BenReaper

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....

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....

Will keep you posted. I'm 1,79m tall and weight in at 101kg, my wife is about 1,76 and pretty close weight wise. To give you an idea here we are on the DR before the 2018 Canola run, the first and last offroad trip we did together as we realized this is not exactly a 2up bike.

The Triumphs look like great bikes and a great contender for the GS, but unfortunately they are mostly out of my price range. I did see an older V-Strom 1000 for a good price this morning. Would be a great bike to get by on for a year or three until I can afford to upgrade to a DL1000xt.

Have contacted two dealers this morning whom advertised bikes in my price range and both were unfortunately gone already.The others I see are either unfinanceable or out of my price range.......or in Gauteng. The missus and I are going to go have a look at a friends 800gs this afternoon to get a feel for it and check how it is for us comfort wise. Also going round to another friend who owns a V-Strom to have a look at that aswell. Think this will let us distinguish which would be a better suited option for us. I am however starting to rethink my decision in the light of the uncertainty of what impact the Covid-19 virus might have on our economy in the near future.

I've spoken too a buddy who has owned the F800GS for the past three years and he has nothing but praises for the bike. I would however like to hear from others aswell who might have some experience with owning these bikes or other options regarding these bikes.

Speaking of, I'm still a year off from buying something around R100k in the adventure market. I've not much interest in the GS 1200 or KTM's, although these are the benchmark bike's I'm looking for something cheaper maintenance wise in the long run. The Super Tenere has been top of my list with the V-Strom trailing shortly behind, and most recently the Honda Crosstourer has caught my attention. That said I have a itch and can't see myself waiting another year to scratch it. So decided to look for something in the R60k bracket for now. Also keeping in mind whatever I buy will need to do 2up comfortably and at highway speed (neither of which my DR600 is capable of). This has me now looking at older models like the V-Strom 650 and Transalp 650/700. But I'm leaning pretty hard towards the F800GS as of late.

Nice!!! Almost baught a 883 Iron myself over the weekend, but like they say if you snooze you loose. Only considered it as it was a great deal. Probably for the best that I mist it though as I've actually had my sight set on a adventure bike for a long time now.

Lekker bike you got there. Moerse upgrade from the KLR, even though that was a lekker bike in its own way.Many safe kilometers dude.[emoji1690]

We do indeed! [emoji108] If you go west you can ride in desert like karoo surroundings, if you go north you get beautiful bushveld, if you go east you can enjoy almost rainforest like habitat and down south we have the beautiful fynbos. Just don't go to the middle (Freestate) where it's mostly dry and flat and boring. [emoji87]

Thanks dude.[emoji1690]

A bit late, but here's a few shots from the past weekends CTCT. I nearly died. [emoji2357]