of Paparoa-Oakleigh Rd and onto Paparoa . But don ’ t hit town just yet ... if you head left onto Paparoa Station Rd you get to enjoy yet more flowing gravel , all the while heading East without having to yield to the boring black-top of SH12 . A right turn into Causer then Golden Stairs Roads has you back in Maungaturoto and marked the conclusion of our Northland twoday adventure , Simon heading home to Waipu while I trundled a bit further south , grabbing a few more gravel short-cuts along the way .
WHAT ABOUT THE X-CAPE ? Well , it was short and sweet , but two days riding beats being office-bound . Some great roads were ridden and there ’ s more to be done . As for the Morini X-Cape 649 and its luggage , the bike is a fine no-nonsense mount for backroad NZ adventuring . It ’ s not flashy , fast , lean or mean . It ’ s not loaded with high-tech ride aids or topshelf suspension . It ’ s simply a decent-looking , honest , smooth adventure tourer that is frankly great value for money at its price point . And the factory luggage is more than up to the task , being easy to mount and remove and rock solid . It ’ s also weatherproof – I ’ ve ridden the bike in both very heavy rain as well as long dusty gravel conditions and the pannier seals have kept everything out of both cases . So , as a combo , the Moto Morini X-Cape and luggage achieve a thumbs-up for gravel road adventures .
KIWI RIDER 93