A DRZ400, 500D and 5 days of riding

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g1_

Race Dog
Joined
May 8, 2010
Messages
670
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0
Location
East London
Bike
Honda XR125L
It seems like these days every road trip I'm involved with has some kind of mechanical issues. A couple of weeks before this trip I did a trip with a friend to fetch some stuff from his mother's place in Hiedelberg. We started the trip with a 5 speed bakkie and ended with a 4 speed bakkie and 2 neutrals.

As a result it seemed like a good idea to get the breakdown over and done with at the beginning of the trip. The day before the bike was in for a service while's I was at work, and I suspected that they might have over filled the oil. After checking a few things I was still struggling to get it started, however after a phone call the garage collected the bike and sorted it out. The bike seems to running a little rich and the spark plug was fouled.

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It was now about 12:00 in the afternoon I was considering setting off the next day instead. This has the added bonus that I could gate crash a trip to Macassar. However in the end I decided just to get on the road and set off for Franschoek.

At Franschoek I popped into a chocolate shop and stopped for some petrol. The range on a DRZ is not really suited to touring. I get about 130km - 150km before reserve so I was conscious of my limited range. I bought along an extra 5l encase I needed it.

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After Franschoek I did various dirt roads to Montegu, which was my stop for the night. It was quite wet, so the dirt roads where slippery. Got in just as it was getting dark.

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The next morning after checking out the hot springs in Montegu I checked out my route. Looking like a great day, almost exclusively dirt route ending in Oudtshoorn. I had the whole day and it was dryer than the previous day.

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The bike was running great, filling me with confidence, even in some pretty muddy sections. Great for powerslides. Also got some air at one of two points. Almost dropped it when the bike went sideways after I managed to get the front wheel out of a rut but the back didn't follow on one of the passes. Also had to get through a quite badly flooded road. Little bit dodgy as you couldn't see how deep the water was. I road in and it was deeped than expected and really muddy at the bottom. Just gave it horns and luckly came out the other side unscathed.

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I was on the way to Rooiberg pass when I saw some signs for food and drinks at Rooiberg Lodge. I had missed lunch so I took the road. Great little road on the way in.
As I got close to the lodge I couldn't shake the feeling that the place looked familiar. Parked the bike and meet the couple that run the place. Had an awesome lunch and started chatting to the couple. Eventually with their help I figured out why it looked familiar. It was the venue for the Cape Adventure Challenge that I had seen pictures of on WD. In the end I decided that Rooiberg lodge would be a much better stop off point for the night that Oudtshoorn.

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Did a little hike up the hill to get some photos.

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The next morning I joined the owners for breakfast. They told me all kinds of stories about the lodge and the restaurant they ran in Belgium before. They were also supprised that I hadn't seen the giraffes on the way in to the lodge. When I left that morning I was on the look out.

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They also mentioned that they had an airstrip at the lodge. My Dad has his PPL so I thought I had better go find it for him. Just outside the lodge I came round a corner and gave it a bit of power to get the tail out. The tail did come out and stayed out, ended up sliding through 270 degrees and twisted my knee. Serves my right for trying to do mx style turns rather than standing.

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The plan had been to end that day in Die Hel. But after hurting my knee I was feeling a little less adventerous. I finished up the rest or Rooiberg pass a little worried that I had torn something in my knee.

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At which point I decided not to chance it and headed to Oudtshorn and get it checked out. Nievely not expecting that to take all day. I decided to call it a day after that. I joined up with my family in Victoria Bay for some holiday time.


Part of the holiday was to do a day trip on the bike with my Dad. He had predominately ridden road bikes in his younger years and never ridden dirt. He rented a bike in George and we did a nice little route starting with the 7 passes, then prince alfred, a little bit of tar and then montegu pass. Was lekka to ride with my Dad. Took it very easy because of my knee and the fact they my Dad hadn't ridden gravel before.

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I returned to Cape Town a few days later via the N2 which wasn't that great on a DRZ.
Overall had a great trip though. Was all very much imprompu as I didn't really get a chance to plan it properly with work being soo busy.

So there you have it. The little DRZ can do a some touring as well the hooligan stuff :)
 
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