ktmfourstroke
Puppy
Hi all - did a great trip in Lesotho over this last weekend. In the group there were 5 bikes. Ktm 500, Gas gas 700, KLR 650, KTM 950(mine), KTM 990.
Day 1 - up Sani pass - thaba tseka. Sani pass was pretty straight forward. We were concerned after the snow but we had no issues whatsoever. Stayed mostly on the tar all the way to Thaba Tseka, apart from a few detours around St James Mission area. Stayed at the Motherland guest house. Decent accommodation.
Day 2 - big day - thaba Tseka to Semonkong (via mantsonyane and then old road ( shortcut) from Mantsonyane that heads directly south and crosses the senqunyane via a pedestrian bridge and comes into Semonkong from the North/East. I have ready many mixed reviews on this route but we decided to give it a go. 2 x bikes decided to go the long way round via Roma, Ramabanta etc. The KTM 500, 700 and my 950 adventure decided on the short cut. The route was all decent track until the drop into the senqunyane valley. It because narrow, steep and rocky, not terrible though managed to ride the whole way down. The pedestrian bridge was a great experience. I had to remove my panniers to fit over the bridge. The "road" going up the west side of the valley was completely destroyed. I would equate this to a "bronze" level pass in terms of endure. The 500 and 700 made it pretty painlessly. My 950 was a bit more work. Managed to get 90% of the way up without any major issues. Fell over once or twice but no damage. However towards the top I completely burnt out my clutch. It has done 70 000km though so it was probably due. Managed to get the bike up eventually, had to do a roadside repair and break a Fibre plate in half, double itself over and replace in the basket if that makes sense? This trick works really well but results in you having no clutch at all. So with a push from my mates managed to get going and crash change all the way to semonkong. A great day with this route is a bit much for anything bigger they a 700. It's really an enduro bike route. But much fun.
Day 3 - we took a chilled ride to quacha's nek, then the "old" route from there to ram's gate. Nice route that stays fairly close to the escarpment. After exiting through ramas gate we headed home.
It was a great experience. I will upload some pictures shortly.
Day 1 - up Sani pass - thaba tseka. Sani pass was pretty straight forward. We were concerned after the snow but we had no issues whatsoever. Stayed mostly on the tar all the way to Thaba Tseka, apart from a few detours around St James Mission area. Stayed at the Motherland guest house. Decent accommodation.
Day 2 - big day - thaba Tseka to Semonkong (via mantsonyane and then old road ( shortcut) from Mantsonyane that heads directly south and crosses the senqunyane via a pedestrian bridge and comes into Semonkong from the North/East. I have ready many mixed reviews on this route but we decided to give it a go. 2 x bikes decided to go the long way round via Roma, Ramabanta etc. The KTM 500, 700 and my 950 adventure decided on the short cut. The route was all decent track until the drop into the senqunyane valley. It because narrow, steep and rocky, not terrible though managed to ride the whole way down. The pedestrian bridge was a great experience. I had to remove my panniers to fit over the bridge. The "road" going up the west side of the valley was completely destroyed. I would equate this to a "bronze" level pass in terms of endure. The 500 and 700 made it pretty painlessly. My 950 was a bit more work. Managed to get 90% of the way up without any major issues. Fell over once or twice but no damage. However towards the top I completely burnt out my clutch. It has done 70 000km though so it was probably due. Managed to get the bike up eventually, had to do a roadside repair and break a Fibre plate in half, double itself over and replace in the basket if that makes sense? This trick works really well but results in you having no clutch at all. So with a push from my mates managed to get going and crash change all the way to semonkong. A great day with this route is a bit much for anything bigger they a 700. It's really an enduro bike route. But much fun.
Day 3 - we took a chilled ride to quacha's nek, then the "old" route from there to ram's gate. Nice route that stays fairly close to the escarpment. After exiting through ramas gate we headed home.
It was a great experience. I will upload some pictures shortly.
