The Bay and Banjos Tour, day 1

I'm privileged to have some great mates whom I've been riding with for a long time.  We love each other's company and the wives and partners all get on really well too.  Riding together is magic as we have identical styles and that total trust makes it just so easy whether riding at pace or just pootling along. Trouble is, getting everyone together at a single moment in time is like herding cats with all our differing commitments.  However, the lads all try and get together for an outing once a year or thereabouts and the weekend just gone was it!

For this outing, we tried to choose as much territory as possible that we hadn't travelled on and one which would be both scenic and technically challenging whilst riding at a reasonable clip.  I should mention at this stage in all sincerity that we don't ride like idiots and speeding tickets would not be a good look.  The scary part would not be the encounter with the law, but having to front up to our better halves when we got home.  Craven cowards, the lot of us! Consequently, the choice was to go for roads with a low (almost non-existent it turned out) vehicle density for the times when we did want to press on a bit.

The route chosen for the business end of the ride on Day 2 was from the City of Napier in Hawke's Bay, heading west over a road called Gentle Annie which was only fully sealed this year, then continuing west down the Forgotten World Highway to our accommodation that night.  You might be wondering about the title of this post.  It was brilliantly coined by Richard, one of our team. The "Bay" bit comes from Hawke's Bay.  The "Banjos" bit stems from Gentle Annie and the Forgotten World Highway and anyone who remembers the movie "Deliverance" will know what is meant in terms of countryside and the famous banjo connotation.  Not entirely sure about the locals themselves as they're few and far between!

Gentle Annie and Forgotten World Highway

Day 1 - approx 430km
I leave home in Coromandel around 0900 and ride about 50km down the coast to meet up with Aucklanders Andy (BMW K1200R), John (Suzuki VStrom 1000) and Dave (Honda Blackbird) at Kopu.  I lead down the back roads to the town of Taupo to meet Richard (BMW 1200 GS) who has travelled from the south west of Hamilton.  Refuelling in Tokoroa en route, we meet another rider (Pete) at the gas station who has been waiting in vain for a friend.  With the no-show of his friend, he asks if he can tag along for the 200-odd km to Napier just for the fun of it, then turn round and head home again!  This is something rarely seen outside of motorcyclists and isn't it just great ? All about the journey, not the destination!   Pete's a really nice guy, very experienced and is very welcome.

Introducing Pete with his Beemer in the background

The township is on the edge of stunning Lake Taupo which is some 620 sq km in area.  The lake is actually in the crater of a supervolcano which is now hopefully extinct!  A great place to sit at a pavement cafe on the waterfront for lunch.

The lads - Andy, John, Richard, Pete and Dave

Pavement cafes are great for people-watching and whilst we are eating, a Honda Goldwing converted into a trike pulls up.  A beautiful conversion, not my cup of tea but vive la difference!  Love the personalised number plate....

Rear of Goldwing Trike

Next door to where we are eating is the inevitable McDonalds.  This is a bit different from the normal sanitised, instantly recognisable everywhere McD premises.  The difference is a DC3 as part of the restaurant, right in town!  Here 'tis:

Will that be fries with your boarding pass sir?

Time to get underway and Andy takes the lead down to Napier.  The road is very much one of two halves, long straights through farming country to start with, often inhabited by the Highway Patrol looking for people who are daft enough to succumb to excessive temptation!  However, not a peep from our radar detectors on this stretch.  Virtually no traffic and as we enter the first set of twisties cut through the ash of the volcanic plateau, it's a wonderful sight being at the back of the group to see all the bikes following identical lines at a nice pace - almost an art form!

As we climb into the mountain ranges to the west of Napier, down comes the rain and in places, the road is pretty slick with not much chip on top of the tar in places.  Andy does his normal highly professional job, riding superb lines and doing smooth, well-planned overtakes to take the stress off the followers.  Fortunately, the rain backs off for the final 20 minutes or so into Napier city and we say goodbye to Pete and check into our cabins in the Top 10 chain camping ground.  Seriously nice accommodation at a very reasonable price.

Cool self-contained cabins

Nice interiors too

Chilling after a decent ride

Richard, Dave, Andy, John, me

Andy's parents live in Napier and have generously invited us round for dinner that evening, which is a lovely gesture and anticipating a few convivial glasses of wine, a taxi is ordered!  They live on a hill overlooking the gorgeous Art Deco period buildings of town and have stunning views out to sea. 

