G
GreenMamba1974
Guest
after not riding for a week and having recently fitted brand new heidies to my strom i was looking forward to testing them out.
fugly, roné and i met up near hunters retreat and decided to head out in the direction of the gamtoos river valley.
this is another small ride report of a short ride, not a true ride report, but hey, it's about having fun isn't it!
we had no route planned so moved from one place to the other dependent on the dryness of our throats and the proximity of beer to current location.
fugly had his spanking new gs800 and had promised me a ride which i was eagerly looking forward to. roné brought his versys along which i also got to try out.
so we got going and took the old cape road to the old van staden's pass. the van staden's pass has finally been upgraded and looks/and is a new road, very smooth. before van staden's pass, fugly hands over the gs800 to me.
verdict gs800:-
i like, a lot! you feel very high on the bike and the seating position is very comfortable. the knees don't bend much so your body position is upright with legs positioned like they would be if you were sitting on a basic chair. very comfortable and neutral. once you are moving the bike takes on the dimensions of a smaller bike. you feel very much in control of the movement of the bike. the view over the bars is also very good, you can see the immediate road ahead, unlike the strom or the gs1200 that feels like you have another metre of bike ahead of you while you ride. road manners were superb and although i didn't get to try her on the dirt, you only have see the grin on fugly's face to know that it is a winner. in my opinion it is the best 50/50 or dualsport bike on the market right now. bmw have got it spot on with this bike, it truly sorts out tar and dirt riding with aplomb.
getting past van stadens we decide to take a left and head down to the gamtoos river mouth and take the dirt road that runs parallel to the river. i was back on the strom and immediately felt the heidies bite into the gravel, man it feels good to have grip again. there are a series of large humps (whoops?) on this dirt road. the first one got me off guard and for the first time i got both wheels off the road. air, i got some air! awesome. the strom's suspension handled it fine. roné was behind me and said it looked like my suspension bottomed out, but it coped well and the bike landed evenly. the next couple of humps were almost as much fun as the first, i am impressed with the strom's flying skill, she doesn't seem to be too front or rear heavy.
we then carried on with the old road to humansdorp. fugly stopped to feed his gs some much need creme soda unleaded in jbay.
it was a beautiful day. pic of gamtoos river mouth.
as we pull into humansdorp, roné and i swap bikes.
verdict kawasaki versys:-
straight away, the bike feels much smaller than the strom. it is comfortable but i found the seat sloped forward, it felt like i was sliding onto the tank a bit. on the go the seat felt better. this bike is very easy to ride. it has very good manners and also feels neutral, or in other words doesn't seem to have any quirks that you have to get used to. the ride quality is good but it is more of a road bike, the suspension is not as pliable as the strom or gs. some of the harder knocks on the road had my feet bounce off the pegs once or twice, but nothing severe. although the versys and strom perform almost the same (speed/acceleration), the versys is more dynamic and always feels quicker. it has an awesome top gear that had me grinning under the helmet. no need to change down, just twist the wrist and off she goes. this is a fun bike, easy to ride and pull nicely. it also has some dual sport potential. i saw one in sedgefield recently with knobblies that looked like it had been used mostly as a dual sport machine. can't see why not. especially the smaller framed riders out there. go test a versys!
fugly and roné s take on the strom:-
they rated it for comfort and refinement. they said the strom feels slow, and i must admit, although we were all doing the same speed, the strom doesn't give you that sensation of speed. roné rated the wind protection as good while fugly being much taller got caught by the buffeting.
also, the strom does feel much larger than the other two.
we then headed to a communications tower at the top of a twisty climb with a brilliant view of the surrounding area. i don't know the name of tower or the hill but it wasn't very far from humansdorp or kareedouw.
a few pics.
a very twisty road with excellent views, a the top the gps said we were 745m above sea level. the nice thing about this spot was the 360° views.
proteas
getting hungry and thirsty it was time to graze. we got back on track and stopped at the oudebosch coffee shop. they had beer which went down very very well with a burger. fugly and roné went to go play with the bunnies.
i don't know what happens to these rodents at the end of the day, but i do know that they taste nice in a pot.
a few beers were had
the steeds
lubed and fed we then headed back to the gamtoos valley, bypassed the gamtoos ferry hotel and went around the bend up to the gamtoos eiland pub. and drank more beer accompanied by kark praat. this pub is very informal, and is very biker friendly, braai facilities and lots of space.
our petrol was getting low so we then took a slow ride back toward p.e. to go sample more beer somewhere else. after not paying attention i ended up going to out of africa, instead of some other place. on the way i stopped for petrol at the elandsriver petrol station while waiting for roné. wondering where he was i went straight to the out of africa pub, only to see him and fugly waiting for me, they rightly guessed i hadn't gone the right way. only a couple of minutes later thump and bakkie pull in and we grabbed another beer.
