Learning All The Time - Learning Good Driving Behaviour

[pritch]

These people also drive cars on our roads, which is perhaps the more disturbing aspect to me.

You are absolutely right of course. When I see stupid behaviour with a trolley it bothers me because I know she will leave the supermarket and drive her car in the same witless manner.

[Ocean1]

CasperNZ,
I like your thinking.

It would indeed be an interesting "social experiment" to paint up a large supermarket
with centre lines on aisles, and with Stop / Give Way signs at the ends. Perhaps a few
double yellows as well, just to give dramatic effect.

With a few strategically positioned GoPro's in-store to capture the shopper response.

Perhaps around next March 31st ?

...And a judicious sprinkling of constabulary with random tax receipt books lurking here and there, purely for safety's sake, y'know.

[Bass]

...And a judicious sprinkling of constabulary with random tax receipt books lurking here and there, purely for safety's sake, y'know.

And parking wardens so they can give you the message both moving and stationary

[Ocean1]

And parking wardens so they can give you the message both moving and stationary

Aye. In miniskirts.

There's still something missing from this picture....

Ah yes, the ability to cause the above some activity, here we go....

[R650R]

...And a judicious sprinkling of constabulary with random tax receipt books lurking here and there, purely for safety's sake, y'know.

And a dashcam so you can collect insufficient evidence of others wrongs lol...


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...mming-car.html

[R650R]

Morning All,

A heavy VFR on road tyres on gravel is not a match made in
heaven. A pity really, given that a number of great areas of NZ are probably easily accessible
only by 4WD or Adventure motorcycle.

-

Bollocks.... Have a look at comet hut road in Kawekas on google earth... The GSXr has been up there several times.....

And don't be a cheap bastard on cage tyres.... they have good specials when you buy full sets, running RE003's now, VERY nice

[caspernz]

CasperNZ,
I like your thinking.

It would indeed be an interesting "social experiment" to paint up a large supermarket
with centre lines on aisles, and with Stop / Give Way signs at the ends. Perhaps a few
double yellows as well, just to give dramatic effect.

With a few strategically positioned GoPro's in-store to capture the shopper response.

Perhaps around next March 31st ?

That sounds like a good April fools setup

[Bass]

Bollocks.... Have a look at comet hut road in Kawekas on google earth... The GSXr has been up there several times.....

What he said.

Once upon a time, all bikes were adventure bikes

[Cosmik de Bris]

You are absolutely right of course. When I see stupid behaviour with a trolley it bothers me because I know she will leave the supermarket and drive her car in the same witless manner.

She, her? Need I elaborate?

[Viking01]

Bollocks.... Have a look at comet hut road in Kawekas on google earth... The GSXr has been up there several times.....

And don't be a cheap bastard on cage tyres.... they have good specials when you buy full sets, running RE003's now, VERY nice

Interesting to see your comments, and I was of two minds whether or not to reply.

Gravel Roads

Looked at your photos, and I thought you said "gravel road". That is a nice level graded farm track.
Would just have to be careful about choosing to use the front brake on the way down.

I'm reasonably confident the VFR and I could probably have managed the same track. Note I said
'could'. That's not a challenge ..... 8-)

But here's the difference.

I was thinking about "gravel roads", where there is a decent sized crown in the middle of the road,
and both wheel tracks are rough and have a few potholes, and you are frequently hunting for better
surface on the other side of the road (you know, where the cow cockies coming around the next blind
bend suddenly appear in their 4WD Hilux's at high speed).

It's not that the VFR doesn't do gravel roads; I just choose to minimise the number that we do go
over together, and if they look gnarly, I've often play the discretion card.

I've had one 'off' on the VFR since acquiring it in 2008 (hitting black ice going to work early one
morning). While the damage seemed minimal and the insurance company was kind enough to restore
the VFR back to mint, the final repair bill was still approx $8.5K. And I'm not so sure that they would
choose to do so again, given that the VFR has depreciated significantly over the subsequent 8 years.

She is still in lovely condition and runs a treat, and I'd be hard pressed to replace her with one in
comparable condition (especially one with reworked front suspension and Ohlins rear suspension).

Plus the tyres fitted (Michelin PR4's) - while they are great road tyres and perform well in the wet,
they are not "gravel road" tyres.

Example: I've been over the 12km gravel section on the Forgotten Highway, after they had dumped
a fresh new load of large coarse gravel - when it was wet - and where the front tyre couldn't cut a
track into the gravel and the rear was squirreling around trying to find traction. Yes, you can do it,
but it's not much fun. And I could be in a bit of a pickle if the VFR decided to have a wee lie down.

If I really want to do some Adventure riding over gravel roads, think another machine better suited
to purpose might be the answer. One with higher grips, increased suspension travel and crash bars.
But these days, I suspect that more riding up on the pegs, my arthritic knees would complain just
the same. So I'll just stick to reading other people's travel blogs on the AdvRider website..... 8-)


Car Tyres

Well, while I said we get tyres from Firestone, they are actually Bridgestones (currently running
new F01's). Appreciate that Bridgestones have a more performance bias, compared to Firestones
which tend to be constructed more with budget in mind.

And again, here's the difference.

While the RE003's are excellent tyres, they are rated as "performance" tyres. For road and for track.
And I'm sure your vehicle feels like it's running on rails.

Whereas for the type of running that we do, mainly highway miles (sorry, kms) with a hill section at
one end, the F01's are more than adequate for purpose. They have a rolling edge that is hard wearing
on hills, and they are good in the wet. And I do regularly check tyre pressures, choosing to run the
tyres slightly on the hard side.

While RE003's are available, they are another $60 per tyre. The franchise owner is quite prepared
to sell me RE003's, but he knows that I won't get a significant improvement in tyre wear and life,
and that I'll grumble when it next comes time to replace them. We've already had that discussion.

Plus the RE003 is an asymmetric tyre, meaning that it can't be swapped around on the rim (whereas
the F01 tyre can).

So, I take your point: Don't be a cheap-ar@# with tyres. I wouldn't compromise the choice of tyres
that we run, especially when it's my dearly beloved who is the primary user of the Subaru. But I think
our current choice of tyre will be safe and suit our needs.

Cheers

[pritch]

She, her? Need I elaborate?

I was thinking that may cause a problem but it does reflect reality. Besides females are not common hereabout apart from Cassina.

[R650R]

Looked at your photos, and I thought you said "gravel road". That is a nice level graded farm track.
Would just have to be careful about choosing to use the front brake on the way down.

Oh no sirrreeee, its plenty rough and loose, well above graded farm track level. Versy steep, couple places where you have to commit and wont be turning around....
wide angle gopro screen shots and phone pics ahrd to do justice.

Michelin pilots tyres

[R650R]

Yes....

1234545678976

[Viking01]

Oh no sirrreeee, its plenty rough and loose, well above graded farm track level. Versy steep, couple places where you have to commit and wont be turning around....
wide angle gopro screen shots and phone pics ahrd to do justice.

Michelin pilots tyres

The comment was made tongue in cheek, with expectation of a suitable response.
Can imagine you'd have fun spinning up the tyres on the GSXR (you'd have more
hp and torque than me) ...... 8-)

[madbikeboy]

It's impossible to "spin up" the tyre of a GSXR. We are all very responsible, owning a GSXR comes with responsibility and a set of rules that ensure our responsibility. We wear special fluorescent vests, even on sunny days. We ride in straight lines. Never "knee down", that's very irresponsible and could cause eviction from the GSXR owners club.

This is why we GSXR Owners Club Members achieve such extraordinary tyre life.