View from the deck - pity about the misty rain!

Andy's parents are wonderful hosts - a fabulous meal, great conversations, many laughs and we all turn in very happy and dog-tired from the day's activities.  Tomorrow will be the big day with a fair bit of new territory to be explored!

Day 2 to follow shortly....

The 7 day challenge

Rising to fellow(ess?) bike blogger Trobairitz' challenge to name a bike for each day of the week given a lotto win or similar, here are my picks.  As befits a person of errr... mature years, some of the choices are from way back when.  This isn't because I think they're better bikes than today.  One of the main reasons was that as an impoverished student, and later as a mortgage-holder with a young family; they were out of reach in terms of price, so I'm allowed to indulge now!!

I'm not going to include the two best bikes I've ever owned, the Honda Blackbird and the Triumph Street Triple, simply because I've owned them!

Unsurprisingly (see my previous post), my Monday bike is a Tricati.  Elegant, handles like a dream and despite being 4 decades old, still looks fantastic.  The photo shown arrived today courtesy of a friend in Scotland. This one has the 250cc Ducati rolling chassis and although I'd prefer the 200cc Elite to stick a 500cc Triumph engine in.  I wouldn't be complaining though, you understand!

The timeless Tricati - an enduring obsession

Tuesday sees me riding a 1969 Thruxton Bonneville (not a current pale imitation).  I was at the 1969 Isle of Man TT when Triumph factory rider Malcolm Uphill averaged 100 mph in winning the race.  Again, I was at an impressionable age and lusted after one!

Thruxton Bonneville photographed in Auckland, 2010

Wednesday sees the last of the "classic" bikes wheeled out, a Suzuki T500 Titan.  I never owned a big, leery 2 stroke but have always wanted to.  The T500 wasn't as hairy and impractical as the Kawasaki Triple, but could still shift along and the noise from one fitted with expansion chambers gave more pleasure to a young lad than a copy of Playboy!

Suzuki T500 (file photo)

Thursday wheels out one of Trobairitz' choices, the Harley Davidson XR 1200.  Good for cruising and blasting and has looks inspired by the great flat-tracking days.  Mean-looking and brilliantly executed.

True to its traditions (file photo)

Friday's child is the Benelli TNT 1130 cafe racer.  Impossibly exotic, brutal as heck.  A real street fighter that's a bit different from the rest.  I love it!

Corrrr......  (file photo)

Saturday's mount is something pretty ordinary, but a brilliant all round bike, the Yamaha XJR 1300.  Ohlins suspension as standard, uncluttered appearance and bulletproof.  This one is owned by one of my IAM Examiners, Wayne Holden.

Wayne's lovely XJR 1300

Sunday and last, but by no means least (I bet you never saw this coming, did you???) is.... wait for it.....  a Honda C70 cub!!  "Why", I hear you asking incredulously!  Well, as many regular bloggers know, I've completed the annual Grand Challenge 1000miles / 1600km in 24 hours 5 times on a number of different bikes.  As long as you prepare properly, doing the distance in the required time isn't too bad.  Confessions of An Ageing Motorcyclist time.... I still have a yearning to try and make it on a Honda Cub!!!  Fit a long-range fuel tank to minimise stops and a couple of other mods and I reckon it's just about possible.  Watch this space.........

The mighty C70

Special thanks to Trobairitz for the fun in putting this together!

The past catches up.....

Are you sitting comfortably?  Then I'll tell you a story...

Once upon a time in a land far, far away, there was little factory turning out motorcycles by the name of Triumph.  The engines were indeed a Triumph apart from a few idiosyncrasies and oil leaks, but the frames were anything but a Triumph of engineering and appeared to be constructed of rubber.  Owners who enjoyed a bit of spirited  riding had more than their share of brown-trouser moments with their bikes trying to buck them off at the most inopportune time.

The author on his evil-handling 1955 Triumph Tiger 100, circa 1967
Slim, plenty of hair - is that really me???

Those were the days of real innovation and one of the ways of overcoming crap handling (a technical term) was to stick a Triumph engine in a Norton featherbed frame to make a Triton.  Great-looking, superb handling and even today, they have a huge following among the cafe racer enthusiasts.  However, there was an article in a mid-1960's copy of the UK magazine, Motorcycle Mechanics about a chap who had shoehorned a Triumph twin into a small Ducati frame.  As an engineer in training, the concept of an ultra-lightweight bike with sublime handling really appealed and I never forgot that article by Mick Snaith - innovative engineering at its very best and almost certainly the first Tricati in the world!

