To Hogsback from Sedgefield - the real story

[letsgofishing]

I left home at 8:00 on Thursday morning as I had an appointment near The Crags at 10:00 (how convenient)! From The Crags, I took the old road down to Natures Valley, where I stopped alongside the lagoon for a bite to eat. From there, I followed the old road to Coldstream. I've lived in the Garden Route for more than 12 years, but have never ridden the Bloukrans Pass - man, it's really beautiful and a must to do in this part of the world. Yes, I know it's tar, but we're Dual Sport riders after all!

One of the ancient Yellowwoods on the way down into Nature's Valley.

My lunch spot alongside the lagoon.

The Groot river on the way out...

...and looking downstream.

Top of the Groot river pass loking down onto Nature's Valley.

A beautifull little glade on the Bloukrans pass.

Some of the huge Yellowwoods along the pass.

The Bloukrans river.

The old Bloukrans river bridge marking the boundary between the Southern and Eastern Cape.

 

[logie]

Beautiful piccies! (Photo's... not Jean-Luc  ;D)

 

[Ektoknbike]

eish. Ons het hom seker so 'n half-uur na jou gery. Iets besonders!

;D ;D

 

[letsgofishing]

Then it was onto the N2 to PE with a horrible crosswind that so often blows along this stretch making for a tedious ride. Watty has very kindly arranged for me to stay over at a friend's home in Colleen Glen just outside PE. If you're reading this, thank you Mary Ann and Carlos for you generous hospitality.
I arrived round about 4:00, had a shower and cracked the first cold one of the day. At about 5:00. Ektoknbike. Piksteel and Kobus (sorry, I've forgotten your forum name) arrived. We bought some meat and had a braai that evening accompanied by some great wine that Etoknbike had very kindly arranged to have delivered to PE! GSholic and Watty arrived and we enjoyed a great evening. Sorry there are no pics, but my camera takes really bad night-time photies :-[

Next morning, GSholic arrived at  6:00 and we rode a scenic route to the Truck Stop just outside PE. There I met the other Wild Dogs for Watty's planned route to Hogsback. We left at 7:30 and proceeded past Addo to ride the Zuurberg Pass. Watty took a bit of a tumble on one of the loose marble-covered corners, but no real harm was done to bike or rider. The pass was really awesome and a HUGE tourbus full of tourists nearly took us out coming around a corner - how a bus of that size is allowed on a narrow gravel pass is beyond me. We stopped at a Prote Hotel at the top of the pass for a break and proceeded on our merry way. At one of the way points, we tunred left through a farm gate, but a few hundred meters later, the track that was clearly shown on the GPS was totally overgrown, so back to the "main" road.

We were due to meet up with Trailrider and SCP, but Watty recieved an SMS that they had encounterd a locked gate near one of the waypoint, had to go another route and had arrived at Hogsback already! Further on, I was riding in front of KTM Jedi (man, that guy can really ride a bike!) and suddenly I couldn't see him in my rear view mirror. I turned back to find him taking the front wheel off his950. I had a compressor, and soon we were back on the road. A couple of k's further we stop for a break and he says that there's a horrible noise coming from his clutch cover - either a clutch spring or one of the plates had broken. Eish! He was riding with his Dad (KTMjedi Snr) - they called home and arranged for his Mom to bring a car and trailer with his Enduro bike on and meet us at Somerset East! CTD bravely offerd to tow him there - about 15km. Don't have a pic - I was too embarrased to show a GS towing a Katoom

Outside Adelaide it was back onto dirt, but we detoured around the Katberg pass due to receiving a message from Trailrider that one section was really rocky causing them to have to unload their bikes and push them up! (confidentially, other dogs who rode it said it wasn't that bad ) I came round a corner to find Watty stopped with a loooong snake slithering past him into the bush. He said it was a cobra and that it had reared up as he approached it! The road was badly potholed and very dusty - after overtaking 2 bakkies, we came across a grader in front throwing up so much dust that you couldn't see more tan 10m in front and there was no room to pass. Hitting the tar again, we headed for Hogsback and arrived there just after 5:00 - nearly 10 hours in the saddle.
A big thank you to Watty for leading us all safely there!

