Grizz & Dozer's Ride South Africa, Ride Report Complete. YouTube Videos.....

The story starts in 1977 when I was 14 years old.

I am now 50, and my brother Deon "DOZER" will be 49 in May 2013.

We lived in Melmoth in KZN, but went to boarding school in Eshowe. I had been there from Standard 6 aged 13 and did not enjoy it that much, as I was the only Afrikaans laaitie in my class to be in the Koshuis, so much bullying ensued.

The only escape would be a weekend once a term (amazing that 50km was seen as a far distance then and that my parents could not afford to have us home more often) and school holidays when we would rent horses from a local farmer at an exhorbitant R1.00/hour Of course we used to just keep riding, and used to get about 5 hours riding from that rand...... Bargain.
Growing up where we did the main things kids would do was either ride horses or motorbikes.
My dad worked for the KZN government in the "Information department" whatever that meant. It did also mean that we would never own horses, and motorbikes were out the question too.....
The other thing to mention is that we never got pocket money, but we never needed anything, and never went to bed hungry. My dad had a very strict financial plan, which meant he could retire successfully and could send my brother and I to University (We never went to University at his expense, I paid for my own studies and Deon went to the Army as a PF)

During the December school holidays of 1976 my brother and I spent a lot of time at Jurgens Moolman's parents Sugar cane farm. Driving  the Kark out of the Peugeot 404 bakkie/pickup as only a fearless kid could do and hunting monkeys that used to destroy the sugar cane and anything else we could shoot at, the African sun made our holidays so idyllic.
They had a couple of AG bikes and a Honda XL500 if I remember correctly, so it naturally ended up that we would ride the bikes...... AND WE WERE HOOKED, My brother and I.
Ohh, and we never told my mum and dad we were riding bikes, as it was taboo, even though my dad had had a "help my trap" 50cc Honda in about 1971 that I fondly remembered.

Back at Boarding school in 1977 I started to save up and make money any way I could, buying and selling food, coffee, hot chocolate at night in prep, I washed cars and did writing out punishment for the bad kids. I would collect comics, read them and then sell them again..... slowly the money started to accumulate, and at Easter we went home and I cut grass for neighbours for R5.00 etc....
After the July holidays we came back home on a weekend and my dad called me into the garage..... THIS WAS BIG KARK !!
He said to me "Ek hoor jy wil n motorfiets koop!"  Of course I was in Full Denial mode and pretty much dug a big hole for myself.
Then he said "Hou op lieg, jy maak my kwaad, Jurgens het vir my gese jy wil n bike koop"
FAAAARRK !!  Now I know I was in deep Kark. We were never allowed to swear or tell lies, if you got caught out, you got properly moered by mum or dad.
I knew it was time to confess..... So I told him that I had saved some money, and that I had planned to ask his permission first..... YEAH RIIIIGHT !!
He then asked me how much money I had managed to save and was shocked when I told him I had saved up R408.00
He said his boys would never ride no bloody 50cc bikes as they were just fast enough to get you into trouble, but not fast enough to get you out of trouble. He then said he was proud of me working and saving up and would double my money and find us a better bike, but I had to share it with my brother who was about 12 or 13 at the time.

The next time I came home on a hostel break weekend I found him on the front verandah cutting timber on his big circular saw, and managed to miss a huge lump covered under a couple of old grey army blankets...... After chatting to him a while he said "Gaan jy nie kyk wat onder die kombers is nie poephol?"
I had completely missed the big lump under the blankets as he had other tools under blankets on the stoep too.

HOLY FARK!!!

Pulled away the blankets when I realised there was a motorike under the blankets.

Yamaha RD350 Aircooled.

I was in heaven.



Burgundy colour and HUGE compared to the 50cc I had planned to buy.

The 350 did great service for a while until my dad realised we wanted to be offroad mostly.

Came back a few months later and there were 3 bikes in the garage.

A Suzuki OR 50cc chopper (became my mums shopping bike)



A Suzuki TS 125 ER which we rode when we came home from Hostel.



And a Honda XL 185 S which is the bike we used to fight about.




We were in Heaven.