In the early 1970's, I'd stopped competitive drag racing and remembering Mick's article again, set about putting the drag motor (minus supercharger) in a Ducati frame.  That story is HERE  in my blog.

Now a few days ago, one of those events happened which leaves you genuinely lost for words. A friend of Mick Snaith  had seen my post, told Mick and he'd taken the trouble to get in touch 44 years after the article was published - simply incredible!

This is what he wrote:

Hi Geoff
I was the guy that built the first Tricati that was featured in Motorcycle Mechanic,( July 1967 from memory). I’ve still got a copy somewhere.
I did the same as you and inverted the swinging arm to swop the drive over. As I was serving an apprenticeship in a power station at the time I was able to make nearly all my own bits to fit and adapt the Triumph engine which I also tuned to beyond T100 spec. The rear sprocket was the only custom bought part, I made all the rest from raw material, mostly aluminium alloys. I drilled holes in all the plates/ brackets as a lightening measure as this would reduce the weight and hence increase performance. The original bike had a purpose built oil tank in the saddle made from fibreglass kits. This used to get warm which was nice in winter. I built a MK11 with the engine oil in the frame after boxing in the top and front tubes join area to increase the volume.
I actually raced one at Cadwell Park in an open road bike class and did quite well, the performance was pretty good by 1967 standards as it would do over 120mph with terrific acceleration due to the low weight. The handling was typical Ducati again pretty good in 67.
Mick Snaith

As you might expect, I was so excited and felt pretty privileged too.  An exchange of emails followed and amazingly, Mick still had the original article which he scanned and sent.  I've reproduced it below to show what a brilliant idea it was and how well the whole job was executed.  This was way before the days of nipping down the the local bike shop and buying over the counter farkles, which really puts Mick's achievement in the context which it fully deserves.  It's really worth looking at this article in detail for the very fine engineering so (hopefully), I've attached them in large scale so they can be clicked on to enlarge, then clicked on again to enlarge even more.

The world's first Tricati

Engineering details

As an amusing aside, Mick tells me that one of the early suggestions he received for naming it was a "Dumph" but wisely called it a Tricati, therefore preventing it from sinking into the realm of smutty jokes!  He also has photos of his Mk 2 version lurking about somewhere and if these ever come to light, I'll post them up.

So what a wonderful conclusion to my original post in May last year and even more importantly, being able to give Mick the world-wide recognition he deserves through the internet, albeit over 40 years late.  I take my hat off to you Mick!

Addendum: 

A week after this post, I've had another delightful email from Mick with some notes and a photo of another development version of his Tricati in 1967.  In this version and given the tight space behind the engine, he has the oil tank in the seat hump, which was innovative in itself.  He writes:

"Hi Geoff,

We found a picture of my revised bike with oil tank in the saddle. Sadly the picture is not the sharpest on the right side ( my photography has improved a lot since then) but the scanner was good. I still think it looked great even now.  Seeing these old pics has reminded me of some of the design details.

I had fitted racing cams and then flattened the followers radius to give even more valve overlap. I ground and smoothed all the valve gear to allow for the quicker movement of rods and rockers, and minimise valve bounce

I had worked out the best tuned length for the exhaust and fitted reverse cone megaphone 'silencers' the effect was give a real kick to the acceleration, and noise, when the revs got up but admittedly it was a bit noisy for a road bike. I only got away with it because  in town it only had to be in gear at tickover and it was doing 30mph. My friend Paul reminded me I didn't get away with it at a race meeting where a scrutineer insisted it couldn't be road legal and would not believe it was standard on a Tricati!  Despite me telling him I rode it to work like that every day I had to race it with some silencers borrowed off a friend's bike, They had something called baffles in them which took the edge off the performance slightly but it still easily kept up with a 1000cc Vincent.  Those were the days."

Isn't it wonderful that we can share Mick's enthusiasm and craftsmanship decades further on and as he rightly says, it still looks great even now.

