Topic: A top ride!!!

[dpen]

Went for a ride with a few people from work yesterday..about 700 km.

The Aussies would know it - Sydney to Bells, cut across to Mt Victoria, to Oberon then Bathurst, then to Sofala and back through Mudgee and Lithgow.

Variety of bikes ranging from 600cc screamers to a Yamaha Warrior (1600ccs?) 12 bikes in all.

Proud to say that "the rat" put up a good showing, the only one keeping up on the Bells Line being a Guzzi Le Mans. Then again I regularly ride with the Guzzi bloke & we're both about the same skill level (and range of immaturity for 53 year olds)

Have to admit that skill levels varied from experienced to almost first-timers (one of the 600 boys put a semi on the wrong side of the road when he got too enthusiastic - that truckie saved his life)

The cruisers had no chance in the twisties but came into their own on the flat plains - no way I could even attempt to keep up. The K7 did not like overtaking trucks doing 120kmh on the goat tracks we call roads.

Anyway, I jotted this down as their have been a few posts from people regarding whether they should take their SOHCs on a long trip.

Go for it!

This jaunt yesterday was basically a mad 700 km fang and "the rat" behaved faultlessly, some of the others expressing disbelief that it went so hard & for so long.

One benefit of our bikes is comfort (although vibration gets tiring).

After about 10 and a bit hours I started to get a sore neck & arse about 1/2 hour from home. Some of the others (including the Hardley rider and two blokes on Fireblades) only lasted half this time.

[Ingrid]

After 10 and a bit hours you should be getting tired in the butt and neck regardless of the bike you drive I should think.
Sounds like a real good ride with all the different sorts of terrain.
Grtz.
Ingrid

[CrisPDuk]

Just had a look at your route on the map dpen, and it's roughly the same as the route me and a couple of mates took back in '98 when we had long holiday visiting the colonies (we also did Hong Kong and New Zealand)

Back then though we used a rented V8 commodore and took 2 days to do it, although we did stop over at Bathurst for a while to p(l)ay homage   The roads were great driving (and I would imagine are great riding) and back then the anti-speed Nazis weren't quite as prolific as they are now either

[dpen]

Don't try anything at Mt Panorama now.

60 kmh speed limit & a permanent speed camera (so I'm told - I couldn't be bothered checking it out)

Comfort is relative to how you set up your bike.

I modified my seat to suit me & found some strange "top hat" bars that do wonders for my neck.

[754]

Anyone that cant do 500 miles (800 km) on a CB 750 in a day doesnt know how to ride a bike..

[Steve F]

How can you have a top ride when you're "down-unda" ?

I'm just jealous....did I ever mention I HATE WINTER?

[mkramer1121]

Aww, come on Steve, its not THAT bad out today, you coulda rode to work!

[Steve F]

Aww, come on Steve, its not THAT bad out today, you coulda rode to work!

Yeah, but it's a #$%* when you gotta ride through 200 ft. of mud to get to the street first. Yech!
(pssst.....I still hate winter!)

[mkramer1121]

Yeah, well you don't want to be on the bike riding home now....its like a blizzard out there!

[heffay]

that's a lot of zooming i had to do on googlemaps! 
i think it probably looks different from your view.
such a small portion of that huge plot of land... how far in have you been?

[750goes]

Nice ride indeed....would have been well worth it on those roads...lots of concentration needed too.

Heffay, have a look at googlemaps for this route (I used to take this over a three week period in the late 70's)..Trangie,Tottenham, Nymagee, Gilgunnia, Cobar, Wilcannia, Wanaaring, Hungerford, Barringun, Weilmoringle, Angledool, Collarenebri, Walgett, Coonamble , Gilgandra... Check out the highway between Nyngan and Bourke (128 miles of gun barrel highway)...some nice roads in this lot - a lot of them all rock and dirt