The years went by and my mum managed to crash the 185 spectacularly at the gates of the license testing grounds as she got back from her test with Mr Deetlefs the tester close behind her.
She got a cuppa tea, and passed her license..... where are the good old days now?

Over the years the bikes went but we never stopped riding.

This leads me to yesterday when I went shopping with Goose (Peter) at Helmet City and bought a stunning helmet.

I have a good Shoei, but wanted   a cool looking MX/Enduro style crash hat.

So there you go.....

I will come back with the next episode of this story later, need a coffee now.

Not a cheap helmet, but the best fit I have possibly ever had in a helmet.

Lekker storie :laughing4: :thumleft: :thumleft: :thumleft:

See that helmet cost you the shirt off your back :imaposer:

Storm Trooper said:

See that helmet cost you the shirt off your back :imaposer:

Click to expand...

Thats no bloody lie.....

I could have had two of the cheaper model for the same price, but you know, sometimes you just have to bite the bullet.

The reasons will become apparent later.

So we finished school and I did my national service, Deon became a CMO in the Engineers, eventually becoming a WO 1st Class.

After Diensplig I became a student nurse...... ja, n fokken nurse.
I had various bikes, including a Vespa 200cc, a Honda CX500 and a wild IT250 with a YZ racing kit fitted. Somewhere in the mix was a Suzuki GS 550 - Pre Katana shape.
Had more Vespa scooters and always kept a "propper bike" as well.

My brother had a family and nver had another bike, other than the XL 185 my dad had given to him at some point, this he sold on again later.

My first Vespa was a kark Orange colour.




Black CX 500, Loved that bike.







I also got a R80/7 at one point and created Thunderchild.







My first Oil cooled BMW was a R1100R which I still think is massively under rated.




JUST FOUND A PIC OF IT.



The colour was a lovely grey metalic.

Then I got what was a dream bike....

I still rate this over my current R1200GS

R1150GS



I actually brought the bike with me in 2002 when I moved to the UK.....



It was then joined by another one of my dream bikes....

R100GS Bumble Bee.







Another great toy was this Aprilia Tuareg Wind 600 used mainly to play on forrest tracks etc.














All of this riding and bike buying was of course thanks to my mum and dad allowing us to do stuff like ride and encouraging us to enjoy our bikes.

Got to go book a flight now.....

Back in a while with more, if you want to see and hear more.... about why I had to buy a Pletter Pet yesterday.

Just remembered a Kawasaki KE100 I had bought for a very short ex GF, then gave it to a friends daughter who never rode it, and ended up selling it for beer money.



Was a lovely little bike too.

Next up I sold the 1150GS to a guy in Ireland..... thinking I would stop riding.

Hmmmmmmm ?

Found a very low mileage BMW F650 Dakar in original B&W and bought that for sensible money.

Lovely bike.







At this point I met Nicola who is a great Harley fan.... pooop.

Anyway, she refused to ride pillion on the 650, so I offered to help her get her license and then get myself another or a bigger bike.... she refused but suggested I find an 1150 GSA because I rated them so muh and always wanted one.
After missing out on two because guys just sold to the first cash in hand, I started to look at 1200GS bikes as well, eventually buying one.

At the same time this Africa Twin in immaculate condition came into the market and my neighbour wanted £1500 for it, when the going rate was £3500. I offered to just put it on the forums for him and sell it for more, but he insisted I could have it for £1500, so Nicola told me to buy it as well......



It also came with a load of kit.



I parked it in the garage for 6 weeks and then sold it for £3000 which was still a bargain for the buyer.

I had found and bought the 1200GS, great for two up riding, but somehow never the 1150GS I had before.... weird that.




I also sold the F650 Dakar shortly after that as it was clear Nicola would never ride it.


This brings me up to date with my bike history.

Nicola used to love helping in the garage.











Inbetween the last few years I also bought a Sachs Madass 50cc for Nicola's son (Now my son as well)



Also a Honda PC50

Had that in the kitchen because my amazing wife insisted it was worked on in the house as the winter out here is cold and the garage was a baaaad place to be working in.





Then last year Nicola made me buy a Scorpa 250cc Trials bike. What a pleasure, should have done it years ago.
Again I can say that I have a most amazing wife. She understands parts of me, and will always only seek the best for me.

