A little bit of background to put this into perspective. At the time this ride took place (Dec 2007) I had -- just turned 50 -- and been riding bikes for 35+ years. I had an XS1100 Yamaha (1980) -- still have it -- and similarly-aged GS1100 Suzuki. What can I say, I like big bikes!
I am not a little guy, I tip the scales at over 110kg.
I am an author and former journalist by profession and have written a couple of books that turned out to be best-sellers, the best known of which is "Days of the Generals - the story of South Africa's Apartheid-era generals."
If you're interested you can do a Google search on me or check out writing examples and additional background on my blog, www.thewhiteou.blogspot.com
Okay, so that's the background so you can understand the context.
I'm not sure how to post pictures -- I'm a newby -- but trip images can be viewed at https://www.flickr.com/photos/25065428@N07/
Scroll past the Cape Gun pics.
For a long time I have been planning a trip on a motorcycle that covers the circumference of the country. The idea was to visit places and people I wrote about during my career as a journalist and then to put the material together in the form of a book. I wanted to, for example, call in on the Denyschens and van Ecks on the Limpopo River who had the first landmines planted in South Africa laid on the roads to their farms. I wanted to look up the guy who built an atomic fall-out shelter just outside Messina and to eat and sleep in remote villages.
I suppose I was trying to find the "real" South Africa that I'd so enjoyed in the 70s and 80s.
But I wanted to do it differently -- on a bike that anyone could afford so that it wouldn't be the normal GS1200-with-heated-grips trip. (Not that I have anything against that bike or its riders. If you can afford it more power to you.)
After plenty of investigation I decided the best bike for the purpose was a Vuka XL110 a Chinese copy of the C-series Hondas. Total price, including VAT, R5995.00!
The trip would have to be broken up into a number of smaller legs -- I have to earn a living and can't afford to be away for a number of months. (At least that was the case at the time -- now I'm effectively gainfully unemployed so time is the one commodity I have in abundance.)
My 23 year-old (at the time) son decided he would also buy a Vuka that he could use for a 100km round-trip daily commute into the centre of Johannesburg and would join me for the first stage of the journey.
We planned to travel from Randfontein -- hey someone has to live there! -- to Beit Bridge, turn left and run along the sisal road and then along the Botswana border until we once again turned left and made our way home.
At the beginning of December we set out, loaded to the gills. We carried camping equipment, sleeping bags, clothes, some spares and five litres of spare fuel each. When I look at the pictures, we looked as though we were setting off on an around the world trip -- something that is in fact percolating in the back of my mind.
Okay,let me cut to the chase. I won't go into the specifics of the trip unless you're interested in hearing about it.
We travelled through both searing heat and driving rain. Both bikes were run at full throttle all of the time and only stopped when they ran out of fuel. Then they were refueled and run again.
Long story short, the trip ended when I came off on a dirt road near Alldays. The bike survived the tumble a lot better than I did -- top box broken and a bent foot-rest which was bashed into shape with an axe that was part of our equipment.
I didn't do quite so well. I seriously injured my left shoulder. There was nothing else we could do but ride back the way we had come. We were in the middle of nowhere with no possibility of help. I couldn't even lift my arm so after I had swallowed about six Grandpa headache powders, my son literally duct-taped my left hand to the handlebars -- boy was I glad there was no clutch -- and we set off on a nightmare trip of around 800 km.
The bottom line of this tale is that the Vukas never missed a beat. We rode them at the limit for three days, covering around 1500km and never gave any thought to babying them. They proved to be bullet-proof.
I didn't keep a record of all the fuel used or the consumption achieved -- in the end all I wanted to do was get home and get to a doctor. At that stage the last thing I felt like doing was filling in a fuel logbook.
However in covering 1149km I used 29,5 litres for a consumption of 43,34km/l or 122.25 mpg for any overseas readers.
Chains were adjusted and lubed at the end of the first day and the backlight on one of the bikes fused.
Fully-laden, tank range was between 130 and 135km. Top speed (on a long downhill near Vaalwater) was a shade under 95km/h but I must admit, loaded as it was the bike was then unstable.
On flats, without a head-wind, we were able to maintain around 80km/h. Sometimes speeds dropped as low as 50km/h when riding uphill or into a strong headwind.
Because cargo was tied to the back seat, behind the driver and in front of the top-box, it had to be unpacked and then re-secured every time the tank was filled. That quickly became a major irritation.
The lack of speed and power on busy roads means you have to ride more like you're riding a bicycle than a motorcycle. The truth is, you're the bottom of the food chain and invariably motorists treat you as such.