Mick's 1967 development Tricati

Mick's early Tricati, possibly at the Silverstone circuit

Nice bikes, nice people

I got an email yesterday from my long-time riding partner, great mate and fellow IAM associate Andy.  He and some fellow Auckland riders were going to finish the working week a day early and come for a "quickish" ride round the Coromandel Peninsula and would I like to join them?  Hard choice actually as a trip out in the boat for a spot of fishing was also on the cards.  However the ride won out and I met Andy and his friends a couple of km from home.  I'm normally a bit wary about riding with people I don't know, but trusted Andy's judgement as always.  Lord knows why,  seeing as Andy's a respectable banker by working day and a complete hooligan on 2 wheels!  Actually, he's a top class rider and exceptionally quick if he has the mind to boogie :-).  Andy did the introductions and I felt immediately at home - really nice people.

Meet Andy and his brutal K1200R

Nice Ducati Multistrada kitted for touring

No good for me - I'd need a step ladder!

A Multistrada in tasteful black sir?

Nice KTM and BMW F800

Note the badges - more on this in a moment

After gassing up, we set off for the Eastern side of the Peninsula - great sweepers and twisties the whole way.  Being the local yokel, I lead the first 40 km to Whitianga.  Trying to set an acceptable pace for people you've never ridden with before isn't always easy but everything worked out fine at a "slightly" illegal pace, even if that phrase would have zero credibility with the boys in blue :-).  It very quickly became apparent that the other riders were really smooth, very patient and extremely competent - a pleasure to ride with.

Andy took over up front for the leg from Whitianga to Tairua.  His IAM training really showed through with great positioning and well-judged overtakes and everyone was enjoying his lead.  Easy to make good progress when there's a really smooth rider up front taking the stress off everyone else.  We all pulled into Tairua for refreshments and it was here that I learned that Jane on the F800 and her husband had ridden the length of South America last year.  A really impressive feat but sadly, I didn't have the opportunity to quiz them on the adventure.

All to soon, it was time for me to turn north and head for home and for the others to head south, then back to Auckland.  Yet another unexpected afternoon ride this week and just as enjoyable, albeit for different reasons to the one in the previous post.

Cheers Andy and thanks so much everyone for a wonderful afternoon!

A lovely afternoon on the road

As regular readers will know, Jennie and I take turns to organise annual vacations to celebrate our wedding anniversary, keeping the destination a secret from each other for as long as possible - sometimes as late as the airport check-in desk which has led to the odd bit of merriment  for one party and consternation for the other!  Anyway, next year is our 40th anniversary, it's my turn and as procrastination is my middle name on these matters; I decided pull finger for a change and do a bit of early research on destinations.  Having got as far as possible without expert advice, it was time to visit the nearest travel agent some 40 minutes from home.

Going on the bike was a perfect way of stopping the CEO inviting herself along, so with a "Going out for a practice run Honey", I was off to Whitianga!  Actually, there was another errand I was keen to knock off too and it involved this:

Spare Street Triple key

Y'see, I'm down to my last Street Triple key.  Lord knows where they go, but I'm blaming the Automotive Key Elves which are cousins of the Spectacles Elves, both of which live just out of sight in our house and come out at night to wreak havoc when we're asleep. Their malign influence would warrant a tale on its own, but back to the present.....

For some unfathomable reason, the Triumph spare key is a stunted affair without a handle to get a decent grip on.  Trying to grip the ring through thick gloves to turn the ignition on whilst very bad words hang in the air is an everyday occurrence and my patience finally snapped last week.  My friendly Triumph dealer mailed me a Triumph blank to get cut locally.  In my humble opinion, it was outrageously expensive even with no security chip and I shudder to think what a Ducati or MV blank would have cost.  The phrase "Got you by the short and curlies" comes to mind.  There's no key-cutting service in our village that I know of so first stop was at a Mitre 10 hardware store which we've used before for house key spares.  My heart sank when the lady said "That's a double-edged left-hand double DNA helix whatchamacallit".  Actually, she didn't say that at all but it was something similar which meant that for some reason, she wasn't game to have a go despite their profiling machine looking pretty high tech.  She was, however, anxious to help out and told me about a "real" locksmith who had a business in the next block.

