Maungakotukutuku Diary

Not you guys I hope?

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/8747963/Trail-bikers-missing

we were in there today but it aint us

they'll be pretty cold and wet

thanks for asking

It's been brilliant here. Warm, cloudy.

No chance of finding any snow this weekend dammit

Waiting for the full story on the Beta breakdown.....

No real story - about an hour or so into the ride I stalled and it woudnt start - no spark.

if 0 is breaking down by the car and 100 is breaking down at the foot of the devils staircase then this was about a 50. It took about 2-3 hours to drag the bike out of the trail we we on and get it back via the main tracks to the car.

Like Fran said in the Welly thread - I'm glad it was the Beta and not the WR - I was still pretty shattered though

The stator is a known weakness on my Beta so I called the importer (who lives in Paraparaumu) and popped in on the way home and picked up a new stator ($180) and he loaned me the tools to pull the flywheel etc.

I put the new stator in this morning and it now runs again.

Now I just need to fix the water leak on the KLR and the oil leak on the WR....

Time to get my photos back to one location me thinks

Went for a ride on Saturday

Went over to the Gorge Cafe near Woodville for a cuppa then headed east

Easy to see what the dominant wind direction is near the summit of Toru Rd.



I never tire of the view east from the summit



And the shape of the hills are pretty spectacular as well



Headed out on SH52 and stopped at Wimbledon for a coke



Then head out to blackhead beach then wound my way to Dannevirke via as many backroads as I could string together

The countryside east of Dannevirke is gorgeous



And Maunga Rd is pretty special as well



After some a very average butter chicken in Dannevirke for dinner I headed home via Top Grass Rd and Balance Rd etc getting home after a rather knackering 11hours/700k ride.

You can't ask for much more from a day really

Fantastic!

I love that scenery. The lower half of the Norf Island is pretty damn interesting.

Good stuff. You should have called in for a cuppa, though I’m hardly ever home these days.

Nice to see this thread back again.

I always think that the top of the South Island is the place to be, but these photos remind me what is at our back door. With inland Taranaki and Rangitikei as well, we are spoilt for choice.

Great stuff Mark. You're a lucky man

Awesome mate, thats a big day.
The Tiger must be pretty comfortable

Yup its pretty special - heaps and heaps of options within a days ride - being based around Palmerston North worth be ideal I reckon - save the boring 1hr drudge up sh1

I think the top of the South has more 'epic rides' than we do - molesworth rainbow anatori, big river etc but I think we have a larger number of softer options for day trips.

I'm planning on heading down to the top of the south in Feb or March if you are keen

Very lucky - every time I head out the door and climb on my bike I consider myself privileged

The tiger is the most comfortable bike I've owned - and it just eats distance but It turns out I lied though - I miscalculated the miles to km - I only did 650km

Bart - I couldn’t quote your post? I'd liked to have popped in but it was nigh on tea time and I didn’t want your better half thinking she had to set another plate for dinner

Great shots Mark. SH52 is adv/touring bike nirvana

I had to be home at a reasonable time on Sat as I had to pick my son up from the airport so I headed off at 8 for a quick loop of the Wairarapa

Had a nice ride through the lovely tight and twisty Akatarawa's



After gassing up in Upper Hutt I had a surprisingly traffic free ride over the Rimutuka's then out via Martinborough to Hinakura Rd



Stopped for a drink at the Hinakura Pub but they were out of coke



Then onto the gravel of Moeraki Rd and Ngakonui Rd

Stunning views from my morning tea stopping point



I love lots of trees - Wainuioru Rd





I wanted to head out to Riversadale Beach via Homewood Rd but I got turned back by some shitty weather that was moving north up the Wairarapa.

So I headed up to Ekatahuna via Te Ore Ore Bideford Rd



I found a horse for Bart to ride



Then it was up the lovely open gravel of Mangamahoe Central Rd



With a little detour up the dead end of Mount Baker Rd



After a quick late lunch at Ekatahuna I headed west into the foothills

The weather finally caught up with me on Kopikopiko Rd making the smooth dirt very very slippery so I threw on the wet weather gear and headed home

I saw a guy in full hipster gear (open face helmet and sunnys, leather jacket and jeans riding a cafe'd something or other in the pissing rain over the pahiatua track - that made me smirk a bit.

A great ride - I filled up in Upper Hutt and clocked up 386km from there to home and only had the reserve light come on at Waikanae - so 20l of gas makes for pretty good consumption

Looks suspiciously like you overran that corner & just decided to stop the bike & take a photo like you meant to do it.

That horse is way too big for Bart to ride. He only gets one chance a year to ride horses - each time the carnies come & set up the merry-go-round

Nice photos thanks Mark. I have the maps out right now to see where those roads are. Phil, Dawn, Leanne and I will be riding from Hawkes Bay to Martinborough between Xmas and New Year and (acknowledging that I haven't looked at the maps yet) hopefully we can include the better of those roads in our route

Mike

Yup. I did my second grand challenge on a steamer tiger, totally standard. It's a reasonably solid test of how well a bike can roll away the miles (unladen tarmac at least). Super comfy, beaut to ride with good power delivery, good suspension, good ergos.

Thought I saw your double on my way back from a job in Wellie (in the Guzzi/KTM Recovery Vehicle) in the early afternoon. Packed out last night and got home at 3 this morning so sensibly went for a ride today. Pahiatua Track->River Cafe->Saddle Rd->Colyton and ended up watching the closing races at Manfield.

Yup its my favourite state highway. It really needs a bike with long travel suspension as its bumpy as buggery in places but its so much fun.

who moi? I only overshot one corner (not that one) and managed to stop before I ran out of road - so there....

Bart likes merry-go-rounds cause they are faster than the dr and have softer seats

so many great options... if all else fails stick as close to the coast as you can and it will be a heap of fun

I certainly never appreciated how much difference a bike that helps you preserve your energy can make. The tiger's neat trick is that it does that while still being fun to ride.

8hrs on the sv = 12hrs on the tiger (more or less) and they are both great fun to ride so its not hard to see why the sv is gathering a layer of dust....

What a good looking pair...

Doesn't the sm look much smaller than the adventure.

Getting more comfortable with those fat tires?

If the weather comes right for the weekend I could be persuaded to take the sv for a strop if'n you are innerested....

I've not consciously thought of it that way before. Possibly that's a subconscious reason I place so much value on decent suspension - it doesn't beat you up so much. Another thought: bikes like DRs and KLRs are rated as "more comfortable" than the 640, but I would venture to suggest that the opposite is true once the speed picks up...

Yep. There's plenty of bikes built for comfort at the expense of mojo (see the boring bikes thread!). I don't do boring - life's too short.

Dammit! Now I really do want another Tiger!!