Hauraki Rail Trail ride

Start of the ride

Well what a neat day today, we got up early and made lots of food for the ride and set off to Waikino, which was an old gold mining town in the early part of last century. 
Some walked while some rode bikes and with Mum and Dad as support crew we were off. 
We took turns to ride bikes then sit in the car. Lunch was at the end of the long tunnel, fortunately then have now got lights in the tunnel. When I last was in there many years ago then were none and it sure was dark. 
10km further along we got to Paeora for a nice hot cuppa, then pretty much at 10km intervals we stopped at Hikutaia, Puriri, Matatoki and at each stopped checked in with our service team of Mum and Dad. 
Then it was left up to Aaron and I to complete the ride right through Thames and onto Mum and Dads house.
What a fantastic day with amazing scenery and great riding surface. The rail trails are a great experience and great for NZ !! 
If you would like to know more about the Hauraki Rail Trail take a look at this website - http://www.haurakirailtrail.co.nz/

On the river bank at Paeroa

Motorized Mountain bike on car roof

I am not sure how many people have put a moped on a car roof rack but today we gave it a try and it seemed to work just great.
We are planning some rides next week so wanted to try it out and make sure if we could put all the bikes on the little Toyota Starlet. It looks like it should all work.


I have been in the process of getting the bike registered as a moped. Well it is quite a challenge as all the regulations changed a year ago. The Transport dept implemented a new set of rules for mopeds. The problem is no one seems to know what they are. I have been told to contact a number of people and none of which seem to know. Several people have said to me "just ride it and dont bother to register it". I have however been wanting to do the right thing, so more investigation I think is required !!

Tawharanui Regional Park ride

Today it has been a beautifully fine winters day, in fact you would think that it was summer, although the temperature gauge doesnt lie, it read only 15 deg C as we drove up to Tawharanui Regional park.


We researched about the bike ride before we went and it said that the ride was great for bikes. Well it wasnt quite what we expected it was more of a 4x4 track through a very hilly farm, but we loved it and the last part was really beautiful through some native bush. We were to discover later that we were not supposed to ride through there.... too late.

The start of the ride

Adam making his way up a long hill

Going on holiday

Packing the bike down for travelling

 Disassembly and packing the bike into a bag for transporting on a plane !

Bikes technical speciafications

Here is a run down on the spec's of the bike -

• Engine - 35cc Honda 4 stroke mounted vertically 
• Transmission - Honda rotary tiller, 35.1 ratio
• Drive sprockets - Modified Staton drive kit
• Hub - Rohloff 14 speed internal geared hub
• Shocks - Front - Fox float 32mm, Rear Fox 
• Brakes - Front - Avid juicy, Rear Hayes
• Gas tank - Integral 2 litre 
• Frame - Hand made fabricated stainless steel
• Mudguards - Front - THE

Features -

• Engine is designed to be taken on and off very quickly and easily so that it can be used as a normal mountain bike or motorized.
• Bike is designed to fold up and go into a bag for easy transportation. The motor unbolts, the frame folds up into its self
• One tank of gas (2 litres) gets the bike 120km
• The bike rides comfortably at 40kmph
• Weight - 29kg including engine. 23kg without engine

Future ideas

• I plan to modify the engine to get more speed out of it
• Sometime in the future I have a much more power but lighter and smaller engine to fit into it
• One day an aluminium bike and then a carbon fibre bike

Last ride in Kolkata for a while

 These are some photos taken today on my last ride around the streets of Kolkata for a while. I am returning to NZ for a few months and plan on doing some Mountain bike riding with my boys over the coming months on some of New Zealands amazing bike trails, sure looking forward to it