What is the best ride you've had?

**Bonez** · 15th January 2005, 13:39

A certain young lady after a memorable new years party many many years ago.......

**inlinefour** · 15th January 2005, 14:33

Originally Posted by Celtic_Sea_lily

Ok all I was thinking last night about how much I love riding my motor bike.

I was wondering what is the most memorable and enjoyable ride anyone has had?

For me (so far) it would have to be riding up to Tokaanu in the pissing down rain and then riding back the following day and it being bright and sunny. I was with a good group of mates and we all had an awesome time.

But I also like the Fireblade and would also like another RD 250 LC, although now that I'm bigger it might not be as good as I remember from my youth

**erik** · 15th January 2005, 15:22

I haven't got a favourite ride, but ones that stand out are:

When I had just got my learners and didn't have a bike yet, borrowing my brother's zzr250 and going for rides around auckland in the early hours of the morning on the weekend to avoid traffic. I wasn't riding hard or fast and the roads weren't anything special, but being out there early, learning to ride a bike with few other people on the road, it was neat.

There've been a couple of KB rides where I pushed it a bit and felt like I'd tuned in to the bike well and was riding well. They were more of an adrenaline rush type of fun.

Riding to uni, splitting past all the traffic is kinda fun too.

**F5 Dave** · 17th January 2005, 08:37

Originally Posted by merv

Did you ride with the Meads?

um, no Andrew & Wayne who is a local. Too much debris there now.

Velox, I know the very bit of Makara hill & used to use it as my reference when buying a bike if I could.
P.S. RSV1000 very snatchy fuel injection through there.

**Hitcher** · 17th January 2005, 09:31

Route 52 was doing pretty well as an "outstanding" ride on Saturday until about halfway between T-tree and Wimbledon (I had fun this morning explaining this to an insurance claims officer whose map had a fold that ran right through these places)...

We'll finish it on another occasion.

**Monsterbishi** · 17th January 2005, 09:54

Best for me was my first ever open road trip, from Christchurch to Blenheim on my '83 CB250RS, 80kmh the whole way, ended up draughting a mini for about 20% of the trip, the weather was perfect, about 20deg, although I was walking kinda funny afterwards...

Was almost a decade ago(Yikes!) August 1995.

**Slipstream** · 17th January 2005, 10:02

it would have to be a toss up between:
1. A night time ride on the back of a Deuce, to help out a friend.
and
2. To and from Wairapa time trials on a GSXR 1100...also as a pillion.

no wait there's one better and it's the best too

...but I'm not going to share. Some things are just better if kept quiet...

**Yokai** · 17th January 2005, 10:08

My best ride has had to have been this weekend - AWESOME....

The iPod handled well, Magamiko was going great guns, and I didn't bin it! Wonderful weather - sparkling water - good mates! awesom... thanks guys!

**XP@** · 17th January 2005, 11:50

Best rides have to be a Rusty Nuts ride. either the 1000 miler or the southern cross.
Even though here are times you ask yourself "why?" they are just the best.

No compromise, total immersion in mototcycle.

**TonyB** · 17th January 2005, 11:51

My best ride would have to be a wee round trip I did from the Hokinui Moonshine Rally to Milford Sound and back in a day a couple of years back. The weather was near perfect, and the road from Te Anau to Milford sound would have to be one of the best in the country. Very well sign posted with hardly a straight bit in it, plus simply awesome scenery. I will never forget that day.

All the roads on the West Cost (SI) are awesome, as is the Lindis Pass and Fairlie to Geraldine. Chch to Nelson is awesome no matter which way you go (once you get off the Canterbury plains). The Mackenzie country would be great with an excellent radar detector, but at legal speeds it's just as bad as the canterbury plains, (except the veiws keep you going), there are a few corners but they're all so gentle they may as well be straight at legal velocities...

**Lee Rusty** · 17th January 2005, 12:25

and back via Route66 from Chicago to LA

**clint640** · 18th January 2005, 09:55

Originally Posted by XJ/FROSTY

All through the race we were swapping places 3 or 4 times a lap and up through the esses we lap after lap were trading paint.
side by side we would go over the bridge popping (it seemed) huge mono's as we crested the top.
on the cool down lap the crowd were on their feet roaring at us 2
We Finished 9th and 10th respectively but I diddn't care, it was the ride of a lifetime

I hear ya man. That sounds like my favourite ride ever on the track, at Manfeild I was on my 'ol VFR400, the other guy was on an XR650 motard. On the last lap I came 'round the sweeper at 10/10ths with the VFR squirming underneath me. Coming onto the front straight I could feel the XR thundering up behind me as I knew he would with his superior punch out of the turns, I tried to mould myself into the bike, tucking in elbow, knees, ears, everything, hoping that the better top end of the VFR would manifest itself in time. It did. By 1/2 a wheel I took the chequered flag ahead of him for a prestigious 3rd place in D-grade

Best road/adventure ride was last feb, thrashed a rental DR250 'round the top of the South for a weekend - the combination of good weather, good mates, great roads & scenery made for a trip my mind still wanders back to during slow days at work. Best thing is, we're going back to do it all again (& more) in a couple of weeks

and this time I'll be on the 640

Cheers
Clint

**Fryin Finn** · 18th January 2005, 11:10

My most memorable ride was back in 76 on my first bike, a Yamaha 360 RT3 around the South Island. Just 2 of us. The engine had just been rebuilt with a Suzuki 400 piston because the barrel was too worn to fit the largest oversize Yam piston. I had fitted Girling shocks from a Triumph Bonneville (way too stiff) and the seat was redone with some foam and pvc from Para Rubber - I basically sat on the frame rails. The lights didn't work and It didn't have a WOF. And I ran premix in the tank as the oil pump didn't work properly. We wore gumboots, jeans and pvc.
It was about 2000k over 11 days. I ran out of gas twice on the west coast. We camped in an excuse for a tent and it rained only once when we stayed with friends in Dunedin. My sidestand broke off in Rangiora and I rode with a flat back tyre from Springs Junction to Murchison (all dirt road back then)
There were so many memorable little incidents.
2 weeks after returning to Wgtn the bike kicked back and split the crankcase around the kick start bearing. I never rode that bike again.
Now I'm so old I videotape my rides to remember them.

**PSYCHO** · 18th January 2005, 11:18

Best ride ? hmmmm... probly one from Nelson to Franz Josef Glacier.

Awesome weather great roads...NO COPS!!!

Westport to Greymouth along the coast is magic.

Another favourite of mine is Arthurs Pass. Yeefukinhaaa!!