My annual leave...EC, WC & NC with pillion (RR DONE!!!)

[Chrisl]

Dink sy naam is Chris, van is Visser.

Dalk Fritz Visser? Oorle Henry se pa.

 

[Namakwalander]

Dink nie sy naam is Fritz nie, maar daai naam klink ook bekend. Hy het drie kinders waarvan ek weet. Oudste is 'n tweeling, broer en suster.

 

[m0lt3n]

Ek sien hoe word die Namakwalanders se kontakte nader getrek en n nuwe bash venue geskep vir die honde!

 

[Chrisl]

Ek sien hoe word die Namakwalanders se kontakte nader getrek en n nuwe bash venue geskep vir die honde!

Ons het al n mini bash gehou op Gert du Toit se baai .................................ma toe raak die manne
se drank mos op!!! :imaposer: :imaposer:

 

[m0lt3n]

Day 18: Springbok to Kuruman
The trip was basically done, and with my broken head unit I was really not looking forward to the last bit. With 'bit' I mean near on 1500km left...
I managed to secure the head unit well with the cable ties but it did spell the end of any gravel on the way home. A pity as I would have liked to try and make a turn at Verneukpan.

Anyhow, we rode to Pofadder and had lunch there. I liked this town, it was more than I thought it will be. And when you consider that it still isnt much it means my opinion was a bit low...  :biggrin: We stopped for petrol and asked the attendant where we can get some coffee. He showed us to the Coffee shop next to the petrol station as shown in the picture. This place was flippen cool. The food wasnt much but at the back of the shop there was someones collections. I think this guy must have issues... he collected some random stuff there! cars and glasses and typewriters and so on. Weird and fun to see. Worthy of a look-see.

Next stop was Upington where I had some family. We had a brilliant big boerekos meal and stayed over a bit for most of the heat to pass. Then we had to get going again...but first i tried to get hold of Pepe. He has invited me to stay over more than once so i really would have liked to have met this friendly dog and had a coffee at another dogs (Pumba) coffee shop (also on his suggestion). Well, no answer on the phone and we decided to go, but just as a final look see we went pass the coffee shop and saw an HP2 outside. so I had to stop and in the end met Pumba. Also very friendly guy which also quickly made a call and managed to tell me what it will cost to fix my head unit.

Well of to Kuruman then. For the first time I really got a dislike in tar. It was just so boring and never-ending. Before this day I have never had a problem with tar but it just changed. My wife agreed. The tar is to boring, there is nothing to focus on. It just got no end.

Well, we stayed over in Kuruman at my father where it was nice to relax and feel at home again. He just laughed at the mass of cable ties on the bike...

The next day was again un-eventfull to Thabazimbi where I stripped the bike to determine what was due for fixing.
Basically the headunit mounting framework plus an indicator which had it wires ripped clean off (picture). Since then the head unit is fixed but not the indicator. Was sad to see my bike headless!

One more update due from me on this RR, a summary

 

[m0lt3n]

Summary

In the end we were very happy with the trip we did. Its strange how the most unpleasant experiences turns out to be the highlights of a trip and it was the same with this trip. I will definitely try to get a better hang of sand riding for a future trip but I will try it again. Maybe less of it but not nothing of the sand monster.

I have been asked what would we have done differently so have put a lot of thought in this, so will try to list some of the mistakes made:
uhm
actually I have to nitpick, we are happy with the trip and how it turned out.
-i would say do the trip the other way round, we had reasons for doing it the way we did but debatable it could be better to end of in the green EC rather than the dry Northern cape.
-Then the bike: perfect, I would maybe have said the adventure would have been better, but thats also not so straightforward. moolah moolah is still a factor, doesnt help much you have a older heavier bike just to afford it with a slightly better suspension and bigger petrol tank.
-Gear: I got the Enduristan bags, they are flippen strong and durable, but I would not buy them again. Without removable inner bags I constantly had to remove the whole setup. routine but stupid. Rather get the ATG.
-I thought my ass was hard enough from doing a lot of mileage constantly and left my gel seat home as it may be in the way = stupid decision.
-Wunderlich windscreen extender=waste of money, putting the windscreen more upright prevented buffeting for the pillion plus 80% of the trip was at speeds below 100kmph.
-do something about the stupid windscreen mountings that kept rattling loose.
-start of with maximum wind protection ie side wind deflectors 1200gsa style.

Other tips and opinions from my noob perspective
Do some planning of the trip, dont just think you will sort it out once you get there. This is not a trip to be repeated tomorrow just because you missed something. Its a rare opportunity and you will only be able to make the most of it if you at least have a decent idea of where you are going. Also do get communications with pillion, on a trip like this there is a lot of slow speed driving where the bluetooth sets actually work very well, plus you dont always want to take of you helmet so that you can communicate while you are taking photos.
In hindsight I think I could have had my tyres at an even lower pressure in the thick sand, i dont know...maybe it would have helped. (I was at 1 bar)
Oh, and do take a compressor with, especially for an 1200gs with tyre pressure sensors. A lot of the garages cant help you with air.
Chargers was also a constant issue. We were taking photos with phones, we had the bluetooth sets plus the gopro to keep charged every day. Make sure that you have at least one charge-point on the bike for all of the gadgets.
Then I went overboard on my gps. I do think I should have maybe paid a bit less for it but it really did proof to be invaluable with T4A. Its just comfortable to not have to worry about the route. especially if you have the mountain passes saved as favorites, super handy.
And then try to check carefully the price of second hand gear you buy in the trade and buy section. I think its stupid not to be able to tell the people to lower their prices out of decency. Whatever, I paid to much for some of the stuff I only realized later.

