Weekend Tour (Non Bandit)

I took advantage of a few days off and not required for work duties over the weekend and headed to Wangaratta and Shepparton for a pre Christmas visit to my elderly parents and caught up with a sister and brother as well.
The route was Victorias Great Alpine Road (GAR) plus some local roads before and after. All up just on 1100km. I made it home mid sunday afternoon.

Thursdays departure was under threatening skies that dumped its H2o on me for 200km from Bairnsdale almost to Harrietville but I had dried out in the 30c heat by the time I made it to Wangaratta so all good there. I was unusually smart and pulled on my wet weather pants when I got fuel in Bairnsdale and as usual my Dryrider Nordic Hybrid jacket remained waterproof.

For anyone who hasn't ridden the GAR in the wet or dry you're missing out on one of Australia's fantastic alpine roads. This road has undergone enormous improvements over the last 15 years. The road is battered well back from most blind bends and for the whole trip north there was only 1 rock slide that made it onto the road surface. I spotted it and avoided it. What you get as you approach a bend is what you get all the way through most of them. They are constant camber and radius and well surfaced. If you like winding up and down the tach in 3rd and 4th this road is bliss. There is a bit of spray seal injected into cracks over the top that were quite slippery and triggered the traction control and sphincter a few times. They all appeared to be on bends and the 25km/h signed ones at that. They're not "pitch you down the road" bad just something to try to ride around if you can.

This trip had me in my new Bikersgear leather "touring" pants and I must say I'm impressed. They're comfortable but not too hot in the 30ish temps (was 34 in Shepparton). For a similar price to some Kevlar jeans they're much better protection in my opinion.

So over the whole trip the VFR1200F returned 19.6KM/L carrying about 400kg with bike, rider and luggage. I'm super impressed with this bike and equally as impressed with the dry weather performance of the Dunlop Sportsmax OEM. I don't have the same level of confidence in the wet but the dry grip makes up for it.



Mount Hotham


South of Ensay

I highly recommend the GAR for a weekend blast or a touring route to wherever you're going in Vic.

Anyway. How was your weekend?

Not as good as yours clearly Chris! Nice report.  Glad you're enjoying the big viffer, even if the weather gods were a bit sulky.  That's 2 out of 2 for you for a wet weather trip over Hotham isn't it?

Hmph.............ok for some  sounds like you had a great weekend ; good report