Wellington - bike capitol of NZ?

[bluninja]

Well I've just returned from my first visit to Wellington in 21 years. The sun was hot, hardly a breath of wind, but no bike   Wandering around the city centre I couldn't help but notice all the bike parking dotted around, all fully used. There seemed to be far more bikes parked in the city centre than in Auckland, where I've seen very little bike parking bays.

Also they have the Britten bike on display in Te Papa, and a Harley Davidson 100 years of history display on til June. So is Wellington the bike capitol of NZ?

TTFN

 

[wkid_one]

Having lived in Wellington for 26 years, the limitation is the availability of decent scratching roads.  There is no really good long roads that you can absolutely fang a bike (without taking a good long motorway ride).

Rimutaka Hill is good (a long version of the Kaimais) but is still limited - I have been known to do up to 5 repeats passes over the hill before I had had enough (it only takes about 10 mins to get up and over (speed dependant of course)...

It is a gr8 place for Tourers and Harleys, but not for sports bikes.....even the race track at Manfield is a decent ride. 

Auckland has much more accessible and challenging roads to ride - Wellington has nothing like the Kaiaua Loop or Coromandel Loop.

Good rides in Karaka Bay Rd (windy but short and is city riding at each end), Pahiatua Track (about 60 mins out of Wellington), Makara (short 1.5lane road full of horse trucks)......not a great many really for the population, but is largely limited by topography.  But, driving down Lambton Quay on a VTR is a thrill - wicked reverb off the buildings, car alarms (YES SMALL THINGS DO AMUSE SMALL MINDS)

Having done both - the top of the North Island kills it.......esp around the Waikato and Coromandel.....BRING IT ON (FECK IT IS WINTER....and here I was getting amped)

[MikeL]

Nah
It's just because Wellington is so small compared to Auckland, it just seemed as if there were more bikes... they were obviously all parked together because there's no choice.
This bit about hot sun and no wind has me puzzled - is this the city I learned to ride in thirty odd years ago? Seems I recall you had to have at least 500cc to make any headway against that southerly... As for summer, well that occasionally happened for a day or two in late January or early February, but you had to go over the Rimutakas if you actually wanted to feel warm. Martinborough in the seventies...hmmm!
I saw the Britten bike at Te Papa - actually spent more time looking at that than any of the displays (not just because I was having a flat white in the cafe - I personally think Te Papa is just a lot of hype and packaging - the substance is pretty thin).
End of anti-Wellington diatribe. I actually kinda like the place in a funny nostalgic sort of way. But as for living there again...

[What?]

I also lived in Wellington for a few years. Yep, the place is a bit limited for sports riding, but it is also the bike capital of NZ. Simple fact is it has the highest number of bike registrations per capita of any town in the country.  Just a shame the weather is sometimes less than conducive to riding... But when it is good, the weather is often better than Auckland's... not that many Aucklanders will believe that! (maybe I don't either)

[Gixxer]

the only reason you don't see bikes parked in Auckland is cause we are all riding.

 

 

[Skunk]

Thanks for showing the 'one-eyed Aucklander' syndrome to it's best guys. There are places other than Auckland with merit.

Personally I believe we do lack good riding roads nearby but that means we get out of the city to RIDE. I couldn't believe the thread elsewhere here on roads to ride and someone (Aucklander) posts a map of streets IN THE CITY! WTF is that?!

[wkid_one]

Thanks Kiwi - but having had the luxury of riding in both cities considerably - I'd like to think my comments are tempered with a great deal of experience.  I know what Wellington is like and the idea of a large motorway ride to my fav scratching roads squares my rennsports off just thinking about it......

Wellington has some good rides no doubt - but they are either miles away - or too bloody short....I like to do 500-600km per weekend and the idea of spending 400-500km of that on a motorway as I would in Wellington bores the shit out of me.....and hurts my wrists, arms and shoulders.

'One Eyed' - I think not - having lived in Wellington for 26 year - I am still a Hurricane supporter (hear all the other Auckland riders moan!!) - hence owning a bright yellow VTR!. 

I therefore think my comments are well founded and actually challenge you to find a road in Wellington similar in length, complexity, variety and lack of motorway to that of the 150km Alfriston/Clevedon/KawaKawa Bay/Kaiaua/Mangatawhiri/Hunua track or the 450km Clevedon/Coromandel Loop or 450km Rangariri/Pirongia/Te Awamutu/Putararu/Kaimai Track - all of which have limited motorway riding and maximum smiles.

I am not putting Wellington down, merely stating a fact that Auckland has better riding roads for those who wish to thrash the rubber off their bikes without sitting bolt upright on a motorway worrying about porkers!  We also have easier access to racetracks/dragstrips which all add to the enjoyment...

[bluninja]

Hmmm, stirred a few things here. Not surprising since a large number of this forum are from around Auckland, but it's good to hear the views of people who have been around awhile. It's interesting to note that various yardsticks have been used.

