Môre, is dalk ‘n beter dag.

[tau]

Some off Nics pictures





Inflating tyres at the tar road at Katere.

[tau]

This is a pic from Attie of an earlier teip, but good example of how tracks merge and swap, the 4x4 trucks also create that weird little walletjie that is not strong enough to hold you, but it tosses tou around.

[2StrokeDan]

Helfte van die fotos lyk of dit in Bike Hospital geneem is, en die ander lot in n squatterkamp.

Maar moer lekker lyk dit beslis. n Toer soos ek dit ook like, rof en sonder [te veel] kreatuur vertroostings.

n Paar groot manne daar, het julle nie n paar maal amper op Weskus getrap nie?

[ChrisL - DUSTRIDERS]

n Paar groot manne daar, het julle nie n paar maal amper op Weskus getrap nie?

Ek sien hy het alweer op die vlak geslaap!! Darem warmer die keer.

[VaalBaas]

Jinne, ontdek ek die nou eers op dag 5 lyk dit my.

Growwe paar paaie wat julle hier aangepak het. Hoop daar is nog

[2StrokeDan]

Jinne, ontdek ek die nou eers op dag 5 lyk dit my.

Growwe paar paaie wat julle hier aangepak het. Hoop daar is nog

Growwe paaie op ligte bikes, laat staan nog op 990's en AT's

Die manne kan!

[Serf]

This is a pic from Attie of an earlier teip, but good example of how tracks merge and swap, the 4x4 trucks also create that weird little walletjie that is not strong enough to hold you, but it tosses tou around.

Ek is daardeur met n bakkie en daar is baie dorings en dik sand.

Respek vir julle!

Sent from my SM-A510F using Tapatalk

[weskus]

Weskus is dit dieselfde boots wat jy drie jaar terug mee Koës toe is?
Daai goed hettie meer sole nie!!!

Ja ou Chris, ek het gehoop iemand hier op die forum sien dit raak en kry my jammer, hulle het sole man. Die een het ek gegom en die ander een het amper my enkel gebreek toe hy skopgraaf sand skep, en toe sommer wegval..ek gaan hulle binnekort verkoop en vir my splinternuwe 2de handse boots koop. Oom Daan, toe ek laas gekyk het is jy f@kkol groter as ek nie

[tau]

So Wednesday morning was slow.
Myself and Weskus left the Cape Friday at 15:30 for the 630 km to the border
Saturday we dit the 840 km to Gobabis
Sunday we did Gobabis to Boesmanland 4x4 about 350 km
Monday we did Boesmanland 4x4 - Naye Naye pans-Tsumkwe also about 300 km
Tuesday we did Tsumkwe- Kaudum-Divundu at around 380 km

Everyday had been 06:00- 18:00 before we could relax.

So Attie and Oom Stef drove back to Divundu that Duan sent up with a truck. They also took Eugene’s tyre with to buff all the melted pieces of tube of. I love Ngepi and ask the rest of the team if they wanted to make a rest day and went for a shower and a shave.





I got back from the shower and everbody was busy packing and getting their kit on. You cannot choose your family, but you can choose your riding buddies. The boys was battered by branches and bodies where acing, however they where saddling up. We only got the tubes and tyre back at 10:00 we fitted Eugene’s tyre with a old tube as a liner and a new inner tube. Attie also had our old tube repaired “professionally” at the Tyre Rack shop as at this stage we still blamed shoddy workmanship for patch failures.

We left and crossed the border into Botswana. With 5 bikes and 2 bakkies paying 3rd party takes a while.

We refueled in Shakawe and took the tar to Tsodila hills.



We reached Tsodila hills after 13:00 on the worst white gravel ever. It is like tar with horrible potholes every couple of meters.

[FrancoisTz]

Ek haal my hoed af vir julle, is redelik seker ek sou dit nie gemaak het nie.

[Fenderbender]

Lekker het ek nou gelees . Daars my hele oggend  onproduktief .     ek loer weer later hier ....  manne julle is ysters !

[wilfwalk]

Riding that sand must have been torture, not to mention the punctures ! Respect to you guys !

[tau]

So 14:00 we reach a little village. The police stops me and asks where are we going. I reply Dobe border post. They replied that we are badly lost and on the wrong route. There is no road ro Dobe from there. I replied we wil use the cut lines and vet lines. They reply we cannot as we won’t make it. I ask if it is illegal and they say no but crazy.

It is 43 C and we reach the track Xpat sent us.... it looks just like the section North of Kaudum just more overgrown. Immediately we realise we are gonna be sweating bullets very son. We decide on a 10-15 km legs to give bakkies opportunity to catch up.

