For those with PMS...

Well it is mid-summer here, and the roads are dry and clean. I took Bumblebee for a 300km jaunt along my favourite north Waikato twisty roads. I enjoyed the sublimely well-engineered masterpiece that is the 1999 VFR800; the coolant stayed nice and steady at around 78, the linked brakes were doing their thing and providing plenty of power, the suspension managed the worst of the bumps with the requisite combination of control and comfort (that's what you get with a Nitron shock and Racetech fork bits) and the Sargent seat cosseted my delicate bits gently!

27 minutes ago, Terry

Well it is mid-summer here, and the roads are dry and clean. I took Bumblebee for a 300km jaunt along my favourite north Waikato twisty roads. 

That's just rude.

You meet the rudest people on a Honda. 🙂

Magic looking 5th gen Terry. Very Nice shot.

Cheers :fing02:

Well, it is mid winter here. Plenty water on its way to the North Sea...

1 Celcius....

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:laugh:

We are solidly in winter here in NE Ohio.  Even if we hit a warm spell, there is salt all over the roads.  If there's a break in the weather with some warm temperatures after a rainfall to wash the salt away, I'll get out for a quick ride or two.  But the bike will be mainly parked for the next 2-3 months.

Thanks for sharing the photos of your bikes out and about.  Makes me look forward to this spring and summer that much more!  👍

Winter...I've heard about that. Seems to get in the way of riding for a lot of folks. 

9 minutes ago, bmart

Winter...I've heard about that. Seems to get in the way of riding for a lot of folks. 

Settle down...   I just checked out your weather forecast for next week.

This was my other ride on January 2, I bounced out of bed at 0430 and hit the road north to Cape Reinga, which is just like Nordkapp or the far end of the Dalton Highway as it is as far north as I can go without swimming. Actually it is only 434km from home so I was there by 10am, had a quick look around and then hit more interesting roads on my way back home, which took another 6 hours. Just for a bit of sympathy, it did actually get quite cool on the way north and I was tempted to turn on the heated grips when it hit 9C, but the weather reached a toasty 26 later in the day...

I sure miss NZ, but not their politics. 

12 minutes ago, bmart

their politics. 

I have no idea which way they lean, didn't even bother to look.   Can we please not start this? 

Every disintegration / near-disintegration of a motorcycle forum starts right here. 

I thought this topic was weather, motorcycles and riding motorcycles in weather.  Have we learned nothing?

I'll be working on motorcycles so I can talk about working on motorcycles, until I can ride motorcycles again, and then talk about that.

1 hour ago, Terry

This was my other ride on January 2, I bounced out of bed at 0430 and hit the road north to Cape Reinga, which is just like Nordkapp or the far end of the Dalton Highway as it is as far north as I can go without swimming. Actually it is only 434km from home so I was there by 10am, had a quick look around and then hit more interesting roads on my way back home, which took another 6 hours. Just for a bit of sympathy, it did actually get quite cool on the way north and I was tempted to turn on the heated grips when it hit 9C, but the weather reached a toasty 26 later in the day...

[image: IMG_5264.JPG]

Great photos Terry. You got me to look up Cape Reinga too! Really cold here also, only a high of 55, brrrr.   😉

Thanks for the great photos. I did 10 days of riding in NZ in 2015 but all south island, never got further north than Auckland--so here's the other end of your country:  

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3 hours ago, Captain 80s

I have no idea which way they lean, didn't even bother to look.   Can we please not start this? 

Every disintegration / near-disintegration of a motorcycle forum starts right here. 

I thought this topic was weather, motorcycles and riding motorcycles in weather.  Have we learned nothing?

I'll be working on motorcycles so I can talk about working on motorcycles, until I can ride motorcycles again, and then talk about that.

Absolutely. Not trying to start anything! I loved my time there and tried to move there, but things changed and I'm glad that I didn't. I was also only on the South Island. No people. Beautiful scenery. Strange road surface! Most places looked like loose gravel, but it was stuck down and grippy! It also let the water drain away, which was excellent!

[image: IMG_2660.thumb.jpg.a0ae1b33c37188e1d0ac5ba23f8ae405.jpg]

4 hours ago, St. Stephen

Great photos Terry. You got me to look up Cape Reinga too! Really cold here also, only a high of 55, brrrr.   😉

Thanks for the great photos. I did 10 days of riding in NZ in 2015 but all south island, never got further north than Auckland--so here's the other end of your country:  

[image: IMG_1307.JPG]

That's a really neat part of the country. I did the Burt Munro rally trip with a mate in 2018 on my ST1100 and spent a full day doing a lap of just Southland; it is glorious in sunny weather.

