mazambaan

Nice reminders of the satisfaction of a dirt or gravel road ride. It would be maddening to have bought a bike just before lockdown and now I'm regretting not having taken a few long dirt rides early last week. But, in fairness, work was a little frantic and I did take pushbike rides Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday afternoon. Now I'm confined to keeping batteries charged, contemplating some maintenance and improvements while wondering if I will piss my neighbours off when I start the bikes once or twice a week.

My CT roaster didn't come through - he's got his own green bean problems with shipping and packing so had to make a last minute dash to Woollies. Bootlegger laid off plenty people I understand. Tough times.

Eish is a good word to use here methinks. When Sani was in Feb you either got properly cooked or soaked, sometimes both. We even nearly froze to death one year. The winter ones I've done have been relatively mild and Day 2 easier; Day 3 a little harder but no Heart Rate Hill. Best of luck.

I cannot buy a bike I can't pick up if it falls over.

Sad news, not survivable and he was solo, possibly spectating a canoe race below Josephine's Bridge; Canoeists saw the crash into cliffs. RIP.

There was an old joke about this. Not allowed to reboot Ver 1.0 anymore to get an improved Ver 1.1 and going a full upgrade to Ver 2.0 can be very expensive and traumatic.Obtaining a pirate copy of Ver 2.0 can also be very risky, or so I'm told. Rather go for some patches like "starting it to see if it can be sold" or "trying it for a friend" but these only have a limited operational life.

Did I read some investors suing SASOL execs for not disclosing the depths of the company's problems? My little view, Lake Charles was a vanity project, SASOL should have stuck to its SA knitting, maybe fiddle in Africa, not the first world.

I used to knock the Harley thing but then a few guys I rode dirt bikes with admitted they had Harleys and explained the attraction. It is a bit like cycling (IMHO); not the quickest or most exciting all the time, quite a bit of physical pain but great cameraderie. The people who are into it enjoy Sunday rides, weekend rides, longer tours and trips to Europe and the US; all through their Harley hoggishness. I was a little envious. Good for them.

I have one. I put it on a LR Discovery and have used it for a KTM 640 Adventure (at least 160kg) and a 525 (120kg). You could feel the 640 a little but the 525 was fine. Just a bit tedious to take off the ball hitch (needed for Thule bike rack) and put the XRamp fitting on - I wouldn't mind a combo fitting. So tedious that I bought a trailer.

If you can; what line of construction as I have quite a few friends and acquaintances in that field in NZ and growing all the time?

Oh ja, been following him since he was part of the team that rode a 950SE in the Baja 1000 and his 950 rebuild threads. The Basil description was the most detailed I have seen and explained quite a few things about FI and bike geometry that were interesting.

I found this very interesting: https://advrider.com/why-i-chose-the-690-rally-and-not-a-690-enduro-r-for-races-to-places/ Now all I need is 50 000GBP

Who is up for the NZ "Epic". Not me but my Sani partner's son has done it a few times and reckons it to be tough; technical and chilly.

One flight like this on a single engine charter stands out as we came back to Pmb into a cold front over Kokstad, no instruments. Much creeping around the hills and finally flew down the Umkomaas valley. I understood why the Pope kisses the ground; several of us pretty much did.

Amazing SV, I flew with a few charters into Swaziland with a pilot who had run a service into Lesotho from Matatiele back in the day. Very interesting guy as the other pilots said he'd lied about this age to keep flying. Was flying for Gino Steffanutti at that time. Great stories, also some slightly scary spots in Swaziland, farm strips and the one with a dip at the Big Bend Spar.

He he, must be the mad Brazilians. But who has flown into those crazy strips on hillsides in pre Chinese Lesotho? St Theresa's (I think) comes to mind, on a fairly steep hillslope (up) with a road (well, track) crossing at right angles..

Thank goodness it all ended well. I know that terrible bleaching fear (you can feel yourself go white and stiff) as I "lost" my son for about 20 minutes once on a pier as a lighty and he went "missing" as an adult after being assaulted and suffering from concussion. Very, very stressful.

Cracking the bead for sealant on my Rock Razor required a motorcycle tyre lever. Tired of lightweight tyres and getting an unfixable puncture on the bead from rocks; not even going fast (well to me I was). Just trashed an almost new Continental which made me grumpy. Almost 2 bar pressure in the thing as well.

Two from the outfield. "Agriculture, Furniture & Marmalade" by Greg Mills. It is a chronicle of just about every Southern African motor racing driver who turned a wheel, many I had not heard of. Detailed and fascinating. The tile comes from advice given to an aspirant SA racing driver going to the UK and how he should sound knowledgeable by mentioning these subjects. I can't remember who they were - it is in the book. "let my people go surfing" by yvon choinard, founder of Patagonia and (I think) the first to consider environmental sustainability and impact in his business. I cannot help but feel the world would be a great better place if more people ran their businesses like he does. Could be some self publicity if one is cynical.

Thanks Wayne & Patches particularly, Hayley, good point. Your help and time really appreciated.

Nice one. I bought something similar BUT it has only one problem. Collapsed it just doesn't fit under a dirt bike and needs a bit of sliding and lifting. So check the dimensions.

Some advice if possible please; not about the bike, sorry. A close relative intends moving to NZ as a teacher. She has done her English test and done well, has most of the other documentation and intends visiting (on a tourist visa) for a "look around" in June/July this year SA school holidays). She has also been advised to apply for registration to the NZ teaching council now and there are people who facilitate this for a fee. Her concern is that if her application for the council is picked up when she applies for a visa it will be denied so she is uncertain about applying to the council. Any ideas or help? Should she use an agency for the visa application?

I am not really an enduro rider and run my tyres just under 2bar, normal tubeless BUT it is irritating when you hammer through a rocky section only to exit with a sad wheeze as the last of the air puffs out of the tyre. Investigation (re-inflating) shows that the bead or just near it is damaged and tyre is junk. 2 or 3 like this; Grrrr. Last one was a week ago, quite new (fitted in August 2019) Continental XKing 2.4 junked over a few rocks. Now trying on new but been "in stock" for some time Rock Razor; 1kg of rubber beef, I hope.

Thanks LWB; I guess as well SAAT may have to be (beneficially) radically downsized as it may not have SAA/Mango/SAExpress as clients. I just hope (against hope) the right thing gets done. I can hear a lot of little ANC cadre ratty claws struggling to get a grip as the ship starts to sink. A really nasty question: I need to book a flight Dbn to CT for the "Argus" aka CCT. Will Mango still be around do you think?

What are your ideas/thinking/preferences for SAAT? I would have thought it would be a viable stand alone entity sold to BidVest or similar (rather not Motsepe Avaiation" for a song using money borrowed from the PIC).