The learning never stops....

There's a saying "Every day is a school day" which basically means that we never stop learning, no matter how old we are.  The first lesson was a week ago when we were having neighbours round for dinner.  I'd volunteered to make crostini to for a salmon and pesto entrée.  This involved cutting rings of French bread, brushing on garlic-flavoured olive oil and sticking them in the oven for 30 minutes to crisp up.  What could possibly go wrong?  Well, paying attention to what I was doing would have been helpful.  Instead of putting the rings on an oven-proof teflon sheet,  I stuck 'em on Jennie's prized pastry-rolling sheet which is definitely not teflon.  At the end of 30 minutes, it was nicely deformed and welded to the bars of the oven shelf it rested on.  They say that honesty is the best policy but it earned me a bollocking of some magnitude.  That's inevitable when you're married to an ex-primary school teacher but at least I wasn't made to stand in the corner. Jennie totally failed to see the strength of my argument that the crostini were fine so it didn't matter. She was pretty darned cross as she'd had it for years so I ordered a replacement online within the hour and it arrived 2 days later. Further recriminations avoided.

A new visor for my Shoei GT Air helmet arrived the other day.  Where we live presents a particular visibility problem.  The 50-odd km home is along the edge of a body of water called the Firth of Thames.  Late in the day, the sun's reflection off the water is horrendous and limits visibility on the twisty road - a genuine safety concern.  The internal drop down tinted visor on the GT Air helps but there's still a lot of light scatter.  An iridium-coated visor offered promise but at nearly NZ $200 for the genuine Shoei article, I wasn't prepared to take the risk.  However, a Chinese knock-off via AliExpress was available at 1/3 of the price including delivery which was worth trying.  Quality is absolutely fine and it's set up for a Pinlock anti-fog insert.  The gold iridium finish went well with the helmet livery and added a certain je ne sais quoi to my riding gear.  My mistake was mentioning it to Jennie who replied "It still won't turn you into a chick magnet".  Presumably, I was still in the dog box from the loss of her pastry sheet, sigh...  Anyway, it worked an absolute treat with little or no glare and being reflective rather than tinted all the way through, it can be used in relatively low light.  I must say that of all the Chinese products purchased in recent times, only once have we had a quality issue.

Nice bit of bling...

The next learning experience was with a slower form of transport, my 30+year old Diamondback mountain bike.  For some time, the crank bearings have been wearing quite badly and had recently started to make strange noises and occasionally semi-jamming .  Not wishing to be stranded somewhere, it was time to remedy the situation.  Special tool required to pull the crank arms off the hub, a tool which I didn't have of course.  Ditto for the special tool to pull the bearing covers.  There are a lot of advantages to living out in the countryside but shopping ain't one of them!  Two days waiting for an internet order to arrive.

The knackered bearing cassette

Removal of the bearings was straightforward with the tools and from what I could see, at least one or two of the balls had disintegrated. Time to order a complete replacement but first, a bit of reading about what were the key measurements needed to place an order.  Turned out that the exact part was no longer available but searching a UK mountain bike forum, someone had experienced the same problem and a respondent had listed a suitable upgrade.  Mercifully, this was available in NZ.  Another 2 days until it arrived.  A minor tweak of the gears and everything is better than it's been for years -  more great learning!

Last Sunday was official IAM duties and I'd been booked to take someone for a no-obligation IAM assessment ride to see if they were interested in officially joining and being mentored towards their Police Roadcraft Advanced Test.  The person in question was Barbara, riding a Yamaha MT-09 with a cool grey and flouro yellow paint job.  In her 60's, she was a latecomer to motorcycling although her partner David had been riding since his teens.  David was riding a Suzuki GSX-S1000 F with a nice red and black paint job.

Some nice hardware

Barbara had the view that as a relative latecomer to riding and with David being experienced, she'd better get serious about the quality of her training.  Getting her full licence was with an instructor who just happened to be Chief Examiner of IAM at the time which was a great start.  That was followed up with both her and David attending the California Superbike School track-based training and then the government-sponsored Ride Forever programme (HERE).  What a fantastic attitude to upskilling and David was also keen to upskill and correct any bad habits he may have picked up over the years.

