- Joined
- Oct 12, 2009
- Messages
- 10,483
- Reaction score
- 3,334
- Location
- Cape Town
- Bike
- Triumph (all models)
My ride report , up bright and breezy on Saturday morning , full of anticipation ,( I haven't ridden much in the last few years ) , met Buff at the workshop where we left at 07H00 , the trailer having a YZ250 ( Buff ), KDX200 ( Weskus ) and the TM450 ( self ) , met up with the Droomers crew , Yami Super10 , Erich , Adrian and Ian at Piketberg for a coffee and sandwich .
By the time we arrived at the venue the place was already packed , not sure of the amount of entries but there were a lot , Calmax can c oonfirm . Finished off the final bit of admin , dumped our fuel cans in the trailer and got kitted up for the ride .
The start looked a bit chaotic but was actually quite well done , let off a batch of bikes then a batch of quads . The first bit was a series of cool contours just to get warmed up , I must admit that things actually happened so quickly that I don't remember too much of the detail about the actual route , I do know that there was a fair amount of puddles , a few muddy streams to ride through , some of them stank to high heaven - what a lekker way to get dirty , and of course a generally good mix of terrain , fast , slow , up , down , wet and dry , it was all there , and good scenery where I had the opportunity to pay attention .
The refuel came along shortly after seeing the ambulance parked at the side of the track , I hope you recover quickly - the ride had a broken wrist and broken fingers , not lekker .
Left the refuel area for the final loop , after waiting for Buff making an attempt to prevent drought by starting a river , well a little stream , almost had a serious tumble when I came across a little donga about a half meter deeper than I expected , to brake would have been a faceplant of note , no option but to gas it , the TM has a lot of stomp and I was able to wheelie through it without incident . It was rather strange riding through some sections that looked like hard solid terrain only to realise that it is actually soggy and slowed the bike down quite a bit , just nail the throttle and ride it like sand then it all worked well .
On the subject of the bike , this is the first time I have ridden one of the TM brand for more than a 5 minute test ride after having worked on them , I was a bit wary before the event but I can honestly say that I walked away from Eendekuil seriously impressed . The power delivery is strong but smooth , it can bite if not treated with respect , I personally had loads of fun lofting the front wheel at will , to the chap on the YZ that I passed on the back wheel , my apologies Evil Evil , as well as to Buff for being behind me on a few occasions when he got roosted .
But to go with the engine is the Ohlins suspension front and rear , to say this set up is good will be a serious understatement , it soaked up everything I could throw at it and was certainly instrumental in me keeping the right side up , and just worked so well whether going fast or slow .
Is it perfect for enduro's ? No , it needs handguards and a skidplate , and then perhaps 3 teeth smaller on the rear sprocket would help in the faster sections , but as a package it is excellent for anyone looking for a 450 to start out in enduro's with or as in this case as a great playbike . I am certainly looking at the brand in a new light now .
Going back to the route , I stopped at one section to check tyre pressures and ended up doing the last half of the second loop on my own so I could appreciate the scenery a lot more , there were some really nice sections in there , and then in the last km there was a nice straight with contours icon_biggrin , should be good fun , no chance these were kickers of note , I just cruised through , but one of the quad guys didn't and broke a collarbone Sad Sad . No tumbles for me , a few moments here and there , and one that would have hurt but by some fluke didn't happen , thankfully Buff didn't get to film that .
Looking at the entrants afterwards I didn't see any upset people , just lots of smiles and plenty dirty bikes , for me it was magic to see old clients and friends again , can't wait to be back again . On the subject of dirty bikes , yes they were dirty , very dirty actually , used a fire hose to get the worst of the mud off then Prepsol to do it's magic , now it is looking good as new again .
Once again , Calmax and his crew icon_thumleft, thank you for an excellent event , I recommend this to anyone with a dirt bike , Buff thanks for the lift and great company icon_thumleft , Gary thank you for the use of the bike icon_thumleft.
Now post some pics
By the time we arrived at the venue the place was already packed , not sure of the amount of entries but there were a lot , Calmax can c oonfirm . Finished off the final bit of admin , dumped our fuel cans in the trailer and got kitted up for the ride .
The start looked a bit chaotic but was actually quite well done , let off a batch of bikes then a batch of quads . The first bit was a series of cool contours just to get warmed up , I must admit that things actually happened so quickly that I don't remember too much of the detail about the actual route , I do know that there was a fair amount of puddles , a few muddy streams to ride through , some of them stank to high heaven - what a lekker way to get dirty , and of course a generally good mix of terrain , fast , slow , up , down , wet and dry , it was all there , and good scenery where I had the opportunity to pay attention .
The refuel came along shortly after seeing the ambulance parked at the side of the track , I hope you recover quickly - the ride had a broken wrist and broken fingers , not lekker .
Left the refuel area for the final loop , after waiting for Buff making an attempt to prevent drought by starting a river , well a little stream , almost had a serious tumble when I came across a little donga about a half meter deeper than I expected , to brake would have been a faceplant of note , no option but to gas it , the TM has a lot of stomp and I was able to wheelie through it without incident . It was rather strange riding through some sections that looked like hard solid terrain only to realise that it is actually soggy and slowed the bike down quite a bit , just nail the throttle and ride it like sand then it all worked well .
On the subject of the bike , this is the first time I have ridden one of the TM brand for more than a 5 minute test ride after having worked on them , I was a bit wary before the event but I can honestly say that I walked away from Eendekuil seriously impressed . The power delivery is strong but smooth , it can bite if not treated with respect , I personally had loads of fun lofting the front wheel at will , to the chap on the YZ that I passed on the back wheel , my apologies Evil Evil , as well as to Buff for being behind me on a few occasions when he got roosted .
But to go with the engine is the Ohlins suspension front and rear , to say this set up is good will be a serious understatement , it soaked up everything I could throw at it and was certainly instrumental in me keeping the right side up , and just worked so well whether going fast or slow .
Is it perfect for enduro's ? No , it needs handguards and a skidplate , and then perhaps 3 teeth smaller on the rear sprocket would help in the faster sections , but as a package it is excellent for anyone looking for a 450 to start out in enduro's with or as in this case as a great playbike . I am certainly looking at the brand in a new light now .
Going back to the route , I stopped at one section to check tyre pressures and ended up doing the last half of the second loop on my own so I could appreciate the scenery a lot more , there were some really nice sections in there , and then in the last km there was a nice straight with contours icon_biggrin , should be good fun , no chance these were kickers of note , I just cruised through , but one of the quad guys didn't and broke a collarbone Sad Sad . No tumbles for me , a few moments here and there , and one that would have hurt but by some fluke didn't happen , thankfully Buff didn't get to film that .
Looking at the entrants afterwards I didn't see any upset people , just lots of smiles and plenty dirty bikes , for me it was magic to see old clients and friends again , can't wait to be back again . On the subject of dirty bikes , yes they were dirty , very dirty actually , used a fire hose to get the worst of the mud off then Prepsol to do it's magic , now it is looking good as new again .
Once again , Calmax and his crew icon_thumleft, thank you for an excellent event , I recommend this to anyone with a dirt bike , Buff thanks for the lift and great company icon_thumleft , Gary thank you for the use of the bike icon_thumleft.
Now post some pics
