Triumph Daytona 675 ride impressions

Ok, let's start with an introduction - the chap in the photo below with the beautiful Daytona 675 is Andy West.  I think you know the disreputable old geezer on the right so the least said about him the better.
 

A pair of Triples (sounds odd...)

Being oh so terribly formal, Andy is Dr. Andrew West, a prominent figure in the world of science and commerce and Vice-Chancellor of NZ's Lincoln University.  At a far less formal level, he's a life-long bike nut and also has an early Triumph Trident and an immaculate '69 Triumph Bonneville in his man-cave at home.  As I was also due to find out during the day, he's a really down to earth nice guy and a bloody quick and safe rider too.

Going back 6 months or so ago, Andy contacted me through the blog as he'd seen the link to my Street Triple review and asked for my views about its suitability for his wife as a post-learner machine.  As well giving some opinions, I'd offered Andy the chance to ride it for himself and draw his own conclusions.  Today was that day so rode down the coast to Thames to meet him, bring him home for lunch and then settle into the serious fun of trying out each others' bikes!

A few showers had passed through in the morning but the weather was brightening up, the roads were gradually drying and the portents were good for using the bikes how they were meant to be used (in the name of thorough and objective road-testing, you understand).

Bike swapping - throw your keys in the middle and see what you get!

A quick walk-around
A preliminary perch on the Daytona showed it to be poles apart from the Street Triple.  It may share the 675 power plant, by that's about as near as it gets!  The Daytona is the closest thing to a pure race bike on the road as you're likely to encounter.  The strongest (and slightly unnerving) impression which hit me when first climbing on board was the near-complete absence of anything in front of you!  I always wanted to ride an Imperial Stormtroopers bike from Star Wars and this is the nearest thing to a terrestrial equivalent!  The low screen and mirrors were way below the eye line and it felt like you were sticking right out in front of the bike.  The clip-on bars also felt like they were vertically below my chin although amazingly, they felt perfectly comfortable.

The seat height is greater than the ST but the narrower seat allowed me to rest on the balls of my feet with complete confidence, also due to the bike's light weight at around 165 kg.  Controls were identical to the ST, so they were instinctive.

Wossit go like, mister?
Andy had warned me that the Daytona has a very tall first gear and he was right! Cutting through dozy holiday traffic in Coromandel village required more concentration regarding road positioning than the ST.  I never actually had to dip the clutch but the fingers were ready if required.  The saving grace was the big torque spread of the motor and I'll come back to this later.

Getting onto the open road was initially unnerving.  The lack of anything in front of the face and the head down, arse up riding position felt quite precarious and coupled with the narrow, low bars, I didn't feel all that confident about hustling through the bends.  Probably no bad thing as the road was still slightly damp in places, the supersports-oriented Supercorsa tyres weren't up to high grip temperatures and there's not much in the way of rain grooves on them either. In fact, they felt quite vague and I didn't like the Supercorsas much at all in those conditions.  Considerable scope for going down on your arse if you pushed really hard, I'd imagine.  I think that for the wide range of weather and temperature conditions I ride in, a good sport touring tyre like the PR3 would give a lot more confidence.  Andy also seemed inclined to this view after riding the ST3. Steering on the Daytona was completely different from ST with its higher, wider bars.  Because of the race-style steering geometry, moving the body around the bike and weighting the pegs was all that was needed to change direction on the D675, with far less emphasis on heavy countersteering.  The faster you went, the less conscious steering effort required!

Up in the hills south of Coromandel, we stopped briefly at a lookout to compare notes and both of us had  huge grins on our faces!  Andy was completely enthused about the grip from the Pilot Road 3 tyres fitted  to the ST and I was blown away with the pin-point accuracy of the steering of the D675.  The other thing which took me by surprise was the relative comfort of the Daytona.  Even for my knees which have taken a hiding over the decades, the high footpegs were surprisingly comfortable.  The thin seat wasn't bad either but for longer hauls, it would definitely have an Airhawk pad fitted to it.  One thing's for sure, you'd never suffer from a cold bum on this bike - heat transfer from the high level pipe and muffler through the thin seat is quite pronounced!