Pulling up outside, I just knew that I was going to love the place!  A converted home called Arlingham House with lavender bushes, a nice covered porch and glimpses of old clocks through the open door and windows - WOW, hints of an old-time craftsman!  Here we are:

Arlingham House, complete with 1954 Dodge outside

There was an elderly gentleman sitting in a cane chair on the porch.  He told me that the owner was away at lunch and he was just minding the place for him.  Would I like to join him and wait?  I would indeed and sat in the other cane chair to chew the fat with him.  Turns out that he was the owner of the beautifully-restored Dodge saloon outside and had a classic British Ford at home too, both of them getting regular use and I listened to great tales of his trips in them.  Now isn't that light years better than going to a modern hardware store and just doing the business?  Simply no comparison!

 View from outside down to the beautiful harbour

Lovely entrance to the premises

After 15 minutes or so, the business owner showed up and was only marginally younger than his "minder".  Another absolute delight who had a 20 year old mind trapped inside an older body.  It was certainly no effort for him to cut the blank in a matter of seconds.  I didn't actually see him cutting the key as I was too busy gawping at the treasure trove of stuff inside.  He graciously allowed me to take some photos which I'll share with you.....

Clocks and barometers of every shape and size

stuffed everywhere

Turns out that he sold clocks and barometers too and also did some restoration - what a joy to behold!  He also had photos hanging on the walls from the gold rush and kauri tree logging days from NZ's history in the 1800's.

A gallery of social history

When he'd cut my key (the insanely low price of NZ$3), he asked me whether I'd like another "decent" spare with a handle as he thought he had a blank somewhere from aeons ago which might do the job.  I simply couldn't resist taking the next photo as he grovelled among the thousands of boxes looking for it! Amazingly, he found it inside a minute and moments later, I had another key at 1/3 the price of the one with the Triumph logo on!

 "Now I remember seeing a suitable key about 30 years ago...."

I was really sorry to leave these 2 delightful gentlemen and sincerely thanked them for making my day (making my week more like...) - don't encounters like this lift the soul?

After that, it was round to the travel agent and what might be described as a very productive meeting but that's all I'm going to say for now.  Jennie doesn't read this blog but to spill the beans right now would be tempting fate!

Heading back on the coast road between Whitianga and Coromandel, some dark clouds due to afternoon heat build-up were forming and the chances were that I was going to get rained on at some stage.  No worries though as I was wearing Gore-Tex rather than leather.

Uh-oh...  a heavy dump coming this way!

Not much nicer in the other direction either

I did indeed get rained on for a wee while but it didn't even come close to wiping the grin off my face.  An anniversary trip largely sorted, spare keys cut and what a wonderful way to get them made AND a genuine bit of practice for my next IAM test.  Unplanned events like these really don't get much better, do they?

Don't panic, don't panic!!!!

A couple of days ago, I received an email from Philip McDaid, IAM Chief Examiner; saying that it was time for my cross-check ride and what was I doing on Thursday? (today).  The cross-check ride is virtually a mock run under a wide range of riding conditions of the IAM full membership test to ensure that I can consistently perform to the police rider standards which the IAM use as their baseline.  Philip said he was happy to ride down my way from his Auckland base and I thought "Sweet - roads that I'm totally familiar with - that gets rid of a lot of stress"!

We arranged to meet in the historic gold-mining town of Thames 50-odd km down the coast for a pre-ride coffee and I set off this morning under sunny skies and in an excellent frame of mind, although under no illusions that it was going to be a relaxing ride.  Incidentally, in the photo below, the large catamaran moored in the background looks like it has a VW Kombi for a cabin, particularly with the 2 tone paint!

Early morning on Coromandel Harbour

We live on the hill to the right 

Philip and I met up in Thames and over coffee, my relaxed demeanour changed somewhat when Philip explained that in order to be examined over the wide range of conditions required, we would NOT be riding on local roads, but would in fact be riding back to the Auckland area, using a mix of 2 lane roads, the  Southern Motorway itself and driving in high density traffic in one of Auckland's southern adjoining towns!  I thought I took the news pretty calmly given that the anticipated ride had just turned to custard but must have had a stricken look on my face which explains Philip's triumphant grin!  The shock of an alternate destination with some unknown roads must have caused me to mis-hear some of the route (my story and I'm sticking to it!) but more of that later.

