krazy-eyes
Race Dog
today i ventured in the direction of the maraisburg minedumps and soon found myself doing the entire route from maraisburg to randfontein!
my plan was to do a short section of the route and then head west towards potch, but i ended up having SO much fun, i continued all the way to uncle harry's in randfontein. this place is the ideal testing ground to fine tune ones skills over all types of terrain. i used to ride it lots on my quad, and after today i cant believe ive never done this on the 950?
i encountered:
.soft sand
.compact sand
.hard gravel
.sand with marbel sized pebbles
.loose marble sized gravel
.loose tennis ball sized gravel fields
.ruts
.berms! (yeehaa fun!)
.sticky mud
.slippery mud
.dry mud
.humps
.whoops
.half a river crossing
.and a railway crossing
the only thing i didnt do was the thick beach-sand type mine dumps, i'll save that for another day when i'm feeling strong
there are fast flat-out straight sections, twisty bermed sections through bluegum forests, and tricky sandy sections over which i fine tuned my controll of the front end somewhat. the tennisball rocky sections tought me that what ufudo says is true - speed is your friend. i'm not talking 100kph, but dont pussyfoot through it, because this gives the bike plenty opportunity to get deflected to the sides....momentum gets you through.
anyway, it was also nice to do it at my own pace. i feel 80% more confident off road now, as compared to when i started out this morning.
at times i did 100 , feeling like alfie in the dakar as the dumps and squatter camps around me transformed into the touareg desert (in my imagination it did at least), but i mostly did around 40-60km/h. the more technical sections never saw me outside of 1st gear. on the whole i never had a need for 4th 5th and 6th :lol:
once back on the tar 120 felt reeeediculessly fast :lol:
on the way there it was chilly, but after 20 minutes of pig-wrestling i was ready to put on my mx shirt, which i did. i was happy for the water in my camelback.
the highlight of the day was when i got to uncle harry's there were about 50 mx bikes and some quads having a picnic on the sidewalk when i came blasting out of the bush.............you should have seen the looks on their faces!
i dont think they realised that there are people with DS bikes that actually take them off road.
from there it was a just as much fun to get back, as the ride doesnt stop when you get back on the road. these bikes are amazing! show me any ohther bike, superbike or scrambler, that can handle the rough stuff and then speed back home at 160+ and be at home on both surfaces.
on beyers naude i had a dual with light-fronted klr - he couldnt stop wheelying (anyone on the forum perhaps?). we exchanged some pleasantries at the one light, and then he headed onto the highway in the direction of pretoria.
and no, i didnt take pics, i was too busy having fun!
my plan was to do a short section of the route and then head west towards potch, but i ended up having SO much fun, i continued all the way to uncle harry's in randfontein. this place is the ideal testing ground to fine tune ones skills over all types of terrain. i used to ride it lots on my quad, and after today i cant believe ive never done this on the 950?
i encountered:
.soft sand
.compact sand
.hard gravel
.sand with marbel sized pebbles
.loose marble sized gravel
.loose tennis ball sized gravel fields
.ruts
.berms! (yeehaa fun!)
.sticky mud
.slippery mud
.dry mud
.humps
.whoops
.half a river crossing
.and a railway crossing
the only thing i didnt do was the thick beach-sand type mine dumps, i'll save that for another day when i'm feeling strong
there are fast flat-out straight sections, twisty bermed sections through bluegum forests, and tricky sandy sections over which i fine tuned my controll of the front end somewhat. the tennisball rocky sections tought me that what ufudo says is true - speed is your friend. i'm not talking 100kph, but dont pussyfoot through it, because this gives the bike plenty opportunity to get deflected to the sides....momentum gets you through.
anyway, it was also nice to do it at my own pace. i feel 80% more confident off road now, as compared to when i started out this morning.
at times i did 100 , feeling like alfie in the dakar as the dumps and squatter camps around me transformed into the touareg desert (in my imagination it did at least), but i mostly did around 40-60km/h. the more technical sections never saw me outside of 1st gear. on the whole i never had a need for 4th 5th and 6th :lol:
once back on the tar 120 felt reeeediculessly fast :lol:
on the way there it was chilly, but after 20 minutes of pig-wrestling i was ready to put on my mx shirt, which i did. i was happy for the water in my camelback.
the highlight of the day was when i got to uncle harry's there were about 50 mx bikes and some quads having a picnic on the sidewalk when i came blasting out of the bush.............you should have seen the looks on their faces!
i dont think they realised that there are people with DS bikes that actually take them off road.
from there it was a just as much fun to get back, as the ride doesnt stop when you get back on the road. these bikes are amazing! show me any ohther bike, superbike or scrambler, that can handle the rough stuff and then speed back home at 160+ and be at home on both surfaces.
on beyers naude i had a dual with light-fronted klr - he couldnt stop wheelying (anyone on the forum perhaps?). we exchanged some pleasantries at the one light, and then he headed onto the highway in the direction of pretoria.
and no, i didnt take pics, i was too busy having fun!
