Is motorcycling allowed?

[sawystertrance]

All well and good but I used my back brake to moderate my speed, not to crash stop and that's why I preferred the control of my dominant hand. I never once locked my back wheel. Of course for a quick stop the front brake is added. 

[WaynejG]

2 minutes ago, sawystertrance said:

All well and good but I used my back brake to moderate my speed, not to crash stop and that's why I preferred the control of my dominant hand. I never once locked my back wheel. Of course for a quick stop the front brake is added. 

Same here. I have never locked up the back wheel and ripped up a trail.

[Spokey]

On 5/25/2022 at 10:40 AM, WaynejG said:

Same here. I have never locked up the back wheel and ripped up a trail.

All the time on my Katoom 690R , but, yes, I try not to on my MTB.
Talking brakes……..I tried to go from George to Oudtshoorn on my FZR1000 without touching the brakes but still riding reasonably hard. I made it until the corner above the 180 hairpin……just slightly too fast and had to dump a bit of brake. 
I do like the challenge of the Outeniqua Pass without using brakes on any of my bikes………of course easier up the gomo than down and when heading down, just sometimes one has to be a tad more enthusiastic toward the bottom left right left right combination to pass the four wheeled traffic!

Edited May 26, 2022 by Spokey

[WaynejG]

8 hours ago, Spokey said:

All the time on my Katoom 690R , but, yes, I try not to on my MTB.
Talking brakes……..I tried to go from George to Oudtshoorn on my FZR1000 without touching the brakes but still riding reasonably hard. I made it until the corner above the 180 hairpin……just slightly too fast and had to dump a bit of brake. 
I do like the challenge of the Outeniqua Pass without using brakes on any of my bikes………of course easier up the gomo than down and when heading down, just sometimes one has to be a tad more enthusiastic toward the bottom left right left right combination to pass the four wheeled traffic!

I could mostly do this when I had my Harley. The engine braking is really good. Would battle to do it with the Rocket.

[Spokey]

1 hour ago, WaynejG said:

I could mostly do this when I had my Harley. The engine braking is really good. Would battle to do it with the Rocket.

I need to test ride a Rocket, it is just such a different machine. Bigger version of what the old V Max was all about I imagine.

[Hairy]

On 5/25/2022 at 8:27 AM, Andrew_Smith said:

 

Is that a South African rider ... his closing "Ah yes" comment certainly has him sounding like on.

Dude is nice and smooth on the bike

[Hairy]

Guess he is going on a long ride

[Hairy]

Starting watching Wheels Through Time recently ... bro knows his stuff, and he learnt it all from his dad who started the museum.

 

[patches]

Was recently browsing the classifieds for a decent condition "plated dirt bike" (for a friend), and it's slim pickings here in NZ.

Ever since they introduced that ABS law (last November), it means no new KTM or Husky enduro bikes can be road registered as they do not have ABS (and yes, although the 690 and 701 do have ABS and hold "enduro" in their title, I'm referring to their 500cc or less more agile little brothers).

Not only are options limited (mostly one or 2 KTM's that snuck in just before the law change, or 2009-ish Yamaha WR450's, all of which seem to be fetching ridiculous prices (like R75,000 equiv for a 2009 WR450, R100,000 equiv for a 2013, or R190,000 for a 2020 KTM EXC 300 TPi, just because it's road registered).

I'd also bet that brand new EXC 450/500's and FE 450/501's sales are going to decline massively in NZ due to that issue. And bikes like my 2016 FE 450 (rally kitted and road registered) will only become more rare (and hopefully appreciate), but what do I replace it with?

Definitely sold my plated 2015 FE350 for too cheap, hahaha!

[Hairy]

11 hours ago, patches said:

Was recently browsing the classifieds for a decent condition "plated dirt bike" (for a friend), and it's slim pickings here in NZ.

