An informal ride day was organized by our top Honda sales staff at our Melbourne store. It was an initiative to provide their customers an opportunity to highlight what their motorbikes were designed for: on road performance.

Initially, about 30 to 40 customers were invited to trial their sports bikes at some of Victoria’s most beautiful and scenic roads. Due to the unpredictable weather forecast, the original number of participants dropped to about 15 riders.

One the day itself, everyone met at the assembly area and was greeted with blue skies and a fresh 18 degrees. A variety of riders and motorbikes turned up; from the top selling CBR1000RR Fireblade to the torquey V-twin VTR1000-SP2’s; to the high revving CBR600RR’s.

After the initial safety and instructional briefing, the group left and they went over the Westgate Bridge and through to Geelong to the eventual target of the Great Ocean Road (GOR).

The ride was a sprightly event with plenty of opportunities for everyone to test out their rides. There were instances where their enthusiasm needed to be curbed (re James and the Police) especially before reaching the smaller towns.

The speed limit has been reduced on the GOR but the road has also had improvements made to it. Hence, the emphasis of the ride was not how fast to go, but rather, which line was the smoothest.

After stopping off at Apollo Bay for a quick and tasty burger at Andy’s take away, the group continued through the Otway Ranges where the roads opened up and the group had the opportunity to get to know their bikes better.

Unfortunately, the rain that had been holding out all day, finally arrived which was the signal for the group to turn around. Everyone was ecstatic that they had the opportunity to test out their bikes in conditions that they were designed for considering the background of the CBR1000RR evolved from MotoGP.

Many thanks for the fun day and it was a great opportunity to spend time with our customers and their motorbikes.