Without going into tedious detail, we spent a couple of hours on expressway, city and challenging country environments assessing, debriefing and demonstrating.  Barbara's riding was really impressive, riding quickly with no apparent effort or showiness, which is the hallmark of an excellent road rider and both she and David will absolutely lap up the mentoring.  Over the last few years, there seems to have been a change in NZ where upskilling is no longer regarded as something negative.  There are still the one percenters and a few others who wear an inability to ride as a badge of honour but things are definitely changing.  It's certainly allowed me to safely extend my riding career for longer than I'd have imagined when I joined in 2011.

Yours truly and Barbara

Before heading off for the assessment ride, we met for coffee with other members and prospective members of the IAM team who were heading off on a social run.  A complete mix of bike types and ages which is a great sign.  There were even 3 KTM's - a 1290 GT, a 790 and a 390 plus a very nice Ducati Desert Sled (which I secretly lust after!)  Not a bad way of spending a sunny day, is it?

Some of the other hardware

Busy, busy, busy!

With spring having arrived and relatively few C-19 restrictions in NZ, it's been a busy week with more to come over the next few weeks.  Regular readers know that a lot of my riding is as an Examiner with IAM, taking civilian riders for their Advanced Roadcraft Test - a system developed by the UK police and used internationally.

This week, I've knocked up just over 900 km in combined travel and the actual testing of two participants, both of whom rode to a high standard and passed with flying colours.  I don't normally mention much about the individuals concerned on the blog but in this instance, it's worth commenting.

Activities such as riding, driving, flying and sailing all require high level training, good judgement and situational awareness to perform at an exceptional level.  Much of this comes over time and in the case of the younger age group with lots of testosterone sloshing about (said by an old geezer!), it's no surprise that they are over-represented in road accident statistics.

I was recently approached by another region of IAM to test one of their members as they were temporarily short -handed.  Happily agreed and arranged a meeting some 140 km away from home.  The only things I knew that he was relatively young, and had passed his pre-test check by another Observer/Instructor whom I knew and respected.  Arrived early and watched as another rider came into the service area on Auckland's southern motorway.  The rider was wearing leathers with the number 46 on them and a replica Rossi helmet.  He was also riding one of Honda's best ever sport bikes, the VTR1000 SP1, equipped with noisy end cans.  This was Cameron, the young man I was due to test - turned out that he was just 19.

The SP1 and the Duke 790

Having spent months being tutored and being recommended for the formal test, it was obvious that he wasn't going to be a complete squid but I wasn't sure what to expect when Cameron mentioned that he raced a 250 Hyosung in club circuit racing.  First thing was to put him through a theory test covering advanced roadcraft and the NZ road rules.  Pass mark was 80% and Cameron scored 95%.  Really impressive.   

The riding test covered about 100 km of motorway (freeway), city and twisty country riding, lasting for between 1.5 and 2 hours of solid concentration.  During each of the environments, the candidate is expected to give a continuous 10 minute commentary over the comms with respect to what he is seeing all around him, what he can't see but can infer and how both are impacting on his riding in terms of position, speed, gear and throttle sense.

In summary, he delivered the best running commentary of anyone I've ever seen at test level, picking up a driver on the motorway who was probably texting (confirmed moments later), drivers who were likely to manoeuvre without indicating and so on, leading to smooth, good progress in an utterly safe and courteous manner.  On the tight back roads, Cameron was in his element and all I can say is that I'm glad I was on a bike that really handled!  He was a joy to watch and made it look effortless.  He aced his advanced test and is the youngest motorcycle member of IAM NZ to do so.  He'll get even better as he trains as an Observer and it will be exciting to watch his progress.  Just goes to show that it's not inevitable that young people have questionable skills, even if I was one of the dodgy ones at that age.  It's all a question of society's expectations and I'm sorry to say that politically, NZ's expectations of the standards required to obtain a licence are not particularly demanding.  I must say that the required standard has increased a little in recent years though.

