Monday, August 5, 2013

An old favourite and something new

On Sunday  we had organised a quick run up one of my favourite roads the Putty road. The weather today was great for a winter day that is, it was a nice balmy 18°C(64°F). Geoff was to pick me up early on our way to meet Wayne at the servo in Wilberforce.

I was waiting for Geoff to show and wondering whether he would be on his R1 or the Vstrom. When I saw a red bike pull in the drive way I was highly surprised. Geoff doesn't own a red bike what the @$%*. It looked all shiney and new, it can't be Geoff's - what the???

Yep it was Geoff and he'd bought himself a new bike on Saturday. He traded the Vstrom on a brand new Triumph Tiger Sport 1050. I was pretty impressed with it. A very nice looking bike, ABS, single sided swing arm and it went as good as it looked from what I could see cause the bastard wouldn't give us a ride.


The ride out of Sydney's outer western suburbs was pretty uneventful and we finally met up with Wayne at Wilberforce. The expression on Wayne's face was the same as mine, it was a big surprise. Geoff had kept pretty tight about buying a new bike.

On the way up through Colo and then onto Colo heights we came across some of the boys in blue. Unfortunately for one poor bastard on a ducati they ruined his Sunday morning. A little bit later up the road I noticed we were being followed by a white car which I thought was the police. We soon stopped in at the drive way of the Grey Gums cafe and the car pulled up behind us. I was relieved to find out it was one of Geoff's friends in his Toyota/Subaru sports car.






The run back down from Bulga was a bit slower than the run up due to there being a lot of cars in the ten mile stretch of twisties. Once we had dispatched them it was still a lot of fun. We returned to the Grey Gums cafe and had some lunch before heading for home.

I have a little rant coming. Whats up with groups of bikes usually with one or 2 P platers at the rear riding in a bunch that seem to madly overtake on the straights then when we get to some bends its like wooh better slow down we can't go round here to quick, and its all of them not just the P platers going slow.
We got overtaken by said bunch but when we came to a set of twisties up a hill we speed up and overtook the lot of em in about 3 or 4 bends.

Here is a short video of me following Geoff up through the 10 Mile of twisties at the top end of the putty road. Geoff's bike looks the goods and handles very well, I even saw him grinding the hero knobs in front of me on some of the tighter bends. This movie has us headed north bound.





There were quite a few bikes here today even though it wasn't a really warm day and it was overcast with a cool breeze but once the sun came out it was just about perfect. I cant say it enough, this place has the best hamburgers anywhere and as usual lunch was fantastic, not the cheapest but when your in the middle of nowhere you can't really complain. It was great to be back out on the bike again. The new tyres performed flawlessly as expected. The thigh muscles were struggling all day today at work. Now whens the next ride.



13 comments:

  1. Nice! I've ridden an older 1050 Tiger and it's probably not my cup of tea really. But the sport is probably quite a good ride in the twisties - easier to handle than a full on sports bike ;)

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    1. Each to there own otherwise it would be a rather dull world I guess. Geoff was beeming. It looks like it handles very well.

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  2. You're doing well to get out. It's been exceptionally wet and cold down here. I love the sound of the R1 in video.

    Cheers Jules.

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    1. Hi Jules
      Its been ok the last couple of weekends here and it was good to finally blow out some of the cobwebs. Yeah the R1 is on song at around the 4:20 mark.

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  3. Nice new Trumpy there. I saw one at the Triumph test ride day that I did a few months ago(see that blog) and it looked REALLY good.
    As for those guys going slowly through the bends? Just look at all of the roadside advertising along The Putty that tells you to SLOW DOWN, JUDGE YOU LINE, etc, etc. The advertising is obviously working!? Or, they can't ride....

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    1. Hahahah I never learned to read.

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    2. You are the reason they have pictures then.....

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  4. Oooh shiny new Tiger 1050. I hear they are supposed to get better gas mileage than the Tiger 800s. Go figure.

    Anyone can go fast on the straights. It is like following a large group of Harleys they all bunch up like an accordion in the corners. Not sure why they don't practice cornering. I know I am no speed daemon in the corners but I can still do faster than posted though them.

    Glad you got out for a nice winer's day ride.

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    1. The new Tigers fuel consumption looked pretty good. I put $21.88 in the R1 and geoff only put in $16 of premium fuel.

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  5. Looks like it was a great day Steve. We had a mild winter up to this week with a bit more rain than usual, but what with work being hectic whenever it wasn't raining I was busy so I haven't been for a ride in ages .. and now it's turned arctic. It's nice to see you get out for a long awaited ride.

    Hmm I'm one of those go slow round bends types of people, the cruiser doesn't really love fast cornering, but then I also don't overtake on the straights either so I guess I'm not too annoying :D

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  6. I like the tiger, nice looking bike. We get those in the USA too, fast on the straights and then slow the heck down when the twisties start.
    Looks like it was a fun day.

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  7. Watched the video after my first comment but had to comment again.
    I wish I had roads like this near my house, if there was one I would have encountered 100+ cars and trucks and none would make it easy to pass.
    I'm even amazed the guy on the other bike with a passenger gave you guys the sign to pass, no one ever does that in the US. The attitude here is if I'm doing the speed limit than you do it too and stay behind me. Once on the Tail of the Dragon a guy on a sport bike came behind me on my old Concours and I quickly gave him the sign to pass, there was no point in holding him back.

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    1. Hi George
      I've waved by faster riders, no need to hold someone up and ruin their ride. I also like it when other slower riders do the same for me. It's common courtesy which is sadly lacking in the self absorbed world we now live in. But there are still some good people I believe.

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