Issue 10

2 Adventure Magazine 3Adventure Magazine

Adventure Magazine

PRODUCT REVIEWS

MOTORCYCLE REVIEWS

TRIP REPORTS

INDUSTRY NEWS

Rox Pivot Handlebar Risers

Bmw Xcountry 650

Lesotho Revisited - a Tale of 3 Friends.

DCM Yamaha Secures Gutzeit for 2010AMA-SX : Double Podium resuts at Anaheim 2

For more information and sales visit www.hexdiagnostics.co.za or call +27 21 880 1433

http://www.shiftracing.co.za


Welcome to 2010Welcome to our first issue of 2010. I admit it, things have gotten out of hand and we’re a little late, but I’d rather be a little late, than not bring you the issue at all. This is our 10th issue and things have well, progressed into something of a new sort.

For starters this year, we will be concentrat-ing on bringing you more adventure and, well, more of every thing else too. We will be concentrating on routes throughout the coun-try and I urge you guys to submit them to us because every month there will be a mistery

prize for the best route. Our next venture is perhaps going into print with the magazine, we have a poll on the website (www.adventuremagazine.co.za) on the right hand side of the screen and all I ask of you is to share you opinion whether we should print or ... not?

Enjoy the issue guys, theres more later this month. Please submit your stories to [email protected]

6 Adventure Magazine

Industry News

7Adventure Magazine

LandM San Manuel Yamaha pair, Josh Hill and James Stewart, gave the new YZ450F a double podium appearance respectively at Angel Stadium, Anaheim in Los Angeles for the third round of seventeen in the AMA Supercross/FIM World SX Championship. On the second visit of three to the venue in California, Hill took his second rostrum result in as many weeks with the runner-up position behind Ryan Dungey. Reigning champion Stewart nursed a sore right hand - a consequence of his Heat race fall last week in Phoenix - to take third place and rise to fifth in the standings.

After continuous rainfall during the week on the west coast there were fears that the latest instalment of the Anaheim trilogy would be a muddy one. However some de-cent track prep and effective use of covers provided a reasonably tacky surface for the riders.

Stewart's hand seemed to bother him in practice but he was able to make the most of a bright start to lead the first quarter

of the Main Event. Team-mate Hill was not far away and powered into the lead by lap seven. Dungey was the quickest rider on the track and battled with Hill entering the final five laps. The youngster was denied his second career SX triumph but his runner-up slot, some three seconds ahead of Stewart, means that he is now second in the series. Stewart is still chasing his 38th AMA Su-percross victory after his initial success at Anaheim several weeks ago. The 24 year old is currently 22 points adrift of Dungey, and left the arena promptly after finishing the Main Event.

'I don't know if I wasn't breathing in the be-ginning or what but that pace was ridiculous and I couldn't do it for 20 laps,' remarked Hill, who lies 15 points behind Dungey. 'By the time Dungey passed me, I had nothing left. I'm pretty bummed because with James hurt, I know I have a limited time to get up there and start winning. Hopefully next week.'

Yamaha Monster Energy Motocross Team's Gautier Paulin negotiated his third and final AMA Supercross West Coast Lites outing and was able to leave LA with 6th place; his high-est finish to-date on the YZ250F as the best Yamaha rider that evening. The Frenchman, who had been schooled by AMA winner and fellow countryman David Vuillemin in the US, will now return to Europe to fully prepare for his FIM Motocross World Championship MX2-GP title assault.

Double Podium Result @ Anaheim 2

Multiple Enduro and Off Road National Champion and past Roof of Africa winner, Jade Gutzeit, has signed with the DCM Yamaha squad to campaign the South Af-rican National Off Road and Enduro Champion-ships for 2010.

Gutzeit will ride a Yamaha YZ450F in the National Off Road series, and a Yamaha YZ250F in the National Enduro series.

Said Gutzeit: “I am very excited to be back riding a Yamaha. I took my new Yamaha YZ250F out on the weekend and I can’t believe how fantastic it is. The handling is just superb! I honestly believe that this is the ultimate weapon for me to tackle the 2010 National Enduro Championship, and together with the backing and support of DCM, I have the best opportunity to chase down championship glory. Full Throttle are also backing me, and in appreciation for the commitment and faith that DCM, Yamaha and Full Throttle have put in my abilities, I intend to put their, and my, name on both championship trophies at the end of the year. I should hopefully pick up my Yamaha YZ450F from Yamaha later this week. I am really looking forward to putting this “all new” bike through its paces – that bike is just radical!!!”