Within the first 500 m I realise the sand is like water. It doesn’t form a rut after a bike has been thru it just fills up again. The bikes are growling. The Africa Twin can run 3 gear most of the way and 2nd in real bad spots and 4th when it opens up. As with north of Kaudum we run at 60-80 km/h, this is plenty fast in such a remote area to crash and get hurt.

Every bump, corner or dune climb is more than just an obstacle the mental fatigue if “what if” I crash and get hurt weights down heavily on a rider. Or mechanical breakdowns, how do you recover the bike?

After 11 km we stop and it is carnage that arrives behind me....
Rickus and Eugene’s bikes are boiling and the fans don’t keep up. Weskus’s bike is boiling, but even worse the petrol in the fuel tank are boiling.



Eugene bike was also pushing fuel out of the breather. The road is very winding. It is as if the Botswana locals cannot drive straight also 2 tracks that merge and split all the time. Sometimes the left is good and other times the right. It is all the luck of the draw. Some tracks are blocked by trees elephants push over then you need to switch lanes which is 30 cm deep in a hurry. Fun fun fun!!!

[tau]

We had to make serious decisions about what next. Strangely the bakkies where having a much easier time than north of Kaudum. We attributed the bikes overheating to them not reaching higher speeds because of the “draai draai” tracks.

Weskus was finished he was turning around.

I suggested we rest for a while until the midday heat was over, or just till Weskus cooled down. He is a tough character just over emotional about the meel gesig .

https://youtu.be/UwN3hI3Wb2U

I suppose if I was riding a bomb I would also be negative.

[Sheepman]

Lekker, a RR about a real hardcore trip  You ous clearly have slain the sand dragon 

[tau]

After some Tafel lager and refills for the camelbacks and radiators everyone was in beter spirits. We had a game plan. As I was navigating now and not sweeping we would do 10 km if is was real rough giving bikes opportunity to cool down.

At this stage nobody was crashing or duck walking we where riding as fast as possible without crashing or damaging bikes, but with a tail wind and extreme heat we had to protect the engines. Me and Weskus was riding tandem for large section upfront and it was bliss.

We reached the Xaudum river and I lost it!!! Having Xpats track that he did earlier this year I could follow it roughly whilst cutting my own route down the river paths. We could stay clear of the worst Fesh Fesh and slide into and out of corners. I rate the riding in this river as my top 3 rides ever. Weskus stop with me under a tree and agreed this was amazing and we were so glad we had come. It felt super secluded with cattle and horses every couple of kilometers, but most villages was empty.

[tau]

Weskus must come show some of his fesh fesh action footage, i will just leave this here.

[tau]

Waiting for the bikes to cool down



Roboskrop in his natural environment.



Admiring my Africa Twin, she just kept on going on. Maybe now is the time to praise this bike. She is not the fastest or suspended like the KTM’s but her ability to just pull a tall gear at 1800 rpm without stalling and nor overheating or having any problems the entire trip was great. Yes she has way less kilometers on than the KTM’s, but for a standard Africa Twin except protection and luggage racks she coped with everything theown at her. Their was a wisecrack on Facebook Africa Twin group that called me an idiot for claiming the standard suspension could do anything. I wished I could fly him in and stands next to this 2spoor sandy road when I come past to see how she scrapes the center stand yet stay in control. My only issue was washouts or ditches in the track. I also had to be weary of my foot snagging in the deep sandy trenches because the bike is so low. Yes aftermarket or raised suspension would have helped here, but for the rocks and gravel would I upset the balance of the bike??? And it handles very well in the sand I just need more clearance.



My center stand is sanded after the trip

[Beserker]

I will sent you what I have after you explain me how!!

Sal jou help, soek hulle ook 

[adv]

Waiting for the bikes to cool down



Roboskrop in his natural environment.



Admiring my Africa Twin, she just kept on going on. Maybe now is the time to praise this bike. She is not the fastest or suspended like the KTM’s but her ability to just pull a tall gear at 1800 rpm without stalling and nor overheating or having any problems the entire trip was great. Yes she has way less kilometers on than the KTM’s, but for a standard Africa Twin except protection and luggage racks she coped with everything theown at her. Their was a wisecrack on Facebook Africa Twin group that called me an idiot for claiming the standard suspension could do anything. I wished I could fly him in and stands next to this 2spoor sandy road when I come past to see how she scrapes the center stand yet stay in control. My only issue was washouts or ditches in the track. I also had to be weary of my foot snagging in the deep sandy trenches because the bike is so low. Yes aftermarket or raised suspension would have helped here, but for the rocks and gravel would I upset the balance of the bike??? And it handles very well in the sand I just need more clearance.



My center stand is sanded after the trip

The AT is a new age 950 without the suspension.  The heat was always a problem on all of my 12 Lc8's