Philip in Thames

How cool is this?  Thames main street

Painted in Highway Patrol livery

The one-way route (re-traced to return home)

Approximately 370 km for the day

The run from Thames in moderate traffic was really enjoyable apart from part-way along the predominantly 2-lane State Highway 2 when we caught up with a fuel tanker doing about 10 km/hr below the national open road speed limit of 100 km/hr.  This was where the mind games started!!  "Hmmm... I'd really like to get past this but to do so quickly, I'll need to go over the speed limit.  Will Philip ping me for speeding or will he ping me for failing to make progress if I don't - oh heck, what to do?"  Well, he didn't ping me for passing in a brisk manner, but he did notice whilst I was looking ahead for an opportunity that I'd drifted a little closer than the 2 second following rule when there was no need to do so!  Fortunately, I was out to one side of the tanker or the "gentle reminder" might have been a bit more forceful!

Traffic on the Southern Motorway was moderate and I felt completely comfortable with lane positioning, overtaking and situational awareness.  Too comfortable as it happened as my brain had registered Papakura as our first destination, not Pukekohe.  Consequently, I serenely sailed past the Pukekohe motorway off-ramp with not a care in the world until Philip came flying by and indicated to get off at the next junction.  My stuff-up became painfully apparent when we stopped moments later to fit the radio comms ready for the part of the route I wasn't familiar with.  Suffice to say that I felt a complete pillock when Philip said if I'd used my mirrors, I'd have seen him indicating at the Pukekohe turn.  How abso-bloody-lutely humiliating!!! Philip also advised me to look out for "speed creep" on the motorway - easy to do when a fair percentage of the traffic is travelling above the speed limit!

Time for some dense traffic work around the town of Pukekohe which has narrow roads, made even narrower by parked cars.  It also seemed that there were tight radius mini roundabouts at every intersection with traffic coming at you from all angles.  However, all the recent city riding practice must have paid off as it was stress-free with no incidents.  Road positioning well away from parked cars helped no end.  From Pukekohe, it was off south on the narrow twisty rural back roads towards Ngaruawahia.  The conditions are similar to my local roads and I love 'em!  It must have been apparent to Philip too as after 20 km or so, he called a halt to proceedings and said I'd nailed it - YESSS!!!!  

Absolutely over the moon, enormously proud and to be perfectly candid, more than a little surprised.  It's really hard to maintain a sense of perspective when you're concentrating so hard and I thought that the fuel tanker incident and missing the motorway turn-off earlier in the day might have cost me dearly at this advanced level but Philip said that he could see that my overall skill level and riding plan was up to standard. Phew!  Back to the Autobahn motorway service station for a late lunch and a debrief, Philip said that he'd be speaking to one of the other IAM Examiners to take me for the official full membership riding test in the very near future.  So between now and then, It's practice, practice and even more practice!

Starving after all the stress!

Sooo.....  370 km for the day, including 2 1/2 hours of minutely observed riding by the Chief Examiner.  Surprising how much it takes out of you and it's likely to be an early night!  It's been seven months since starting out on this journey and it's hard to describe just how much the standard of my riding has improved.  It certainly IS possible to teach an old dog new tricks!  IAM is an amazing organisation where professionals such a commercial instructors, police riders and other people with unbelievable riding skills volunteer their time to help others raise their game - simply outstanding.

2 years with the Street Triple

It's almost 2 years to the day since I bought the Street Triple and the comprehensive reviews earlier in this blog (HERE and HERE ) still stand good - it's a peach of a bike and I've loved every minute of owning it.  Today was its 20,000 km service so I knew that my wallet would get a lot lighter but hey; it was a sunny, warm day and the 320 km round trip to the dealer down mainly country lanes should take away some of the sting!

I love visiting Hamilton Motorcycle Centre as Heath, the dealer Principal and his team are more like friends than a business entity and it's that high quality personal service delivered with a smile and accompanying leg-pulling which puts them at the very top of the tree.

Whilst Matt, the Chief Technician started tearing the bike down for the major service, I wandered into the parts and showroom area to grab a coffee and look at the bikes as there's always something new and interesting.

Some serious dismantling at 20,000 km

Mighty big holes for 3 - 225cc cylinders!

Let me share some of the nice stuff which the dealership currently has on the floor......

The first bike inside the door is a BSA trials bike, probably from the mid 60's.  Compared with modern bikes, they look so elegantly simple, almost flimsy.  I didn't bother to photograph the whole bike but was rather taken with the simple little muffler.  It was one of those designs which just felt and looked "right", if you know what I mean.

