Motorcyclin'
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So... just a bit of a rant, and feeling sorry for myself.
Left Wellington on 25th December, did some decent mileage. I've spent the last 2 months pretty much travelling around every sweet biking road south of Auckland, working "from home" for a week from any beach, family member's house, campground-with-brewery, whatever.
Feeling pretty smug about my summer.
Parked the bike up outside my mate's house in Napier for the week, while I stay here.
Go out for a quick ride to grab some lunch, find my ignition-lock (and therefore steering lock) has had a fucking screwdriver jammed as far inside as some scummy fluffybunny could manage, in some bullshit abortive attempt to steal my fucking bike.
I'm a little fucking angry.
We manage to manhandle the bike, with steering lock still in effect, off the street, into a little pathway down the side of my mate's house.
I call around today... locksmiths don't want any part of trying to just get the ignition functional again. I didn't mention the words "hotwire", but I'm pretty much thinking "just get me on the road again, and I'll sort out the proper fix when I get back 'home'".
'Cause talking to motorcycle mechanics... to get a replacement ignition barrel.... 12 to 15. Weeks. For the fucking part. I'm either stuck here sleeping on my mate's floor for 3 or 4 months, or hiring a goddamn car, or catching a fucking bus, or some shit. Like those people.Fucking mongrel fluffybunnies... it was such a half-arsed attempt at the theft too. At least if they'd fucking succeeded, I could get the insurance, and buy a new bike. Now... I'm fucked.
Sorry. Needed the rant. Done.
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@kruse fucking piston wristed gibbons. That sucks.
We run a charity trsil ride here, even last year heaps didn't come cos they couldn't get (or didn't want to pay inflated prices for) parts. This year red meant not happening.
Supply chain is fucked in NZ ATM
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@kruse I know your pain. It should be legal to execute motorcycle thieves. I woke up on the morning of a ride I had organised with friends to find exactly the same issue.
Hope you get it sorted quickly and without additional heartache.
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@nostrildamus said in Motorcyclin':
@kruse said in Motorcyclin':
@victor-meldrew said in Motorcyclin':
@kruse said in Motorcyclin':
braved the 43 anyway... and it cleared up before hitting the shit-parts of that. Lunch at Whangamomona - in the sunshine. Fuck I love that road.
Sounds like a great rise. I have decades-ago fond memories of that road on my GT750.
Been pissing down here in Cornwall, but hope to do the Cornwall Loop before Winter sets in. It takes in much of Cornwall's coast and is a pretty special ride.
https://www.adventurebikerider.com/motorcycle-route-in-cornwall/
If I ever get back to the UK, even if only for 6 months to sort all my shit out over there... I think I'll add that to the list of stuff to tick off.
- Close down Limited Company
- Ship stuff back to NZ
- Say goodbye to folks at the old Local
- Visit Isle of Man
- Ireland - some route around that?
- Scotland - North Coast 500?
- now added... ride around Cornwall
I'd love to bike around the Scottish coast, ruined castle east to whiskey west I think.
The 500 has some pieces that I imagine would be fun on a bike. Obviously Applecross but Lochinver to Unapool, Drumrunie to Inverkirkcaig and one that isn't on the 500 but a detour worth making is along the northern side of Loch Torridon out to Diabaig and back.
Some guys from work hired a shit hot car and went up there just to drive and they said that road was the highlight as far as fun went. It's like the road was made with as little earthworks as possible and just follows every up, down and bend needed to get from A to B -
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Warming up weather-wise here. Prepped the Honda for a run this week after the winter months.
Soon find out how much this old bugger's legs and general motorcycle handling skills have atrophied since December..
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@antipodean that's a pretty damn sweet landing from that.
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@machpants said in Motorcyclin':
Supply chain is fucked in NZ ATM
@antipodean said in Motorcyclin':
Hope you get it sorted quickly and without additional heartache.
Got the phone call on Friday - a new ignition barrel has apparently arrived. So - under 4 weeks... pretty good compared to the estimated 12-15.
But, it meant... spent yesterday on a bus - a fucking bus - getting back to Napier, so I can arrange the bike to be taken in and fixed up.
The bus-driver recognised my luggage... "isn't that a motorcycle bag?", so I shared my tale of woe.
Is there anything more depressing than a motorcyclist on a bus? I used to feel depressed when catching the tube back from dropping the bike off somewhere, carrying my helmet.
But catching a goddamn InterCity bus from New Plymouth to Napier, or the reverse (with a break in Palmerston fucking North) - when I could instead be doing SH43 and Gentle-Annie... just... sad-face.
Still... as long as they got the right part in, I should be on two wheels again soon... just in time for Winter. -
@antipodean said in Motorcyclin':
?
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Dropped one of my bikes yesterday. 😡 Low side thankfully - Rear overtook the front. Now hobbling around the house nursing a bruised ego. 🤕
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@antipodean said in Motorcyclin':
Dropped one of my bikes yesterday. 😡 Low side thankfully - Rear overtook the front. Now hobbling around the house nursing a bruised ego. 🤕
Upvote only because there's no Sympathy Vote option. Assume your getting back on as quickly as you can?
Magic ride this week thru the backroads of Cornwall and an old airbase. Stopped for a pub coffee and ended up chatting to a couple of horse-riders who'd stopped & come over to thank me for passing them really slowly a few miles back.
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@Victor-Meldrew oh I'll definitely be back on the bikes as soon as I can bend my knee.
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@antipodean said in Motorcyclin':
Dropped one of my bikes yesterday. 😡 Low side thankfully - Rear overtook the front. Now hobbling around the house nursing a bruised ego. 🤕
Bugger your ego and your knee, - how is the bike? That's what's important.
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@Crazy-Horse minor damage, mainly cosmetic. Track bikes and dirt bikes, while you'd rather not drip them, it's not as bad as a road bike rumage sale. 😂
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@antipodean said in Motorcyclin':
@Crazy-Horse minor damage, mainly cosmetic. Track bikes and dirt bikes, while you'd rather not drip them, it's not as bad as a road bike rumage sale. 😂
From my limited experience on dirt/track bikes... there's no such thing as cosmetic damage. It's just... "wear", or best-case - a reminder of a good anecdote.
But yeah - good to hear you had a bit of fun, with nothing more than a sore knee out of it.Trapped in the Shield Snorters for a couple of weels... I've done a few of the back roads this weekend, and come around a few bends at decent knots, to find gaping potholes. But still - outside of the boring-as-shit main roads and roundabouts that have developed here... a trip to Patangata or Puketapu, or even Tikokino - is a decent half-day's ridin'.
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Oh - fuck, BTW... did I mention I tried the Napier-Taupo with its new 80km/h speed limit for the first time last weekend?
That's a fluffybunny.
Long-story short... in the process of passing a 40-vehicle long convoy, one of the vehicles I passed was a cop. Initially - quite hostile "it's 80k, didn't you know it was 80k, why are you passing everybody doing 80k, ... ?" - until I get off the bike, helmet off, become a human being, etc, etc... eventually - just a warning. Probably what they're doing with everybody with the new limit.
I'll probably be going via Gisborne to travel back to Rotorua next weekend. -
@antipodean said in Motorcyclin':
@Crazy-Horse minor damage, mainly cosmetic. Track bikes and dirt bikes, while you'd rather not drip them, it's not as bad as a road bike rumage sale. 😂
There's always stickers for "personalisation". This one hid a number of incident evidence on the Honda Rally....
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@antipodean said in Motorcyclin':
@Victor-Meldrew oh I'll definitely be back on the bikes as soon as I can bend my knee.
Here's some inspiration...
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Tempting....