BenReaper

Also not a big fan of gasket maker for this very reason, will only use the absolute minimum when needed. Did not know of the gasket material being sold at auto part stores, thanks for the tip, will go get me some once we're allowed out again.

Why do you want to go with a single speed specific hub? There are single speed kits available with spacers and cogs to convert a normal hub to single speed use. I got my parts from Rapidé to do this.

Same place as yesterday, no further than my stoep.... Was a nice and cool session with a bit of drizzle coming down.

Het gou gekyk Bennie en met n 2.2 Maxxis Ikon agter op pas my 29er se wiel net-net in. Ek sal egter aanbeveel dat jy n slick of net n breë padfiets band opsit. Daai knobblies gaan jou mal maak.

Also dusted of the IDT this morning for an hour spinning session.

Will have a look at those. Dusted of the IDT this morning and spent an hour spinning and watching a rediscovered YouTube channel MAD TV (Motorcycle Adventure Dirtbike TV). A couple of good and entertaining overland adventures rides here.

Good on you Vetseun![emoji1690] So contrary to popular belief your are not the only cyclist in Bloem?[emoji6]

Someone had to go out for some essentials today, so I volunteered. Was great getting out for a quick ride, only downside now is what was supposed to satisfy my hunger for riding now has me yearning for more....

Droo is asking some of the right questions, what have you got, rim and hub, at the moment, but also what is your weight? If OEM hubs are good you can only upgrade the hoops and save some money, but a good pair of hoops(for you) might also depend on your weight. Errr, sorry about that shat....[emoji6]

Different strokes for different folks. IMO there is definitely a difference and you'll feel it right of the bat, but only with proper analysis like mentioned above will you know if it's fitting for you or not. In my experience if you're well honed in spinning, like most roadies, your going to be better of with round, if you have a punchy pedal stroke(wich is the case with most weekend warriors) you'll possibly benefit from oval. If you're not planning on doing a bike setup try testing both to get the feel for them and decide for yourself what you LIKE.

What he said is a very good option. Sure it's easier just buying any carbon set from a dealer, but if you do enough research and especially on pros and cons on certain parts (different rims, hubs) you can build up the perfect wheelset for your personal needs.

Will definitely hit you up when I'm that side. Only backroad I know round there is Montagu Pass, have only done it in my bakkie, but have it on my bucket list for both bike and bicycle.

Still do yes. It's my lighter duty trail bike for playing around with my boy on his KLX.

Anytime bud, love that road by bike and bicycle. [emoji106] Was headed up there new year's day with my DR, stopped about halfway up to grab a pic and realized this little Bushpiggy was leaking oil out the one side casing so I turned around and was lucky to make it back without any engine damage.

Hey guy's, how was the first day of lockdown? So this arrived yesterday afternoon. Unfortunately had loads of stuff to finish off at work and came home past 7pm. Could only go for a short spin in town and then had to stare at it everytime I came out the front door today. [emoji846][emoji853]

The red ambulance took me through the last 60km's of the Argus. [emoji603][emoji106]

Went to go test my friends V-Strom 650 this evening, just for comparison. The Strom is like a couch, moerse comfortable with the screen perfectly positioned height and distance wise to block of wind. It has power in all the right places and pulls great with the wife in the back. But I can't see myself being comfortable offroad on it. The reach to the bars is a bit far to my liking and that massive front fairing......as nice as it makes the bike on road I can't see myself taking on technical offroad terrain with that. I know I said I'd probably be doing mostly gravel road touring, but I was spoiled with taking the GS out first. I did a small gravel stint with the GS and felt moerse comfortable taking it up to speed, the bike was very stable and I could break the back wheel loose a bit around the turns like I do with my DR. The GS felt much more controllable and nippy on the steering than the Strom. @Steven Knoetze (sk27) get now what you said. The V-Strom will make a great tourer that will chew up the km's on the tar, but will most likely be horrible offroad, especially 2up. The F800GS will not be as comfortable on road but will be perfect offroad, even 2up and will do very good over technical terrain. First "upgrade" will definitely be a deflector on top of the windshield, the normal screen screen is just a tad short.

The owner did give me a short history lesson on the bike over the phone. First owner was a German man who had a stable of these, he used them to do tours with foreign tourists. So they racked up alot of miles, but were presumably not thrashed around. This one is now on 74k km's. When the German man got rid of the bikes the now owner and a friend of his baught two of them. Apparently the German did a fork rebuild before selling to current owner. I am able to get the bike at about R10k less than average price. That'll leave me with a bit of moolah left to fix up what might be wrong or do preventive maintenance, for example fork seals and neck bearings and maybe chain and sprockets. I'm a member of the WD forum so will ask a bit on there aswell for what to look out for and when certain things should be done.

The GSA and the newer AT are definitely on par. They are however out of budget for me.

Quietly by myself. [emoji6]It might've sounded like moaning to those around. [emoji16]

Went to go have a look and test drive a F800GS this afternoon. Had the wife along aswell to check seat sizing. It's a well used, but well maintained bike for a very good price. Just about what I expected handling and power wise and the seat height is just about perfect for me. I'm still going to go test my mates V-Strom this afternoon, but I might be sold on the GS.

Went to have a look at that BMW last night, hadn't realized it was a GSA and not the normal GS. Only sat on the bike to get a feel for it and I must say it's quite comfortable. The seat is quite high, I couldn't quite put my feet flat on the ground with sneakers on, but seeing as the normal GS models I'm interested in have a slightly lower seat height it should be perfect. I have an inseam of 870mm just for reference.

There is a very neat, clean, low mileage 1000 Strom available now for a decent price. I probably won't be wandering across our borders soon but the trips I have in mind do consist of places like Die Hell, Baviaans Kloof and some Karoo riding. I won't be doing any GS Trophy type stuff soon. I'm basically just a gravel road guy. If we go anywhere with the bakkie I'll check to see if there's any gravel roads to get there by. As other mountain bikers will know, some of the best views are found off the beaten path. I am still keeping my DR for playing in the bush or hopefully doing the odd funduro soon but need something reliable with a push button start to able to hop on and go almost anywhere on a whim. Both my DR and my SRAD have left me stranded or limping home more than once in 2019 and it's become really frustrating. Ek is moeg gevkn sukkel met die goed!

Saw a few other bikes from this shop aswell, but I'm a hands on guy for the most part, I'd like to be able to go have a look and touch and possibly test if I was interested in a bike.Those guy's are on the other side of the country.

I realize I will be limited for offroad riding with a V-Strom, just not sure yet how much as we haven't done any real offroad touring yet so not sure what were in for.The V-Strom has always popped up in my price bracket. As mentioned above we've only ever ventured offroad on the DR and although it was a horrible ride with the bike I still maintain for that type of riding it was a great bike. I'm hoping the 800gs will give us a more comfortable and powerfull but equally ruggedly ready experience as the DR. I guess I'm hoping if I buy an older V-Strom we will manage to get buy until I can afford something better equipped. If that makes sense....