Ian van der Walt, Team Manager and CEO of DCM said: We are really excited to have Jade on board. He is an unbelievable tal-ent and his multiple championships and Roof of Africa successes are testament to this. His third place, and first South African home, on a big heavy 450cc four stroke at the 2009 Roof of Africa was an absolutely amazing achievement, and I think that a lot of people stood up and took notice of that. I am very happy that in DCM Yamaha he has found the recognition for this.”

The 2010 National Off Road series kicks off with the Ermelo 400 on the 12-13 February, whilst the National Enduro series begins with the Lesotho Enduro on the 5 and 6 March.

DCM Yamaha secures Jade Gutzeit for 2010


Featured Gear

9Adventure Magazine

Now Available at

WWW.MOTOGEAR.CO.ZA

Uvex EnduroThe age for universal spacer blocks for bar risers have changed. No need for limited adjustability, no need for having your bars moving to your chest instead of up like they were suppose to be raised.

Rox Pivot Risers, the latest craze in bar risers, has a solution for nearly every mo-torcycle out there. They cater for raises up to 10 inches. This is particularly very helpful for cruisers or touring bikes when you want to raise the bars to take the strain off your wrists. It also makes riding technical terrain a

breeze, lowering the center of gravity of the motorcycle, giving the rider more confi-dence when approaching obstacles.

The risers adjust via allen bolts that clamp on to the existing handlebar clamps. They sit flush and installing them takes a mere 5 minutes, maybe 10 if you are struggling to get the existing nuts loose.

You can then adjust them to your riding preference, forward or backward makes no difference. Our model we tested was a 2 inch lift and I can tell you that its higher than my original 2.5 universal lift. My riding posi-tion has been adjusted to a more on top of the bars instead of slightly back as per the old risers, making my riding position more comfortable standing up. They are available at ADVRIDER in Northgate Island and retail for around R800-00, money well spent. Call them on 021 5111007.

Rox Pivot Handlebar Risers


Extra-

Urban Warrior


New Rides

13Adventure Magazine

to safe angles before you get to the edge of perceived traction; kind of like traction control although the X-Country comes with a governor to leaning angles.

On gravel the bike is superbly comfortable. Marzocchi front suspension eating even deep ruts. Only a handful of spots I felt the bike losing its forward motion due to the shudder, which was solved with a twist of the throttle. The bike is very well behaved; power comes on predictably but strong.

Gravel corners were exciting as the chain driven X-Country is eager to get its tail wagging. I had very controlled power slides, and even on banked straights I could get the bike to go sideways whilst in full con-trol. The build of the bike was bothersome to some extent. Just as one starts to enjoy the playfulness, one is confronted with the wide body of the motorcycle. The seat edges caught me at the knees, and the foot pegs were too close together. You want to push farther but the bike just gets in the way.

Fuel consumption for the 250-odd kilo-metres was excellent, although this was attributed to travelling on the slow side. I calculated an average of about 20km/litre and even 30km/litre, the latter was a slow cruise on the open road at constant speeds. What is disappointing from a touring per-spective is the 9.5 litre fuel tank located under the seat. This off-course can be over-come with the use of a jerry can as many

a traveller employs. It should achieve an average range of 180km if you ride casually, and want to stay on the safe-side of range.

Searching the World Wide Wonder yielded quite an assortment of accessories to stick onto your X-Country, ranging from screens, bash plate and a luggage rack; OEM mind you, and Touratech makes pannier racks amongst other things.

In town the bike is very well behaved and stable. Idling forward in traffic and around parking lots proved a synch, and the X-Country climbs curbs like a rock crawler. With the addition of a top box or seat bag, the X-Country will be a great urban warrior, and seeing as BMW has placed it in the urban category, seems they succeeded superbly.

What became very apparent towards the end of the ride, was that the G650X-Country seemed a fun, easy to ride, easy to get hold of bike. The bike is very capable but it has an apparent design governor. The power is smooth and not grabby; the suspension is soft but sure-footed, but lacking life;

On an outride the other day, heading for the Seven Passes near George, my bike gave me some trouble and I was left with the opportunity to ride the BMW G650X-Country.

“The most versatile member of BMW Mo-torrad’s fresh new G series line up, the G 650 X-Country is the classic scrambler concept topped off with a few modern features unique to BMW, like a zippy 53 hp single cylinder engine, and a high perfor-mance lightweight design.” Those are the words from the BMW website. My first im-pressions when I sat my boney bum on the bike, was that it felt light and short. With its 100/90S 19 inch front and 130/80S 17 inch rear TKC80’s, the bike looks and feels chunky, kinda like “Thing” from the cartoon superhero series Fantastic 4.

