10. And I mean remains. It looked to be the ZX10 that we saw leaving the Coroglen about 10 mins after we got there. Apparently he hit a car and sailed over the roof of it then bounced a bit. There was an ambulance on the way but the guy had already jumped in a car with some people a taken off. He must've been ok to do that, but the bike was Farked with a capital F.

After that, we just put our heads down and headed for Kopu. Most of the way there I was following zrxer. Corners I'd almost run him over, then we'd find a straight bit and he'd demonstrate how a motor almost twice the size of mine (I was on a 750) could go a little bit faster in a straight line.

From Kopu me and Bane bailed.

Shame to see 3 seperate incidents - 1 being from the group we were a part of, but considering the number of bikes on the road over in the Coromandel today it's good to see there weren't more.

Other than Teflon coming to grief it was a very enjoyable ride. Although one day I'll get to go around the loop without having to pick people up off the road.

[Scouse]

After that, we just put our heads down and headed for Kopu. Most of the way there I was following zrxer. Corners I'd almost run him over, then we'd find a straight bit and he'd demonstrate how a motor almost twice the size of mine (I was on a 750) could go a little bit faster in a straight line.

Little bit......? who was it then that was sitting down enjoyin a nice cold beer
while you was just arriving at Kopu....?

[Scouse]

Oh and I take my hat off to Chickenfunkstar his front tyre had plenty of tread in the middle and and bugger all tread on the sides

[Mental Trousers]

Little bit......? who was it then that was sitting down enjoyin a nice cold beer
while you was just arriving at Kopu....?

Me and Bane stopped at the turn off (we were heading towards Paeroa) to wait for the guy on the gixxer but after a short while we decided to wait at the pub instead.

Chickenfunkster gives that sv some shit alright. He definitely seemed to enjoy himself out there today.

[geoffm]

Only problem was f'ing cars (and vans and trucks). Not game to pass on blind corners at warp speeds means lots of being stuck in the queue = get past some and more are ahead. It was a bit like riding in the city. I think the South Island roads have spoilt me.
Be nice on a good day that is not a holiday or end of people sxmas holiday break.
Geoff