Minginui - Matawai - Motu Midwinter Madness Ride 30 July - 1 August 2010

[junkmanjoe]

you want to borrow them,,, yea not the best place to keep my gas i guess,,,,,

JMJ

[nothingflash]

you want to borrow them,,, yea not the best place to keep my gas i guess,,,,,

JMJ

Catch you tomorrow in mighty Sanson.

[Taz]

yup my 9fidy is ready to roll....



see ya all at the start line.....

JMJ

Fugn ell bro just how much shit you need? See ya all somewhere, some time.

[gunnyrob]

Happy trails Boys & Girls, Max is still a busted bustard. Have a great time, sorry I can't be there.

[clint640]

Righto, I'm damn near outta here. If anyone needs to get hold of me ph/txt before 3pm, after that leave a message at the Rangitaiki Tavern tonight or Journey's End tomorrow.

Cheers
Clint

[DR Girl]

Just to say I thoroughly enjoyed my day yesterday. Lovely to catch up with some of the old faces & meet some new. Nice to meet you Ronda Many thanks Clint & Rosie for organisining such a great ride , & Rosie for being Tail End Charlene. You just get to the meeting place & every one takes off ! Many thanks . . . . . love your HOT new bike. A fast ride back to the Bay. Some day I'll get to do the 2 dayer. Could have done with some heated handle grips on the ride over. . . actually heated goggles as well !!! Hope you all had a very safe ride today & make it home safely.

[Pampera]

I joined the Western division of the Wellington MMMMM crew striking force at Shell Mana at 0800 Friday. As part of our training we used the MMMMM as an exercise to develop tactics, one division advancing in the west via the Whanganui River Road the other in the east via Hawke’s Bay with the objective being to out flank and cut off the opposing forces. We believe this will be an approach that will deliver success in the next South Island Invasion.

We arrived in Taupo about 5 pm or so, after a leisurely and enjoyable ride up via Fordell and the River Road in perfect still and fine conditions, with a late lunch in Raetihi and dinner in an Irish bar in Taupo.

On Saturday before dawn it did not go to plan for me. Running my aircraft up in preparation for the dangerous mission I had a severe magneto drop and had to call it off (honest!).

Actually I had the third repeat of a serious intermittent fault on my 2007 F650 Dakar that periodically sees it refuse to start on a cold morning. I flagged this might happen to the Wellington crew the night before.

It first cost me the third day of the 2009 Yamaha Safari in Hanmer with no start in the morning. No fault found aside from a very slightly weak battery. In February this year it played up en route to the KTM Big Sky and resulted in me and Debbie being left at the start line in Oamaru with nothing salvageable from our three day ride. This time I ascertained a pattern in the instrument light start up pattern when the fault was active that in effect sent the message “don’t flatten the battery cranking, I will never start” (saving a flat battery being added to the root cause of an intermittent fault) and confirmed pre-heating with a heater restored the light pattern and allowed a start.

Despite the fault persisting for the first day at the dealer (thus being accepted as real) it cleared itself and bike did not fault for eight weeks at the dealer. I have some proper (2 valve twin) BMW’s to keep me mobile and after near $3000 down the tubes in relation to the lost South Island failures, did not particularly want to see the bike again - so no great loss.

I was given the bike back to see if it would fault again (!). I though the MMMMM would be a good test, some rough roads followed by a cold outside park overnight - bingo.

While I had packed a heat gun and extension cord (not something you normally see in a bike tool kit) I used the time I had set aside to pack and get ready for the off point 45 km away to strip the bike down and see if I could isolate the fault. It is obviously something electric that is jarred by rough roads and then does not allow a cold start in the morning after.

I found one wiring junction that when manipulated allows the normal start up check sequence to return (and be lost) and also confirmed that it is the fuel pump signal that is lost when it is not going to start. It should now be possible to have the problem fixed for good.

All the work has been under warranty as the bike was only 14 months old first failure (it is now nearly three years old) but it has been frustrating in the extreme. I got my 2001 Dakar new to relieve the need to keep a 20 year old flat twin running on demanding multi day Adventure rides (two up) and this it did splendidly for 6 years. I only got the 2007 as it was the last chance to reset my Dakar to new again, it was the last Dakar sold in the last batch of four to come here. What a mistake, it was step backwards and I wish I still had the old black and white!

But feeling very good about finally finding the problem.

With the bike now running I packed and set off for the start point at about 0750, knowing I would almost certainly be too late. It was freezing and with freezing fog banks and a worry of ice my speed was low and I was forced to stop and wash thick ice from the fog freezing to my visor. My gear had ice on the leading surfaces. I don’t know how those of you who made the run before sunrise made it, unless the fog was stirred up by the sunrise. I got to the fog and frost shrouded Rangataiki Hotel at 0832 and, not unsurprisingly, not a bike to be seen!

