Wednesday ride

Another Wednesday. It was fine weather with no wind so promising for a ride. I arrived at the Duck pond just before 6.30pm and Alan just after that. We were the last to leave and after a brief stop at the summit went on to Greytown. A good number turned up for the ride.

The temperature plummeted after the sun went down and it was a very cold ride home. I should have had the thermal in the jacket. Summer is almost over.

I got home at 9.20pm.

Weekend rides

There were no organised rides this weekend; or none I was interested in. Saturday I rode down to the Stadium in the late morning to watch 1000 Harley Davidson motorcycles go past in the thunder ride. That was impressive and then in the afternoon I rode back to the city to view the HD events held around Frank Kitts Park. The stunt riding was worth going to see. It would have been impossible to find a park so taking the bike was the right thing to do.

Today the wind is very strong. A ride was needed so I did a quiet poddle around the local suburbs, tweek down the motorway and finished off with some practice braking to keep the skill and confidence up.

The odometer now reads 2231.

Another Wednesday

This was just another Wednesday night ride. Over the hill to Featherston, had a ginger beer and headed home. All over by 8.30am.

Lunch in Ashhurst

The ride today was organised by Ulysses. It was their long ride for the month and the plan was to ride up SH1 to Mangaweka or thereabouts and then go to Ashhurst for lunch.

I arrived at the Plimmerton weigh station at 9.30am for a 10.00am start. The local Ferrari club had assembled there before going on their outing to Otaki. I discussed cars and bikes with some of the owners and a couple of other bike riders arrived before the cars left. Steve was next to arrive and he was the ride organiser. About 12 turned up - I should have counted. All but 3 bikes were Suzuki.

Just after 10 we left. The route was: SH1 - Shannon - Opiki, Kopono, Awahuri to Fielding. Fuel was added in Fielding and a 20 minute rest. We then explored the Halcombe back roads and ended up at the bottom of Vinegar Hill SH54. A regroup at SH1 and on to Ohingaiti. From there to Pemberton and down Kimbolton road, Colyton road to Ashhurst. Lunch was at the Herb Garden Cafe in Ashhurst.

I left Ashhurst at 3.00pm and headed back home via Shannon. Most of the others went home via the Paihiatua track.

This was one of the better rides I have been on. The pace was good and I tucked in behind Steve as leader. The group ran at a consistent pace and didn't spread out much more than a minute - even on the fast winding bits.

Home to home was 468kms. The bike is running well and is economical returning 5.8L/100kms.

Wednesday night ride

A usual assembly and good turn out at the duck pond. Eight of us headed to the top of the Rimutakas while the rest went over Haywards and to Paraparaumu via the Paikakareki hill road. When we got to the top of the hill we turned around and headed over to Paraparaumu to join the group.

I got home at 9.05pm. The bike has now covered 1550kms.

C Mode (chicken mode)

Tonight was the Ulysses monthly meeting. Actually the first for the year. I planned to take the bike as the rain had stopped and by the time the commitment was made and I was ready to go it had just started to rain.

Once I had the bike running I switched to "C" to run the bike at lower power while on a wet road. This mode considerably dampens the performance and I noticed the lack of rapid acceleration when entering the on ramp section to SH2 at the bottom of the gorge. It is a good mode to use in slippery conditions - tames the beast. "C mode" is referred to as chicken mode - suits me though.

The drizzle had turned into fine rain and lots of it by the time I rode home.

Photo shoot

Alan and I did a ride out to the South Coast to take a few photos of the bikes. Technically the photos are poor as too much light from the background resulting in underexposure on the bikes.

Otherwise a nice little ride and a good coffee.

Waitangi Day Ride

There was no Wednesday evening ride for me as it was raining. I had picked up the Ventura pack frame that day and spent the evening removing stickers, fitting a tank pad and the pack frame.

Ulysses had organised a cafe ride to Greytown. In preparation for this I took the bike for a run down SH1 to Porirua and return on Thursday evening. This was just to be sure the bike was okay at highway speeds following the service and to test the pack frame.

The ride left from Brown Owl at 10.00am. It was an uneventful trip to Greytown and there was more traffic than usual. After a coffee and chat Barry and I decided to take a long way home and two others joined in. Barry led and we headed to Carterton to get onto the road to Gladstone. The Hayabusa stretched its legs a couple of times and I was a little surprised by how quickly Barry's FJR moved. From Gladstone we followed the road into the back of Martinborough and I topped up the tank there. The tank only took 12 litres so it didn't need filling but I was a little uncertain on how accurate the fuel gauge is. We followed the road to Lake Ferry and then diverted around the East side of Lake Wairarapa. Once at Featherston it was straight home and getting home around 2.00pm.

The bike is running very well and has now done 1319kms. It is almost run in. The Hayabusa has an incredible amount of power and what I find interesting is running it up to 4,000rpm it seems natural to just click it up the gears as if the engine was peaking. Unless that is, 2nd gear is held with full throttle and the revs pass 6,000rpm when it feels I am in a catapult as the bars try to pull out of hands, bum slides down the seat and the nose lifts. This bike is seriously fast.

Cleaned and chain oiled.

Hayabusa first service

Today the new bike had its 1000kms service.

There were no problems; I took the bike in at 8.00am and at 12.30pm they called to say it was ready. Picked it up at 2.30pm and all was good.

It feels good to be back with Wellington Motorcycles. They have a positive approach to customer service, are friendly and professional.