The demise of our freedom to speed - RIP

[onearmedbandit]

Thanks mate, that's really cheered up those of us sentenced to do time in the North island.

New rule- all South Islanders are to stop reminder the rest of us how fantastic and empty their roads are!
Same with 'go to a track' - I do, I do, I do (see how sick I'm getting. Now I'm quoting Abba). Track days cost time and money and require advance planning. You can't just pop out on the spur of the moment for an hour in the evening to the track.

Ok, I won't say anything about out gorgeous roads with comparitively low police numbers. Instead I'll comment on how we have 2 tracks within 2 hours drive, one of which is only 20mins away and is open to the public on Tuesdays and Fridays for general use for only $50 for a half day or $80 for a full day, cheaper if you're a member. No bike or gear checks (heck, last time I was out there a friend turned up at the last minute on his ZXR750 and spent the afternoon roaring around the track in jeans!!), informal sessions (ie go out when you want for at least 15mins and wait until the car guys wave the flag), shit I've been out there before and we had the entire track to ourselves for the afternoon. Only had to come in for a drink and a breather, then back out again.

[Karma]

Damn you OAB!!

Now if only the south island wasn't full of inbreds...

[imdying]

Most popular road for biking in Christchurch is the road from Chch to Akaroa. Maybe one in twenty times over it you might see a single cop car... even then you were unlucky. Three gorges... never seen a cop on that road yet. Chch to Nelson, did that Easter weekend last year, no cops on the way up (through the Lewis, best road ever..), one cop on the way back (through Kaikoura).

Of course, if that situation were to change, as OAB says, we'd could just pay our $50 twice a week and do laps till we were sick of it.

[Virago]

Call me irresponsible but........

Jeez, where to start?

.........on an open road if a person chooses to travel at a velocity greater than set by our MASTERS, then they should be able to.

If they happen to have an accident then it is their fault.......

And what of the other road users that you might take with you? Their own fault?

I have a personal ambition,that before I die, I am going to exceed the speed of 200mph (320kph) on a public (i am a member of the public) road....

I can only hope that none of my family or friends are on that same public road at the same time.

I have some empathy with the original post, but this kind of blind selfishness really gets up my nose.

[Hitcher]

The speed difference between 105 and 111kmh should save enough carbon dioxide to stop a glacier melting somewhere.

[MD]

The speed difference between 105 and 111kmh should save enough carbon dioxide to stop a glacier melting somewhere.

Always look on the bright side of life... dah..dah..daa.. daaa, daa.. dah..
I'm going to fill this thread with song

And OAB- you're not paying attention to the new rule. 20 minutes to get to a track (Ruapuna I guess?) Strewth, I lived 10 minutes from Ruapuna. Oh yeah thanks for reminding me AGAIN. Those were the days my friend, I thought they'd never end...lah.. lah.. laah..Then I could do evening track sessions with a few mates. Most of the track to yourselves. God damn, where have all the good times gone....

[onearmedbandit]

Ah but the new rule only applied to us not talking about our wonderful cop-free roads, not our easy access easily affordable track 20mins from home.

[MD]

Ah but the new rule only applied to us not talking about our wonderful cop-free roads, not our easy access easily affordable track 20mins from home.

As you type I'm forming a committee to re-write the new rule.
I'm not sure you are filled with genuine sympathy for us northerners trying to come to grips with high traffic congestion and Police infested roads.
Now go ride on a clear safe stretch of Police-free road, bottle your absolute bliss and post it North.

[jimbo600]

What a sad yet oh so true post. Tis a shame. What pisses me off the most is that people now are driving at such a zombie state they are not paying attention. I'm sure 10 years ago when you could happily cruise at 140 there were less head on collisions. The centennial highway "killer highway" was much safer when it was 100kmh and had a passing lane. As usual we all have to dumb down to the level of all the dumb dickheads who can't drive.

I reckon the roads are more lethal now than they've ever been.

[98tls]

Just sitting here with a woodstock thinking of all the great roads this thread has me thinking of..........sorry MD cant help myself........Fox to Hokitika....awsome...my absolute favourite.....all those windy bits that double back on themselves........and not a cop to be seen........all those real tight ones that you wheelie out of........all those sorry mate........

[Snails pace]

Perhaps I have just been lucky. A tad over 500k's today and only one boy in blue to be seen. From Pokeno down to Marokopa and Te Anga to Kawhia(great road but watch the grit on the corners) and home again. A blast round the Clevedon loop through the week seems quite free as well.

[98tls]

Perhaps I have just been lucky. A tad over 500k's today and only one boy in blue to be seen. From Pokeno down to Marokopa and Te Anga to Kawhia(great road but watch the grit on the corners) and home again. A blast round the Clevedon loop through the week seems quite free as well.

jesus i need to get out more........ive never heard of any of those places.............

[petesmeats]

Yeah i partially agree about the speed thing. But a government is always going to regulate most things that are fun. Half of the fun of anything is the danger assosciated with it.

Extreme sports are amazingly fun. They are more fun when there are tigers, falling from great heights, huge risk of injury/death, ridiculous speed etc etc. All of which are potentially hazardous to ones health.

I will therefore head to the track and ride on tuesdays or fridays because it will probably save me alot of money as there is no way around the massive amounts of police on the roads. It also gives me a chance to travel at speeds that would kill me pretty easily on the road...

Having lived in both the north and the south island, the roads in the south are much more fun and while there may be a few inbreds (west coast mainly and gore), most people will give you the courteous flash when the coppers are ahead. And the trip out to akaroa is as good as any in the world with almost no policing...

And for all the whinging about speed limits on the road, I personally am glad that the school kid whose parents bought him a fast car cannot attempt to drive the aforementioned car into me at whatever speed they want. They are limited to trying to hit me at 100kph.

Pete

[98tls]

The other side to this coin is that in my opinion anyway the best roads read as lots of tight twistys are huge fun and you can get through them real fast for the conditions but if real twisty you wont really exceed the 100km limit by that much anyway..........besides on those roads theres nowhere for the cops to park..............

[Ixion]

The problem lies in the getting to the fun bits of road. Unfortunately tedious lengths of boring road must be travelled to get to the good bits. And it is on the boring roads that the danger lies.