Hi everyone. My name is Chris. 46yrs old. Live in Bloubergrand. Have recently bought myself a fully restored 1978 XT500 thumper. I notice you guys don't even have it listed in your drop down list of bikes, so I was kinda forced to choose the next closest, the XT600.
I biked for 11 years in my 20's but stopped 15 years ago due to a very bad biking accident that I was lucky to come alive out of. It has taken my a few weeks to get my confidence back again, but I'm already out there dodging the traffic during peak hours and loving my bike to bits!
My first loves are flyfishing and rock and surf angling. I have fly fished all my life since the age of 4. A by product of my flyfishing addiction is that I got into 4x4ing and embarked upon a mission over the last 15 years to explore every river from the Cape to the Orange river! As you can probably imagine, this quest has made me familiar with many out of the way places.
With rising fuel costs, I made a decision to get rid of the 4x4 and get into adventure biking. The XT500 is basically my local rock and surf fishing bike, and is already rigged with rod holders for two 14 ft rods and a carrier for my bait box. I'm stoked to get into adventure biking now, it seems almost like a natural progression to me. I can see that it wont be very long and I'll be getting myself a KTM adventurer, I love those bikes and cannot pass one without gawking! That's how I got to meet Eben (EBS) who I met for the first time today over a smoke break whilst admiring his KTM.
I am looking forward to getting to know you guys, and learning as much as possible from the offroad adventure riding gurus among you.
Best regards
Chris Shelton