Now here's a thing which I'm sure that many riders have experienced.  If you're not riding too well, often a short stop will make a world of difference and you feel transformed when you hop back on.  So it was with riding Andy's bike.  Even though our stop was less than 5 minutes, hopping back on the Daytona afterwards felt completely natural and my riding was much more assured.

On the run down the coast to Thames with the roads having dried out, we started to use a bit more throttle, particularly when passing small groups of slow-moving holidaymakers.  Whilst the Street Triple is no slouch at all, the greater horsepower at the top end on the Daytona was very noticeable and pretty impressive.  Whilst the top end was indeed impressive,  it still compared very favourably with the ST at lower down in the rev range.  This means that in normal on-road conditions particularly in making snap overtakes, it would completely outshine Japanese IL4's of similar capacity which need to build revs to develop power.  The extremely slim fairing and screen were also more effective than you might imagine.

Is there a downside to the Daytona?  Well yes and no.  It has higher specification suspension than the ST and the setup is on the firm side.  If I was to regularly use one on the Coromandel Peninsula roads, I'd want to knock off a whole lot of preload front and rear and rely more on the excellent rebound and compression damping to lower the tendency to jump about on the more uneven road surfaces. On sweepers with better finished surfaces or for trackdays, it would be nigh-on perfect as it was.  I'd get rid of those Supercorsa tyres though.  The Daytona does have passenger pegs but anyone perched out back is in for a world of pain.  It's that "fitness for purpose" thing though - you don't buy a Daytona for hauling a pillion or lots of luggage about.

On pulling up in Thames before Andy continued home, we were still genuinely smitten with each other's bikes and couldn't keep the smiles off our faces. As I write this quick review, I'd imagine that Andy is telling his wife for the 100th time that the Street Triple is the perfect bike for her.  He can't really lose can he, with a Daytona AND an ST in the shed?  I'd happily do the same except the only thing I'd lose would be my balls, courtesy of someone near and dear!  It's easy to see why both machines have repeatedly won "Bike of the Year" titles in numerous international motorcycle journals.  So there we are,  two incredible machines with the Street Triple having a broader use and the Daytona being more highly focussed. With only being allowed to have one bike at a time by She Who Must Be Obeyed, it has to be the ST for the conditions I ride in, but oh for a Lotto win to help with the case for both of them!

Thanks Andy for a fantastic day, both from the viewpoint of the company, your riding skill and letting me use your Daytona how it was meant to be used!  Catch you for an even longer ride in due course!

Design elegance!

Nils and Marc's Excellent Adventure

There's something very special about the motorcycling fraternity right round the globe. That special thing is that there's a better than 99% chance that you'll meet as comparative strangers and part as confirmed friends.  And so it was for the last few days.  Nils Poulsen is a bike enthusiast from NZ's capital, Wellington.  Nils and I had never met but we'd been corresponding on all matter of things for some months and when he started talking about planning a road trip with his mate Dr Marc Lubbers; Jennie and I invited them to stop off  for a day or two in Coromandel and explore if they fancied a trip north.

It didn't take long to nail down a date and on Sunday, I rode down to the southern end of the Coromandel Peninsula to meet them at the gold-mining town of Waihi.

 Introducing Marc with his Ducati ST4 and Nils with his Honda VFR 800

After some relaxed banter over coffee, we rode a few hundred metres to have a look at the 500 ft deep gold mining operation.  Not often that you find a working gold mine so close to the main street of town!

Waihi gold ore extraction pit - impressive up close

Everyone was getting a bit peckish so it was time to ride north to the small town of Tairua for lunch.  Being the local yokel/tourist guide, I took the lead.  There are always some trepidations about riding with strangers but it only took a few minutes to learn that these guys knew their business and we all fitted together perfectly,  proceeding to carve up the almost continuous twisties to Tairua and it was great fun riding in their company.  Nils' VFR 800 was whisper-quiet and in typical Ducati contrary fashion, I could hear Marc's bike booming away behind me on the over-run - nothing quite like that sound.  Both great machines.

Parked up for a late lunch

After lunch, I went into tour guide mode as the guys wanted to specifically see the Hahei Cathedral Cove area and Hot Water Beach. It was fairly cloudy when the photo below was taken but on a clear day, the sea is a bright turquoise due to the white sand on the seabed - simply gorgeous.

Hahei Beach from the lookout

Hot Water Beach is just 5 km from Hahei.  So-called because at low tide, you can dig a hole in the sand and geothermally-heated hot water comes bubbling up and fills the hole.  Pretty decadent laying on the beach in your own private bath!

Hot Water Beach.  Hot water bubbling up where the people are congregating

The other thing about the Coromandel Peninsula around Christmas time is that literally tens of thousands of Pohutukawa trees come into bloom all round the coast.  Also commonly known as the NZ Christmas Tree, they provide a breathtaking backdrop to summer.  Although pretty enough in its own right, the photo below doesn't do justice to just how bright the flowers are, partially because of the dull skies and my camera at a distance.

A fairly young Pohutukawa, Hot Water Beach

However, the close-up below shows the flowers in true colour so you'll get an inkling of just how spectacular the coastal regions are for a few weeks, especially as the older trees are massive!

Simply stunning!

Leaving the beach, we headed north and made a quick stop at the Coroglen pub for a photo shoot.  The Coroglen pub is an icon for bikers on the Coromandel Loop road and serves up such delicacies as fresh scallop burgers - yumm!!  During the summer, they also attract great international music bands who play in a natural amphitheatre behind the pub.

Nils and Marc at Coroglen

From Coroglen, it was a brisk ride up to Whitianga, where Nils and Marc had booked accommodation for the night and I departed for home ready to meet up with them again the next day.  They duly arrived at our place next morning and checked in but unfortunately, the forecast wasn't promising so we elected to take the 4x4 out and do some touring about.  First stop was to the tiny settlement of Colville north of Coromandel, where the sealed road ends.  It's an area full of alternative lifestylers and communes set up in the early hippy days - I really like it up that way.  The Colville store stocks an amazing range of stuff, including gas mantles, big tubs of every bean and grain known to mankind for vegetarian and macrobiotic diets -  a seriously cool place!

Not really "banjo" territory but getting that way!

The utterly quaint and tiny Colville post office

Just down the road from Colville is Branch Creek Furniture which you access up a narrow track.  The owner, Greg Taylor, is an old school craftsman who used to be a logger.  He makes really solid, interesting-shaped furniture from indigenous and introduced timbers and we have several of his pieces.

Cool chair (and outstandingly comfortable)

Table and bench seat

We noticed Nils casting covetous looks at a gorgeous swamp kauri coffee table and in the end, he couldn't leave without buying it.  There was a bit of spirited banter about what his wife would say but we're pretty sure that the " 'tis better to ask for forgiveness than permission" rule applied in this case!  It's currently being couriered to his home in Wellington so we'll know soon enough!!!

On the way back home, we stopped off to see my mate Paul who's recent purchase of a classic 1951 Norton ES2 featured in a recent post.  Paul is a complete Norton enthusiast and in addition to the ES2, has a racing 850cc Commando and a 750cc Commando road bike.  Paul's now in his mid-50's and bought the 750 brand new when he was 17 - it's still in absolutely showroom condition!!

Paul's man-cave

The stunning 750 Commando

In the early evening, we all went along to a working gold stamper in Coromandel which dated back to the 1800's where gold-bearing rock is still crushed, treated and bullion (a gold/silver amalgam) extracted.  It was a fascinating demonstration and really enjoyable.

The incredibly noisy stamper battery

1800's OSH-approved belts and open gears!

The retorting process for extracting precious metals

A bullion ingot worth US$3000!

After a pretty full-on day, it was back home for a BBQ, a few wines and some well-earned sleep.  The following day, Nils and Marc took themselves into Coromandel village to do some shopping, presumably as quid pro quo for being allowed out on a boy's bike trip **sly grin**.  In the afternoon, they went on the famous Driving Creek pottery railway, followed by yet more refreshment and locally-caught seafood.

