Well done for recovering from an awkward situation without injury.I was impressed you carried on the next gravel rd and put your mishap behind you.I would probably just gone home
I was already injured, so that saved me the hassle of getting injured again. I felt obliged to show the other end of the road given that I failed to get there using the intended route. Also, it was only a slight detour.
Hey mate. I'm in Hawke's Bay myself and wouldn't mind a ride when you're keen. I'm no offroad expert but at least we can help each other picking up bikes. 😂
I went through that track yesterday, would not recommend your bike for that road, the worst bits you show repeat over and over for quite a long way, was a struggle on my KLX400 with knoblies.
Thanks. I guess I'll scrub that ride off the list. I recently watched a video of some 4WDs doing part of the track. Looks like those vehicles chew up the road quite a lot.
I wouldn’t beat myself up too much for not getting a 228 kg bike through that four-wheel-drive stuff. I don’t know how many regular road motorcyclists wouldn’t have a problem with that? I think the guys that can do it have got a lot of dirtbike experience. I don’t think I’ll be trying it on my bike. I’ll just stick to the gravel. If I do try it I will get a lighter bike, and put it on the back of a pick up truck.
I think the 228kg bike was fine. It was the 140kg rider that was the week link. Maybe I would have chucked a smaller bike into the road with a bit more gusto. I am jealous of these people who have grown up with dirtbikes.
I used to be a technician with the Post Office in the 70's and we used to service the microwave station at the gorge end. On occasion we would take a land rover through there, and I believe at that time it was possible to get a Falcon or Holden station wagon through. I went through a few times on a 1971 Triumph 250 single that I had then. That would have been a more suitable bike than yours, apart from the lack of reliability that it had. More recently about eight years back my wife and I took a 97 Nissan Patrol through. We met an Army Unimog coming the other way. Even then, the road was much better than it is now, although not wonderful. As far as I know it is actually a public road, and it used to be signposted North Range Road at both ends
Yeah. It's public, but it's not maintained by the council. I doubt that anyone would organise a grader to go along the road. It's popular with the 4WD community so they wouldn't want it to be flattened. I would have been much better on a small bike. I would also have been better if I had more skill and didn't have an injured leg.
Hey mate I enjoy watching your explorations of back roads in NZ , I’ve been noting some of the interesting gravel stretch and hope to check them out. I’m curious , are you still on a ‘stock’ road style tyre or running something more off road focussed? Cheers, keep up the vlogs
I changed to a more 50/50 tyre when I upgraded to the Tiger 900 Rally. I think they have made a difference on some of the roads (obviously not in this video - I don't think any tyre can make up for a lack of talent). The 50/50s are definitely not as good on the road. I might get something a little more road biased next time.
Good effort, there are a few more bigger holes further on that are even more challenging, in the middle of summer it's a lot easier with less mud. . . But even then the holes stay wet
Great Video, I have had quite a bit of experience on North range Road including getting my Suzuki SJ 413 stuck in a rut a bit further on one afternoon, I have seen a few 4WD club videos that would suggest it's only passable to walkers. the politics of it being a boundary of 2 councils and power companies that prefer not to have visitors, The road was upgraded for the Mercury Wind farm, but they used private wind-farm roads to bring their "Long" and "Heavy" loads through to the top of the Pahiatua track! I appreciate your comment about the Dash 8 crash I was working in Dannevirke when that happened! The only thing I would have appreciated would be had you gone on another 1 km from when you had turned(the second time) to find out if the farm gate was "locked" as i heard it was some time ago! I love that area as i have taken some of my best Photos up there, Don't give yourself a hard time about your riding skills it's been an "un-maintained" road for the 30 years +/- that I have known it! thanks for sharing