A delighted (relieved?) Cameron and his SP1

The rider I took out yesterday is a career firefighter for NZ Fire and Emergency.  We went through exactly the same process as Cameron and unsurprisingly, the end result was a good pass.  Riding an immaculate Suzuki GSX 1250 FA, Damian brought the same level of skill to the ride as he would in his career - professional, unflustered, unhurried.  The level of skill made it look easy, which it certainly wasn't.  

Damian and his immaculate GSX 1250 FA

Both candidates were modest and you wouldn't expect either of them to be loudly trumpeting their success.  As with any worthwhile accomplishment along these lines, the level of preparation required tends to generate a quiet inner satisfaction and pride rather than big-noting the achievement.  

Apart from the pleasure I get from seeing the success of riders and drivers who want to continuously lift their game, it makes me keep my standards up too.  Turning 73 next month, it's probably getting close to the time I should be looking at retiring as an Examiner, although not necessarily altogether from riding.  Maybe I should be looking at a light adventure bike to explore all those dirt roads on the Coromandel Peninsula and get that nuisance Bandit Rider out of my ear, eh Andrew? :-)

This is why we do it

I'm just one of thousands, if not tens of thousands of both volunteer and paid motorcyclists world wide who spend time trying to lift the skill base of riders to reduce the risk of harm and raise their enjoyment of riding on two wheels.  I guess the reasons why we do it are all pretty similar in that it maintains our own personal standards whilst trying to help others.  And let's not mention that essential ingredient of having fun!

Watching all riders go from strength to strength over the months of coaching with IAM to pass their Advanced Police Roadcraft test gives a lot of quiet satisfaction and pride.  However, some give a bit more pleasure than others and I'd like to introduce Colin.

Colin and his Road King

Colin joined IAM in 2013 and before IAM had established a presence in his region, it was a 4 hour haul up to Auckland, spending a further 2 hours on a demanding mentored ride; then riding 4 hours home again.  His level of commitment to raising his skills was truly humbling.  Even more recently, it's still been over 2 hours each way to attend more "local" advanced coaching.  Furthermore, on both the longer hauls and shorter ones, Colin unfailingly showed up in all weathers.

Colin's business and family commitments disrupted his coaching for lengthy periods but he showed real determination  to get the job done.   On Wednesday, I took Colin for his formal Advanced Test, covering city, freeway, and country road environments and he absolutely aced it.  The enthusiastic response Colin got from the IAM coaching team and other members showed just how much his perseverance and fabulous attitude was recognised and makes it all so worthwhile.  As the title of the post says: "THIS IS WHY WE DO IT".

Oh, and don't let anyone say that a cruiser isn't the ideal machine to make rapid progress on twisty back roads, it's all about situational awareness, road position, throttle control and being in the right gear - just follow Colin and be impressed!

There was only one downside to the day.  About 25 km from home, I got a puncture!  A bit of a wobble whilst cornering alerted me to the fact and I pulled over to have a look.  Sure enough, the rear tyre was well down but I couldn't see the source of the leak.  It was in the middle of nowhere with no cell connectivity either.  Fortunately, I always carry an electric pump and a bit of trial pumping showed that it would hold air for a wee while.  That last 25 km took well over an hour with regular stops to add air but at least I got home!

An inspection the next morning revealed a small slit in the corner of one of the rain grooves of my Pilot Road 5 tyre which was only fitted 2000 km ago - bugger!  I was a bit concerned about unseen damage to the carcass through running at low pressures so this morning, took it by car to a dealer about 140 km away who had a direct replacement in stock if the need arose.  A quick inspection showed that the tyre was damaged internally.  Offsetting the pain to my wallet was the outstanding service at Drury Motorcycle Performance Centre.  From arrival to leaving was under 30 minutes and they even made me a cup of coffee in that time - how good is that?

The new tyre getting fitted

Back home and ready to assemble

Aligning both wheels with a laser rig

Back out on the road again, scrubbing in the new rear hoop

Road safety concerns all of us and with increasing traffic volumes and drivers being distracted by any number of in-car devices, drugs, alcohol and downright poor attitudes and skills, it affects us all.

