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

[Goose]

boet that yellow one looks like the toyota landcruiser my folks had when I was six in botswana! its not out of your league you might have to work on it to get it there but if I know someone thats got some work left in them its you! looking forward to the next part of the project!!

listen the fuel alone........... would put that out of his league.....  :eek7:  Grizz - what's it over there now.......  1.45/litre....?

Was down in lundun taan couple weeks ago and saw a filling station with £1,79/l

oh jeez............  :'( :'( :'( :'(  R 24.77/litre..............

 

[grizz]

Smaak daai stickers oor 'n honderd  :thumleft: Onthou laat ek een kry.

Jy is meer as welkom, onthou net om my te vra vir een.

Hier is n bietjie ander nuus, or for the English speakers..... here is some more news, well, just a bunch of photos.

I suspect this ride has something to do with my Mojo returning too  :biggrin:

I seem to have lost my MOJO the last few years, but it seems to be creeping back.

Yesterday, for the first time since August 2010, the Grizz-Pod came out of the garage.

After selling the Anglia to Young Dan Young over the weekend, there suddenly was more space in the garage to move stuff about, first was the Transit, which is also up for sale, and I will be writing up a full for sale ad for it as soon as the time is right, unless someone comes in by PM and comes to take a look and decides to buy what is a pretty unique van/car.

Yesterday I decided to turn the Transit around in the garage so that it faces outward, and as is usually the case, a whole lot of other stuff started happening......

I decided a wash and some T-Cut is in order.

Once the bus was turned about, I started moving stuff about again, and then pulled the Grizz-Pod out and decided it needed a wash as well, as it never got washed after we came back from honeymoon in August 2010

So I will now just photos dump, as the bus and trailer does look different from different angles, and interestingly, if you look at some pics they look bigger than in others.


Sunlight.......

HOVER BUS

Washed and sparkly

Washed as well, Much better, drying next.

Just how low can you go ?

Says it all.

So next up is to sell the transit, and then get a Chevy pickup truck for the teardrop trailer.

Now to go start the T-Cut on the bus.

 

[grizz]

NO MORE GRIZZ MOBILE......

After getting some advice on removing the Graffitti which this bus was known by, as it may put some buyers off, I have used some thinners, a couple of rags and done 4 passes on it all, soak, scrub, scrub, wash and then wiped again with a good old T-shirt.

GOING.......

GOING.......

GONE !!!!

Next up some polish and a bit of rubbing should see it almost disappear.

 

[BiG DoM]

Plus some elbow grease  O0

 

[Piston Pete]

Dude...you got to much time on your hands or you turning your hard work into pound  ;D
:thumleft:

 

[Piston Pete]

Oh....and Jeremy Clarkson's a huge fan of yours.... :biggrin:

 

[grizz]

Oh....and Jeremy Clarkson's a huge fan of yours.... :biggrin:

......... Errrrrmmmmmm ??

Doubt it, unless I am missing a point here.

 

[Piston Pete]

VW Combi's....towing a van are a nightmare on certain roads.... :laughing4:

 

[grizz]

VW Combi's....towing a van are a nightmare on certain roads.... :laughing4:

GOTCHA!!!


Lucky thats not a VW van..... it is a Ford Transit.

In other news....

Next up I spent over 5 hours with T-Cut polishing and hand buffing the whole van, even the roof, which is a PITA.

I must say, it has come up pretty decently, so I hope it helps when it comes to selling.

GRIZZ-MOBILE graffitti side polished out well.

Other side done as well.

By this time I had to push the van inside again, as evening condensation was coming down.

 

[grizz]

Today.......

And a short YouTube clip/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GeS6rI5JnRI


Thanks to Dirk and all involved.

 

[grizz]

Well, all things being equal, this time next week I am either sitting in a plane on the runway at Schipol in The Netherlands, or in a Business Class lounge on my way home to SA for the ride of a lifetime.

Looking forward to this.

 

[Gerard]

Jy kan dit weer sê. Soos dit klink gaan ons dik moet gooi deur Baviaans. First ride wat jy gaan onthou.

 

[grizz]

FARKINELLL !!!

Just updated my travel insurance.

Basic 12 month policy was £74.00

Now bike as transport is Hazardous pursuit and cost me an extra £239.40

At these prices you almost want to taste hospital food.



JUPITER- I really hope this ride does not turn into shit through Baviaans on the bikes we are on.

 

[Gerard]

Don't worry. We'll take it real easy and have lots of time. I'm a banggat rider and don't take risks... unecessarily.

 

[grizz]

HAVE I MENTIONED THAT I LOVE MY WIFE A WHOLE LOT ??


Today she suggested I contact KLM to see what it would cost me to change my return date to a later date, as I still do not have a job.....

And possibly the the fact that this may be the last time I go to South Africa.....

Anyway, called KLM and got the flight changed to the 29th of April.

NO COST !!!!!


