South Island - Motorcycle Heaven Is Here

[Banesto John]

You just have to ride.......

The Crown Range (built for bikes)
Haast Pass to Wanaka
Queenstown to Cromwell
The Canal Roads close to Twizel

I have lots more photos, I'll post them when I sort out the best ones.

Before we left I had the crisis of my life. Read about how KB helped me to fix it.

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...ad.php?t=69442

Man, life is good.

P.S. some poor bugger came off on the Haast to Wanaka road on Saturday. Looked like a CBR1000. He went wide on the exit of a right hander, and hit one of those bloody cheesecutters on the left side of the road. The bike was flung back onto the road, but our man went down the fairly high bank toward the lake. The road was closed for 1.5 hours while a helicopter came and lifted the poor bugger away to hospital.

When the road re-opened, we rode past what looked like two other bikers who might have been riding with the victim. Any word from anyone who can advise of the outcome, sure we would like to hear the man is doing okay.

[R6_kid:Me]

The south island is a beautiful place and i look forward to exploring it on two wheels at some time in the future

[sels1]

Yup, S.I. is motorcycling heaven esp West coast, the Passes, and Central O.
The road to Milford Sound has to be the best.
Pic -heading to Arthurs Pass from Kumara

[Banesto John]

Part of Le Tour de Sud

[Jantar]

Yes, great roads and beautiful scenery down here.

Where did you get those skin covered gloves?

[Daffyd]

Yes, great roads and beautiful scenery down here.

Where did you get those skin covered gloves?

Yes, the gloves look good. Wonder how well they'd survive a bin?

[oldrider]

Yes, the gloves look good. Wonder how well they'd survive a bin?

I used to use a pair of those when I was a teenager in the fifties, (had them given to me,) they were bloody useless in an off, always getting torn to shreds.

I still use them today though, under my expensive leather gloves, I have heard if you look after them they will last you a lifetime! Cheers John.

[Banesto John]

The photo was taken as a photo-setup on a quiet piece of road. Apparently it was hard for my mate to take the photo with gloves on. That's me in the left hand mirror. The camera was triggered remotely by a button at the left handle bar.

I also commented on the no gloves thing,and the next series of pics he wore gloves.

Cool pics of his 650 Bandit on the move though.

[ValkRider]

pde964,

Can't wait until we pick up our rental bike in Nelson in just a few weeks for our South Isalnd tour!

I also read the link about your BMW crisis... glad it worked out!

Too often folks give up on their bikes and rush them off to the shop for repairs. I believe everyone that rides a bike should do as much work on them themselves as possible. Changing oil, replacing brakes, etc...
Afterall we put our lives on the line each time we hit the road on two wheels... it's best to know how the contraption operates don't ya think?

I encourage everyone to have a model specific service manual for their bike. And read it! Learn it. Once you get used to finding your way around a bike, you'll feel better about it just knowing how things work and why.

Not to mention how valuable that information in when that bike up and dies on the road somewhere, leaving you stranded. Then you remember to check the kick stand safety switch and TA-DAH! the bike fires up again!

Thanks for the pics!

Darren