There is a very sobering website covering every road death in Australia since 1989.  The way that the graphics are presented make the statistics especially poignant.  It's HERE .   My best friend and close workmate was killed in a road accident in the late 1980's and only a few minutes after being told, Jennie and I, accompanied by a police officer; had to break the news to his wife and children.  That's not something you ever want to do more than once in a lifetime and it still haunts me in darker moments.

It was this tragedy which had such a big impact on my life in so many ways and every one of the deaths represented on the Australian website and the rest of the world have people who are profoundly affected for the rest of their lives.  The main hope is that at least some good also comes out of it for those left behind.  In my case, it caused me to focus on what was really important in life.  Indirectly, I suppose it caused my later involvement with the IAM rider and driver improvement programme, both from a personal benefit basis and being able to pay it forward later by helping others to become better riders.

On an altogether different note, for my 70th birthday late last year, our wonderful daughter gave me a voucher so that we could go together on an Asian cooking course in Auckland.  We finally found time to redeem the voucher and just over a week ago, attended the course.  I chose Malaysian food as I'd never cooked it before.

The tutors were huge fun, easy to follow and everything was prepared from scratch.  Here are some photos of the occasion.

Our gorgeous daughter - fantastic facilities

Demonstrating before we start - oh those spice aromas!

Teamwork - Victoria wielding a sharp knife whilst I wash rice 

Plating up - perfect rice dome

Ta-daaaa...... two delicious meals!

Pretty good, even if I do say so myself!  Tasted divine

We had a fantastic time together but I'm now under pressure to cook it for Jennie.  Managed to stall for a wee while as we can't get some of the fresh Asian herbs where we live but our daughter has sided with her mother and will be mailing some down from Auckland!

A most excellent week!

Definitely one of the busier weeks for this old geezer!

Last weekend was the Institute of Advanced Motorists annual conference and AGM being held at Lake Taupo in the central north island of NZ, about 270 km from where I live.  For members who fancied a bit of speed without red and blues and sirens behind them, there was also a trackday on offer on the Friday at the nearby Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park - the full international circuit no less!  I was certainly up for that!

Bruce McLaren Motorsport Park - 3.3km international circuit (stock photo)

Riding down the previous afternoon, it was wet with lots of roadworks but the morning of the trackday dawned sunny and warm - wonderful!  After scrutineering, we set up in a pit garage, dropped tyre pressures from road settings, taped the mirrors and waited for the briefing and first session.

The Suzuki ready to rock, with Alan's BMW 1200GT in the background

Terry's Aprilia Tuono and Graham's RSV 4 - yumm.....

The first session was taken relatively easy whilst riders learned the track, sorted out braking markers and so on.  All accomplished with no dramas.  From then on, it was all go, with progressively larger throttle openings held open for longer!  My road-going fuel consumption is generally between 5 - 5.3lt per 100 km and on the track it was between 8-9 lt per 100 km!

Alan on the 1200 GT and I were pretty evenly matched.  He'd been to the California Superbike School and was really impressive in the tight infield whereas I was faster on the sweepers and straights.  At 230 km/hr down the back straight, neither of us wanted to give an inch and all I'll say is thank goodness for ABS whilst scrubbing off enough speed to make the next turn!

 70 year old hooligan having the time of his life! (official photo)

Working hard to stay on the right line! (photo: Barry Holland)

Sticking it to a Gixxer rider who is on the wrong line!  (photo: Barry Holland)

Over 160km/hr down the short pit straight (photo: Barry Holland)

The Metzler Roadtec 01's stood up pretty well considering......

The following morning, there was a presentation on electric vehicles which completely changed my ill-informed views!  IAM member Wendy brought along her recently purchased Tesla Model S which has a 0-100km/hr time of about 4 seconds and was beautifully appointed.

Wendy's Tesla - get the number plate?

A local dealer brought along a Nissan Leaf and Renault Zoe.  Both were surprisingly quick off the line and handled brilliantly.  The lack of noise made them even more impressive.  Running and maintenance costs were incredibly low and with ever-decreasing battery costs and increasing range, they're now a serious consideration, particularly as a commuting or round town vehicle.  A mate of mine has one for commuting and saves $100 per week on gas!