BMW added a little step in the seat, and the seat is particularly wide, although disap-pointingly flat. It becomes apparent how little one sees of the front wheel given that the headlight assembly is traditional, even the front fender stays out of view. The con-trols are common to other bikes with the X-Country sporting a traditional indicator switch, which I found to get stuck to either side of the switch movement. Although the sticking switch wasn’t annoying, it did leave me a bit disappointed at the per-ceived quality of design.

The 39kw 650cc powerplant has ample power as I tested on the highway in top gear at 120kph; accelerating effortlessly to 140kph where a slight wobble was no-ticeable, which was confirmed a few times during the day. However, this wobble is possibly due to the tires and wheel bal-ance; not the bike itself.

In the twisty bits the X-Country acceler-ates with spunk and closing the throttle did provide good deceleration control, with some exciting popping from the exhaust. The brakes were, in my experience, very grabby, even with ABS enabled it felt as though a stoppy was on the cards. After half the day and 4 passes, the front was still something to get used to but the en-gine braking and rear brakes were more than sufficient.

Although the X-country was fun in the twisties, the bike did feel limited; it leaned slowly and felt a bit dead when thrown side to side. There is a distinct feeling of being held back by the bike compared to my DR650SE. The bike allows you to lean


New Rides


LikesPowerComfort from the suspensionFinishPackage

DislikesPerformance limiter by designQuality of some bits(8000km and there is rust on the front axle)Bike is to wide, or footpegs to close to frame for standingSeat flatness

Technical SpecificationsEngine 650ccWheels 19inch front, 17 inch rear, SpokedBrakes Single disc front and rear, BremdoSuspension front Marzocchi USD 45mm Dia forks, 240mm travelSuspension rear Sachs Spring-preload and rebound damping manually adjustable, 210mm travelDrive Chain, O-ringFuel tank 9.5 liters usable; 3.7liters reserveFuel type UnleadedStarter ElectricSeat height 870mm unladenFuel consumption at 90km/h 3.4lFuel consumption at 120km/h 4.8l

the bike grew docile in a very short time. This can be a good thing if you are a new rider, and it’s a great attribute if you want to ride around just about anywhere slowly, but the feeling of riding a TW200 could not be erased.

Please don’t be put off by this remark. The TW200 is a wonderful bike and a great tour-er as many can attest, and the perfect bike for learning and plodding around town and hilly farm, but it is still a TW200. And that is what I felt at the end for the G650X-Country.

The X-Country is a great bike but it is a bike that feels docile very quickly. BMW nailed the concept of urban scrambler, but it is just that, an urban scrambler. Yes you can take it off road. Yes you can tour with it; but it is still an urban scrambler. It doesn’t provide you with the thrills after you have gotten to know the bike; a great trainer that is easy to ride; the X-Country will do everything well, well within the safe zone.

ConclusionThe BMW G650X-Country is a solid motor-cycle with great features and wonderful attributes. It rides easily with heaps of

power. The wide seat is comfortable in its width but not in its plushness, reverberating a lot of vibration to your gluteus maximus. The bike handles well, and will get many a new rider to the level of confidence to lean into corners, but that is where it all ends for the X-Country. Once at home on the bike, it provides little in terms of riding satisfac-tion. One has to push it to have fun, and even then, the bike holds you back. I would assume that is part of what makes this a popular ride in some circles. Maybe if taken on a multi-day trip with some good technical bits one will discover the true essence of the machine.


www.motogear.co.za


Ride Report


Lesotho

Revisited


Ride Report


from a crack.However, Michiel seems to be the only one that has not yet fallen over, but he must be at least 50kg lighter than myself and is pumped so full of adrenaline that falling is not even an option anymore. I am just too tired to be scared of my next fall at this stage and am just following the other two like a zombie. Lesotho is a place that will leave you stunned, battered and bruised but at the same time it will also leave you awestruck. This unbelievable expanse of mountains just keeps on going for kilome-tre after kilometre. We have been planning for this trip for

more than half a year and now finally we are here testing our preparation and skill. One of the most important parts of preparing for this trip was to find and ride similar terrain for practise but also to make sure the bikes will be able to withstand this kind of riding conditions. The only rides that we could find that would closely resemble Lesotho were some private 4x4 tracks like the Helder-berg 4x4 route, Matroosberg and others in Elands Valley and Hexriver.Here we learned to drop bikes, pick them back up and to get them going again on steep and slippery slopes. Our bash plates were tested to the point of leaking and splitting but they held up, as never did the contents of the engine sump end up on the ground, rendering a bike un-ride able.