What a neat bit of engineering

The next bike to catch my eye was the touring version of the Triumph Rocket 3.  This was the first one I'd ever seen and it looked far more integrated than the roadster versions - I really liked it.  Woe betide  anyone who mistakes it for a conventional cruiser and tries to show it up on the road - there could be some red faces!

A wolf in sheep's clothing

Next bike to interest me was a new T100 Bonneville.  Bonnies have always had that iconic aura but the paint job on this one was very similar indeed to the early Bonnies when they were arguably the fastest thing on the road.  Triumph play the nostalgia card very well indeed.

Beautiful standard of finish

The Ducati brand really is sex on wheels and a row of them always makes a nice composition, as do the carbon Termignoni carbon end cans.

These get the hormones sloshing about!

..... and so do these, sigh.......

The next bike to catch my eye was the Triumph 800 adventure bike.  The attention to detail is superb with more than a little artistry about the design.  If I was being practical about replacing the Street Triple right now with something else, I think it would be one of these.  It gave me that hard-to-describe emotional connection inside which a lot of other bikes don't, despite them being excellent bikes in their own right.

Horny triple pipes on the 800

Pilot's eye view on the 800

Elegant simplicity

A customer's Kawasaki H1 500 triple was on display.  These bikes had a wicked reputation with the narrow powerband meaning that an incautious and heavy-handed rider was likely to need dental surgery when the front end came up and smacked him in the face.  Comparing it with modern bikes, the forks are ludicrously skinny and no doubt contributed to poor handling.  The narrow drum brake looks scarily inefficient!

Mountain bikes have stiffer forks than these!

Voted one of the top 10 motorcycle engines

of all time in an international poll

The Triumph Tiger is a bike which has been around for some time and for some unexplainable reason, I really didn't pay a lot of attention to it.  That certainly changed seeing the one below.  In hot orange with a deeply-sculpted seat and some of the nicest panniers I've ever seen on a bike, it looked simply stunning.  Nicely done, Mr Triumph!

 

 This is a seriously good-looking bike

That was the last of the photos I took in the shop but one of Heath's regular customers turned up on his Beemer R1200 and sidecar combination - something you don't see every day!  With the 2 big alloy side cases, an alloy top box and space inside the sidecar, it looked like you could tour with self-sufficiency for a fair length of time.

For the serious enthusiast!

Whilst I was waiting for the Triple to be finished, Heath wandered over and said, "Would you like to take the Ducati Streetfighter for a spin?"  This is the bike I showed in the 3rd and 4th photos of THIS recent post.  Would I what!!!!  However, experimentally cocking my leg over it, I was right on tip-toe and a nightmare vision of dropping an expensive piece of art at the traffic lights outside flashed before my eyes.  Sadly, I thought it was better to decline..... at least until I've mentally prepared myself for it!  Heath's generosity shows why he's so highly regarded in the industry.

Just before I left for home, I was having a chat with 2 biker gang members who proved to be really interesting as well as entertaining.  One of them uttered a sentence I thought I'd never hear, "Man, Harleys are sh*t, don't know why we had them".  They both had Rocket 3's; more effective for doing a runner on, that's for sure!

The ride home was glorious with warm temperatures and sparkling seas on the coast road.  In the town of Thames, a Triumph 675 Daytona and what was possibly a Triumph Bonneville America pulled out of a gas station  and followed me north up the twisty coast road.  I wasn't going to get sucked into a dick-waving contest so more or less stuck to the speed limit and maintained high cornering speeds to see what happened.  The Daytona rider stuck with me but made no attempt to pass and the guy on the cruiser got dropped off a bit.  The convoy re-grouped when I got baulked by a car in the twisties for a few moments which I then overtook down a straight bit.  The Daytona rider was content to sit on my tail at a sensible distance but the cruiser was hell-bent on getting past.  Unfortunately, it took him most of the straight to do it and he entered the next bend far too hot for his ground clearance and basic suspension, dancing all over the road with sparks coming off his stand or footpegs - quite a sight!   He must have been really close to filling his underpants as he slowed right up and waved me past.... what a hoot, but the consequences could have been much, much worse for him.  Would imagine that he felt a complete dick.

All in all, one of those days which makes the soul sing and most car drivers simply couldn't begin to understand.  Oh, and considering that I had a new air filter, oil and filter, new plugs, cam shim check, full diagnostics and a thorough check including a test ride; I thought that the charge of just over NZ$500 (US$400) was extremely reasonable!