Ever since they introduced that ABS law (last November), it means no new KTM or Husky enduro bikes can be road registered as they do not have ABS (and yes, although the 690 and 701 do have ABS and hold "enduro" in their title, I'm referring to their 500cc or less more agile little brothers).

Not only are options limited (mostly one or 2 KTM's that snuck in just before the law change, or 2009-ish Yamaha WR450's, all of which seem to be fetching ridiculous prices (like R75,000 equiv for a 2009 WR450, R100,000 equiv for a 2013, or R190,000 for a 2020 KTM EXC 300 TPi, just because it's road registered).

I'd also bet that brand new EXC 450/500's and FE 450/501's sales are going to decline massively in NZ due to that issue. And bikes like my 2016 FE 450 (rally kitted and road registered) will only become more rare (and hopefully appreciate), but what do I replace it with?

Definitely sold my plated 2015 FE350 for too cheap, hahaha!

Why the insistence on ABS for road use .... are rider's killing themselves because they are not braking in time (or properly) in NZ on a mass scale, or are they just doing the right thing now to make sure that in the coming years all the bikes will have ABS, and thereby make for safer riding, especially for new riders.

I know I answered my own question

[patches]

11 hours ago, Hairy said:

Why the insistence on ABS for road use .... are rider's killing themselves because they are not braking in time (or properly) in NZ on a mass scale, or are they just doing the right thing now to make sure that in the coming years all the bikes will have ABS, and thereby make for safer riding, especially for new riders.

I know I answered my own question

Yup, you got it!

It's all part of a wider plan to up the safety of any vehicles on the road. In NZ even car registration fees are affected by the safety rating of your vehicle, with lower fees for safer cars. Part of the vehicle rego fee goes into the ACC (Accident Compensation Corporation) fund, which compensates just about accident (like falling off a ladder etc).

So for motorcyclists, the rego fee is high as they are statistically more likely to incur medical bills and lose income from a vehicular accident than a motorist.

Also, the government has an initiative to have a zero road death toll by 2050. So anything that makes road users safer plays into that.

As for the motorcycle stats, here's a snippet for 2020

Sadly it looks like incidents are on the rise, possibly as more people take up motorcycling to alleviate congestion and high fuel costs.

[Hairy]

38 minutes ago, patches said:

Yup, you got it!

It's all part of a wider plan to up the safety of any vehicles on the road. In NZ even car registration fees are affected by the safety rating of your vehicle, with lower fees for safer cars. Part of the vehicle rego fee goes into the ACC (Accident Compensation Corporation) fund, which compensates just about accident (like falling off a ladder etc).

So for motorcyclists, the rego fee is high as they are statistically more likely to incur medical bills and lose income from a vehicular accident than a motorist.

Also, the government has an initiative to have a zero road death toll by 2050. So anything that makes road users safer plays into that.

As for the motorcycle stats, here's a snippet for 2020

Sadly it looks like incidents are on the rise, possibly as more people take up motorcycling to alleviate congestion and high fuel costs.

Interesting that minor injuries have gone down, but the major and fatal accidents are up. This also looks to be the first time the chart is trending in this manner as previous years it looked to be that they all followed the same "flow".

Clearly 2000 - 2005 must have been the slow years for motorcycle sales.

[Headshot]

Finished the paintwork out back and reassembled the linkage and shock after greasing the bearings.  Never did get the swingarm off. May have to wind down the preload but going to test it as is...  Back wheel on to make the bike easier to move. Really do need new disks front and back. Rear caliper is also in need of a service kit. 

[Hairy]

1 minute ago, Headshot said:

Finished the paintwork out back and reassembled the linkage and shock after greasing the bearings.  Never did get the swingarm off. May have to wind down the preload but going to test it as is...  Back wheel on to make the bike easier to move. Really do need new disks front and back. Rear caliper is also in need of a service kit. 

Awesome!

What is your expected timeline before you get to ride her?

[Headshot]

I am hoping by next summer 🙂 Lots to do.

[Hairy]

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Edited June 1, 2022 by Hairy