The pack assembling.

Along the Zuurberg pass.

View from near the top.

Left, right or straight?

Beautiful views.

Approaching Hogsback.

 

[Watty]

......  A couple of k's further we stop for a break and he says that there's a horrible noise coming from his clutch cover - either a clutch spring or one of the plates had broken. Eish! He was riding with his Dad (KTMjedi Snr) - they called home and arranged for his Mom to bring a car and trailer with his Enduro bike on and meet us at Somerset East! CTD bravely offerd to tow him there - about 15km. Don't have a pic - I was too embarrased to show a GS towing a Katoom

Ha ... but I have several !  > > > >

 

[newguy]

Ha ... but I have several !  > > > >

;D ;D ;D

 

[Elmo]

......  A couple of k's further we stop for a break and he says that there's a horrible noise coming from his clutch cover - either a clutch spring or one of the plates had broken. Eish! He was riding with his Dad (KTMjedi Snr) - they called home and arranged for his Mom to bring a car and trailer with his Enduro bike on and meet us at Somerset East! CTD bravely offerd to tow him there - about 15km. Don't have a pic - I was too embarrased to show a GS towing a Katoom

Ha ... but I have several !  > > > >

What do you think it is ?

 

[letsgofishing]

Apparently a clutch spring disintegrated - a TSB was issued about this, but the dealer failed to check!

 

[KTMjedi]

Hi Guys, 1 of the bolts holding the clutch springs in came out and was spinning around inside the cluch cover. After being towed to Somerset East I removed the cover and took out the bolt and tightend the rest of the bolts as they too were all loose. I would have been good to go, however the bolt had shave the inside of the clutch cover and there was no way of getting all metal filings out besides I could only find half the clutch spring, just wasn't worth taking the chance. I really had bad luck on that day....flat tire then the bolt coming out ..damn spoilt the weekend a bit, but hey as they say things happen for a reason?
Anyway spoke to KTM and there has been a release about this problem however this only came out a few weeks ago and my bike was serviced just before this...just my luck.

 

[Ama ride ride]

Hi Guys, 1 of the bolts holding the clutch springs in came out and was spinning around inside the cluch cover. After being towed to Somerset East I removed the cover and took out the bolt and tightend the rest of the bolts as they too were all loose. I would have been good to go, however the bolt had shave the inside of the clutch cover and there was no way of getting all metal filings out besides I could only find half the clutch spring, just wasn't worth taking the chance. I really had bad luck on that day....flat tire then the bolt coming out ..damn spoilt the weekend a bit, but hey as they say things happen for a reason?
Anyway spoke to KTM and there has been a release about this problem however this only came out a few weeks ago and my bike was serviced just before this...just my luck.

I speak under correction but I think B.V had similar problem on his new 990. If correct then you should give the involved KTM dealer a wakker word klap.

 

[KTMjedi]

Well this is the thing....the dealer in question is the one you would really expect to know everything about these things. I should include the weekends cost into the claim  . KTM really should have a KTM-on-call similar to BMW....why not, its now their 2nd biggest seller (adventure market) and at R116K for the 990 not a long way off the BMW! Hell I would consider paying in a rand or 2 for the service!

 

[GIDEON]

Nice

 

[Eisbein]

LGF, me, SnapCracklePop, Trailrider and Toktokkie decided to start our seperate journeys together.

Trailrider, SCP and Toktokkie were going to be slightly more 'rustig' than the tight schedule that LGF and I was on.

We decided to go from Alice to the R345, through a little bit of Dubbeldrift and then out close to Ecca pass (and Grahamstown).
From there LGF and me would shoot through on the N2 and SCP, TR and TT would go to the coast and camp the night.