Lloyd hammering a Nissan Leaf off the start line

As enjoyable as the cars were, the real fun were the pedal-assisted e-bikes which were there for us to try out!  The Giant model I tried was a real buzz and as fast as heck in "turbo" mode.  One of our members has one for commuting to work in Auckland, a round trip of 38 km and absolutely loves it.  Methinks that one would be handy to replace my 2 decades old mountain bike with all the hills where we live!

 Alan on the Scott e-bike

We also had a presentation by an engineer from Helite, the people who manufacture airbag clothing for motorcyclists.  Everything from inflating hi-vis vests through to adventure riding jackets.  Externally, they looked like a normal jacket and it was an impressive presentation.  Prices were similar to normal higher end motorcycle jackets.

In the afternoon,  it was off to Rotorua, some 90km away to play on the luge.  This is a concrete track  winding down the side of Mt Ngongotaha, hurtling downhill on an unsprung plastic cart.  The more competitive of us kept our leathers on in case of wipeouts, haha!

Lee and I queuing in full leathers - no quarter given or expected!

A long way down....  (file photo)

Stunning views over Lake Rotorua from the top of the luge

Lee's magnificent MV F3 675 triple in the luge car park

After the excitement of the afternoon, it was a brisk ride back to Taupo for a delightful buffet dinner.  The following morning, there was a superb session on accident scene protocols and rendering immediate assistance by an ex-military paramedic and fellow biker.  He was down to earth and debunked a few myths - a great learning experience.  I'll also be doing a re-think on the medical kit I carry and will certainly be adding Celox gel packs to safely stop bleeding.

Mike Nicolle explaining an aspect of scene management

After a mercifully short AGM (IAM does not thrive on bureaucracy!), it was time to head home.  It was in the delightful company of Street Triple owner Joanne, who is the IAM co-ordinator from Christchurch in NZ's South Island.  Jo hadn't previously visited the Coromandel Peninsula so it was a good opportunity to show her the sights by bike and car.  Jo is dual-qualified as an IAM Observer for both bikes and cars and I'm not!  Found it vaguely unsettling driving her around by car, despite her protestations that she was off duty!

Dr. Jo and her Street Triple R on the western side of the Coromandel Peninsula

On the fantastic Driving Creek pottery railway in Coromandel

The day after Jo began her long trek back to Christchurch, and in the company of some other IAM members from our region, I attended a suspension clinic in the Auckland area with Dave Moss, one of the world's authorities on how to set up motorcycle suspension. (His website HERE and his YouTube masterclass HERE , among many others). I thought I was "reasonably" ok on the basics of suspension adjustment but just how wrong can you be???  The clinic was a trial initiative between an Auckland-based riding instructor Chris Smith of Passmasters , Dave Moss and amazingly, our regional council authority.  The rationale was that properly adjusted suspension has the potential to save lives from a bike which handles better with improved grip, less fatigue plus all sorts of peripheral benefits.  The Waikato Regional Council has long championed motorcycle safety with a range of motorcycle training courses but this was the first foray into suspension as a safety initiative.

Arriving in Auckland, Dave checked all the initial settings of the bikes and made some preliminary adjustments based on rider weight.  He then explained what he was doing and why in easy to understand terms and made sure that everyone was comfortable to ask questions, no matter how dumb they thought they were - Dave is a patient and natural communicator.

He then explained that we would be going for a ride of some 150 km covering all sorts of conditions with several stops to make adjustments whist the bikes were at normal operating temperature - the only way to do it properly.  

Dave adjusting my rebound at the first stop (photo: Tony Knight)

Dave holding a Q&A on the ride

Adjusting IAM member Goose's Honda Crosstourer

Bike porn on a GSX-R 600

To cut a long story short, the improvement to my GSX-S was massive, which was a bit of a shock (no pun intended!) and all the attendees felt the same way.  No longer did it wander about over surface irregularities and the effort required to countersteer through a tight series of bends had diminished by a large amount - far less fatiguing.  In fact, I initially tended to over-correct with far more effort than now required, thanks to muscle memory kicking in! All this from fairly tired suspension.  On the way home, the last 50 km was in heavy rain and an indifferent road surface from the recent storm.  I've never previously felt so much confidence in riding in less than optimum conditions whilst still able to make good progress.  Massive thanks to Dave Moss, Chris Smith and the Waikato Regional Council for the enlightened attitude of making this genuine safety-related opportunity available to a wide range of riders!