Driving Creek pottery railway - the vision of a local potter

The weather forecast for the following few days was fairly dire so Nils and Marc decided to shorten the trip and head the 650-odd km directly home the following morning.  We enjoyed their company immensely and new long-term friendships have been established through the love of motorcycles - now that's got to be good, hasn't it?

Hope you've enjoyed the trip round the Coromandel Peninsula and meeting fellow enthusiasts Nils, Marc and Paul.  All that remains is to wish everyone a wonderful Xmas and a safe and prosperous 2012!

The weather gods hate me!

Acknowledgement this photo: Steve Ferguson, local resident and fellow motorcyclist

Well Mr Bobscoot, thank you for offering to send good weather after my rainbow post but it arrived a bit late for which I hold the NZ Quarantine Service personally responsible.  A strongly-worded letter will be sent off forthwith.

We continued to have cloudbursts but by the next morning, it had eased to showers.  Just as well as we had arranged to drive the 160 km to Hamilton.  Thankfully, this was not a bike trip.  Our neighbours are going to make us stained glass windows for part of the house and we went down in our 4x4 with them to buy the glass we needed.  The weather was lovely in Hamilton, we had a fine time choosing the glass, followed by a sumptuous lunch and were about to head back to Coromandel when  my phone rang.  It was another neighbour and his call went like this, "We're having a severe storm on the Coromandel Peninsula, there's been torrential rain all day and the west coast road is flooded in several places.  Oh, and you can't come up the Eastern side of the Peninsula either because there's both flooding and 2 big slips"

So, with some words that would cause my late mother to scrub my mouth out with soap, we head back to see how far we can get.  It all seems a bit bizarre as the weather is still lovely in Hamilton.  As we approach Thames, the gateway to the Peninsula; the sky turns from  blue to almost pitch black and the rain starts to fall heavily.  A quick stop at the information centre confirms that we're stuck so the 4 of us check into a motel.  A quick visit to the local supermarket to stock up on cheeses, French bread, salami, wine (several bottles), breakfast goodies and so on sees us set for the night!

This morning, the weather is clear and calm and a phone call to our rural mail delivery driver reveals that the slips will take a while to clear but the water has subsided from the most direct route as he's been down the coast to the regional mail centre at first light.  Caution is advised as there are mini-slips and tree debris but we should be fine with a bit of care.

So, here we are.... arrived safely home an hour ago in dire need of a shower, shave and change of clothes.  After that, I must appease the NZ Weather Gods.  I'm undecided whether it should be setting fire to the Triumph or telling the Weather Gods to pick on Bobscoot for offering to send Canadian weather over here!

Antidote for blue Mondays

After a wet weekend and no riding for 3 weeks because of more pressing priorities, Monday dawns fine and warm.  Too good to miss a ride, even if there are things to do later in the day.  An early breakfast and a 200 km trip round the Coromandel Peninsula Loop would be a perfect wake-up!  If you'd like to come for a ride, throw a helmet on and hop on the back for a guided tour........

 
First port of call ('scuse the pun) is to have a look at the Kia Toa fishing boat down in Coromandel Town which is shortly to undergo restoration.  She has quite a bit of history. It may look like an old hulk but she's clearly a magnificent sea boat as it regularly used to motor up the 6000-odd km to Mururoa Atoll in the Pacific to protest against the French holding nuclear tests there.  Must be a tough old girl with her double-planked wooden hull!

Heading south toward Thames, the next stop is at a lookout in the hills that affords a 180 degree view of the Firth of Thames.  The first photo is looking north to Manaia Harbour, the second is looking directly down to a sheep and beef farm with its own bay and launch ramp (cows and sheep are bred with one pair of short legs to compensate for the hilly terrain) and the third is looking south across the Firth through the misty conditions to the many commercial mussel beds.

