Happy Birthday my dear XTZ
- Thread starter XTZCharlie
- Start date
Mr.T
Race Dog
Well done. Then all back to 00000 again.
I am 9000 behind you to see all those 0's on my XTZ
I am 9000 behind you to see all those 0's on my XTZ
Fred4stroke
Pack Dog
Well done!
Well, the ride came and went and it certainly went a long way to leave me with a constant grin on my face for the remainder of the day. It also left me with a broken shoulder. Was a silly mistake as they all are, but that last 20 Kms home was sheer agony. Will do my report a little later if you don't mind...!
Sent from my current lost position. This may well be my last communication with the world... But hey at least I have my bike with me!!
Sent from my current lost position. This may well be my last communication with the world... But hey at least I have my bike with me!!
arrowfeather
Pack Dog
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2009
- Messages
- 432
- Reaction score
- 0
- Location
- western cape
- Bike
- Honda CRF-1000L Africa Twin
happy birthday!!
Alright, let me get this out the way. Seeing as I now have loads of time on my hands :xxbah:
The week had been a long one. Just one of those where everything goes from bad to worse and by teatime on monday morning I was already praying for friday to hurry up and get here. And believe you me when i say that by the time Friday arrived I was ready to beat someone to death with their own shoes!! Riding is my coping mechanism for the stress in my life. I gets me into the weather and the mud if I am lucky. I am one of the lucky few who get to ride every day. Going to work and back again the long way round through the bush and down a few choice tracks always make a great startt and a great way to end the working day. You know what I mean.
So Friday finally arrives and I have arrangements with my brother in law to ride nice and early on Saturday morning. The plan was vague at best and the feeling was to head off towards the Loteni area, which was fine with me because I love that part of the world and there is great riding to be had there. Anyways, the morning arrives and the in law is missing in action already. I send an sms or two in case he has overslept or forgotten or who knows what?? Around 9am my sister phones to say he won't be coming as he has work to do in maritzburg..... Shot bru, nice 1. So I have great weather and no one to ride with.... what to do?? oh what to do??... My other mate had decided against riding this weekend as he was going to do a liver cleansing or some crap.... turns out he spent the weekend on the crapper from the mooti for his liver cleansing debackle... HAHAHA justice be served!!
So to hell with waiting for whoever wasnt going to show, I set out on my lonesome for the day and had a great ride around the midlands. Took it easy and had a slow cruize for most of the day to unwind from the hectic week at work. A day to gather my thoughts and try get back in touch with myself. And what a better scoot to ride than this??
yes i know I have posted this already
I ventured up the original kyber pass, which is one of my favourite tracks to ride. Its quite steep and can be a great deal of fun when its wet and muddy as its that gooey red clay from top to bottom. As my luck would have it, right near the top which is the steepest part of the pass, some eskom twat decided to leave his scrap cable lying around in the mud for me to find....
This little escapade took me the best part of 45 mins to get unwound and unjammed from my rear wheel!!
Once I was rolling again it was on to Boschhoek where you take a slight detour under the highway through the river, then onto the hills below Groundcover and across the river towards lidgetton. I wound my way back up the valley and stopped off at Caversham Mill for a coffee break.
From here I headed over to Balgowan, and just after the old gates at Michaelhouse there is a service road for the railwayline. Its a great littler track that pops out next to the bridge at Nottingham Road. I had not been alonmg there on my bike for ages and was unsure of the condition of the road. Besides a little hiccup with some construction along the track, it was a clear run all the way to notties.
Had to wait for the train
I came across this section of road works and had to pass between the tree on the left and the pile of stones, with a 10 foot drop into the river below, left very little margin for error here :eek7: :ricky: the ground was very soft and started to give way as I rode over it. If I had stalled here I would have been well and trully farked!!
After an excellent lunch at Cafe Bloom(I recommend this little gem of a cafe to all. Mick runs a great little spot with the best food on the meander!!)I headed back down the valley to my in-laws farm to see if he had resurfaced, but alas no, he was still missing in action. by now it was heading on for 3 o'clock in the afternoon and I decided to head back home. A very uneventful ride along the dirt roads from Balgowan to Bosch Hoek and up to Curry's Post, down through the Karkloof and back into Howick again... Tomorrow was looking to be a good days riding as well. By now it had started to rain again and I was hopiing for a good downpour to get the mud a little deeper!!
The week had been a long one. Just one of those where everything goes from bad to worse and by teatime on monday morning I was already praying for friday to hurry up and get here. And believe you me when i say that by the time Friday arrived I was ready to beat someone to death with their own shoes!! Riding is my coping mechanism for the stress in my life. I gets me into the weather and the mud if I am lucky. I am one of the lucky few who get to ride every day. Going to work and back again the long way round through the bush and down a few choice tracks always make a great startt and a great way to end the working day. You know what I mean.