What a day, what a week!

An interesting couple of weeks

Riding on two wheels has been a bit patchy over the last two weeks.  Firstly, it was tropical cyclone Debbie which hit NZ after causing extensive flooding and damage along the eastern seaboard of Australia.  Our village escaped the worst of it but we were cut off for a couple of days due to landslips on both exit roads from the Coromandel Peninsula.  Places a few hundred k's south east really copped it.  Being stuck caused the cancellation of some IAM training in Auckland but delighted Jennie because I got leaned on to attack the backlog of jobs around the house!

With the weather clearing, I arranged to take the Suzuki GSX-S1000 for its 24,000 km service and an updated ECM/ECU to be fitted (That's the brains of the bike's engine management system).  More on this later.  Then unbelievably, the weather forecasters announced that Cyclone Cook was coming out of the South Pacific to hammer us, Coromandel was square in its sights and things were looking grim.  Hurried tying down of deck furniture and securing garden art, followed by an anxious wait.  Fortunately for us, it tracked further east at the last moment and all we got was some heavy rain for a few hours and moderate winds, but the south-east of the north island bore the brunt of it.  Unfortunately for us, the cliffs which run down the western coast road of the Peninsula were still soaked from Cyclone Debbie and another drenching brought down dozens of slips, cutting us off for another week.  One of the few penalties of living in a remote, unspoiled area!

One of the massive slips on the Coromandel coast road

(source: Thames-Coromandel District Council)

These delays were knocking my IAM coaching schedule around and although the western coast road was still closed, the eastern one had opened, the weather was good and so it was off to Auckland to resume coaching.  The only downside is that the eastern route adds 100 km each way to the journey. Shouldn't really complain about extra distance on two wheels but 600+km days including an intense coaching ride do tend to get a bit tiring so I stayed with our Auckland-based daughter overnight.  Well worth the effort as Lloyd, my trainee Observer (Instructor) did a magnificent job of introducing a new IAM member to the first stage of Police Roadcraft advanced riding.

Lloyd (R) debriefing new member Chris (L) mid-point through the ride

Having a bit more time in Auckland was quite handy as I organised to have some custom silicone earplugs made.  I normally use foam plugs but must have weird-shaped ear canals or something because they always seem to work loose. Had 2 pairs made which took about 40 minutes overall.  What a difference!  They work incredibly well, are supremely comfortable and would be great if you're a light sleeper.

Custom ear plugs - seriously effective

The other thing I did whilst in Auckland was get my hands on a little gift for Jennie for upcoming Mother's Day next month (A guy being organised in advance??? Amazing!).  A fellow IAM member is a trained cabinetmaker who has just started his own business.  Jennie and I both love items made in wood and on his website, I saw some fully-functioning wooden padlocks he'd made in different designs.  The one I chose is shown below.  The craftsmanship is superb using two different woods on both the key and the lock.  Instead of a business card, he uses a curved wooden leaf with his details on - clever and ultra cool!  Jennie doesn't read my blog so we're safe!  Also, Graham makes the most exquisite all-wood skeleton clocks.  Take a look HERE .  The world is a better place for having craftsmen like Graham in it.

Gorgeous functioning wooden lock - smells wonderful too!

Right, back to bikes......

About 3 weeks ago, I spoke with Simon Meade, G.M Marketing of Suzuki NZ.  Regular readers of this blog may remember that I've described the Suzuki as a good bike, but not a great bike.  It does its job well, but doesn't make me feel passionate about it.  One of the niggles is that it's pretty snatchy and hunts at low throttle openings, or off a trailing throttle.  If I was using the bike for city commuting or similar, it would have been sold by now.  However, as much of my riding is on open roads, it's only really irritating in traffic and in greasy conditions at low speed.  I'm given to understand that the root cause of the fuelling problem is to meet emission compliance testing in the European Union.

