We have been riding around the world for 7.5 years...

Hello Wild Dogs!

My wife and I have been slowly wandering the world on motorcycles for the last 7.5 years (updated January 2020).

We're finally headed to South Africa! Instead of shipping our motorcycles, we've decided to buy a couple of used bikes locally and ride them north up the continent. I've found a wealth of information on the forum about how to register a bike as a tourist, so thanks for that!

This is us:



Here are a few questions that we have:

1) We're trying to decide whether to begin searching for motorcycles in Cape Town or Johannesburg. CT/Western Cape seems to be more populated, but Jo'burg/Gauteng seems to have more listings on Wild Dog and Gumtree. Is this true? Any opinions where we should base ourselves to go shopping?

2) Are there any motorcycle meets where bikers hang out, swap stories, drink and eat? We'd love to meet some local riders, get some information on things to see, roads to ride, safety considerations, etc. We'd be willing to do a slide-show presentation of our trip in return.

3) Is motorcycle gear more expensive in South Africa than in Europe? Should we stock up on stuff before coming down?

I'm sure there are more questions that will come up, but I'll ask these first, just for the sake of introducing ourselves.

If you're interested, we have a PhotoBlog of our journey so far at https://www.RideDOT.com

It's a bit behind -- the pitfalls of trying to write and travel at the same time. But it does get updated regularly!

Hoping to meet some of you and thanks in advance for any help and information!

Gene & Neda

Some of the places we've been:


Indian Himalayan Mountains


Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah


River crossing in Panajachel, Guatemala


Atigun Pass, North Slope towards Prudhoe Bay, Alaska


Jökulsárlón Glacier Lagoon, Iceland



More pictures at https://www.RideDOT.com

A warm South African welcome to you firstly.

Feedback and support won't be in short supply here.

1) We're trying to decide whether to begin searching for motorcycles in Cape Town or Johannesburg. CT/Western Cape seems to be more populated, but Jo'burg/Gauteng seems to have more listings on Wild Dog and Gumtree. Is this true? Any opinions where we should base ourselves to go shopping?

There are many online classifieds, top of mind sites include:
Autotrader https://bikes.autotrader.co.za/
Junkmail www.junkmail.co.za
Webuycars www.webuycars.co.za

Sadly a word of caution when buying privately - never pay a deposit to secure a vehicle unless doing it via a bank i.e. financing. When the seller is giving you some story about moving to the UK (or anywhere) and the vehicle being in storage to ship anywhere in the world...walk away. I'm sure other can contribute to lessons learned here. Other thing that comes to mind is buying a stolen vehicle which will give you endless "kak" (shit), don't know how this is verified when buying privately. 


2) Are there any motorcycle meets where bikers hang out, swap stories, drink and eat? We'd love to meet some local riders, get some information on things to see, roads to ride, safety considerations, etc. We'd be willing to do a slide-show presentation of our trip in return.

On Wilddog - Planning a ride section. There isn't a "World traveler" club/bar. Rim and Rubber is a popular meet place however, any other bar or even better somebody's house will do. You'll find some people are very inviting and will not hesitate to invite you for a braai (also known as bbq or barbecue) where meat, drink, laughter and sharing of stories is at the order of the day. Expect to set aside many hours.
By the same token research this site and ask questions about roads, planned routes etc.

3) Is motorcycle gear more expensive in South Africa than in Europe? Should we stock up on stuff before coming down?
Some things are others not. Seeing you've been all over why not bring it with you and buy whatever else you need here, there are many retailers and online stores.

Safe travels!

edit to add. Meerkatting (standing whilst riding) is illegal. Traffic officials of some provinces are out looking for this especially Cape Town. It is also illegal in Namibia, one of our neighboring countries where you'll also find some impeccable dirt roads and wide open vistas.

Hi guys, give us a shout when you get to Cape Town, I would love to meet you.  I am sure I have read your ride reports on ADV, can you post some links?

I would suggest buying all your rider gear where you are.  We are limited in choice and quality in SA.  There are some local specialty shops though, that could set you up from boot to pannier in one go, i.e. the famous Flying Brick store in Cape Town.

Enjoy the bike shopping, as said, just beware of fraudsters.

A warm welcome lightcycle and wow, I'll from now on be following your travels with interest.

We have a couple of active vendors on the site that can certainly assist with kit.

[member=1597]ChrisL - DUSTRIDERS[/member]
[member=614]Runner[/member]
[member=2935]zebra - Flying Brick[/member]

May I suggest you share with us your planned dates and bike requirements.  We can certainly assist in keeping an eye out for the right bike.  This is by far one of the safest platforms for that.

Another warm welcome.
If you post on here what bike you are interested in, you are sure to get a Wilddog to check it out.
I would suggest buying from a Wd as he wil get a roasting if there are problems with a non truthful sale.
I would also suggest to bring your gear with although you can get what you need locally.
Post your planned route and times and you will get to know the South African hospitality!
I am on the East Coast side and you are welcome to pop in here when around.
There is also a roadside assistance thread from which you can get assistance anywhere if anything goes wrong on your travels.
Maybe check out Levi's travels on RevLev.com as he is at present doing what you want to do.

Welcome! HAve fun.

Nice to read about your travels and experience!

Welcome and all I can say is WOW!

What a fantastic life you guys live. Just traveling the world for years on end. I can’t think of a better way to live life. You will find hundreds of envious Dogs on this site, many dreaming of doing what you guys are doing.

Enjoy your time in our fantastic country. If ever you need a place to stay in JHB (Randburg) send me a message.

Ryan

very warm welcome to you 2 folk.
The is a company here in Port Elizabeth that sells kit and accessories. www.bikegear.co.za. ask for Mathew.

Give me a shout if you come past Port Elizabeth or Addo. It will be great to host you here at the Orange Elephant

welcome to our lil southern paradise

goodness , you two are doing what many here can only dream of , we would all love to hear about your trip
the advise posted above is all valid

great stuff

. . . .most welcome . . .
Been following you on ADVRider . . .
. .. lekker. . . the first Afrikaans word you have to know , meaning . . . , great , nice , delicious , etc.

Welcome Gene and Neda

We occasionally have slide show and braai evenings at Pat's place https://www.travellersnest.co.za/  In Pretoria.  Give me shout when you are here and we will arrange an evening.  Typically around 30 people.

Thanks for all the advice and the generous offers for accommodations, we will certainly look all of you up when we're passing by!

About bringing all our the gear vs buying in South Africa... that would have been optimal, but we've just had a robbery and everything was stolen. So we're basically starting from scratch. So instead of buying everything here and shipping it all down, we thought it would be easier to just buy it all in SA. But if you don't have the selection and pricing, then we'll definitely stock up in Europe before heading over.

As for the kinds of bikes we are looking for, here's our wishlist:

- around 650cc, twin preferably
- dual-sportish but more street-oriented is fine
- tubeless tires would be optimal
- hardcase lockable sidecases and topcase. It would be nice to buy a bike with a 3-box setup, but from looking at the ads, most just have a topcase, so we'll probably have to retrofit panniers.
- budget is not more than R75000 per bike
- need a popular-model bike that will sell easily when we are done traveling

Target bike would be like a twin-cylinder F650GS or F800GS (non-Adventure). Also open to a late-model V-Strom 650 (the one that looks GS-ish). Tiger 800 perhaps. Not too keen on the KLR and DR thumpers. Early model R1200GS would be fine for me if it was the right price and had all the boxes on it. 2017 Africa Twin w/ 3 boxes for R75000 would be the dream!

Is there a way to check if the bike is stolen? Do the police have a database of VIN numbers reported stolen?

Also, should I be moving this thread to another section other than "New Member Introductions"? Maybe a mod can move it to the appropriate place?

Thanks for the help, everyone!

...as a rule, our imported CLOTHING/helmets and boots can be more expensive than overseas,since we have high duties on motorcycle GEAR (wearables) as compared to many European countries...