However, if you are prepared to accept and adapt -- and take your time -- a small bike like the XL110 offers many advantages.
It's almost free to run. It's as simple as hell to work on. It's so lightweight that it can pretty well be carried over any obstacle you may encounter. If you need help it's easily loaded onto a bakkie and you can even carry it into your room at night if you want to -- something that could be important in some areas.
Lost South Africa[/b]]Lost South Africa
My intention was, and still is, to find the real essence of South Africa and to write the book. Not the South Africa found in the large cities but rather to link up with people who are "salt of the earth". In a way, the ongoing trip is all about rediscovering the South Africa I encountered during my travels as a journalist.
I planned to stop at the typical "Grand", "Royal" or "Central" hotels you once found in every town and to talk to the "manne" and pick up stories from there.
But, if the truth be told, in the Northern Transvaal anyway, that South Africa no longer exists. The "Centrals" or "Grands" of the past are now Lubners or Nandos and the local (white) manne have abandoned the towns and retreated into their own private venues.
In that region there are no local pubs left -- at least not those at which I would want to sit and drink. There are plenty of bars, make no mistake, but they are all located in private game lodges to which the motorcycle traveller with no pre-booking has no access. In fact a local tour guide told me that within an 80km radius of Vaalwater there are 500 private game lodges!
There is also nowhere left to camp in that area. It's simply not safe so it's pretty much B&Bs which sort of negates the concept of cheap scooter travel.
I tend to think what I encountered in the Northern Transvaal is pretty much going to be the way the rest of South Africa will go. But maybe that in itsef is the story and Namibia on a scoot is looking more attractive all the time.
But the story does not end there. When I got home I parked the bike and did not touch it for about three months. Finally I figured I'd better start the darn thing. I mentally prepared myself to bump-start it but wouldn't you know it, it started on the first kick.
Try that with your modern (or old for that matter) superbike!
The dream lives on. In a way as a White Ou, one of South Africa's most endangered species, it's been forced upon me. My bakkie was stolen about six weeks ago and I decided not to do the sensible thing and went ahead and bought a bike (Suzuki DR600) and no replacement car. Coupled to the fact that work, right now, is virtally non-existent, I figure I may as well go bankrupt on the road and at least put another book together.
If I can sort the cash out I plan to light up Doctor Thump and aim at distant horisons towards the end of July.
I am not a little guy, I tip the scales at over 110kg.
I am an author and former journalist by profession and have written a couple of books that turned out to be best-sellers, the best known of which is "Days of the Generals - the story of South Africa's Apartheid-era generals."
If you're interested you can do a Google search on me or check out writing examples and additional background on my blog, www.thewhiteou.blogspot.com
Okay, so that's the background so you can understand the context.
I'm not sure how to post pictures -- I'm a newby -- but trip images can be viewed at https://www.flickr.com/photos/25065428@N07/
Scroll past the Cape Gun pics.
For a long time I have been planning a trip on a motorcycle that covers the circumference of the country. The idea was to visit places and people I wrote about during my career as a journalist and then to put the material together in the form of a book. I wanted to, for example, call in on the Denyschens and van Ecks on the Limpopo River who had the first landmines planted in South Africa laid on the roads to their farms. I wanted to look up the guy who built an atomic fall-out shelter just outside Messina and to eat and sleep in remote villages.
I suppose I was trying to find the "real" South Africa that I'd so enjoyed in the 70s and 80s.
But I wanted to do it differently -- on a bike that anyone could afford so that it wouldn't be the normal GS1200-with-heated-grips trip. (Not that I have anything against that bike or its riders. If you can afford it more power to you.)
After plenty of investigation I decided the best bike for the purpose was a Vuka XL110 a Chinese copy of the C-series Hondas. Total price, including VAT, R5995.00!
Smaller legs
The trip would have to be broken up into a number of smaller legs -- I have to earn a living and can't afford to be away for a number of months. (At least that was the case at the time -- now I'm effectively gainfully unemployed so time is the one commodity I have in abundance.)
My 23 year-old (at the time) son decided he would also buy a Vuka that he could use for a 100km round-trip daily commute into the centre of Johannesburg and would join me for the first stage of the journey.
We planned to travel from Randfontein -- hey someone has to live there! -- to Beit Bridge, turn left and run along the sisal road and then along the Botswana border until we once again turned left and made our way home.