So Friday finally arrives and I have arrangements with my brother in law to ride nice and early on Saturday morning. The plan was vague at best and the feeling was to head off towards the Loteni area, which was fine with me because I love that part of the world and there is great riding to be had there. Anyways, the morning arrives and the in law is missing in action already. I send an sms or two in case he has overslept or forgotten or who knows what?? Around 9am my sister phones to say he won't be coming as he has work to do in maritzburg..... Shot bru, nice 1. So I have great weather and no one to ride with.... what to do?? oh what to do??... My other mate had decided against riding this weekend as he was going to do a liver cleansing or some crap.... turns out he spent the weekend on the crapper from the mooti for his liver cleansing debackle... HAHAHA justice be served!!
So to hell with waiting for whoever wasnt going to show, I set out on my lonesome for the day and had a great ride around the midlands. Took it easy and had a slow cruize for most of the day to unwind from the hectic week at work. A day to gather my thoughts and try get back in touch with myself. And what a better scoot to ride than this??
yes i know I have posted this already
I ventured up the original kyber pass, which is one of my favourite tracks to ride. Its quite steep and can be a great deal of fun when its wet and muddy as its that gooey red clay from top to bottom. As my luck would have it, right near the top which is the steepest part of the pass, some eskom twat decided to leave his scrap cable lying around in the mud for me to find....
This little escapade took me the best part of 45 mins to get unwound and unjammed from my rear wheel!!
Once I was rolling again it was on to Boschhoek where you take a slight detour under the highway through the river, then onto the hills below Groundcover and across the river towards lidgetton. I wound my way back up the valley and stopped off at Caversham Mill for a coffee break.
From here I headed over to Balgowan, and just after the old gates at Michaelhouse there is a service road for the railwayline. Its a great littler track that pops out next to the bridge at Nottingham Road. I had not been alonmg there on my bike for ages and was unsure of the condition of the road. Besides a little hiccup with some construction along the track, it was a clear run all the way to notties.
Had to wait for the train
I came across this section of road works and had to pass between the tree on the left and the pile of stones, with a 10 foot drop into the river below, left very little margin for error here :eek7: :ricky: the ground was very soft and started to give way as I rode over it. If I had stalled here I would have been well and trully farked!!
After an excellent lunch at Cafe Bloom(I recommend this little gem of a cafe to all. Mick runs a great little spot with the best food on the meander!!)I headed back down the valley to my in-laws farm to see if he had resurfaced, but alas no, he was still missing in action. by now it was heading on for 3 o'clock in the afternoon and I decided to head back home. A very uneventful ride along the dirt roads from Balgowan to Bosch Hoek and up to Curry's Post, down through the Karkloof and back into Howick again... Tomorrow was looking to be a good days riding as well. By now it had started to rain again and I was hopiing for a good downpour to get the mud a little deeper!!
WP
Race Dog
What a great looking bike!
Sorry for the hijack but I am not too familiar with these bikes, can you supply some more specs of this bike, engine, fuel tank size, range etc?
Sorry for the hijack but I am not too familiar with these bikes, can you supply some more specs of this bike, engine, fuel tank size, range etc?
WP said:
It is a 1990 Super Tenere XTZ750. Originally from Europe and was imported some years ago by the previous owner. I think it came from Germany?? maybe Austria?? Cant remember exactly.
Specs for this bike. Well what can I say?
It weighs in at a dry 203kilos. takes 4 litres of oil and has a 30 litre fuel tank. The best mileage I have had on a tank has been 550kms and that was driving miss Daisy style riding because I forgot to fill up when going through the karoo. And I have never been able to do that mileage since. on average I get about 480-500kms on a tank with standard gearing of 16/46. At present I am running at 15/48 and my fuel consumption is at an all time high. I have yet to hit the 400km mark since I changed my gearing, but this is in part that I need to replace my emulsion tubes and am running at my lowest compression before I am due for a rebore. And probably more importantly is that my right hand develops a serious twitch when riding and I end up going a little faster than usual :ricky: Top speed on standard gearing according to my speedo is a tad over 205km/h on tar and about the same on dirt(not to be repeated.... :eek7
I ran a compression test the other day as she is feeling a little flat, and I should be on 9bar but am at sitting at 6bar per cylinder, so next year I will do the motor and be on top form again for another100k.
The XTZ was based on the YZE750T which Peterhansel rode back in the day for the Paris-Dakar
As for the looks of my bike, I decided to do a rebuild and make it my own and use the YZE Dakar bikes as a starting point. I wass thinking of the Frenchy blue Sonauto styling but that Chesterfield look has always appealed to me so I went with that instead. And adding 5mm of foam to the seat makes it very tall but super comfy on the long rides.
this is what it looked like before i rebuilt it
WP
Race Dog
Thanks!
It's an absolute beauty!
It's an absolute beauty!
- Joined
- Nov 5, 2013
- Messages
- 509
- Reaction score
- 67
Droolworthy, really a beautiful bike!
It must sound mean!
It must sound mean!
superten
Race Dog
Well Happy Birthday to an old girl! I cant believe that she broke your shoulder.Naughty girl!
Mine is on 161 000,busy doing the rear wheel bearings today.Then off for a ride tomorrow.
Mine is on 161 000,busy doing the rear wheel bearings today.Then off for a ride tomorrow.
spoedvark
Grey Hound
:drif: :drif: :drif:
If you ever want to sell that bike!!!
:drif: :drif: :drif:
If you ever want to sell that bike!!!
:drif: :drif: :drif:
