Manx Biker

The Northern Gravel Adventure Riders Nz had arranged a 3-day ride over the Queen’s Birthday holiday weekend. I couldn’t make the full 3 days but had talked to Dean and Bev, another DR riding couple that live locally, about riding with the group as far down as Raglan.

So we joined the group and had a thoroughly good ride down the gravel roads through Limestone downs towards Raglan. On the approach to Raglan the group stopped to gather and the 3-day group headed further south.  DR650 riding Dean, pillion Bev and another BMW riding lady rider called Sharon headed into Raglan and we had a very pleasant meal outside one of the roadside cafes.

After that we headed home. As a bonus to finish the day off I listened to the SuperBike TT race on ManxRadio365. John McGuiness once again proved himself King of the Mountain.

Thanks to Sue for the video of the first part of our ride.

 

This was my first ride with Northern Gravel Adventure Riders Nz on Saturday 12th May 2012.

After meeting at the BP service station at 9:30am we headed off toward Tuakau and over the Waikato heading for Port Waikato. We peeled of at the Klondyke Road and rode a series of gravel roads down towards the Nikau Caves for lunch.

It has been a while since I have ridden off-road and I haven’t ridden gravel before. I found myself a bit nervous having put on new ‘knobbly’ tyres and having a big heavy full load of fuel. With each road my confidence grew and by the end of the day I felt that I had a lot of confidence in my new tyres.

It was nice to see a variety of riders of different abilities and everyone could ride at their own pace with no pressure. The club run a corner man system which means riders take turns at junctions to point the riders in the correct direction while waiting for the tail end charlie.

From BP to home was 240km so a decent amount of ground covered. I loved the scenery on this ride and found the variety of scenic features amazing. There were hills, forests, low lying flat ground, green areas, volanic rock and coastal areas. I could do that again.

Thanks to the club members for the videos.

I have found an off-road motorcycling group based in Auckland that looks like they offer exactly the type of riding I want to do. They are the Northern Gravel Adventure Riders Nz.

So, this gives me an excuse to get the bike ready for some off-road action. Here are the plans:

• IMS Plastic Fuel Tank
• B&B Sump Bashplate
• Continental TKC80 Adventure Tyres
• Renthal FatBar Handlebars
• Acerbis Handguards

Before Photos

After Photos

So far so good. The bike looks ready to tackle the gravel. The only problem I have had is trying to change the grip on the throttle tube. It looks like Suzuki super glue them on so I have ordered a new throttle tube so I can have matching grips.