sani pass

[Guest agteros]

FYI

 

Glorious downhill on the way back! kilometers of doging rocks with no pedalling invovled! 'twas great!

[Sepia]

Hi Agteros

Should I have new discs fitted for this downhill?

Is there any truth in the brakes overheating??????

[Pappa Bear]

my juicy 7s overheated...... Had to give the brakes a break two or three times...... Took our group 5 hours up and 1:20 down from an to the hotel

[Guest agteros]

Hi Agteros

Should I have new discs fitted for this downhill?

Is there any truth in the brakes overheating??????

 

I did it with cable disk brakes, and a dash of sensibility, but it still was huge fun. You rather decide the status of your brakes (disks/pads) yourself

[Guest agteros]

@Pappa Bear, you were on the brakes too much But, jokes aside, You'll have to modulate the brakes a bit to keep them going on the way down. Nothing hectic really, just some real world science I guess.

 

Here are some pics I took on the way up when I did the Sani Transfrontier in 2008: https://community.bikehub.co.za/topic/28281-sani-pass-transfrontier-mountain-bike-epic/page__hl__sani+transfrontier

 

Route profile, together with speed graph, race time etc all in that post

[David Marshall]

I came down (rain and slippery) in my 2wd bakkie on 20 Dec last year. Morning temp was 4.5 deg C(December?) and the wind howling. Had some white knuckle moments but it was not too bad. Would have felt safer on a MTB though! There is space to allow vehicles to pass on the bends but I saw very little traffic anyway. The altitude (for me) was a killer though, after three days up there I had to go onto cortisone to sort out my inflamed lungs.

[Mojoman]

Have not cycled it but did take my Sani up the Sani Pass (had to be done!), we got lucky, after almost a week of rain in Feb 2 years back the morning dawned bright and sunny and the pics did not do justice to the spectacular views going up (although as the driver I was more interested in staying on the road, the only let down was all the hype about going up the pass, when in actual fact Breedts Nek can be more of a challenge sometimes! The road was in good conditon):

Edited April 29, 2011 by Mojoman

[The Crazy German]

Its a nice ride challenging but doable. Rode it on the MTB maybe walked 200m towards the end so don't ge frightened by the claims you need to walk 7k's. I am rather heavy and rather unfit and I managed so its possible to ride most of it. Nice thing would be to continue after the pass and break the 3.000m mark, sadly had to abandone that as 500m from the top all hell broke loose and I had to take shelter in the pub.

 

Most importnat thing bring clothes for wet weather, check your brakes take some drinks and pace yourself.

 

For the downhill if brakes overheat cool them with water either from a stream or you bottle its maybe not 100% good for them but it works magic and the steam looks rather cool as well.

 

No worries to go alone make sure you leave before the daytripper jeeps and let them be your back up if needed.

 

Enjoy tha ride

[FC&P2C]

Did sani in december from himeville hotel and back. Took 4 hours up and 2 hours down. Coming down from lesotho post to sa post only took 13 minutes on my All Mountain. Had to replace rear pads as it was wet the whole day.

Awesome day out and safe to do alone.

Met a Dutch couple at the top who was touring RSA and lesotho on bicycles. They were sh1tting bricks for the decent! See pic of their touring bikes.

[The Drongo]

my juicy 7s overheated...... Had to give the brakes a break two or three times...... Took our group 5 hours up and 1:20 down from an to the hotel

 

Dude.

 

A picnic!

 

3:49 UP

00:55 DOWN

 

My brakes never overheated.

[The Drongo]

Hi Guys

 

Looking for some information please.

 

I will be in the drakensberg close to the end of may. Now one of my goals while im down there is to do the Sani pass.

 

Now on this subject i will be doing this alone as none of the people i know can take leave in that period.

 

The question i have is. would you recomend doing it alone, i have contacted the border post and they do not have a problem letting me go through alone ( well that was according to the lady at the border post which asked if my MTB was licensed )

 

And do you have any tips or info that i might find helpfull?

 

 

Question 2

 

what other places are there to ride. very eager

 

Thanks

 

1. Do It Dude...

 

The UP is worth the DOWN vvv

 

2. KAMBERG VALLEY AREA

 

Go to Glengarry Caravan park, get a board for your bike, some directions and RIDE!

Edited April 29, 2011 by The Drongo

[neillp]

Thanks for all the tips

 

getting rather excited about this now, less then a month to go.

[Flemish Lion]

Speak to Edmund (ZAPPA) from Sani Spoors on 082 299 5234 for trails.

 

There is also a small bike shop in Underberg on the road to Sani Pass from Underberg - look for a garden service place on your left about 100m from the Shell.

 

I went up without a passport (forgot mine) a few years ago - but there were 6 of us and lukcily they couldn't count that well.

 

When I rode up we had to walk the last 1,5 kms as the wind was blowing like mad - it was COLD on top.

 

Hope for a clear day!

[HaydenWilson]

Hey!

 

I was there over the weekend (Splashy! wooo!) and it was seriously windy and quite wet in the late afternoon, was hiking halfway up the pass and got caught in the rain . so if you are going to hit it try and do it early! beautiful place tho! i saw quite a few mountain bikers heading up from himeville so i am sure you will be able to meet up with a crowd there. also as you drive into underberg just before the spar there is a sign for mountain biking trails, and if you go to the underberg info centre you can get a free pocket guide for the area that lists a few seperate mountain bike trails to do.

[zappa]

Hi Neillp

 

Give me a shout when in Himeville, maybe can ride with you depending on life in general. It is flipping cold so bring warm and wet gear.

Edited April 29, 2011 by zappa

[neillp]

Zappa

 

Cool i will thank you