Whangamomona and the Forgotton Highway

Our riding group the BFTP ( Blast From The Past) had our annual away run and despite the large drop off in numbers due to the economy, work etc four of us met up for a couple of beers.
Two of the lads have early Suzuki shafties, another who is 71 flew down to the South Island and picked up an R80 and I took the Commando.
Over the 3 days I clocked up 600 miles and the bike went pretty well, only not Norton parts gave trouble.
There was an earthquake on the Saturday morning and the old Hotel swayed a bit.....pretty eerie.....
The Forgotten Highway crosses the central North Island and is about 160 kms of very winding road with about 20 kms of gravel.
There are no petrol stations .....in fact not much of anything apart from forest and bush.
here are a couple of pics

Bridge over the Waikato....the motorway is over the other side but I prefer to not use them.

Commando are quite good on gravel....so light with the bit 19" tyres and Dunlop TT's

New happy BMW rider.

Me outside pub



I thought I'd dropped on a pot hole....the bike seemed very firm then I stopped....the bush had pulled out....we were only 15kms from the Hotel so I rode it back slowly....I don't recommend the Monoshock...... :roll:

We rode to Stratford and round Mt Egmont/Taranaki.....some fresh snow apparently.....unusual for summer.

Sheep everywhere...the Norton pipes make them run well before you get there.....long way to get fuel for a country only 150 kms max from the sea.....
The Commando to eveyones surprise was doing over 60 mpg ( imperial)
At work today felling pretty knackered...the seat is so uncomfortable.......Glad I have a BMW for the work hack....

Good stuff, I was through there on a bit of a tiki tour [in a rental car - not Commando - unfortunately] a couple of months ago..
You`ve got the Interstate pipes, so what happened to the gas tank...no range angst with that fat 6 gallon job..

Your NZ has familar elements to me, gas stop concerns, Gravel dancing and one sided shock action to tip toe on. Norton seats were not intended for fully matured riders, duh. Nice packing job for days on the road. Glad quake didn't catch ya in a land slide or crevasse opening up in front of ya. If the end of the world comes it'll likely start with NZ first I hear.

Hi John, thanks for posting those pics. Great part of the country, have done it by car only though.
Hey ,not sure if you saw my gel pack on the seat of my Roadster when we were in Taupo or not, but by the time I had it in Mansfield, I had removed the gel pack from the vinyl cover(looks like a flat breast implant!!!) and gave it to my custom car upholsterer who removed the cover of the seat, shaved some rubber to accomadate the gel insert and put the seat cover back on. Perfect and back to the seat height I like.
4 hour ride stopping for fuel only on the way home from Mansfield (2 hours of solid rain) no numb bum!!!
Regards Mike

Good to see the property developers havnt wrecked the whole place . :wink:

Steve ,

" If the end of the world comes it'll likely start with NZ first I hear. "


says here its Cape Spear . the easternmost point in North america . 8)

Yeah, so end of the world then, not long now , if the Mayans got their heart rending right, but otherwise.. how many nations have unleashed their nukes in anger, eh, Dr Strangelove?
Matt, its Maori land, bro...

You know canetoad licking is a gateway drug

Roadster tanks are not much good for touring back home.

All the time I used my 850 for real it had a very large alloy tank made by John Appel in Lower Hutt. Now days it just does little trips to the Wairarapa so a toy boy Roadster tank is ok.

I remember once when the carbs were shot (no money) I ran out of gas after 70 miles from a full tank!

Bloody hopeless poser tank!

Thanks for the post 72Combat !!,,,looks like your shock got whanga'd I like the "ol' gel insert in the seat foam trick" Brooking 850....will keep that in mind.

Whanga'd shock....I like that.
I could have taken the BMW R65...its got a tank that can do 350 kms...... but where would the fun be doing that.....knowing you were going to get there on time and in comfort.
Every time I parked up somone came over with a Norton story.....even met a guy who was in the Norton Club....don't get that on the Beemer....
The route we took was probably one of only a couple that have that distance with no gas ....so not rushing out to get a interstate tank....lol.

Reminds me of when I took my Ducati from Sudney to Adullade in the 80's..... it was Easter and places were closed...had to take 5 litres on the back..... and the petrol station in the next town had cages around the pumps......very odd.

Johnm - next time you're heading to MBoro with poser tank give me a yell. I won't be the only poser then. Cheers Richard

If you go to Whangamomona to get fonged...& you go to Tokoroa for a toke...what do you go to Whakatane for?...

Fosh and chops? :roll:

...meet the fockers?

Edgecumbe?
Kiwi feesh & cheeps [& meat pies] are among the good things you miss, living in the West Island...

J.A.W. said:

Edgecumbe?
Kiwi feesh & cheeps [& meat pies] are among the good things you miss, living in the West Island...

Click to expand...

I lived there in the late 80's, it was fun at the time. Haven't been back to Sydney in 25 years.....maybe I should have bought that Newtown terrace for 50K......lol

The Rush hour started at 5 am toady , at the bottom of the blue mountains . Youd need a Jetson mobile to get about in the city these days .
Only sane to ride of peak . Unless you consider traffic cues , speed cameras and traffic lights enjoyable . Theres plenty of them .

Its not to bad out between Cobar & broken Hill , on a quite day . Doz odd dead roos on a ride the other day, some fresh ( minutes dead ) .
a bit statistical . Kind of keeps you on edge . Pillion with a 12 Guage'd take care of that . If he was quick . Some people might take exception .

Stange what they call ' Sporting ' nowadays .

What were you riding Matt? Do tell, & you could `ve stopped & butchered some decent Roo tail-fillet before the blowies got it.
For me, its dodging the live ones , &/or the wedge-tailed eagles feeding on `em that gets me activated..

From the " End of the World is Nigh"dept;
I subscribe to the N.Z. Listener mag, & the current issue has the cover;
-'Ready or Not - Is New Zealand the safest place in a global disaster?'
A story about survivalists... so, again - how long `til that Mayan deal now?

J.A.W. said:

From the " End of the World is Nigh"dept;
I subscribe to the N.Z. Listener mag, & the current issue has the cover;
-'Ready or Not - Is New Zealand the safest place in a global disaster?'
A story about survivalists... so, again - how long `til that Mayan deal now?

Click to expand...

The New Zealand Listener....my Mum used to get that..... any good knitting articles in it....my sheep are nearly ready for shearing.
Maybe the Listener should read the news more often....Earthquakes, simmering Volcanos, angry sheep..... :roll: