Page 48 - March Edition 2025

By
Gary “SpongeBob ICanFlyHighPants” Smith

Wherein we ride for two days through the well known Baviaans Kloof on an assortment of
Dual Purpose bikes and take a little unknown route back for the return journey but the
unknown route has a little known bump in it that causes us to become quite well known in
a completely unknown part of the Karoo.

“Hey, this thing is not bad at all,” I demonstrates exactly where the dust cloud so that I could see the
thought to myself in about the fine line between a full enduro bike tops of their helmets and roughly
middle of the second day, “I am and a Dual Sporter lies. make out the road surface ahead of
keeping up reasonably well with me just in case. And then we got our
two guys in front of me.” At the lunch stop on the second wake-up call.
day, as we were starting to make
Why I was so pleased to be our run for home after many hours Coming around a slight right
maintaining my point just on the of some quite technical stuff, one of hander kink I momentarily lost sight
edge of their dust cloud was the tour leaders had casually of them through the turn. As the
because we were way out in the mentioned, “Its mostly fast straight road straightened out I registered a
Klein Karoo on fast, open, middle- dirt roads from here now, with a few much taller than usual dust cloud in
of-the-range dirt roads, and I was little drainage ridges. There is one front of me. As I was processing this
on a whacking great bus of the bigger one somewhere, can't quite thought I suddenly saw the road in
latest Honda Varedero, their remember where and we don't front disappear into a river crossing
1000cc V-Twin engined dual know if it's been filled in yet or not, drop off before me, with a quite
sporter adventure bike, but the two but if we come to it we will stop and substantial climb out the other side.
guys ahead of me were on much warn the rest of you as you Obviously by this time it was way
more suited enduro mounts. One of approach.” So much for good too late to do anything as, if I had
them was a KTM SuperEnduro, the intentions. climbed on the brakes at that late
orange Marques specialist stage, I would have hit the bottom of
machine for Roof of Africa and As we took off there were a few the ditch with the wheels locked or
Paris / Dakar support and back-up minor rain ruts, nothing to slow ploughed into the face of the other
teams, and the other was a proper down for but just enough to get all bank with full brakes on, neither a
Honda XR650 big bore off-roader the bikes bunny-hopped airborne desirable situation for remaining in
kitted with a pile of high speed for a second or two as you hit them good control of a very heavy fast
aftermarket stuff like long range at 100km/h plus. All great fun. And, moving motorcycle. So, on instinct I
IMS Rallye tank, PRO-Circuit pipe as is the norm in situations like this, stood up on the pegs, kept the
and full knobbys. They were the two we all dropped into auto pilot mode power supply smooth and even,
ideal specialist machines suited for after an hour or two and were just and prepared to hit the bottom of
this type of riding we were doing but paneling along semi “brain out” the ditch and drive hard up the bank
t h e m u c h m o r e m u l t i - t a s k enjoying the wonders of being out on the other side to keep the
orientated (read tarmac loving) in the glorious landscape like this, machine pointing straight and
Varedero was hanging in there just riding modern machinery that can forward for the inevitable “bit-
fine. Okay so it wasn't a race and handle anything our limited abilities bigger-than-we-had-just-been-
we weren't going full bore, but we could throw at them. I was keeping doing” bunny hop out the other
were still maintaining a good 100 to station on the two speed merchants side. I hopefully assumed that the
120km/h speeds. And then it in front of me on the Super Enduro road didn't take a sharp turn
happened. That little once-off and the XR650, sitting just 100 or immediately after the crest of the
incident that so accurately so meters back on the edge of their rise. It didn't. What it did do though,

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LHR Motorcycle Magazine Issue 11 March 2025