Talking to Simon, he said that a new ECM was now available and I could have one fitted at no charge. All that was required was having the ignition key and its spare reprogrammed.  Just like that, no fuss, no arguments, just "we'll send one to your dealer" from Simon.  That's what you call service!

With the coast road now open, albeit covered in clay in a few places, it was time to re-schedule the Suzuki service so I headed off at the crack of dawn yesterday to my favourite dealer in Hamilton, about 160 km away.  On picking up the bike a few hours later, the ride through Hamilton traffic to get to open country was a revelation!  All the snatchiness had gone, just leaving a slight lumpiness which wasn't intrusive, just a reminder of the sporting heritage of the powerplant.  It's transformed a good bike into a great bike and who knows, maybe I'll develop an emotional attachment to it like I had with the Street Triple!

One final amazing thing.....

Whilst I was talking with Simon, he asked me what I thought of the Suzuki performance and I mentioned the track day I did on it last year.  He doesn't know me from Adam but floored me by offering a ride on their race-prepped version which they sometimes take along to track days!!!!  This is the bike which U.S - based journo Don Canet from Cycle World successfully raced at NZ's premier street race in Paeroa last year! (Cycle World article HERE ) . The excitement was quickly tempered with a bit of sanity and I politely declined.  The combination of slicks and racing brake pads which need to be hot to work effectively could well be a recipe for this old fella to go skating along on his bum in front of lots of track day enthusiasts - not a good look.  Incredibly generous and unexpected offer by Simon though.  Nice to know that Suzuki NZ have great people at the top.

As I said at the start, an interesting couple of weeks!

Don Canet on the Suzuki NZ race-prepped GSX-S 1000

(photo: Cycle World/ Andy McGeehan)

No rest for the wicked.....

Well, after another Xmas/New Year break of drinking and eating too much and being besieged by family, it was time to jump back on two wheels.

One of my IAM Trainee Observers (instructors), Rob Van Proemeren passed his Advanced Roadcraft test last year and has been undertaking practical Observer training since his theory course last July. Practical training consists of a series of modules covering both technical and interpersonal aspects of advanced riding.  Rob has passed all his modules with flying colours and is waiting for his formal Observer Test which will take a fair chunk of a full day under the watchful eye of an Examiner or a fellow Senior Observer. Until then, it's a question of keeping Rob fresh.  A few days ago, we took out Auckland-based Associate Terry who is close to taking his Advanced Test. Terry has an exquisite BMW HP4 for trackdays and recently sold his road-going BMW 1200 GS and replaced it with a KTM 1290 GT.

Lots of colour - Rob with his Hayabusa and Terry with his 1290 GT

Rob about to start the ride debrief and it's good news for Terry!

Both riders in their respective roles were at the top of their game and it was a privilege as a mentor to see such a professional display of riding on a range of challenging roads for a couple of hours. We never stop learning though and there are always more tweaks to further raise our standards. The KTM is a really impressive beast with around 170 bhp on tap and massive torque.  As well as the electronic aids such as ABS and traction control, it has active suspension which is constantly sampling road conditions and adjusting the suspension accordingly.  On one particularly bumpy and twisty country road where the pace could be described as brisk, it looked like it was on rails whilst both Suzukis needed a lot more rider input.  Multi-purpose bikes can sometimes suffer a bit in some aspects of performance compared with more dedicated bikes but the KTM isn't one of them.  Whether it's used for the occasional trackday or on tour down country lanes, it would be right up there with the best specialised machines.

I did have a moment of reflection though with respect to all the goodies packed into modern bikes. There's absolutely no doubt that they're much safer with all the electronic aids currently available.  However, I wonder whether it's getting away from the purity and core reasons why motorcycling is so attractive to many of us?  I don't think there is a single answer to that.  It's for reasons along these lines why I would never consider a Goldwing or a trike - would prefer a sports car.  Each to their own though in the motorcycling fraternity!

