This bike comes with
wider, more off-road
oriented footpegs which
give a more secure
feeling when standing on
gravel and dirt
HANMER AND THE MOLESWORTH
Leaving Hanmer we took Jollies Pass. This road
has deteriorated in recent years and is littered
with man-sized potholes and decent rain ruts
with rocks in places. So, an excellent place
to see if Honda’s new long travel suspension
shines. Well, shine it does! Geoff and I were
both genuinely impressed by just how well
they gobbled up the bad surfaces, at all speeds,
with little or no feedback and zero deflection.
Honestly, a good enduro bike would not have
taken those square-edged hits any better – and
I’ve ridden a lot of enduro bikes.
The Molesworth is largely wide-open gravel
road riding in a huge river valley with beautiful
mountainous scenery. It is amazing big
adventure bike blasting country and the ATs
were truly in their element. In the middle of the
Molesworth there is a riverbed with some large
rocks and shallow-ish water, a great place to
test the suspension in more challenging terrain.
I should remind you at this point that I own a
40 KIWI RIDER
two-year-old Africa Twin which, to be honest, I
think is a better option for this rough, low speed
riding. Yes, the new model does have better
suspension, but this advantage is offset by its
extra height and bulk. Sure, if you never have
to put your feet down, no problem, but trying
to make tight turns in big rocks this is going to
happen.
Talking of feet, this bike comes with wider,
more off-road oriented footpegs which give a
more secure feeling when standing on gravel
and dirt. To make room for more dirt-oriented
riding boots, the passenger footpegs have been
moved back a bit. Both are seemingly small
things but they make a difference.
Back on the track the miles simply swept by.
We demolished the remaining gravel and in
no time were back on Tarmac, gassing up in
Blenheim and heading for the Picton ferry.
Both of these bikes make it so very easy to
destroy big distances.