Goose tried it out and seemed to enjoy it thoroughly.



Maverick and Mini-Maverick also giving it a go.



Leading to this sort of behaviour.





Last pic.....




All of this incredible history (well, to me it is great) thanks to my mum and dad allowing us to ride, but also riding themselves.
My dad was an absolute lunatic on the little ER 125, I remember panicking at seeing him do some of the stuff he used to do on the bikes, then again, I do the same sort of stuff today.

Time to order Chinese take aways.... it is Friday evening after all.


Next episode later , if anyone is still interested in why I had to go buy a new helmet yesterday.

Remember the helmet ??

Some nice bikes there and great story.
We grew up a bit differently to today's kids, we worked for our pocket money. I also had to save up for my first bike, then my dad made a small contribution to it.

Great story!  Reading it made my night  :thumleft:

Nice reading so far, keep it coming!

Thanks guys.

Well, all good things come to an end.

My mum died in 1996 aged 59 from emphysema due to smoking 20 plus all her life and a bunch of other medical reasons.
Nice thing is that she taught all of us to "celebrate life" rather than to mourn death......

So we have only great memories of her and just how much of a battle axe she was.

My dad then moved to Humansdorp as he was born in the Tsitsikama.

He spent a few years there, then moved to PE where he lived about 1.5km from me.

At this time we became the best of friends, as did my brother, so the three of us used to have amazing times together.

He got cancer in time, had chemo, surgery etc, but refused to let any of that get him under.

Eventually he died as well in 2007 at age 72 after a good innings.

Pic of my brother and my dad at Krom river.

At this time he had no hair due to the chemo therapy.





Deon , unusually not with a Brandy and Coke in hand.



Out at the family farm where the ashes of my parents ended up in a wall of remembrance.




My old house in Glencairn, Simons Town.

Designed by me when I started repping, shell built and then I did all the finishing.



Finally..... my brothers bike, 1150 GS which he bought from part of his inheritance from my dad.

Interestingly, before my dad died he told Deon to make sure he bought himself a decent bike from his inheritance.

So he bought the bike and paid about 80% deposit on his house and moved out of Army barracks or accommodation for the first time in his life.






I guess that bikes have always been part of our lives.

Thanks to our parents.


Now you still have not worked it out ??

Why did I have to buy that helmet ?


Answers on a postcard.

I will do the last section of this little essay tomorrow or some other time.

Lekker lees-stof

Kom die 1150 dalk UK toe ??

.

Bike_Buddies said:

Lekker lees-stof



Kom die 1150 dalk UK toe ??

Click to expand...

Jy raak lekker warm.

Maar dis nie korrek nie.

Right boys..... and girls.

We are on our way over to Essex to a wedding this afternoon, so not much of a story right now.

I do have a photo of  a photo that my brother took last week.....

This was with our mum as little tjokkerkies.

But you can see that wheels seem to always feature in our lives.

Sorry about the quality, look at the size of his fingers holding the pic and keep in mind he texted it over from an old Nokia 6300




More story telling later, lets see if anyone can figure out the reason for the new crash hat yet.

Wedding toe..... :biggrin:

Jy maak nie reg nie 

Hoe lank gaan ons wag ?

I managed to get some first-hand input from Rian about this story and what he's planning............  guys - SUBSCRIBE to this one... it's going to be worthwhile!  :thumleft:

:thumleft:

Smidty said:

Jy maak nie reg nie 

Hoe lank gaan ons wag ?

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Hallo Smidty

Sit gou in McDonalds en eet n Chicken Wrap en koffie voor ons verder ry.

Troue is in Suffolk so nog verder as wat ek gedink het.

Julle moet geduldig wees.


Later terug.

:santa:    kom ook  :xxbah:

Smidty said:

:santa:     kom ook  :xxbah:

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Well, Christmas is still on its way but in the mean time we had a great day at the wedding.

The brides car ....



The grooms car.



Edd who got married to Nicola today is the guy who did the engine conversion on my Taunus Transit.

A long time buddy and also a bike rider.

My sweet and valuable Nicola loves older cars too.

So here she is trying to be cute so that I would buy her one of the cars..... the green one was her choice.




I will be back tomorrow to update and tell more about the reason I bought the helmet.