I had little idea of the exact route, I am slow at the best of times so had no chance of catching up, and was nervous about riding frozen gravel roads on my own so set sail for home. Great ride home, still and fine but COLD! Praise be for heated grips.

Only at Café Utopia in Ohakune did I realise how cold I was, it had seeped in slowly starting with the cold soak on the run to Rangataiki and back and the extra distance over the diversion around the Desert Road. Still they have great magazines at Utopia, motorcycle ones and this time a copy of The Aeroplane, so no hardship lingering over a long black and muffin (blueberry and choc chip if you ask).

I took the opportunity for a leisurely and enjoyable visit to the Army Museum. It was so cold that the left fork seal popped when I rode over a kerb to the park. No sign of it leaking again, I think it was a one off from cold rubber and cold congealed oil.

Absolutely magic ride home, still and fine, almost no traffic and mild temperatures once off the Plateau. Disappointed to miss the ride but not disappointed about finding the fault and having yesterday’s ride instead of wind and rain Sunday.

Looking forward to the reports and pictures of the great riding and enjoyable company that I missed though. I bet you had a rip roaring time at the woolshed. Sorry to let you down Clint, will PM to organise my payment.

Bring on JMJ’s ride, I will be DR350 mounted for that one!

Thanks for offering to help Joe – but I knew the drill and no point in spoiling your ride as well!

Still like Dakar’s, road bike comfortable, great two up on the ride to and from remote Adventures and good for long days two up in the back country, once a year service, over 400 km fuel range and 70+ mpg on regular is normal and they are just all around easyand convenient to use. Pity I replaced my good one with one I am sad to say is too typical of today’s BMW Motorad quality.


Michael

[merv]

Mike that is a sad story to hear, but looking at the weather I'm glad I had a lot of other things on as an excuse for not going on that ride.

[Roj]

Thanks for a great weekend, there were some times when I was wondering what the hell am I doing, but being new to adventure riding, this was a great ride, Clint's organisation made it possible to be able to go at my own pace, which varied from slow to painfully slow,

And here is a picture that I snapped that made me realise this:

BUGGER! that's Rosie (Tail end Charlie)

[Roj]

I don't know how I got there either, left home near Hamilton at 5am, the stretch from Atiamuri through to Taupo was Fog and heavy frost, rode all the way to Taupo with my visor up as it was the only way I could see, I had ice on my eyebrows by the time I got to Rangitikei, my toes were so cold I thought they had fallen off

Snip

I don’t know how those of you who made the run before sunrise made it, unless the fog was stirred up by the sunrise. I got to the fog and frost shrouded Rangataiki Hotel at 0832 and, not unsurprisingly, not a bike to be seen!

Snip

Michael

[Waihou Thumper]

made it possible to be able to go at my own pace, which varied from slow to painfully slow,
BUGGER! that's Rosie

Yep. glad you had a good time...AND, at least you saw plenty of countryside that the 'Hares' missed...

[wysper]

Clint's organisation made it possible to be able to go at my own pace, which varied from slow to painfully slow,

well at the moment that is my pace too! So if (WHEN) I make it next year, you will have some company!!

.... snip reply title "Nothing wrong with being slow Roj...

That is the thing about you adv riders. at least the ones I have met so far, are all quite happy to wait for us NOOB's that are still finding our feet off the slab.

[Horney1]

Nice ride thanks Clint & Rosie. It was great to meet and ride with similarly minded people. Great roads, great scenery - ah, it's nice to be riding NZ again Looking forward to another one. I got home warm and near dry - The Sidi's let a little water through but not too badly considering that it got quite wet during the afternoon.

The bike gearbox seemed to develop some issues today. I'm going to check the spline on the gear lever and the shaft but I suspect I may have to look inside to resolve it. It was still rideable but wasn't going into gear sometimes. The only other issue I had was some rear brake fade/ loss of pedal through the tight stuff today. I did the 'ol sqeeeze the caliper trick that someone reminded me about and the seemed to go.

Now, food and sleep!

[Night Falcon]

Welcome home lads n laddies.....now get cracken with the photos....you don't need to sleep...do it....do it now

[Shewolf]

Awesome weekend - thanks to Clint and Rosie for organising and great to meet everyone - thanks for the tips and help along the way.

Must remember...

1. Go around the corners
2. If you miss a corner slightly have the decency to fall off the bike in front of Andy for a photo op.

Photos uploading to photobucket but I may fall asleep anytime soon....