Welcome to our newest member, smoko bob

Bob,

Welcome to BAMR! What kind of bike do you have? Any pictures?

This is a good group of people and we try to have a group ride at least once per month somewhere.

Hope to see you on a ride soon.

Scott

G'day Scott and the rest of the crew there,
Thanks for the welcome.
'Ride a Majesty 400, J Costa kitted.
Might be a while before I am riding with you, I am riding with my mates out from Brisbane, Australia.
We have a group similar to yours, in a climate similar to yours.
Sunny skies and mild temps.
Year round riding assured.
We would feel at home on your patch I am sure.
Love to have you check some photos.
Go to www.maxitag.org and click on "gallery".

Looks like you are doing more over-nighters than we are at present.

We keep in contact with other maxi groups in our area of South East Queensland (SEQ) and together with groups from Newcastle and Gosford, both in New South Wales (NSW), north of Sydney.
In November we will all meet up at the halfway point (Uralla) on the New England Tableland (NSW), and spend the Saturday on a really sweet bush country circuit.

We'll have to keep in touch.
Smoko.

Wow, we've gone global... I love it!

Smoko,

It's great to have you as a part of our group. I hope all of you across the Pacific are enjoying the riding season as much as we are.

Kevin
Modesto, CA

Smoko,

Great to have you on board. It's great to connect around the world.

I just had to see where you're located, so I looked it up on Google Maps:

http://tinyurl.com/6zug9r

It sounds like you have quite a nice ride there.

Take care and ride safe!

Scott

Smoko,

Welcome to the site. Please feel free to post some pictures of yourself and bike in the Gallery section. It is really nice to have someone in the group from so far away. Please keep us informed of your rides.

Hey Bob! Welcome! What kinds of scooters do you guys have in your group? We have lots of Burgman's (400's & 650's) and Honda Silverwings, Yamaha Majesty's, Piaggios, (and MP3's-3 wheelers) Aprillias, Kymco, etc. I know there is a lot of flatlands there...do you ride the coast? The mountains too?? How far is any given ride? Do you do any overnighters? Take care....

Thanks for the posts guys.
I have only just logged in after a lapse - sorry a bit slow.
Scott posted on our site, and I'll copy (below) my reply to this thread for you information.
And I'll put in more info very shortly.


"Scott
The above photo looks like a parallel universe to what we have here.
But I can't find Springer.
(In joke)

I have taken the liberty of editing in kilometres on your posting, so we can compare.
Thought you blokes turned your back on the English language and measurements back at the Tea Party Very Happy
And if it wasn't for the Tea Party, we wouldn't be here in Oz talking to you.
So we owe you guys.
That's why we are letting you win the medals this time round.

Because of the flat but narrow flood plains in South East Queensland (SEQ), and Northern New South Wales (NSW), we do not have magnificent roads winding along our coast.
Where we do have coastal roads, they are built up areas with too much traffic for decent riding, so we avoid our coastal areas.
This would be different in Southern NSW and Victoria.

Behind the coastal plain is good riding through tall gum trees and subtropical rain forests, along rolling and twisting sealed roads.
And behind these foothills, we have ranges (not the Rockies!) with great coastal views, that make for interesting climbs and descents.

An hour west of Brisbane is the Great Dividing Range with some nice riding, and behind that the Darling Downs grain belt - a beautiful area, but flat, straight roads.

So we can mix up all types of riding in one outing, or favour one singular area.
We really are spoiled with so many varieties of rides within an hour of Brisbane, which is still small enough to get away from easily and quickly.
Check the gallery - if you haven't already.

Our midweek (public holiday) ride last Wednesday was for me 400km (250mls) - 13 turned up.
Normally, our rides are 150 to 200 miles - we're back home just after lunch, or mid afternoon.

13 is a reasonable number of riders we have had of late, but the turnout on the last few rides is around 18.
We email reminders to I think 60 riders, a week before the run.

All our maxis are 250cc to 650cc at present.
Subo is keen to look very closely at the Honda 850 when it arrives later this year.
Those that join in with 125s are comfortable upgrading if they decide to continue to ride with us - but there is no compulsion.

Does this sound anything like your lifestyle?"

Smoko Bob

Larry
Yes the scoots you mentoned are reflected in our group, there is quite a mix.
The Burgers have a strong following.
It is strange we have to go to motor bike shops to buy them, rather than a scooter shop.
There are specialist scoot shops around, but they don't sell Suzuki or Yamaha.
And most (not all) of the motorbike shop retailers don't seem to care if they sell or don't sell a maxi scoot.

We have one or two rides a year so far of around 800/900 miles - the destination being south from Brisbane, on the New South Wales (NSW) coast, half way down to Sydney.
Bellingen near Coffs Harbour one trip.
http://www.federalhotel.com.au/

Port Macquarie further south another.
http://www.portmacquarieinfo.com.au/

And this November, destination Uralla (bushranger country), on the New England Tableland in NSW, just south of Armidale - just to get away from the coast for a change.
http://www.toppuburalla.com.au/entertainment/welcome.asp

These are three day rides.
Friday to get there (over 300miles), Saturday a circuit of around 170miles plus horsing around, then Sunday home.
Plus the social meet and greet in between.

Riders from Newcastle
http://www.hunterscooterriders.com/events.htm
and Gosford
http://www.ccscooterclub.com.au/index.html
scoot groups (just north of Sydney) will be riding north to be with us at Uralla.
We are going to make some great memories.

Mid November there is an overnighter (Saturday night) at Boreen Point, north of a place called Noosa.
This will be a slowish 2/3 hour ride to get there.
This run will not be for the ride, but the social aspect on Saturday afternoon and night.
They are hoping for close to 100 scoots on this ride, down to the 125s.
http://www.gdaypubs.com.au/QLD/boreen+point.html

We have been on a number of big half day rallies - annual toy run and the like, a couple of thousand motor bikes and a token number of us maxi scoots.

We have yet to head north on a 2/3 day trip.
Reason being, the country to the south, over the border in NSW, is so inspiring to ride.
We will head north one day and hopefully, be pleasantly surprised.
It is decades ago that I travelled, by car, on the northern country roads inland from Gladstone and Rockhampton.

I have a feeling you do a fair number of over nighters over there.

Smoko Bob

Thanks for the very informed reply! I think probably answered all our questions. Now I have a good idea of your scoot lifestyle there, and it seems like quite a fun one at that....and especially thanks for all the links, very informative, and I loved seeing the beautiful country you have there!

Thanks for getting back to us, and keep in touch!