5 Karoo's, 4 punctures, 6 bike drops and the Overberg - 1300km in 3 days

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Joined
May 19, 2019
Messages
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Location
Cape Town
Bike
KTM 950 Adventure S
After way too much riding abstinence, a bit of planning and lots of anticipation it was finally time to pack the bikes and head off on our 2 wheeled, 3 day adventure to escape "the new normal" and taste some fun and freedom again.
Me on my black-sheep-of-the-family BMW G650 XChallenge and Tiaan on his much underrated Honda (ridden like an Africa Twin) TransAlp 700.

Maybe some background 1st.  I've only been riding again properly (and even this is debatable) since May 2019 when I bought this bike - before this there was a 11 year gap back to when I had a KLR650, with another 14 year gap back to my Honda MTX50, which I rode like a typical hooligan in the Baakens Valley despite the fact that my nickname among our inner circle of friends was The Pope at the time. My current 17 month riding stint on the X was unfortunately interrupted for 3 months by a silly little 30km/h fall (I blame it on 24 years of mountain biking nature kicking in at exactly the wrong moment) which ended in a 3.5hr knee op and many months of rehab to repair some ligaments, a tibial plato fracture and torn meniscus.

I chose the X for a few reasons - I like the type of bike, it was relatively cheap and seems to tick all the boxes for me. These boxes being able to comfortably (with cycling shorts and earplugs anyway) cruise at 120-130 (with 170 being possible), being able to handle as much rough terrain as my skill will allow and not having me worry too much aesthetically when I drop it. And I do. Often it seems. The Toura tank also gives me the range I like - 450km+ between the 2 tanks. Oh, and it is quite light - about 183kg with 25L petrol and the pannier racks on. Probably the most under rated DS bike around, and for the life of anyone who owns or have owned one we cannot fathom why ze silly Germans only made about 3200 of them (might have been closer to 2600, but my memory fails me and I'm too lazy to go dig up the figures). I think on the forum someone likened some bike (might have been the T7) to a Boerperd, and the X is like that - can do anything and go almost anywhere, albeit not perfectly, without the rider worrying about a losing a horseshoe or in my case adding a few scratches to the tank.
Oh, at 1.89m tall I feel a bit like one of those wind turbines, and although that "delivery bike screen" does not scream hardcore adventure rider it does keep the wind off my head at 130km/h. And I am mostly a function before form kind of person

Tiaan, after having ridden a 900 road bike during his stint in the army many moons ago, have now been riding again for 2 years, and maybe one day someone will convince him that he cannot ride the Alp like an Africa Twin. I doubt it though. Over that baaaad section into Gamkaskloof, with it bottoming out time and again? No problem. Loose, rocky trails? Check. Riding the Amazon river in the Tankwa on his very 1st venture ever off the blacktop? Done (pic added) Thick Eselbank sand with his wife on the back? Why not? Ok, this one did end with a few broken toes for his much better half, but let's not go there now. Point is he rides that bike almost anywhere, and with the pending 21" front wheel conversion he might start thinking he is Chris Birch. Except that Tiaan probably drops his bike a bit more often as well, but luckily he is as strong as an ox and usually has no problem getting the not so much featherweight Alp right side up again.

Update - new 21" wheel is fitted, looking a lot more aggressive and awaiting its 1st ride this weekend
2nd update - Tiaan is now raving about how that wheel has totally transformed his ride, to the point where he now sommer wants to go and do the Dakar




 

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