thump on the gs800
a few stats, overkill deluxe :biggrin:
fugly, roné and i met up near hunters retreat and decided to head out in the direction of the gamtoos river valley.
this is another small ride report of a short ride, not a true ride report, but hey, it's about having fun isn't it!
we had no route planned so moved from one place to the other dependent on the dryness of our throats and the proximity of beer to current location.
fugly had his spanking new gs800 and had promised me a ride which i was eagerly looking forward to. roné brought his versys along which i also got to try out.
so we got going and took the old cape road to the old van staden's pass. the van staden's pass has finally been upgraded and looks/and is a new road, very smooth. before van staden's pass, fugly hands over the gs800 to me.
verdict gs800:-
i like, a lot! you feel very high on the bike and the seating position is very comfortable. the knees don't bend much so your body position is upright with legs positioned like they would be if you were sitting on a basic chair. very comfortable and neutral. once you are moving the bike takes on the dimensions of a smaller bike. you feel very much in control of the movement of the bike. the view over the bars is also very good, you can see the immediate road ahead, unlike the strom or the gs1200 that feels like you have another metre of bike ahead of you while you ride. road manners were superb and although i didn't get to try her on the dirt, you only have see the grin on fugly's face to know that it is a winner. in my opinion it is the best 50/50 or dualsport bike on the market right now. bmw have got it spot on with this bike, it truly sorts out tar and dirt riding with aplomb.
getting past van stadens we decide to take a left and head down to the gamtoos river mouth and take the dirt road that runs parallel to the river. i was back on the strom and immediately felt the heidies bite into the gravel, man it feels good to have grip again. there are a series of large humps (whoops?) on this dirt road. the first one got me off guard and for the first time i got both wheels off the road. air, i got some air! awesome. the strom's suspension handled it fine. roné was behind me and said it looked like my suspension bottomed out, but it coped well and the bike landed evenly. the next couple of humps were almost as much fun as the first, i am impressed with the strom's flying skill, she doesn't seem to be too front or rear heavy.
we then carried on with the old road to humansdorp. fugly stopped to feed his gs some much need creme soda unleaded in jbay.
it was a beautiful day. pic of gamtoos river mouth.
as we pull into humansdorp, roné and i swap bikes.
verdict kawasaki versys:-
straight away, the bike feels much smaller than the strom. it is comfortable but i found the seat sloped forward, it felt like i was sliding onto the tank a bit. on the go the seat felt better. this bike is very easy to ride. it has very good manners and also feels neutral, or in other words doesn't seem to have any quirks that you have to get used to. the ride quality is good but it is more of a road bike, the suspension is not as pliable as the strom or gs. some of the harder knocks on the road had my feet bounce off the pegs once or twice, but nothing severe. although the versys and strom perform almost the same (speed/acceleration), the versys is more dynamic and always feels quicker. it has an awesome top gear that had me grinning under the helmet. no need to change down, just twist the wrist and off she goes. this is a fun bike, easy to ride and pull nicely. it also has some dual sport potential. i saw one in sedgefield recently with knobblies that looked like it had been used mostly as a dual sport machine. can't see why not. especially the smaller framed riders out there. go test a versys!
fugly and roné s take on the strom:-
they rated it for comfort and refinement. they said the strom feels slow, and i must admit, although we were all doing the same speed, the strom doesn't give you that sensation of speed. roné rated the wind protection as good while fugly being much taller got caught by the buffeting.
also, the strom does feel much larger than the other two.
we then headed to a communications tower at the top of a twisty climb with a brilliant view of the surrounding area. i don't know the name of tower or the hill but it wasn't very far from humansdorp or kareedouw.
a few pics.
a very twisty road with excellent views, a the top the gps said we were 745m above sea level. the nice thing about this spot was the 360° views.
proteas
getting hungry and thirsty it was time to graze. we got back on track and stopped at the oudebosch coffee shop. they had beer
which went down very very well with a burger. fugly and roné went to go play with the bunnies. i don't know what happens to these rodents at the end of the day, but i do know that they taste nice in a pot.
a few beers were had
the steeds
lubed and fed we then headed back to the gamtoos valley, bypassed the gamtoos ferry hotel and went around the bend up to the gamtoos eiland pub. and drank more beer accompanied by kark praat. this pub is very informal, and is very biker friendly, braai facilities and lots of space.
our petrol was getting low so we then took a slow ride back toward p.e. to go sample more beer somewhere else. after not paying attention i ended up going to out of africa, instead of some other place. on the way i stopped for petrol at the elandsriver petrol station while waiting for roné. wondering where he was i went straight to the out of africa pub, only to see him and fugly waiting for me, they rightly guessed i hadn't gone the right way. only a couple of minutes later thump and bakkie pull in and we grabbed another beer.
thump on the gs800
a few stats, overkill deluxe :biggrin:
