CDC Scania L113CRB 8970

[ScaniaDriver]

The 3 fastest buses I have driven are:
1: Telfords B7R Cummins 5819 http://actbus.net/forum/index.php?topic=2157.0
2: TransdevTSL Iveco #225 http://actbus.net/forum/index.php?topic=2038.0
3: this (read ahead)

and in the future, hopefully,

4: Forest Mercedes Benz O405NH 7712

(and all 4 are different manufacturers)

Few weeks ago on night rail, I was lucky enough to get behind the wheel of this beast - the Scania L113CRB 8970 from CharterPlus Girraween (CDC). Where to start off? Man, this thing flies! It sounds just like an STA Scania L113TRB 14.5m beast, but it's 12.5m.

It has an awesome acceleration!! The rattles...what rattles?? There were no rattles at all, even going over little pot holes where a low floor would rattle to death. All you heard was the door moving around a little. Retarder - initially at high speed, say 60 or 80, you back off and it pulls hard straight away, BUT then it it backs off, which is awesome!!! So someone cuts infront of you, you back off, the retarder on its own is strong, you avoid the accident. Also, this is what I love...you get to a corner, so you want to roll to it, then make your turn. This is why I like Shorelink buses as I turn the retarder off, roll to the corner and make the turn. In CDC ones its hard as you can't turn it off and you can't roll as the retarder is always on so you need to drive right up to corners, then use the brake to make the slowing down smooth. This retarder is awesome, it slows you down then backs off and lets you roll. What a perfect bus!!!! Only thing that was annoying was that my right hand kept on going for a non existent handbrake on the right side...it's on the left. But it's not really annoying, you just need to get used to it.

I drove it from Riverstone to Richmond, then Richmond to Blacktown then to the depot. It was one hell of a bus.



Norbert

[Irisbus Rider]

Fantastic photo, and analysis of the vehicle.

I'm pleased to see this bus back on the road after a certain 'Volvo hater' drove it in August, which a week later, it needed an engine replacement lol! It was off the road for some time after that.....

But yeah, those earlier Customs bodies are great, they're built so strong, and yeah, definately no rattles, look at all of Busways CC bodied O405s, not a rattle amongst them.

Oh, and I hope the Rivo natives were nice to you, they can tend to get a bit rowdy

[Busnerd]

I can concurr that 8970 is very nice to drive bar the grabby retarder

[Simes]

I've ridden this bus once, back when it was in the livery of it's previous owner (funnily enough on rail - North Shore rail) proves a point that the body on the bus counts just as much as what's under the bus. If there had been more L113's around with this body, I'd probably not mind that chassi at all.....