[ghisallolite]

Hi all, I live in Strand, Western Cape. The roads in WC is just amazing!!! Four major mountain passes in one breakfast ride ;-)

You guys from Cape Town, have you ever got together for a ride / trip? I notice quite a few Blades down here in WC, lets meet for a ride.

[Gerhardus501]

Hi ghisallolite

It is very nice to here that the WC is such a wonderful place, I however will have to settle for Gauteng and environment. Hope you will have the best rides ever and that you meet a lot of friends to ride with.

Go well and remember, real men serve Jesus!

[marius]

Hi there from sunny south africa

well i must admit i also stay in gangster paradise.i was i cape around june you have the best roads.so enjouy your roads and hope you find guys here

[ghisallolite]

HI Gerhardus501 & marius,

thx for the replies. I do enjoy the roads down here in WC a lot. Unfortunately one of my riding buddies managed to write-off two GSX1000's (K3 & K5) in three months. Now the insurance co.'s don't want to provide insurance any more.

I find the Blade more stable on public roads and much easier to ride fast on 'normal' roads. This helps, especially if the scenery around the coastal roads are so breath taking. That being said I do prefer the quieter winding country roads. You can easily empty 1 or 2 fual tanks on these back roads ;-)

How's the ridinging in Gauteng? I visit GP quiete often on buss. and find the traffic 'choking'. I do how ever appreciate the local gov.'s efforts to make motorists aware of bikes with the huge electronic info boards (N1). Where do you guys go for your ride-outs?

I am contemplating more track time to explore the capabilities of the Blade and myself.


Cheers,

PS. all the gear all the time ;-)

[Gerhardus501]

Hi ghisallolite

I have just been so Mpumalanga and rode from Pretoria to Tzaneen to Graskop to Sabie to Nelspruit to Haziview to Graskop to Pilgrim's Rest to Lydenburg to Sabie to Nelspruit and back to Pretoria. On Saturday alone I did 370 Kms in the mountains with the best twisties known to us down here. This I will recommend to everybody and the environment is so beautiful and green with all the rain that we recently got and still getting.

You must come and visit, it is a must for all bikers!

Ride safely

[ghisallolite]

Hi Gerhardus501,
I've been to Blyderivierspoort and Pilgrim's Rest last year, unfortunately without my bike, but I did notice the fine riding opportunities you guys have there. I told myself that I must add this area to my 'to ride' list rather sooner than later. Long Tom Pass is also in that area? Would you say that a sports tourer would be a better bike or a superbike? I base my question on the assumption that the roads are quite bumpy and a superbike would be too nervous around those twisties?

While contemplating new year's resolutions, I think one should definately be to do a tour up to MP via GP to include all the best twisties and mountain passes in MP. Maybe 7 to 14 days of touring from and to CTN and playing in the mountains. Can you recommend a few worthwhile stops and accommodation in the area?

[pitstop]

All the way from the West Rand.

Gerhardus501 - you have my vote. I hardly miss the Paradise rally and also spend a least a week per year in ET just to go riding. Spent the week between Xmas and new year in the lowveld. Did 1700km in 4 days just doing the loops between Blydepoort, graskop, sabie, pelgrims, lydenburg (long tom), wit rivier, hazyview etc etc.

Stunning place for biking

[Gerhardus501]

Yes wonderful, good to hear from you pitstop.

We can meet perhaps in Graskop with the Paradise rally?

You are absolutely right, a stunning place for biking indeed!

[Gerhardus501]

Hi ghisallolite,
Yes Long Tom Pass is in the area. From Lydenburg you take the road strait to Sabie and just outside Lydenburg Long Tom Pass starts. One awesome Pass to ride!

Both sports tourer and superbike would be nice, I rode the VFR800 and enjoyed it so much but then I got the 2005 CBR1000RR Repsol and it is perhaps even better and nicer with the superbike. There is definitely bad spots but quit noticeable and anyone in the vicinity would recommend the best routes around there. Most roads there is not bumpy and a paradise for any superbike.

I promise to come back to you with a list of places for accommodation shortly and sorry for the late reply.

[pitstop]

Just be careful on Long Tom. If is a lovely pass for touring, but not for setting speed records - that pass is the number one killer in the lowveld. The minute you get complacent on that pass it will kill you.

[Gerhardus501]

pitstop & ghisallolite

Again I went and tour the lowveld over the past weekend (25 to 27 Jan 08), and yes alone again.

I couldn't wait to reach Long Tom only to find that they are busy re-tarring the surface, wonderful for future rides.

pitstop, you are right that the minute you get complacent it will (may) kill you. I have on numerous times been through the whole place: this time I did Pretoria - Long Tom - Sabie - Graskop - Haziview - Nelspruit - Sabie -Haziview - Graskop - Sabie - Nelspruit - Sabie - Pilgims Rest - Pretoria and must say that there are numerous places that complacency will kill you. Do not ride beyond your limit, sadly most of us do and that is the reason for the many fatalities.

I did a total of 1204.5 km over the weekend and no rain, can you believe it, mostly overcast the whole weekend.

The next trip will be to Tzaneen and surroundings.

Later then,

Gerhard

[pitstop]

I did over 11000km this weekend (but not on a bike - I flew back from Orlando)

[MCR001]

Howzit....Im in Edenvale.

[marius]

hi there mcr001 i am from randburg

[MCR001]

hey Marius....down the road man.

Im sure I will see u on the road, will be in touch.

[pitstop]

Westrand working in Bryanston!!

See you on the roads

[HeinSA]

Hi all, I'm from Lydenburg

[Gerhardus501]

Originally Posted by HeinSA

Hi all, I'm from Lydenburg

I suppose you do Long Tom quit often?

[HeinSA]

Every weekend if work allows

[taurag]

hi fellow countrymen. live down here in Cape Town. going into winter now and decided to lay off biking for a while. bit too chilly and wet. cheers and safe riding.

[JX jdm]

Hallo daar!!!! ( of is dit hier????) Anyways, just joined and excited to see fellow countrymen here... Oh, i'm from the East Rand too... Sunnyridge Germiston