The yardstick that says Auckland has the best scratching roads close by (compared to Wellington)? I think there may be other places in NZ that would claim even better empty twisties close by. So would that make them bike capitol of NZ? I must admit I was looking at things from the view of the amount of bikes on view as everyday transport, rather than cars; and the fact that there was a large number of bike parks dotted around the centre; something that seems in short supply in Auckland.

BTW yes it was sunny, no there was practically no wind on the days I was there....apart from a slight breeze to make it choppy for the dragon boat racing.

TTFN

[MikeL]

Valid comments, bluninja. We all have different reasons for preferring where we live. This morning had me seriously questioning the sanity of anyone who lives in Auckland and commutes to work. Put my bike in for service yesterday and had to leave it overnight, so took the car into town: it's about 10 km I think from Onehunga to the CBD - took me nearly 50 minutes. Almost as bad as taking the bus back from Victoria St to Onehunga at 5 p.m. last night: over an hour. Although I haven't lived in Wellington for many years I'm pretty sure that the rush-hour traffic jams there are insignificant compared to ours. When I got my first bike in Wlg all those years ago I loved riding in summer but the winters eventually got to me and for this and other reasons I traded the bike in on a car. I have to say though that my trips back to Wlg in recent years have left me a bit unsure about the superiority of Auckland's climate -Wlg's weather certainly does seem to have changed for the better. As for the roads, Wlg suffers from being a dead end as it were, with only 2 directions to go (Hutt Valley and Kapiti Coast) with some dreary motorway and suburban riding before you get anywhere interesting. But I'm sure the locals have got it all sussed - come on Wellingtonians, let's hear more about your favourite rides.

[Coldkiwi]

I believe the map shown was for Riddell road and was accompanied by a comment along the lines of  'if you can't be arsed riding to the outer city and want a real short but fun fang, try this road'... so I dunno what the big deal is. Spankme didn't claim it was a 450km loop with something for everyone anyway.

And I'd agree that, yes, while there are houses etc. but there are some really nice banked  S- bends and tight corners along there.. it just doesn't last very long but its worth detouring too if you're anywhere near it.

 

i'm still slacked off about them resealing that kaiaua road. But I piked up a wises map of hauraki, franklin and coromandel last week because I drove down a nice little road (Kopuku) off state hwy 2 before maramarua and decided I needed to revisit the area on a bike to make the most of some of these deserted and twisty little roads. (make sure you get a topo or shadow type map so you can see the hills if you're interested)

And out of interest.. there is a road marked just out of Meremere that branches off state hwy 1 and heads East nor East. there is a 500m section of slow bends where it crosses the railway and then it goes for 5k... dead straight, dead flat to a dead end. I don't have the name but does anyone know if it's sealed? (it looks like it might branch off just by the old power station. If so (and assuming it doesn't get pummeled by heavy traffic) it would have to be the ULTIMATE place for trying to get the top speed on any bike (what cop is going to sit on a deserted dead end road?):bigthumb:

[Skunk]

Hey wkid_one, my comments weren't aimed at you; they were aimed at the one-eyed comments some were making.

If you're down this way you should try a few of the roads that are within 400kms... SH50 and 52 are good. Round Lake Ferry, out back of Gladstone... any roads at the top of the South Island (yeah, a ferry trip).

Anyway, if 400kms is too long the 'Takas will do ya anyway

Cheers

[merv]

Wkid_1 says 400-500km on motorways - a few tin-toppers probably wish we had more motorways, but given none of them are longer than about 30kms it is hard to understand what he means. It doesn't take long to get to the Wairarapa and when about 30 of the kms to Featherston are the Kaitoke hill (damn they are bulldozing that one now) and Rimutaka hill the ride is fun, then once in the Wairarapa you can go on all sorts of roads all off of SH2. The roads out beyond Martinborough are magic, also the back roads to Castlepoint or Riversdale or North through Alfredton, Pongaroa to Weber and any detour in between are great such as Makuri gorge back to Pahiatua. It is easy to do a 500-600km day without getting bored or doing the same bit twice.
SH1 side is boring agreed, and you can only go South from Wellington a ferry, but that aint a bad thing. The roads around the South Island are magic too - especially Upper and Lower Buller Gorge, West Coast to Haast and beyond and Lindis Pass in the middle - all great on a road bike. So who's complaining. As for the weather, we did have crap from September until January, but the last month or so have been perfect.

[merv]

This is what it was like at Lake Ferry on Sunday - biker heaven with great weather.

[merv]

What am I doing wrong as my attachment in the above post only seems to work if I have already loaded the photo on my PC prior to accessing KiwiBiker?

The link to the photo is http://bikemerv.topcities.com/photos/road/20030302.jpg

I did the insert image option as I tried attaching the file and couldn't get that to work. As a new boy here can someone advise how best to get pics in a message?

[What?]

I still reckon Wellingtown has to take the title as bike capital purely on a numbers basis, and whist I agree totally with Merv about the great riding to be had in the Wairarapa, I don't feel Wellington makes it as the Riding Capital. Nor does Auckland. Or anywhere else for that matter - the best place to ride is where ever you happen to be (it is a bit like "what is the best bike"...)