We entered Lesotho at Ramatsiliso’s gate, Rama’s for short. The washed away 50 yards of road between the South African and Lesotho border posts was already giving away what type of roads were laying ahead.Once on the Lesotho side, we wasted no time as we headed off southeast to the St Francis missionary where we were plan-ning to take a route north to Sehonghong, taking us across some pretty big moun-tains. Although a route is shown on older maps, we could find little info about its current condition except that the Chinese have been refurbishing the first section.It was just after twelve as we passed

Excited and with fear welling up in his throat, Michiel is looking across the big ravine at the little more than a track rising steeply from the riverbed all the way to the top of the mountain cliffs. He has just descended down some hair-raising tracks, mostly used by donkeys and people on foot, but he knows this is as far as he can go. His travelling partner, John, has cracked up and has made some serious threats regarding the validity of their friendship. Michiel had to accept defeat and turning around was inevitable especially after a 4x4 group that just came through and informed them that they would not make it up the other side on the big KLR’s they were travelling on.

It is exactly one year later after that trip and on this trip; Michiel had stopped, waiting for Stefan and myself to catch up. As we pulled up he pointed to the rugged piece of faded road on the opposite side of the ravine. “This is as far as I got last time”, he informed us “and over there is the road we will tackle tomorrow”. Without hesitation he continues to drop down the steepest section of road. I went last and halfway down the locked up back brake caused the bike to start skidding sideways. I lost control and the bike ended up on the left crash bar, sliding down on its side with me still on top for another two meters. I am exhausted and finding it hard to con-centrate as we have been on the road from 9 this morning and the last couple of hours have been spent travelling roads accessible

only with 4x4 vehicles, naturally demanding the utmost concentration. I feel the urge to throw of my kit and to lie down for a short while, but the other two are pushing ahead as we are losing light fast and we still had a fair distance of slip sliding and crashing to cover before we would get to the river and our camping place for the night.

By this time, I have already made it clear to the others that I believe this is insanity and that we are taking unnecessary risks pushing on at this late hour of the day. Already Stefan has had a number of hard falls, losing both mirrors, and I was close on his heels with the number of falls. Oil is starting to drip down the left valve cover


Ride Report


before this trip sees its end.

Now I need to first explain something about falling, or shall I rather say dropping the bike. I have been riding dirt roads for more than a decade and have covered many thousands of kilometres. Dropping my bike was just never acceptable. I learned to pick the spot where I want to stop long before getting there to make sure it is level and I won’t put my foot into a hole or near any slippery stuff, potentially causing me to loose my foothold. I always made sure my speed was appropriate for the road condi-tions and falling was just something I never did.Since the plan was to go ride the impossible road of Michiels in Lesotho, this suddenly changed. I found myself riding places meant only for 4x4 vehicles and scramblers. The type of routes that would get the adrenaline flowing and make your heart beat at the top of your throat. Loosing control at one time or the other is just inevitable when road conditions have been eroded to the point where loose rocks and steep slopes can send your bike in a direction you did not plan. Being able to choose your line and planning long in advance, but being able to make last second adjustments when the back steps out to the side rendering all your plans useless, is the only way to survive. Besides the incredible remoteness, leaving one very vulnerable in case of an emer-gency when in Lesotho, one other difference

from our practice on 4x4 routes was that our bikes were not loaded with luggage, camera gear and full tanks of fuel back then. Each rider can easily carry the addition of nearly 50kg of extra weight on his bike. Sling a bag of cement over the pillion seat and see what that does for the handling of your bike when the going gets a bit tough. Yes, we did a fair amount of falling over on this trip but it surely was not because of a lack of skill or rider ability, but rather because heavy bikes like this is not suit-able for riding in this kind of conditions. Smaller bikes will, in turn, not allow us to carry all our gear giving us the freedom to camp anywhere and fuel range is always a problem.So here we are starting to fall and that is just a sure sign that the going is starting to get tough.

We crossed another incredible mountain pass still under construction and stopped

a field with a man working the soil with a primitive instrument all on his own. I really wanted to stop for some photographs but the other two were in front and being almost mid day the light was not suitable for photography.

