Nelson Rideouts - Where next?

**thommo77** · 15th December 2008, 19:12

Sounds good. Will put it on the must do list.
Had a play around the Pigeon forest for a couple of hours yesterday.
Was a bit naughty and gained access around the outside of a locked gate. Although, to be fair, I dont think I was the only mug who'd done this by the look of all the tyre tracks.
Anyway, because I went up and down about 20 different side tracks, I lost my bearings and couldn't find the same gate again (all I want for xmas is a GPS). Every other gate I came across was totally fenced off. By this stage I had visions of going onto reserve, then running out altogether.........didn't fancy camping out on a wet Sunday night!
Luckily, after 45 minutes of mild panic, I found it.
Cruised home over Dovedale, Jacobs, Moutere and reckon I made it to Shell Richmond just in time.

**Padmei** · 15th December 2008, 19:18

Felt really planted on the gravel. The front just went where it was pointed & the back was steady as a rock. On the tar seal there was a more noticeable amount of fork dive but was ok as we just took it easy.

I forgot to adjust the rear suspension to compensate for the slight increase of load so the footpegs were scraping around many of the thousand corners. Bec loved it & made noises about how to get her license so in a few years maybe Mrs Padmei will be out & about.

Gonzo isn't the ideal 2up bike -if we were to continue 2 uping a new F800GS or old Tiger would be on the cards. I just kept thinking back to 'Motorcycle Diaries' remembering Che & the chem wailing on the old Norton & hardened the golly up.

Over the summer we may ditch the kids again (know anyone wanting to buy a couple - good condition, little noisy from the gearboxes) & head West Coast way.

**NordieBoy** · 16th December 2008, 06:56

Sometimes the pillion can be in just the right position to make the bike feel right in the gravel and sometimes it's a bit of a mission.

Another thing on Sunday...
I went back to the pit after playing with the nephews/neice and saw someone had dumped all my gear on the ground...
Then I saw the piece of wood I was using under my stand and realised my DR wasn't there...

Scurry over to the track and I hear a big bore bike on the limiter going up through the bog and see a roostertail of mud. A minute later it's over the hill and coming down toward the jump with both headlights blazing.

It jumps surprisingly well - heavily but well.

Wish I'd had the good camera out there

Shane says the back end is 10 times better with the 10W oil but now you can feel that the front end is the weak link. Emulators time.
Also the back brake is too easy to lock up but I think that's more a tyre thing and the exhaust gives it a good bottom/mid range compared to when he rode it over Patriarch.

He was throwing it around like a 250. Opposite lock through the corners bouncing off the limiter, sounding like a shotgun blast echoing around the hills on the closed throttle downhill bits, airborn off anything with the slightest bump and all this on a slippery track with a good MT21 front at 28psi and a 3/4 worn MT21 rear at 30psi. Proper race tyres

And it's still all in one piece.

**warewolf** · 16th December 2008, 09:10

Love your work, Shane!

**Woodman** · 16th December 2008, 20:10

Do you think they should have an adventure bike class??

Must have road legal tyres and no trailers, e.g. must be ridden to the track. It would be fun eh?
I think we would all see how good klrs really are.

**Padmei** · 17th December 2008, 06:35

Originally Posted by Woodman

Do you think they should have an adventure bike class??

Must have road legal tyres and no trailers, e.g. must be ridden to the track. It would be fun eh?
I think we would all see how good klrs really are.

Got yours airbourne? Going over jumps is like a sumo wrestler on a trampoline.

**CrazyFrog** · 17th December 2008, 06:36

Originally Posted by Woodman

Do you think they should have an adventure bike class??

Must have road legal tyres and no trailers, e.g. must be ridden to the track. It would be fun eh?
I think we would all see how good klrs really are.

Jesus, you're opening yourself up for some serious poking there fella!
Be warned, extreme cynicism will highly likely follow.......hehehe.

**NordieBoy** · 17th December 2008, 18:48

Originally Posted by CrazyFrog

Jesus, you're opening yourself up for some serious poking there fella!
Be warned, extreme cynicism will highly likely follow.......hehehe.

I'd be up for the cynicism and the racing

**Woodman** · 18th December 2008, 20:06

Originally Posted by Padmei

Got yours airbourne? Going over jumps is like a sumo wrestler on a trampoline.

Got a video of me jumping the Klr. getting it in the air is easy, its the landing that is difficult.

KLR with full tank = 205kgs
Me the rider = 110kgs
Landing after jumping a bit higher than I'd planned
Priceless

Thats when the rear sub frame came loose.

**Padmei** · 20th December 2008, 08:30

Originally Posted by Woodman

Got a video of me jumping the Klr. getting it in the air is easy, its the landing that is difficult.

KLR with full tank = 205kgs
Me the rider = 110kgs
Landing after jumping a bit higher than I'd planned
Priceless

Thats when the rear sub frame came loose.

I know what you mean about the landing. Got video proof? Lets see it

Got the front wheel up? I've seen vids of the 08 doing them but haven't managed to get mine up yet. Will try on a nice soft surface

**Underground** · 20th December 2008, 10:02

I took a ride up Mt Arthur and the Baton valley on thurs, does anyone know whether it is worth crossing the ford or the bridge at the end of the Baton ? how much further you can ride up there ? The cherries are ripe at the camp area by the way

The rope has gone off the Maunga, it was still there on thurs but last night it was cut into lots of little pieces ,someone must have got sick of it

**cooneyr** · 20th December 2008, 12:22

Originally Posted by Underground

....The rope has gone off the Maunga, it was still there on thurs but last night it was cut into lots of little pieces ,someone must have got sick of it

Was there any "good" reason for closing the Manga in the first place? Wanting to know as checking out access to various parts of the DB1k route. See Rainbow closed till the 28 Dec thread.

Anybody know if there is any forestry work around the Sherry River Road. I'll be hitting town on Monday the 22nd and hope to check out Sherry River plus other tracks in the area. Seems from your guys reports that Mt Arthur, Jacobs Ladder, etc are all open at the moment.

Cheers R

**Woodman** · 20th December 2008, 13:23

Originally Posted by Padmei

I know what you mean about the landing. Got video proof? Lets see it

Got the front wheel up? I've seen vids of the 08 doing them but haven't managed to get mine up yet. Will try on a nice soft surface

I will try to put pload it today. nothing else to do in this rain.

**CrazyFrog** · 20th December 2008, 13:30

Originally Posted by cooneyr

Was there any "good" reason for closing the Manga in the first place? Wanting to know as checking out access to various parts of the DB1k route. See Rainbow closed till the 28 Dec thread.

Anybody know if there is any forestry work around the Sherry River Road. I'll be hitting town on Monday the 22nd and hope to check out Sherry River plus other tracks in the area. Seems from your guys reports that Mt Arthur, Jacobs Ladder, etc are all open at the moment.

Cheers R

I think the only reason for closing Mangatapu was to do some track maintenance and repair some water damage. It's definitely been improved to what it was 3 weeks ago, but still a bit rough.
I know they logged around Sherry River/Dry weather roads earlier in the year, so most of it has been cleared now, and road is packing down well again. Haven't been there in last couple of months, so would prob be worthwhile having another look down there just in case.