BOP Tracks with Brainflex 7th and 8th October (Sat/Sun)

By OldBeer

October 7, 2017

Brainflex has kindly offered to lead me and my DRZ250 astray on some of the tracks around Whakatane. I’m meeting him at 0900 on Saturday & October at the Z station Domain Road, Whakatane.

At the moment the weather forecast is good, but if it really turns to custard we will postpone/cancel.

Vague plans are to do Motu and whatever else we can fit in over Saturday and Sunday. Will sort it out when we get together. Anyone else is welcome to come along for part or all of either or both days.

Will leave it all open so no fixed finish time as yet, all very casual (I hope).

This topic has 12 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 3 years, 4 months ago by Brainflex.

Viewing 13 posts - 1 through 13 (of 13 total)

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September 28, 2017 at 7:47 pm #19612
OldBeer
Participant
- Location:
- Bike: R1200GS, DL650, DRZ250, DRZ400S,
Brainflex has kindly offered to lead me and my DRZ250 astray on some of the tracks around Whakatane. I’m meeting him at 0900 on Saturday & Octobe
[See the full post and comment at: BOP Tracks with Brainflex 7th and 8th October (Sat/Sun)]
September 28, 2017 at 9:05 pm #19614
Black Betty
Participant
- Location:
- Bike: DR650
When you say tracks, do you mean “tracks” or just gravel roads…such as the Motu?
Do you guys plan on returning to Whakatane on Sat arvo/evening or are you camping out somewhere and looping back on Sunday?
September 28, 2017 at 9:22 pm #19616
OldBeer
Participant
- Location:
- Bike: R1200GS, DL650, DRZ250, DRZ400S,
I don’t know where I’m going until Brainflex tells me…..but yes given my (lack of) ability it will probably be mostly gravel. And day rides, starting and ending in Whakatane is the current plan.
September 29, 2017 at 5:47 pm #19634
Brainflex
Participant
- Location:
- Bike: CT110, Husky TE 250, DRZ250, CB500X
Rough plan is meet up at 9am Z Whakatane on Saturday, out to McCoy Rd, Porters, Pongakawa valley into Paengaroa for a coffee, drop down Pongakawa bush rd, Maniatutu rd, into Rotoehu Rd down Manawahe n Herepuru Rd with maybe a side trip up Pikowai n Campbell before returning via Matata. Sunday, out to Taneatua, Stanley Rd, Waiotahi valley Opotiki, Motu to Matawai, Waioeka Gorge, Coffee n cake in Opotiki n head back.

Very vague plan subject to change based on time,suggestions, mileage, tiredness, accidents, caffeine buzz, getting lost etc.
September 29, 2017 at 6:34 pm #19635
OldBeer
Participant
- Location:
- Bike: R1200GS, DL650, DRZ250, DRZ400S,
Awesome….I feel tired already!
October 8, 2017 at 6:22 pm #19678
OldBeer
Participant
- Location:
- Bike: R1200GS, DL650, DRZ250, DRZ400S,
Had a great few days on the drz250 down to Whakatane and back, just over 1,000kms. Included a lot of roads I have never been on, sealed and gravel, meeting up with fellow riders, a trip with parts well outside my comfort zone, great chats over coffee, good Thai food and a wet and windy ride back home. The bike never missed a beat even when I dropped it in a big puddle. Press the starter and off we go.

Massive thanks to @brainflex for leading me astray on some amazing back roads including some that stretch the definition of the word “road”