Little did I know it at the time but I was going to pass by here again after 5 in the afternoon to get my picture.After the turnoff to Sehonghong it became clear that even though the Chinese have beat us to this road it was most likely not ride able otherwise. A new bridge was con-structed but I chose cross over the hanging bridge with Stefan following close behind me and opted for the newly built Chinese bridge.The road on the other side was made up of a

number of incredibly steep switchbacks and has short sections of cement slabs. Although the road surface was compact and smooth it was covered with fine loose gravel, making it very tricky on the switchbacks as the backend tends to want to breakout from underneath. After I got through the last switchback I looked back to check on Stefan but he was nowhere to be seen so I turned back to find him next to his bike right in the middle of the last switch-back. This one was particularly nasty with fist-size loose rocks covering the entire road surface. This is where the twitchy throttle of the F800GS does not help, as smooth acceleration is needed to safely get through sections like these. No harm was done to bike and rider, just the usual off of which we were about to have plenty of


Ride Report


stroke our own egos making us feel a little more human. Now that this is turning against us in the form of constant begging and even some stone throwing, we are complaining and becoming less humane, showing our ag-gressive side in defence.

The Basotho have the secret for the solu-tion to global warming, economic collapse, pollution and environmental pressures through over consumption of resources. They have a simple, clean, healthy, subsistence lifestyle in one of the most spectacular places on the planet.

We pushed on and it became apparent that there has not being vehicles down this road in a long time. There had been some work done on the road but it is clear that the work was abandoned long before finishing. The road surface was rough with loose rocks everywhere. We could manage so we pushed ahead only to round a bend about 5km down and arrived at a road full of boulders. The Chinese blew the road to bits and on the opposite side of the ravine one can see the pony track continuing with absolutely no chance of getting through or around. Suddenly it dawned on me what the old Ba-sotho was trying to explain when he kept on pointing to his shoes when we were asking for directions to Sehonghong earlier… using your feet is the only way. We are going to have to do Lesotho the long way round. Sehonghong is less than 10km along the road we were following, turning around will take us nearly a full day of riding to bring us to the same place.

It was getting late and the warm sunlight was catching the hillsides as we are making

at a village that must have been cut of from the rest of the world by car for many years. The reality is that roads like the one being built change very little for the people living here. They still can’t afford cars, phones, TV’s and all the usual consumer junk we have grown so accustomed to, to the point that we are certain we will not be able to survive life without it.The thing that impressed me the most about the Basotho is that they would still prefer to walk over steep and rocky mountain ridges across their traditional routes than follow the relatively easy Chinese built roads. They transport their goods across these routes using donkeys that will carry anything from a bag of mealie meal to a crate of beer. Life in these remote villages is very simple with no cell phone or TV reception. Houses are built in traditional ways with stone-walls and thatch roofs. The only modern influences are glass windows and wooden doorframes.One thing that sets the Basotho apart from the rest of Africa is the cleanliness of their villages, nowhere is there any pollution. No plastic bags, empty cans or discarded products. This can only be because they do not consume as many products, products that leave a trail of discarded brand named wrappings and containers. I do not understand why the problem of pollution is always just seen as a consumer one and why these companies who are manufacturing and producing this stuff, making millions from it, is never held liable

for any of it especially since they love to brand all the wrappings, making it easy to see whose products are being discarded.

We are ready to leave the village as Michiel handed a bag of sweets to one of the adults after which a whole sweet dispensing ceremony ensued. It suddenly dawned on me that we came here and with all the insecurities provided us by our empty and fruitless consumer lifestyle in the big city, making us feel so guilty that we have so much and these people have so little that we feel inclined to want to give something as insignificant as a bag of sweets only so that we can at least


Ride Report


our way back to Rama’s gate. I stopped at the Basotho as he is still busy tilling his field with a rustic hand implement. Backlit, wasps of dust drifts of as the sharp blade cuts into the soil and young corn plants are highlighted against the long shadows cast by the setting sun.Further up the road, I found the other two waiting anxiously for me, daylight is running out and we have nowhere to stay. We spend a tense few moments at Ramats-iliso, deciding what to do and trying to get permission to camp at the border control post.Permission was granted and our safety was guaranteed but the facilities had much to be desired so we decided to follow the road and to camp at a quiet spot next to the road.A short distance and we found ourselves in open countryside with no one for miles around. We decided to ride to the top of a hill and make camp. What a spectacular camp this would turn out to be. We could see for miles around in all directions. The mountains were etched against the horizon, majestically pointing skyward, as they are dappled in reds and purples by the setting sun...

To continue following our adventure, keep an eye out for Part 2 in the next issue of Adventure Magazine.

Issue 10

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Transcript of Issue 10