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A ride through the country

Date:
By Wom Battle

Rain was forecast today and there were a few clouds about, but after spending the day indoors yesterday the commitment level was high for a ride. The family was also keen to go somewhere nice for lunch so we decided to head to a little town called Dungog, across to the Bucketts Way and then to Gloucester.  The lunch location was flexible.

We all headed to the office to pick up the Road King and my daughter took the first shift on the pillion seat.  The fuel stop was made heading towards Raymond Terrace ($12.65) and the kids stocked up on travel junk food, my daughter has become proficient in negotiating the full faced helmet to land lollies into her mouth. 

The countryside through Seaham, Clarencetown to Dungog was pituresque but the road was shite! AS number of bone rattling jolts, one of them around a tight bend that slammed the undeneath of the bike into the road, sat it up and made the corner rather interesting was enough to convince my daughter to hand the seat over at the first opportunity.  Some roadworks on the way also gave me the opportunity to test the Harley out on dirt.  Not too bad.

We arrived at Dungog and stopped for lunch at the CHILLbillies (pretty good btw) and had a little walk around.  My son then took control of the pillion seat and we left for Gloucester.  The road between Dungog and the Bucketts Way is well worth riding. It's windy, pretty and the surface is not too bad. We stopped briefly at the end of that road before turning on to the Bucketts Way and it was clear that my wife had had as much fun on that stretch in her 4WD as we did on the Harley-Davidson.

A quick left and 40k's or so to Gloucester.  Quite a few bikes were heading the other way, and when we got there quite a few more were parked in the main street. I'd recently read that the region was focussing on  attracting weekend riders and it was clear that the strategy was working.  We stopped at Perenti (cafe) for coffee and were lucky enough to score the comfy lounges with a view of the street.  We sat there for nearly an hour, chatted etc... very nice. 

Back on the Road King with my son and we headed home, down the Bucketts, onto the Pacific Hwy. The big thing I noticed from the Harley perspective, is that on windy, roughish road you really need to work your body into the corners, any laziness or lack of concentration WILL see the underside of the bike or the foot plates scraping on the road. A little too much for my liking.  I"m not sure if I was pushing it a little hard, although I wasn't going over the speed limit.  My son definitely wasn't contributing to this, he's become an accomplished pillion very quickly, I often found that he'd get over and my job was to make the fine adjustments into and out of the corners (more proud dad moments). Luckily he too doesn't even flinch when the bike scrapes!

Kilometres travelled: 272.

 

Disclaimer: This non commercial website and its content is not affiliated with or associated in any way with the Harley-Davidson Motor Company, Harley-Davidson Australia, the Harley-Davidson Owners Group® or any Harley-Davidson® Dealers in Australia.  The use of the terms Harley-Davidson, and Road King® are unavoidable because that's what I own and ride.  This website,  called "My Harley Davidson" , and any opinions or comments expressed herein are purely about my Harley-Davidson Road King ownership experience, a truly great experience at that. I have no intention whatsoever to infringe on any trademarks or copyright ownership of the Harley-Davidson Motor Company or anyone else.


March 2024
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