At the beginning of December we set out, loaded to the gills. We carried camping equipment, sleeping bags, clothes, some spares and five litres of spare fuel each. When I look at the pictures, we looked as though we were setting off on an around the world trip -- something that is in fact percolating in the back of my mind.
Okay,let me cut to the chase. I won't go into the specifics of the trip unless you're interested in hearing about it.
We travelled through both searing heat and driving rain. Both bikes were run at full throttle all of the time and only stopped when they ran out of fuel. Then they were refueled and run again.
Tumble
Long story short, the trip ended when I came off on a dirt road near Alldays. The bike survived the tumble a lot better than I did -- top box broken and a bent foot-rest which was bashed into shape with an axe that was part of our equipment.
I didn't do quite so well. I seriously injured my left shoulder. There was nothing else we could do but ride back the way we had come. We were in the middle of nowhere with no possibility of help. I couldn't even lift my arm so after I had swallowed about six Grandpa headache powders, my son literally duct-taped my left hand to the handlebars -- boy was I glad there was no clutch -- and we set off on a nightmare trip of around 800 km.
The bottom line of this tale is that the Vukas never missed a beat. We rode them at the limit for three days, covering around 1500km and never gave any thought to babying them. They proved to be bullet-proof.
I didn't keep a record of all the fuel used or the consumption achieved -- in the end all I wanted to do was get home and get to a doctor. At that stage the last thing I felt like doing was filling in a fuel logbook.
However in covering 1149km I used 29,5 litres for a consumption of 43,34km/l or 122.25 mpg for any overseas readers.
Chains were adjusted and lubed at the end of the first day and the backlight on one of the bikes fused.
Fully-laden, tank range was between 130 and 135km. Top speed (on a long downhill near Vaalwater) was a shade under 95km/h but I must admit, loaded as it was the bike was then unstable.
On flats, without a head-wind, we were able to maintain around 80km/h. Sometimes speeds dropped as low as 50km/h when riding uphill or into a strong headwind.
Because cargo was tied to the back seat, behind the driver and in front of the top-box, it had to be unpacked and then re-secured every time the tank was filled. That quickly became a major irritation.
The lack of speed and power on busy roads means you have to ride more like you're riding a bicycle than a motorcycle. The truth is, you're the bottom of the food chain and invariably motorists treat you as such.
However, if you are prepared to accept and adapt -- and take your time -- a small bike like the XL110 offers many advantages.
It's almost free to run. It's as simple as hell to work on. It's so lightweight that it can pretty well be carried over any obstacle you may encounter. If you need help it's easily loaded onto a bakkie and you can even carry it into your room at night if you want to -- something that could be important in some areas.
Lost South Africa[/b]]Lost South Africa
My intention was, and still is, to find the real essence of South Africa and to write the book. Not the South Africa found in the large cities but rather to link up with people who are "salt of the earth". In a way, the ongoing trip is all about rediscovering the South Africa I encountered during my travels as a journalist.
I planned to stop at the typical "Grand", "Royal" or "Central" hotels you once found in every town and to talk to the "manne" and pick up stories from there.
But, if the truth be told, in the Northern Transvaal anyway, that South Africa no longer exists. The "Centrals" or "Grands" of the past are now Lubners or Nandos and the local (white) manne have abandoned the towns and retreated into their own private venues.
In that region there are no local pubs left -- at least not those at which I would want to sit and drink. There are plenty of bars, make no mistake, but they are all located in private game lodges to which the motorcycle traveller with no pre-booking has no access. In fact a local tour guide told me that within an 80km radius of Vaalwater there are 500 private game lodges!
There is also nowhere left to camp in that area. It's simply not safe so it's pretty much B&Bs which sort of negates the concept of cheap scooter travel.
I tend to think what I encountered in the Northern Transvaal is pretty much going to be the way the rest of South Africa will go. But maybe that in itsef is the story and Namibia on a scoot is looking more attractive all the time.
But the story does not end there. When I got home I parked the bike and did not touch it for about three months. Finally I figured I'd better start the darn thing. I mentally prepared myself to bump-start it but wouldn't you know it, it started on the first kick.
Try that with your modern (or old for that matter) superbike!
The dream lives on. In a way as a White Ou, one of South Africa's most endangered species, it's been forced upon me. My bakkie was stolen about six weeks ago and I decided not to do the sensible thing and went ahead and bought a bike (Suzuki DR600) and no replacement car. Coupled to the fact that work, right now, is virtally non-existent, I figure I may as well go bankrupt on the road and at least put another book together.
If I can sort the cash out I plan to light up Doctor Thump and aim at distant horisons towards the end of July.