I will be re=tiliing my brohers kitchen and bathroom in the extra days, so if anyone wants to come have a coffee or help......

You know where I am..... eepwall:

 

[Gerard]

En dit reën lekker hier by ons van gister af.

 

[BiG DoM]

Ja boet -  had 53mm here since yesterday by1pm today. My boet also here from Pomieland and as if he brought it with him!

 

[grizz]

Ja boet -  had 53mm here since yesterday by1pm today. My boet also here from Pomieland and as is he brought it with him!

Bliksem !!!!


Guess I will be packing these then.

 

[Goose]

nee boet - jy's te lank weg gewees............. ons dra nie "Wellies"  hier nie.... net "Vellies" met lang sokkies!! :thumleft:

 

[grizz]

Right, I have been sitting on this report entry for quite a few weeks.

This ride seems to have been destined to happen.

Deon and I have spoken about it many times over the years, even when he was raising a family and had no bikes for about 20 years, as his family always came first..... which idiot pays maintenance to his ex-wife until his son is 23 and his daughter 21 ?
DWISS or SAINT ??

So many a night we would sit next to the fire talking about this ride in various forms, even when our dad was alive, we used fantasize about taking him as a pillion, or putting him on a lowered F650GS (the toppie was a short arse)

Anyway, as mentioned before, my dad told Deon to buy a bike from his inheritance when he died, so Deon got this great used 1150GS.
Then Nicola's brother offered to buy me a Business class ticket to SA if I paid the taxes..... which were £648 if I recall correctly. But an experience worth having it seems. This was her present to me for my 50th birthday.
My plan was to buy a +- 650cc bike here and export it over to SA or buy something there and then get Deon to sell it after the trip.

Then Dirk ~Maverick~ and I spoke about the trip and out of the blue he suggested I do not buy a bike, but use his r100gs which already lives in the Cape......

Right, at this point I will not name and shame people for their generosity (as I would not want people to know if I had sorted someone out )
But if you see a description on here of the deed you did and offered, and want to mention it was you, please do.


I got a message from a guy offering me a free 660 delivered in Cape Town if I needed it quite early on.

Then about two weeks ago, the following PM landed in my box.......  "You're welcome to my DL1000 when you come to SA, got plastic panniers and Topbox as well. But I'm in Joburg."

Then last week another PM landed
" Hey Rian,

Been reading a bit about your trip to SA with your boet. Looks very lekker.  

I also noted that you are using a bike from a forum member. Is that bike sorted now? Reason I'm asking, my GSA will be standing at home while I am at work here in L****** until at least the 16th April. If the bike you are borrowing falls through, or if it breaks down, you can use mine. Its new, only about 6700km on the clock. Has full panniers, topbox, tooltube, bigfoot, etc. You may just want to re-attach the number plate (I took it off and attached it to the topbox - upside down   )

Its fully insured (I will just have to let the insurer know if you use it) and standing in my garage in Pretoria. I also have a new set of Anakee 2's ready to be fitted if the rear tyre wont make the distance you plan on doing (still original Metzeler front and rear)

Just let me know if you need it..."

Followed after a chat with him, by the following PM
"No worries Rian,

I dont have a landline, just a cell, but I dont pay incoming international rates in L****** (a deal between Vodacom SA and Vodacom L******) so taking calls is easy. My cell number is ############, my email is [email protected] I have a @@@@@@@@@@@@ so usually can reply even if internet in L****** conks out, as it often does.

If the bike from Dirk doesn't happen for whatever reason, mine is free. It will need to be serviced at 10k km, but that should still leave you over 3000km of riding.

And if we need to get the bike to Cape Town I'm sure that somehow someone from the forum will be able to assist. Somehow.

Just shout if you need it "


Then over this weekend Nicola asked me if I would like to stay a bit longer as none of the job applications have been successful, and I probably will not go back to SA soon after this trip, as we usually get Deon over here to come holiday in Europe etc. (ohh, and to do odd jobs like plumbing and electrical around the house.)  I will be redoing his kitchen and bathroom tiles for him now that I have some extra time.

So I called KLM on Saturday and got my flight delayed by a week at no additional cost.

And to add to everything, I was going to call a taxi to take me to the airport at 02.00 as I need to be there by 04.30 to book in, taxi was going to be £80.00 and here my trials riding buddy Jon was here the other day and said if I came to his place on Tuesday evening, I could kip on the couch for a few hours with the dog and cats and then he would take me to the airport.



So I guess this trip is meant to happen.


I just want to say a HUGE public thank you to everyone, from Goose for radio comms, mapwork etc, Jupiter for being an allround good guy, James "Dirty Boy" for insisting we stay over at his place in KZN and very other one of you that have had input into this ride, like Transkei directions etc.... Every offer of accommodation, food, coffee etc.

I hope to run into as many of you guys as possible on the way to say thanks or maybe ride a part of this trip together.

Cheers,

Rian.