REEFTON SPUR

Length (km): 19 Corner Ratio: 95% Corner Speeds: 50-100kph Legal Speed Limit: 100kph Traffic (cars/min): 0.1 Bumpiness: Smooth Bitumen Grip: Grippy Special Notes: Sometimes bad road litter (twigs/leaves/bark), damp and slightly mossy in winter Location: Reefton Spur is about 80 km slightly north of due east from Melbourne between Warburton and Marysville.

Getting there:

To get there get onto the Maroondah Hwy as you would for Black Spur but turn off right onto the Warburton Hwy just after passing through Lilydale. Go through Warburton, Warburton East, McMahons Creek and then to Reefton. At Reefton turn left over the wooden bridge and have a blast. The Reefton Spur runs from the town Reefton (21 km east of Warburton along the Warburton Highway) up to the Cumberland Junction. Reefton Spur is 19 km of pure motorcycling joy. The most popular scratchers' road for motorcyclists living in Melbourne, The road surface is excellent; grippy and twisty for 19 kilometers. The surface is good in the wet. Scenery is good: the road traverses ridges overlooking the Upper Yarra Catchment Basin. Not that you will have time to look at unless you stop! The Spur has very little traffic, particularly during the week. Just watch out for the occasional 4WD around blind corners or oncoming bikes, and maybe a minibus during the ski season. It's the sort of place where people do "laps" it is that much fun. Depending on recent wind conditions there may be a fair amount of leaf litter on the road (as with other alpine roads). But it clears quickly, and is generally more a psychological barrier than anything else. The upper reaches (towards Cumberland Junction) occasionally appear green - a touch of algae grows up the centre of each lane. It looks much worse than it is. Going uphill from Reefton to Cumberland Junction tends to be easier because of the mountain of the eastern sides reduces corner visibility if going downhill, not to mention increased braking distances. Note: The 15km stretch of road between Warburton East and Reefton is also a decent ride in itself and makes great warmup material before the Reefton Spur's corner onslaught.

Credit: Ben Warden for words.