A slowish jaunt along the waters' edge towards Thames as I feel a bit rusty.  The sea is like a mill pond, just stunning. Pulling up just north of Thames shows the old weatherboard holiday homes by the water.  These are called bach's in the north island - short for bachelor pads.  The second photo is of a newly-restored old hotel in Thames which is now a private dwelling.  There was a proliferation of such watering-holes in the 1800's to satisfy the considerable thirst of the gold miners in the area!

After Thames, it's out into the hills on the Kopu to Hikuai road which runs from west to east across the Peninsula.  Through steep hills with a mixture of sweepers and twisties - a biker's delight.  However, no high speed antics this morning on account of wet roads and probably slippery too in shady parts thanks to a massive thunderstorm in this area last night.

Leaving the wet hills behind and heading north up the dry east coast, a comfort stop in Tairua is necessary - perhaps too much coffee for breakfast!  The photo taken during the stop is across Tairua Harbour to the extinct volcano called Paku.  At least, we hope it's extinct as there are a lot of homes on it now!

Continuing north through the twisties at a good clip with hardly another vehicle in sight, the stomach starts rumbling in anticipation of a scallop burger at the Coroglen Tavern.  The scallop burgers are a sight to behold, all the normal trimmings but packed with local scallops shown a buttery hot pan for a few scant seconds - just divine! This place is packed with bikers at the weekend but on a Monday, where is everyone?  Working presumably but heck, I've miscalculated the time and they don't open for 20 minutes - oh nooooo....!

Despite the strong pull of a scallop burger, I'm hungry and can't wait that long for a feed so it's back on the bike for the short(ish) ride north to Whitianga.  There are lots of good eateries here which would please even the most discerning palate (blogger and foodie Bobscoot to mention just one).  Sadly, a leisurely "slow food" experience isn't an option today as I have an afternoon appointment so to be safe, a relatively quick stop at Subway is made.  It's down the dining scale a bit but healthy and nutritious, not to mention easy on the wallet.

Feeling refreshed, it's a reasonably rapid journey over the section of the Coromandel Loop of which the Triple knows every centimetre, back to Coromandel Town.  Half way back, a quick double-take and photo from the saddle of some creatures in a field which look like they've come from a Stephen King novel, perhaps the Langoliers - can you guess what they are? No prizes for the sheep in the background, but the other two?

They're actually made from the lower part of palm leaves (the NZ Nikau palm) where they attach to the trunk - really clever but nightmarish if you've had a drop too much to drink!

Back in Coromandel Town, The king tide 2 days previously has brought some interesting boats down the creek nearly into the town centre so a quick stop is made to see what's about . The vessel shown in the photo is Sirius, a local all-alloy crayfish (rock lobster) boat which has probably been slipped for its annual marine survey.  Looks pretty big against the Striple!

All in all, a wonderful way to start any day - must do more of it and hope you enjoyed the quick trip round the Coromandel Loop.

I love Autumn weekdays

Autumn is absolutely the best time of year to ride a motorcycle on the Coromandel Peninsula where we live. The temperatures have dropped a bit meaning that wearing leathers is no longer your own personal sweat lodge!  More than that however, the number of tourists are dropping off and whilst the roads are rarely clogged, there is virtually nothing on them; especially on a weekday.  Monday chores taken care of in the morning and then it's off to play on the peninsula.  Thought I'd take you on out for a ride on our local roads so hop on board.  It's ok, I'm a careful rider, especially when there's precious cargo on the back, honestly!

Here we are in our front garden with the Triple all loaded up and waiting for me to stop stuffing about and get the riding gear on!

First stop is Kuaotunu beach, towards the east of the peninsula.  Parts of the Coromandel Peninsula and Firth of Thames is where the Bar-tailed Godwit lives.  So what you might ask?  This incredible bird begins its trek from NZ in late March to Alaska - some 11000 km in 5 or 6 days.....  almost unbelievable!  Sadly, they've all packed their bags and departed and there's just me (and you of course!) on the deserted beach contemplating the marvel of these amazing birds.

