Riding naked okay, but not without helmet

Cycling starkers might be okay in New Zealand - but just make sure the cops don't catch you without a helmet.

Two Kiwi men wearing nothing but their birthday suits have been issued with a warning for riding without protective head gear on a jaunt around the Coromandel seaside resort of Whangamata.

Local bobby Senior Constable Cathy Duder was patrolling the resort when she came across the two nude men, both in their early 20s.

"They were more shocked than I was, trying to cover up their bits and pieces with their hands," Ms Duder told AAP.

When asked for an explanation, the pair replied that "they wanted to experience total freedom".

"And I said to them 'the way you're heading, you're going to experience total confinement'," the officer said, laughing.

She said the men appeared decidedly sober. "They didn't seem drunk at all. That's what worried me," she joked.

Ms Duder issued them with a stern warning for not wearing helmets and then sent them directly home.

- NZPA