Starting at 0900 at Whakatane, we did:
SH2 to near Te Teko. Turned off at Braemar.
McIvor Road – epic scenic hill climb
Matahi Road (part of)
Rendall road which led to
Manawahe Road on which we find…
Porters “Road” – a challenge for me, everyone else seemed to breeze through it!
Wairoa Valley Road – 500m of loose and unpredictable sand
Pukehangi road (on which we were eternally thankful the gate wasn’t shut) epic straight sections (achieved personal best speed on gravel on the drz…still couldn’t catch the others!)
Rotoehu Road – stunning sealed road, great views, lovely curves.
Old Coach Road out to Paengaroa for gas and coffee…apologies to the nice ladies at the Comvita coffee shop for leaving quite a bit of muddy pumice on your floor….
Back up Old Coach Road to
Maniatutu road, at one point runs along the ridges with great views, hard to concentrate on the road. I would have stopped to take some pictures but was enjoying it way too much to stop. And back to the gravel…..
Back into Rotehu Road, mix of lovely flowing gravel and great sealed sections
Johnson briefly and then Hereford Park Road, which becomes Otamarakau Valley then
Campbell Road then onto the awesome
Pikowai Road and up up up to a lookout to end all look outs. They had just gravelled this and being at the end of the day we all had a bit of fun there. The last bit up to the look out had me off the bike for the last time that day (not the first!)
Back down Pikowai and onto the Matata straight on SH2, no decent coffee shops open so back to Whakatane about 5.30pm.

What a day. Something like 250kms of glorious roads, tracks, forests and views with bugger all traffic. Doesn’t get much better than that. And there are still roads there I didn’t do, but I will be back.

The weather gods intervened and Sunday turned out not so good. While I had planned to stay Sunday night I decided to man up and head home in the rain as the next day didn’t look any better. So we left Motu for another day. Hopefully it will still be there.

The trip home was interesting…wet from Whaka to Tauranga, then over the Kaimais into the strongest winds I have ever ridden through. I took the Old Te Aroha road so I wouldn’t have to deal with the traffic as well as the wind. The little drz was getting blown around all over the place and I found myself getting uncomfortably close to some very deep side drains (that looked more like canals). I spent most of the time leaned well over to the right at about 60kmh, right hand over the white line to give me some reaction time.
Eased up after Te Aroha and even had the sun visor down by the time I got to Auckland.

Some pictures of Porter Road and one of the bit of Pikowai up to the look out.
Attachments:
October 8, 2017 at 6:45 pm #19686
Brainflex
Participant
- Location:
- Bike: CT110, Husky TE 250, DRZ250, CB500X
Great day out with some great guys. Good summary by OldBeer of a fun day. Shame the weather meant we skipped the Motu but next time!
Attachments:
October 9, 2017 at 6:39 pm #19707
glitch_oz
Participant
- Location:
- Bike:
Yeeha…looks awesome!!
October 13, 2017 at 8:40 pm #19751
Joao
Keymaster
- Location:
- Bike: R1200GS
@oldbeer what a fantastic ride out that must have been. Any chance we can get the GPX recording of the roads you guys have been to?
October 14, 2017 at 4:46 pm #19760
OldBeer
Participant
- Location:
- Bike: R1200GS, DL650, DRZ250, DRZ400S,
Yes, was fun. I only have my phone for GPS and when I use it it runs the battery flat in a very short time. So I rarely Log anything on a long ride as I need the phone for other things…like bring a phone!

@brainflex is sending some suggested routes and is planning to send gpx files I think. Will post what he sends here if he doesn’t. He may also have gpx for the places we rode, they were pretty much all public roads though.

Cheers
October 15, 2017 at 6:41 pm #19769
Brainflex
Participant
- Location:
- Bike: CT110, Husky TE 250, DRZ250, CB500X
@jonibarteam, I couldn’t guarantee that GPX tracks would get you round as we used some private forestry roads that rely on a gate being left open otherwise there is some back tracking.
October 16, 2017 at 12:02 am #19770
Joao
Keymaster
- Location:
- Bike: R1200GS
AH, ok. How do you know if the gate is going to be open? do you know the owner? How do you get permission?
October 16, 2017 at 8:40 pm #19775
Brainflex
Participant
- Location:
- Bike: CT110, Husky TE 250, DRZ250, CB500X
I don’t. I take a chance and if unlucky do some back tracking which ends up with some deep soft pumice/sand that I try to avoid.
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