Next stop is the town of Whitianga on the east coast of the Peninsula.  Static population of around 5000 although it swells enormously in summer with tourists and holiday home owners.  I'm in two minds about this place.  Clean and tidy, good cafes and restaurants but some of the developments are unsympathetic and  make it look like a lot any other beachside development in the world.  I'm simply not sure what it's trying to be.  Guess the locals won't be giving me the keys to town anytime soon with remarks like that.  Really nice harbour and people though.

The man-made waterways above are in the process of construction and whilst nicely done, a couple of years will see the views totally blocked by developments.   Wonder how much silting will eventually occur as these are well over a kilometre inland.  This is a development that sort of grates with me.


Right, re-trace our route back to the west coast of the peninsula north of my home town of Coromandel where the coast remains pretty much undeveloped save for a few farms and forestry blocks.  Absolutely lovely and I can count the other vehicles I've seen for the last 20 or 30 kilometres on the fingers of one hand.  Twisty roads running right alongside the upper Firth of Thames - doesn't get much better than this!

More twisties and a slight scare with unmarked gravel on a bend up the coast until the tiny settlement of Colville is reached - I LOVE this place!!!  Colville and the surrounding hills have a lot of alternative lifestylers who have been around since the hippy days of the 60's.  The dense native bush no doubt hides more than a few plants of a ummmm.... more recreational nature but the people are just lovely - always happy to chat or help out in any way they can.  The store shown in the photo is run by a local commune and the range of goods is amazing, including great tubs of beans and grains that no-one has ever heard of.  Want a mantle for your ancient camping lamp?  No problem, they're bound to have one.  From Colville north, the tar seal turns into a fairly well formed dirt road which runs up the coast for another 40 km to the top of the Peninsula. The Department of Conservation has a handful of well-maintained camping areas right by the water up here.  Fabulous for families, hikers (called trampers in NZ) and fishermen wanting solitude in stunning, unspoiled, safe surroundings.

The afternoon is getting on and time to re-trace the route to Coromandel, my home town.  Coromandel has a population of around 1600 although this is considerably increased by tourists, particularly in the summer. Coromandel came to prominence in the 1800's when gold was discovered on the Peninsula.  Unlike Whitianga, Coromandel has kept its old buildings and the main street is utterly charming.

It's only a couple of kilometres to where we live down on the harbour so saddle up and head for the lookout near our house before the light fades.  The dots in the water near the island are commercial mussel beds and it's a wonderful area for fishing.  This is where Jennie and I anchor our runabout and occasionally take our kayaks for a good paddle.

Well, its been a lovely afternoon's ride with almost no traffic and in gorgeous scenery that never fails to stir the soul.  Hope that you've enjoyed the journey as much as I have!

Some days are better than others!

The northern part of the north island of NZ is currently in the grip of a drought but on the positive side, it's meant calm, warm days which are perfect for outdoor activities.  Having been retired for almost exactly 2 years, we have time to use these days more or less how we want!  All days are pretty good but yesterday was a bit special!

It started with jumping on the Street Triple first thing in the morning and riding 50 kilometres over some hills and down the coast to a nearby town to pick up some electronic goodies.  Warm, sunny, virtually nothing on the road in either direction.  In short, it was one of those spiritually uplifting rides that makes you at one with the universe.  Not fizzing with excitement, just perfect harmony if you get my drift.  The first picture shows the road I travelled on so you can see why I love it so much.  The photo of me was taken by a friend last year when I still had the Blackbird but the scenery hasn't changed!

 

In the afternoon, the tides were favourable and Jennie was keen to go fishing so we launched just down the road from our house and anchored in the commercial mussel farm just offshore.  The conditions were so magnificent that it wouldn't have mattered if we didn't catch anything but catch we did!  Both Jennie and I had our 20 lb lines broken early on in the expedition so there were clearly some big fish around!  We ended up with Jennie out-fishing me 8 snapper to 4 but at least I salvaged some honour with the heaviest fish of the day. I publicly apologise for my appalling dress sense  in the final photo but it's my lucky fishing gear!

After riding in the morning, fishing in the afternoon followed by filleting and a very pleasant dinner, sleep came easily; as it does when you've had a fulfilling and carefree day.  Days like this are good for the soul!