The route we were happy with. we managed to focus on mountain passes and ended up doing a lot of them. We did 3 of the 4 longest passes which were  1Prince alfred, 2Gamkaskloof adn 4Baineskloof passes. (3rd is van reenen). we also did the oldest which was Franschoek pass. But to be honest you start to loose track of all the passes you have done which is sad. Something we also noticed when we got back in the platteland was the dirty air (photo). So remember to enjoy the clean air when you do this route...I think that is the biggest bonus. One must also remember to check your service interval and plan for it with a trip like this (pics of distance before and after-after with the cable tie makeshift fix).

And then thats the end of my ride report. I tried to update it during the trip but it ended up being a lot of time wasted. And to do it after the trip is also a lot of effort with life happening. So I have not advice on this, I think I will not do such an in debth ride report again though. I did also notice how positive feedback on the ride report motivates me to keep on writing, I will be making sure in future to comment on other ride reports. Some behind the scenes photos attached  :thumleft:

I have still got a lot of GoPro footage to work through, but that will still take a long while to complete.

Fluit fluit, my storie is uit.

 

[Namakwalander]

Knap gedaan. Baie mooi RR hierdie. Net jammer dit het jou so lank gevat om klaar te maak.

 

[Jackol.]

Very well written ride report! Emjoyed it a lot!!!

I do understamd that a ride report like this will take up a lot of time. Nice to know the details! I must admit sometimes I look at the words and read the pics.    ot:

 

[BMWPE]

Very nice ride report  :thumleft:
Thank you

 

[DRAZIL]

enjoyable from beginning to end  :thumleft: :thumleft:

 

[JACOVV]

Very very nice.  So sorry it's done - what must I read from now on??  :biggrin:

 

[m0lt3n]

Thanks for the kind words guys!

I understand that I have a duty to my fellow dogs to provide reading material and will start planning on the next adventure as soon as possible!
A problem may pop up in getting my wife and boss to understand this as well though...

 

[Ian in Great Brak River]

I really enjoyed your RR very much, your sense of accomplishment at the end is clear to see.

... and yes, your photo's did get better and better. 

Thanks for sharing.

8)

 

[Namakwalander]

I still visit here from time to time to get ideas for my trip comming up in a few months.

m0lt3n, when will you next ride report be available?

 

[Dirt Junkie]

Nice RR thanks for sharing, I can see allot of time went into posting this RR  :thumleft:

 

[GIDEON]

Orgasmatories  :thumleft:

 

[DikZol]

All I can say is RESPECT to both you and your pillion.  Not sure how I missed this RR before, but what an awesome read.  A trip of a lifetime.  It seems you rode all the trips I have done the past few years in one go and then some more!  Please post future RR's of your trips.  You are clearly very humble in your riding abilities looking at the terrain you have covered with pillion and heavily laden pig!  This RR will be a great reference for future rides planned. Thank you...thank you...thank you!!!

 

[Vis Arend]

I also missed this RR.  ???  Saw it today and went through it in one go.  Very nice reported on daily activities and nice phodies.  Very good tips at the end of your report. 

We travel two up all the time and coms between rider and pillion is a must.  I've been warned of many things by my pillion that I otherwise would never noticed.  I also fitted a compressor direct to my bike, no need to pack away or dig out when needed.  It is just a matter of connect to valve and hit the play button.  :biggrin: 

Don't let the sand monster get to you, with time you will overcome it.  Sand is a mind thing, as soon as you see it, you tend to freeze up.  I am not an expert on sand riding and tyre pressure, but the lowest I go on sand on the big 1200 is 1.5 front and 1.8 at the back.  Take it slow in the beginning.  Look in the far distance, keep power on the rear wheel and relax your arms and hands on the steering.  I found that speeds between 40 and 60 km/h is comfy for me, depending on the sand tracks.  Not to hi-jack your wonderful RR, here is a picture of us doing some sand.  Once you overcome your  fear for sand, your trip becomes a pleasant one.  Don't be mistaken, we still have our odd offs on sand, but with time we even learnt how to fall on sand.  :biggrin:





Once again, thank you very much for a wonderful RR.  Safe traveling.  :thumleft:

 

[m0lt3n]

Dankie vir die lekker comments weer. Motiveer my om die paar videotjies wat ek het saam te verwerk vir ietsie kykbaar!

Ek het die laaste tyd weer bietjie meer sand gery, kort stukkies maar my self vertroue groei darm. Daai sand in jou fotos vis arend lyk rof. Soos ons gery het. Ek weet steeds nie of ek dit beter sal kan doen volgende keer...maar eendag sal ek seker maar weer daai monster moet aanvat.

 

[punisher]

epic
thank you