You meet the nicest people on a Honda (Ruapuna have-a-go day)

**Kickaha** · 20th February 2007, 18:33

You meet the nicest people on a Honda

Talking to Bren_chch on msn one night and the next minute he’s offering me a ride on his Erion Honda at the Have a go Day at Ruapuna, not being a person who’ll give away a chance to hammer someone else bikes I thought about it for 1/1000 sec and said yes, after all the step up from a 14hp Bucket to a 140+hp Erion Honda isn’t that big really

Rolling up early on the day and I got signed in and then grabbed some clipboards and started working my way down the queue getting the “have a go day” riders to fill in the forms and speed things up before they get to the sign in table, Bren tells me the bikes good to go and I just have to get it scrutineered, I top up on forms twice and about 160 riders sign in at 9.15am Joe from Sportszone Suzuki says that’s it we’re not accepting any more entries

I get the Erion scrutineered and we put it on the stands and hook up the battery charger and tyre warmers and gas it up

We wander off to watch a few guys in the “Have a go day” classes and get there in time to see Colin fall on his arse and toss Stanko’s NSR400 down the track when he lowsides exiting the sweeper

Session 1

Then it’s our turn, we get the battery charger off and bolt the seat on and get the tyre warmers off and roll out onto the track, first session and I’m taking it very easy, I’m only using about 2/3 throttle and being very gentle on the gas exiting corners and under brakes, compared to the bucket it’s big, heavy, tall and a little bit faster, I cruise past “ slow Ginga Katana rider” and catch Glen on his Gasgas 300 Motard, we swap places a bit, I pass him down the straights and he goes back past around the infield, A VFR 400 comes hammering past into the right hander just about highsides and goes off the track, and then the red flags are out with a rider down between the dipper and sweeper and we go back into the pits

Tyre warmers on and battery charger hooked back up and we wait for our next turn to come around, my wrists are pretty sore and it’s suggested I should masturbate more to get a bit more strength in them

Session 2

I crank it up a bit harder this time and use the brakes a bit more, a couple of times I go into corners what I think is a bit hot but easily make it around them, I pass “slow Ginga Katana rider” and set off after Glen again, I catch and pass him and this time he cant get me back although he can catch back up to me, Warren comes past under brakes and around the outside at the hairpin then lets me back in front and then proceeds to play about with me for the next lap or two showing me just how hard you can push it into a corner, about the time I get my knee down on the infield sweeper I realise I don’t have my knee sliders on and , the wrists are starting to hurt again, I catch and pass quite a few bikes and then the fast guys come past close enough to reach out and touch and it becomes very apparent I’m not even close to the limits of the bike

Stanko is busy dismembering his LC trying to find a fault in between sessions and gives up and takes the NSR400 out instead, only to run out of gas and end up pushing back

Session 3

I give Glen a reasonable head start and set off after him “slow Ginga Katana rider" is despatched fairly early on and I catch Glen, pass him and pull away, now that I’m dialling it up a bit more I notice the clutch is slipping, I’m carrying the speed further into the turns braking harder and gassing it up earlier but I’m still taking it fairly easy, the wrists aren’t hurting anywhere near as much and I’m a lot more comfortable on the bike, I’m used to running against bikes with comparable speeds so it’s quite cool to be able to use the power just to be able to blast past, ride around and outbrake anyone I can catch up to, but its over all to soon, back in the pits and Rashika has managed to kill her LC , she’s pretty hard on gear that girl

Session 4

Bren kicks me off the Erion as “slow Ginga Katana rider” has abandoned his bike for an Aprilla Tuono and Bren wants to give him a pasting, I climb aboard theFireblade Streetfighter that Brens been riding, now as much as I liked the Erion the streetfighter is more me, nice wide bars, more upright and easy to toss about, it doesn’t have the power of the Erion but I like the brakes a lot more, the suspension is a lot softer and it moves around more, the Erion is set up a lot harder to make up for all the pies Bren eats, I follow TonyB for a bit then go past him but this session is a bit lonely as there’s not so many bikes for me to play with and before you know it the days over

I had a awesome time and thanks a lot Bren for trusting me with your bikes I hope I can repay the favour one day as I had a awesome time

**Joni** · 20th February 2007, 20:59

Here's a piccie of Kickaha in the last session on Brens street figher...

**SDU** · 21st February 2007, 10:51

Originally Posted by Kickaha

You meet the nicest people on a Honda
... the streetfighter is more me, nice wide bars, more upright and easy to toss about, it doesn’t have the power of the Erion but I like the brakes a lot more, the suspension is a lot softer and it moves around more,

hmmm another bike coming to your garage perhaps?

Good write up

you sure love passing that “slow Ginga Katana rider"

**Bren_chch** · 21st February 2007, 13:03

yeah awesome writeup as usual, funny! That ginger guy was like a cone in the road! saying that though, he was riding the aprilia tuono hard out, looked good, looked even better as I passed him by yawning and accidently opening the throttle a bit more!

Anyhow Your welcome, was good to see someone else on them having fun! and yeah the streetfighter is such a fun bike, you dont need tyo go fast on it to have a blast!

No I dont want to go on a sidecar!!!