1 hour ago, bmart

Absolutely. Not trying to start anything! I loved my time there and tried to move there, but things changed and I'm glad that I didn't. I was also only on the South Island. No people. Beautiful scenery. Strange road surface! Most places looked like loose gravel, but it was stuck down and grippy! It also let the water drain away, which was excellent!

[image: IMG_2660.thumb.jpg.a0ae1b33c37188e1d0ac5ba23f8ae405.jpg]

That is our classic "chip-seal" and as you say it is grippy as hell but also pretty abrasive; that, and my carefree approach to cornering, are probably why I never get very good mileage out of my tyres. This is 7000km on a pretty decent Michelin Road, plenty of straightline life left but down to the wearbars on the shoulders. Our chipseal quality is sadly getting worse as the bitumen binder being used seems to be very inferior lately; it gets hot, then the stone chips either get pushed out or sink through, and you are left with big patches of scary, glassy tar that is dodgy when dry and lethally slippery when wet.

[image: IMG_3265.JPG]

2 hours ago, Terry

That's a really neat part of the country. I did the Burt Munro rally trip with a mate in 2018 on my ST1100 and spent a full day doing a lap of just Southland; it is glorious in sunny weather.

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Well, in that case I can't resist posting a few more NZ photos. Sorry, I was on an RT, not a VFR, but not that different from your ST.

I'm sure you know this tunnel:

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IPA!

[image: IMG_1069.thumb.JPG.e14028227fed2619d973f5b3492d9a40.JPG]

And you know this mountain:

[image: IMG_1402.thumb.JPG.0d448cc2df8f2420870896874d95cd41.JPG]

The walking birds were actually very polite:

[image: IMG_0745.thumb.JPG.497f6bc3593a9c05f4a49ed5b2cc24ed.JPG]

Scenic, every day:

[image: IMG_1471.thumb.JPG.83330998f7661f3da016a148fcd2b7eb.JPG]

Keep posting those ride photos Terry.

Can I join in?

South Island 2017, 2000 VFR800.

Weather went from very wet 5 degrees C in the south to very sunny 30 degrees C in the North. Great trip.

We do a pretty fair amount of chip seal on back roads here in Western Washington.  They do a pretty good job and by the following summer (or two) a road can be pretty nice.  And stay nice for quite a while.

Our chip seal looks more like asphalt than that close up pic tho.

Every now and then they will black top some primo back roads.  Woo-hoo!!

19 hours ago, Terry

I bounced out of bed at 0430 and hit the road

Beautiful pics Terry, I remember spontaneous trips with my VFR in my younger days; it was 12 hours from Toledo, Ohio to the top of Spruce Knob, W.Virginia, then another 1/2 hour down to a little campground on the mountain, wake up and come home... No offense to you and the others that have real mountains with snow and stuff...

5 hours ago, Skids

Can I join in?

South Island 2017, 2000 VFR800.

Weather went from very wet 5 degrees C in the south to very sunny 30 degrees C in the North. Great trip.

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Skids, at least you ride on the left at home! I've driven cars in the UK, Ireland and Australia, but never a bike. Really had to focus in roundabouts and when making u-turns the first couple of days!

OK, one more...

16 hours ago, Terry

That is our classic "chip-seal" and as you say it is grippy as hell but also pretty abrasive; that, and my carefree approach to cornering, are probably why I never get very good mileage out of my tyres.

That is nothing like the chip/seal we get here in NC. It was so hard to trust that it wasn't gravel. This was back in 2005. 

And that tire? You have a serious throttle problem. lol!

20 hours ago, St. Stephen

Well, in that case I can't resist posting a few more NZ photos. Sorry, I was on an RT, not a VFR, but not that different from your ST.

I'm sure you know this tunnel:

[image: IMG_0806.thumb.JPG.4ad748ed14cb7f89489d1d7d1644bf36.JPG]

IPA!

[image: IMG_1069.thumb.JPG.e14028227fed2619d973f5b3492d9a40.JPG]

And you know this mountain:

[image: IMG_1402.thumb.JPG.0d448cc2df8f2420870896874d95cd41.JPG]

The walking birds were actually very polite:

[image: IMG_0745.thumb.JPG.497f6bc3593a9c05f4a49ed5b2cc24ed.JPG]

Scenic, every day:

[image: IMG_1471.thumb.JPG.83330998f7661f3da016a148fcd2b7eb.JPG]

Keep posting those ride photos Terry.

Yes I do know that mountain …..

[image: 580A9E26-07A2-42DE-BE00-BF987716AB48.thumb.jpeg.cfb65eef51789da31bfb4d6c49578fe9.jpeg]

Yes, they definitely wear the tyres more than the roads here.[image: P1000656.thumb.JPG.bbb6c9e4da2c8040cee33da43f73e915.JPG]

I've never had an issue with driving or riding on the wrong side, sorry right hand side of the road but that's probably because we are able to cross to Europe quite regularly. Bit harder in the US.