Capie and Vaalie taken for a ride by dodgy Russian

[Amsterdam]

Day 6 - part 2

Seeing him struggling to his feet I suggested to ride his bike up and he agreed. I jumped on his bike and rode it up gingerly immediately noticing few things that made my (and more importantly Bertie’s of course) life more difficult than it needed to be. The tank-bag was just real nuisance. But the suspension was even more annoying. There was no rebound dampening in the shock and I was bouncing up and down like on a pogo stick. Which is quite unnerving when you are trying to time your steps between big rocks.

I was glad to make it up without binning it. Justin seeing me come on wrong bike wanted to have another go and went down to ride my bike up. He flew up the rocks like a champ and realized what made me such a smooth operator in the rocks - lowered and properly set-up suspension (his was too hard). And as we speak he had his 500 adjusted accordingly. I cannot stress enough what a difference well set-up suspension makes, especially for newbies and less talented like myself. I see sometimes people say things like I’m not good enough to need good suspension. As far as I’m concerned it should work exactly the other way around; the shittier rider, the better suspension is required to save their biscuit when they will inevitably screw up.

Thanks for taking the trouble to do this write up.  Very enjoyable.  Having ridden through some of those parts myself on my 690 which had an incorrectly assembled shock ex-factory  and zero rebound damping as a result I can sympathise with Straatkat's troubles.  And seeing your riding buddies cope with ease makes it even more frustrating.  The following suspension set up document is worthwhile reading for all who are afraid to turn those adjusting screws.  Hope this will help someone.

https://www.teknikmotorsport.com/assets/brochures/Offroad_Setup_Guide.pdf

[Amsterdam]

Wel Straatkat, ek het vroeer in die RR gese as ek maar net 10 jaar jonger was sou ek so 'n trip bitter graag wou aanpak, ek is nou 57 en ek moet eerlik wees: Ek haal my hoed af vir jou Meneer! 

You should consider contacting Wildwood and go on a trip with him.  That way your luggage and fuel etc are all carried in the back up vehicle and you can still ride in Kaokoland in a much easier fashion than it is when you have to carry all your stuff on the bike.

[armpump]

Having to carry all your shit with you is part of the "adventure" i recon.

@Xpat where you going this time ?

[armpump]

@JustBendIt 


I notice your bar ends

Care to explain why ?

[JustBendIt]

I once owned a BMW F650 Dakar - was probably the smoothest single cylinder bike ever (but also the heaviest with the worst suspension ever) - this bike had bar ends

While surfing the net one day I saw the Yamaha Dakar rally bikes had bar ends too.

I used to do quite a bit of cycling and all my bicycles had rubber inserts in the end of the handlebars to dampen vibration

My hands are not lekker and I suffer badly from carpal tunnel issues

This got me thinking ...

So while prepping my 525 for Amageza 2015 I got a set of BMW Dakar bar ends and chopped them down and modified them to fit on my 525

There was a noticeable difference in "buzz" through the bars into my hands, especially on long boring straight roads

So I kept those bar ends when I sold my 525 and fitted them to my 500 ... and it works for me ... it does not eliminate the buzz completely but it does reduce it substantially ... and they are as hard as fuck so they work very well in protecting the ends of the bars when you bliksem the bike down

[armpump]

You not had any issues with digging in and bending bars instead of sliding a little ?

Weighted bar ends for superbikes very common and sure also help when binning it as a slider on tar


 

[armpump]

I do see HDB (Hand guard people) make anti vib inserts

https://www.highwaydirtbikes.com/index.php?app=ecom&ns=prodshow&ref=TI-200

[Ri]

They also work a treat to knock off car mirror cover if it unexpectedly closes in on you

[Xpat]

Trip according to Justin - the visual artist from Cape Town

Continuing catch-up/recap with Justin's photos.


Day 4 & 5 - Robie's pass - Opuwo - Epupa Falls


Refuel in Ongango:

Opuwo:

Not sure why Justin felt a need to take picture inside Spar supermarket - don't they have them down in CT?

Kunene river:








Epupa Falls:

Holy Moly - I'm blushing under the push-up bra just looking at this! Hotness redefined!

[Xpat]

Trip according to Justin - the visual artist from Cape Town

Day 6 & 7 - Epupa Falls - Okongwati - Van Zyl's Pass


Okongwati:

On the way to VZP:

Van Zyl's pass:

Damning evidence of russian cowardice...

OK, now we are caught up. I will include Justin's picture from now on in the future episodes.

[Xpat]

OK, now I'm off for real. Cheers.

[chopperpilot]

They also work a treat to knock off car mirror cover if it unexpectedly closes in on you

DR 650 comes stock with those bar ends.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[armpump]

OK, now I'm off for real. Cheers.

Travel safe

[facmp]

weird. posting some of those pics in the Ladies and bikes thread will get you life long ban.

[BiG DoM]

weird. posting some of those pics in the Ladies and bikes thread will get you life long ban.

Ja that has been said before here as well 

[armpump]

Honestly think it's nice to see some cultures still preserved out there.

[facmp]

absolutely agree

[Straatkat]

Trust me there is nothing sexual about their exposed body parts. Is a bit weird for a Westerner to see them wandering around inside the Spar with tits swinging, but the second time you see them it is almost normal.

[sidetrack]

  ride !

[Saddle Up]

Another epic ride. Thanks for the trouble in posting this and encouraging us by doing so, to also go and explore these tracks.