We ended up at Pedi (about 70k's from Grahamstown, but we enjoyed the ride and the scenery).
The road from ALice to the Dubbeldrift 'main gate' was as bad as I remembered it from me and Vicky's April holiday - lots of
potholes and ditches and furrows all over the show.

I didn't take too many photos as I was leading and didn't want to slow everyone down.

Just after the Dubbeldrift main entrance though the roads got better and I could shoot ahead and set up a photo or three:

Everyone making their own 'Stofstreep':

Letsgofishing on his way past:

SnapCracklePop:

Trailrider:

Toktokkie:

A little while later we were consulting Toktokkie's GPS - everyone just happen to stop like this, so I couldn't resist
taking the photo:

At Pedi we said our goodbyes and made our well wishes and me and LGF were off for the 1st stop (breakfast) at Grahamstown.
A random photo on the way there on the N2:

After that it was wind clobbering us on the N2 past PE.
We decided to try and get some life back into our souls by doing Bloukrans.
What an awesome pass. I will never get tired of it.
The smell of ferns, the coolness, the river, the soft and green vegitation. What a blast.

An inride photo before LFG's rear tyre go flat:

One of the places where you cross the river:

We also ran into Oppad (or rather he ran into us) in Bloukrans pass. How awesome is it to have fellow Wilddogs looking out for
each other ? Beeeeeg thumbs up!

After LGF's flat rear we decided to not risk 'Kom se pad' and rather went straight to his house in Sedgefield.

Coffee at his house, coffee at TR's house (went to download my photos there) and a very nice supper, along with a warm
and very comfortable bed at my aunt and uncle in Kleinbrak and my day ran out...

The next morning I only left them at 11:30. Made my leisurely way down the N2. I wanted to do Gysmans, but the road
from Heidelberg side to Suurbraak was closed, so I ended up taking a scenic ride to the Uilnes in Caledon, having coffee there
and then off home via Villiersdorp and Franschoekpass.

A very succesfull bash! I had a great time!

Thanks for all the riding buddies in the various stages. Every single Wilddog that I've shared the roads with are people
that I would go on a ride with again any day!


Thanks Boertjie and Mountainboy for waiting for me in Buffeljags so that I didn't have to ride into the night on my own.

Mr and Mrs Yellowfever, Lihan, Boertjie and MOuntainboy for the company to Hogsback

TR, SCP, LGF, Geoff, DieterJ and BMWPE for the Saturday morning explore - LGF for very cool company later the day - like I said:
Next time we do the irresponsible thing

EVERYONE for making the evening a night to remember for a long time to come.
Briv and the hosts for the excellent catering.

The mods and owners who made it possible.

Michnus, Somewhere-els and Watty (and the others I've missed) for organising.

LGF, TR, SCP and Toktokkie for the company from Hogsback.

I like this forum and its people.

:thumbsup:

 

[letsgofishing]

Some nice photies there, Eisbein - thanks for posting!

 

[surf]

9/11 on check your pic, now see the one I took more than a year ago ;D



any similarities

9/11 of

 

[Eisbein]

Nice!

;D

 

[Slainte Mhaith]

.

 

[letsgofishing]

Where's the link to your pic?

 

[Trailrider]

but we detoured around the Katberg pass due to receiving a message from Trailrider that one section was really rocky causing them to have to unload their bikes and push them up! (confidentially, other dogs who rode it said it wasn't that bad )

Nope, we never unloaded and Katberg never was in Watty's route. ;D Actually we got lost so many times I wonder if we're talking about the same road at all.

Nice report LGF! ;D ;D ;D

 

[letsgofishing]

9/11 on check your pic, now see the one I took more than a year ago ;D



any similarities

9/11 of

You were a year early for the bash?

Cool, Slainche - for some reason, the pic didn't load the first time!