Our HARD PARTS and Hard accessories: bash plates/crash bars / panniers and pannier boxes are usually LESS expensive than overseas product, since they are often made LOCALLY in South Africa, are made tough, and obviously there is then no duty.


There is also no duty on imported hard parts, such as say a SW Motech bash plate, since parts that can BOLT to a motorbike are usually duty-free, but you pay a bit more since they are imported, for FROM a higher-labour-cost country. They often have a better finish, but our local manufacture is surprisingly good!


On the motorbike side, I have written often on this subject - for good gravel road touring, and for VALUE FOR MONEY, the BMW 650 TWIN ticks a lot of boxes in South Africa:
it is tubeless...
the cast rims can/do hold up for light offroad/gravel travel use...
the twin is an under-stressed, de-tuned 800 motor, should go and go and go...
the twin is lower than the 800, so easier to flat-foot through a trick area, etc.
very practical for smaller riders/ladies/vertically challenged...
BMW SA does keep a wide variety of spares most ALL of the time...
It needs a bash plate (IMO)...
the bike is often very competitively priced, due to being replaced by the newer 700cc twin...
these bikes often NOT thrashed, so good 'history'...

Good luck, shout if yo need any help sourcing stuff.
Cheers, and welcome!
Chris & Team

lightcycle said:

Hello Wild Dogs!

My wife and I have been slowly wandering the world on motorcycles for the last 5 1/2 years.

We're finally headed to South Africa! Instead of shipping our motorcycles, we've decided to buy a couple of used bikes locally and ride them north up the continent. I've found a wealth of information on the forum about how to register a bike as a tourist, so thanks for that!

This is us:

Here are a few questions that we have:

1) We're trying to decide whether to begin searching for motorcycles in Cape Town or Johannesburg. CT/Western Cape seems to be more populated, but Jo'burg/Gauteng seems to have more listings on Wild Dog and Gumtree. Is this true? Any opinions where we should base ourselves to go shopping?

2) Are there any motorcycle meets where bikers hang out, swap stories, drink and eat? We'd love to meet some local riders, get some information on things to see, roads to ride, safety considerations, etc. We'd be willing to do a slide-show presentation of our trip in return.

3) Is motorcycle gear more expensive in South Africa than in Europe? Should we stock up on stuff before coming down?

I'm sure there are more questions that will come up, but I'll ask these first, just for the sake of introducing ourselves.

If you're interested, we have a PhotoBlog of our journey so far at https://www.RideDOT.com

It's a bit behind -- the pitfalls of trying to write and travel at the same time. But it does get updated regularly!

Hoping to meet some of you and thanks in advance for any help and information!

Gene & Neda

Click to expand...

Wow this is epic! I've read so many of your reports on your trip and actually showed it to my girlfriend some time ago and said how I envy you guys! If you are in Cape Town and need a place to crash or just someone to show you around, give me a shout. Would be honored to host you in Cape Town!

Welcome to Wilddog territory  ;D

Looking forward to following your trips, the pics are epic!

Come on china. You better finish your RR about the Emerald Isle before you start here on the tip of this beautiful continent of Africa.

Awe inspiring! Welcome to our little community, and please feel free to share lots and lots more pics and reports!

Something I've always wondered regarding people that travel the world like this... how do you earn your keep? Do you do odd jobs at various places? Did you save long and hard before starting?

OomD said:

Awe inspiring! Welcome to our little community, and please feel free to share lots and lots more pics and reports!

Something I've always wondered regarding people that travel the world like this... how do you earn your keep? Do you do odd jobs at various places? Did you save long and hard before starting?

Click to expand...

Most of those I've asked this question earn their keep off a laptop, eg, with the blog if its popular.

lightcycle said:

Also, should I be moving this thread to another section other than "New Member Introductions"? Maybe a mod can move it to the appropriate place?

Click to expand...

Hi Gene, welcome. Lets leave it here for now and when you get here, or when you want, I'll move it to "Plan a Ride"

Just remind me.

Gerard.