Blackline

I called to Peter at WMC this morning and booked a ride on the HD Blackline.

It took me a while to get used to feet forward, loose steering and rev range of the motor. My ride was SH1 to Tawa, back home, Lyall Bay and around the South Coast and back to WMC. At first I wasn't that impressed - couldn't see the point of this bike. However, by the time I got back into Wellington and poodled around the coast the experience began to have an impact. This bike is very good to ride on urban roads. It has a low CoG, low seat height, easy to steer around and through traffic and it has sound.

Would I have one? Yes - but as a second bike to the Hayabusa.

Ulysses White Rock Road Ride

Another Sunday ride. This one was to the Windfarm on White Rock Road; 31 bikes. On the way back we stopped at Martinborough and while to group headed to Carterton for lunch I went home.
240Km ride. 0915 to 1440hrs.

Sunday around the loop

Just to finish off the day I did a run around the Haywards loop with a short trip up to Battle Hill. A 70km loop.

Havelock North for lunch

A great day for a ride, no rain, a little cool and a Friday (not a weekend). I hadn't been to see my folks since February and with an overseas trip coming up I decided to take a ride to Havelock North to say hi.

I left home at 0747 and took the Wairarapa route straight to Havelock North. I arrived at 1150hrs having fueled up and covered 309kms.

The trip home was via SH50 and SH1. I left at 0235 and arrived home at 1822 having covered 296kms. The trip was broken at Shannon for 17 minutes for coffee and to wait for the sun to go down. A clear visor fitted and I was on the way again. Just north of Plimmerton I was past by 3 Highway 61 riders so I tagged on for a fast run home as they cleared the road of traffic.

Rain and Winter is close

There has been a lot of rain.
Friday: I took a short run up SH1 and around the inlet. Got home just as the rain was starting and then the heavy rain started.

Saturday: A ride to Alan's to view progress on the rebuild of Triumph 750 Bonneville.

Sunday: Heavy rain in the morning. Mid afternoon I went for a ride up SH2 and Alan called as I approached Silverstream. Rode back to his place and then up SH2, over Haywards, Paika Hill and back to Pahiatuanui via SH1 for coffee. From there it was back home via SH1. 114Km today.

Cold wet weather is on its way. This will be the last ride for a few days. Odo shows over 25K.

Riversdale

Sunday 1 May. I left home at 1030 and got back at 1630hrs having gone to Riversdale and covered 307kms. On the way stopped at Alan's and admired the restored components of his Triumph. Winter is on the way and I am thinking of a heated vest.

Ambulance Ride

Today was the 2011 Anzac Day Ambulance charity ride; except Anzac day is not until next weekend. Next weekend being Easter was the reason for having the ride today.

Up until an hour before I left home it was raining. I packed the wets, just in case, and headed off to Maidstone Park just after 10.00am. It wasn't a great turnout due to the weather. I was the last to leave the park as I took some video of the bikes leaving. However, I caught up and moved up through the stragglers.

The ride ended with a sausage sizzle and presentation of a cheque of $2000 for Wellington Free Ambulance.

Total ride was 76kms and time of 2 hours 16 minutes.

Factory Recall

I took the bike into Wellington Motorcycles this morning to have the rectifier replaced under warranty as a manufacturers recall. The rectifier had been replaced at around 3000kms and at the time there were comments on a Hayabusa forum about this issue. It took Suzuki 2+ years to do something about the issue.

Hopefully, the bike is now as reliable as any other and being a Suzuki more so than most others.

Replaced at 24427Kms. It was a wet ride home.

Note: I did a ride into WMC and then a ride around Wellington with Alan last Saturday.