benreaper
Race Dog
So I stumbled uppon the Wild Dogs forum a few months ago in my search for advice on adventure biking.
I had started rebuilding my (slighly dated) superbikes after a 6year absence for motorcycling and after a few rides realised that the road wasn't for me anymore.
Many of my old riding buddy's had also moved over to some form of offroad or adventure biking while I was "away".
Being a keen mountain biker I've also discovered the joy of riding offroad and spending time in nature when exploring what lies beyond the tar where the dirt begins.
So I found this place and you lot and I've been quietly checking things out from over there in the corner. Reading about the different categories of adventure riding and what they entail.
Coming from a superbike I started out with the idea of buying a big offroad bike which in my budget would have been a V-Strom/Varadero/GS1150. My plan was to fix up my GSXR and sell in order to finance thd new bike.
During this time I bought a small 150cc MotoMia to go riding in the veld with my son and realised what fun it was to play in the dirt and that the MotoMia wasn't made for this and wouldn't last vary long but that the big bike would also not be very much fun here.
So after some more pondering I decided the mid level market would be where I'd need to buy and I started looking at V-Strom 650/Transalp/ KLR. After some more research I decided the V-Strom and Transalp were to much of a soft road bike and a KLR would be the bike to invest in. Capable of travelling at the required road speed limits, thinking nothing of dirt roads and also capable of going slighly more offroad like the odd funduro event.
Then a fellow WD member threw a rock in the bush one Saturday morning and told me about a Suzuki DR600 for sale. I started reading up on the DR's and couldn't understand why I hadn't noticed the earlier.
Bar having to upgrade the tank on a 650 almost immediately because of the small feul capacity the DR ticked all the right boxes for me.
I came to the conclusion that the only drawback on a DR600 would be the lack of electric start if all else was in good nick. Coincidentally the DR600 in question belonged to an old acquaintance of mine with whom I've had very little contact over the years. Wrang the guy up and organized to go have a look at the bike. The bike certainly does show that is 30 odd years old and has been used well in that time, but the bike was also well maintained during this time with regular services and all problems attended to swiftly if something seemed like it needed attention.
I kinda lost my heart that day.
You might have noticed I've advertised and sold a few items over the past month, this was all in order to contribute to my "DR fund". The guy agreed to hold the bike for me until September after which he'd advertise it again. I went high and low and jumped through hoops and after much effort managed to scrape together the cash.
So yesterday I went to fetch my new baby and man am I happy with my decision. Took a few dirt road and tweespoor jeeptrack detours on the way home and everything felt as it must be. I couldn't stop smiling all evening. [emoji16]
And now my adventure begins......
I had started rebuilding my (slighly dated) superbikes after a 6year absence for motorcycling and after a few rides realised that the road wasn't for me anymore.
Many of my old riding buddy's had also moved over to some form of offroad or adventure biking while I was "away".
Being a keen mountain biker I've also discovered the joy of riding offroad and spending time in nature when exploring what lies beyond the tar where the dirt begins.
So I found this place and you lot and I've been quietly checking things out from over there in the corner. Reading about the different categories of adventure riding and what they entail.
Coming from a superbike I started out with the idea of buying a big offroad bike which in my budget would have been a V-Strom/Varadero/GS1150. My plan was to fix up my GSXR and sell in order to finance thd new bike.
During this time I bought a small 150cc MotoMia to go riding in the veld with my son and realised what fun it was to play in the dirt and that the MotoMia wasn't made for this and wouldn't last vary long but that the big bike would also not be very much fun here.
So after some more pondering I decided the mid level market would be where I'd need to buy and I started looking at V-Strom 650/Transalp/ KLR. After some more research I decided the V-Strom and Transalp were to much of a soft road bike and a KLR would be the bike to invest in. Capable of travelling at the required road speed limits, thinking nothing of dirt roads and also capable of going slighly more offroad like the odd funduro event.
Then a fellow WD member threw a rock in the bush one Saturday morning and told me about a Suzuki DR600 for sale. I started reading up on the DR's and couldn't understand why I hadn't noticed the earlier.
Bar having to upgrade the tank on a 650 almost immediately because of the small feul capacity the DR ticked all the right boxes for me.
I came to the conclusion that the only drawback on a DR600 would be the lack of electric start if all else was in good nick. Coincidentally the DR600 in question belonged to an old acquaintance of mine with whom I've had very little contact over the years. Wrang the guy up and organized to go have a look at the bike. The bike certainly does show that is 30 odd years old and has been used well in that time, but the bike was also well maintained during this time with regular services and all problems attended to swiftly if something seemed like it needed attention.
I kinda lost my heart that day.
You might have noticed I've advertised and sold a few items over the past month, this was all in order to contribute to my "DR fund". The guy agreed to hold the bike for me until September after which he'd advertise it again. I went high and low and jumped through hoops and after much effort managed to scrape together the cash.
So yesterday I went to fetch my new baby and man am I happy with my decision. Took a few dirt road and tweespoor jeeptrack detours on the way home and everything felt as it must be. I couldn't stop smiling all evening. [emoji16]
And now my adventure begins......