It was an odd sort of day weather-wise.  Quite hot and humid with a few showers passing through. My 12 year old Arlen Ness waterproof jacket has progressively moved to the "barely showerproof" category over time and when the rain is a bit more serious, a plastic over-jacket goes over the top.  On the 160 km journey home after the mentored ride, I set off in dry conditions and hadn't been going for more than a few minutes when the heavens opened.  By the time I decided it wasn't just a shower, the top half of me was soaked through.  Even with temperatures in the mid-20's C, I got chilled pretty quickly and even after stopping to put on my over-jacket, it was an unpleasant ride home.

It was serendipitous that I hadn't had a present from Jennie at Christmas because I couldn't think of anything I wanted at the time.  Coupled with this, Rob had mentioned a post-Christmas accessories sale at our favourite dealer in Hamilton.  A quick browse of  their website revealed $100 off the price of an Oxford Montreal 2 jacket and internet reviews were pretty favourable.  Order placed, couriered to home the next day - thanks for the pressie honey!

Although it's not an expensive jacket, the level of detailing is really impressive with a heap of features which I won't list here.  Far too early to assess performance in wet and cold conditions but wearing it on a ride yesterday, it was both comfortable and warm, even with the liner removed and the vents open.  To get a jacket and pants which are totally waterproof for a long while, you're mostly talking about stratospheric prices like Rukka gear.  For the type of riding I do, I can't justify the cost and an oversuit for more taxing conditions is just fine.  Looking forward to trying it out in some sustained rain though.

Oxford Montreal 2 jacket

The inner workings of the jacket.  Nice detailing

Yesterday was taken up with another IAM observed ride, partially to keep Rob up to scratch before his Observer Test but also to take out an Associate from the Central North Island region of NZ, which I'm currently responsible for developing.  Tony joined IAM last year after taking a number of one day courses by commercial providers and wanted a further challenge.  Up to now, he's had 5 outings on his fully-faired Suzuki SV650.  This time, it was on his brand new Yamaha Tracer and both Rob and I were very keen to see how it went.

Tony arriving at our meeting place en route to Auckland

Meeting up with Rob in Auckland

We were seriously impressed with the Tracer.  It's a really nice looking bike in the flesh.  Tony remarked that it actually looked better with the OEM hard cases attached to the bike as the tailpiece and number plate mount is very slim and looks a little odd on its own.  We could certainly see what he was driving at as the purpose-designed cases are extremely elegant and look like an integral part of the bike.  Its wet weight at 210 kg is pretty light and with a relatively low centre of gravity and an adjustable seat makes it pretty good for the vertically challenged (like me!).  The standard stubby exhaust can gave a nice rasp without being too noisy and attracting unwanted attention.  There's something visceral about the sound of a 3 cylinder bike -  similar to the pleasure of listening to a hot V8!  Overall, a great bike and motorcyclists really are currently spoiled for choice.

Mid-ride animated debrief and smiles all round!

The ride was in warm, dry conditions with a bit of overcast - perfect for riding.  With the summer vacations in full swing, Auckland was noticeably less busy than it normally is although traffic on the Southern Motorway was pretty busy as people headed to their favourite destinations - a good test of making safe progress through the traffic.

A really enjoyable day made even better by observing Rob and Tony setting high standards.  Rob has a relaxed but totally professional nature delivered with a strong sense of humour. No sign of the "sergeant major drill instructor" approach which is frowned on by IAM NZ.  This makes him a perfect mentor as it relaxes the rider being observed who can then ride their normal ride without feeling intimidated.  Proof of this was the banter going on over the comms which I had a quiet snigger about.  Tony also had a cracker of a ride and isn't too far away from taking his Advanced Roadcraft Test.  Tony also made an interesting observation that the better ergonomics (more upright riding position in this instance) of the Tracer compared with his SV650 has significantly improved his situational awareness by having an improved all-round view.  Now that's got to be a good thing!

It's such a pleasure to see riders undertaking a demanding upskilling programme which can take many months or even years, both from a rider safety viewpoint and enjoying their riding more.  With the number of motorcycle fatalities highlighted in recently released motorcycle accident statistics, both in NZ and Australia; anything we can do to make a dent in them has got to be worthwhile as government-led initiatives seem to be generally punitive rather than genuinely addressing root causes.