Gravel, dust and fun! GS ride report.

Thanks Etienne and friends.. another great ride!

Briefing..


The usual ritual before we started the first gravel section:


Ride leader Etienne making sure that new members, Ewald & Malanie, know how the ABS switch works:


High-fives to Ewald & Malanie who joined the Club Friday night and took the step to do their first GS ride:
See, it wasn't that difficult! Well done!

Easy water crossing.. a lot shallower than the previous time we were there!


So Muddy went back … to do it again, and again…


Dirty but sweet.. this girl can ride!!


We arrived at Rhino just around 10h30 and enjoyed friendship and a drink or two




Some went out on the demo G450X’s and that was when Marius and I decided to call it a day..
You can just put so much into one weekend . .

Would like to hear how the rest of the day unfolded...

Very nice turnout as well.

Thanks for sharing

Baie jammer ons het dit gemis....

Thanks for sharing.

Good to see so many Club members taking part in the different biking disciplines.

Thanks for a very good ride Sharkie. I saw some new locations for training. Nice river crossing and some lovely sand patches.

Corlia wrote:Baie jammer ons het dit gemis....

Laas naweek was die verskoning die ring sitting. Nou wat het nou die naweek verkeerd geloop? (Het julle besluit om die bevestiging 'n bietjie te vervroeg??)

Ek en Colin moes self ons fietse uit die modder stoot nadat ons hand en mond hulp belowe is...

Mud Pooh-bah wrote:

Corlia wrote:Baie jammer ons het dit gemis....

Laas naweek was die verskoning die ring sitting. Nou wat het nou die naweek verkeerd geloop? (Het julle besluit om die bevestiging 'n bietjie te vervroeg??)

Ek en Colin moes self ons fietse uit die modder stoot nadat ons hand en mond hulp belowe is...

Hey, you must speaka da Engleeesh...............



Thanks to all who attended this ride, it was very nice as usual. Just a pitty the water crossing was so low, or maybe is was a good thing, it seems all wheel bearings are still intact.

We had a lekker braai at Rhino Park, THANKS TO ROGER AND BAVARIAN!!!!!!!!!!!

The 450 was a lot of fun, but for now I prefer a 250, maybe I must grow a pair..............

Mud Pooh-bah wrote:Thanks for a very good ride Sharkie. I saw some new locations for training. Nice river crossing and some lovely sand patches.

Corlia wrote:Baie jammer ons het dit gemis....

Laas naweek was die verskoning die ring sitting. Nou wat het nou die naweek verkeerd geloop? (Het julle besluit om die bevestiging 'n bietjie te vervroeg??)

Ek en Colin moes self ons fietse uit die modder stoot nadat ons hand en mond hulp belowe is...

....En dan wonder jy hoekom ek nie daar was nie

PS. Varkies hou mos van modder

So wat was dit... Colin of die modder??

Yes my pig likes the mud so much, if I do not push it out, it will spent the whole day in it...

KnopKop wrote:The 450 was a lot of fun, but for now I prefer a 250, maybe I must grow a pair..............

I'll get to KnobHead aka Knopkop's pair in a moment...

This must have been the first club ride I've ever attended where I did not even take one picture!! But despite the lack of that, I'll add my comments...

The club ride was actually very nice. After an initial tar section where Koekels did very well to keep up with Djebel (something like 200cc) on the highway, we made our way through a still-waking-up Mamelodi to get to our designated starting gravel road. This took us in a big north-eastern loop towards the river crossing section close to Cullinan. Not too much to report, other than the fact that I spent some time with Muddy at the back and we got to practice some countrytrax-ish maneuvers. Everything from balancing to braking to weaving. At some point we even tried to pop some wheelies, but all we ended up was a muis-stotertjie that became a varkie-stotertjie!!!

When we arrived at Rhino Park, the Bavarian East tents were already set up with a couple of G450X enduro bikes waiting. We were actually just in time to see the stock standard 450 being brought back after an incident on an earlier test ride. It seems that the bike made a nasty flip and managed to yank the exhaust bracket off, which rendered it pretty useless for further test rides the rest of the day. Although the lady rider seemed quite shaken, I don't believe there were any injuries. This is not a testimony to the bike's quality, but rather an affirmation of the power that is just waiting to be released!

We took turns test riding the G450X bikes. Pieter and Bruno went first with capable Alan and crazy Riaan taking them around the 20km enduro track. After what felt like eternity, they were back and Knopkop and I got to have our turn. I got to ride one with a full Remus exhaust system, which certainly makes the bike sound a bit better. After we made quick work of the enduro track, we headed for the long sandy stretch at the back, dotted with three 1 meter high jumps for good measure. I can report that the G450X is just as much home in the air than it is on the ground

After taking a break, and drinking the obligatory beer or two, we went for another round. This time the bike was fitted with an Akra can and sounded even more commanding. Back to the sandy stretch for some more sand riding and jumping. This time I timed the landing a bit short on the last jump and manage to bottom out the front suspension. My wrists had to do the rest of the shock absorption! Man.. that hurt! But even despite the punishment, the front end didn't retaliate and I was able to maintain control easily. One thing I realized was that the bike will outlast my body, so I took it a bit less aggressive after that.

Even though the standard front suspension of the G450X is debated quite a lot, it is probably a case of different strokes for different folks. As 10 people and you would get 10 different settings. So I guess Germany picked a setting that worked well for 1 out of 10 riders! Despite this, and perhaps because some of the bikes already had their suspension worked on, I felt quite confident and at home on the G450X in a variety of different terrain - from high-speed grassy fields to 2-spoor, thick sand, water and even a bit of dryish mud.

One thing I did notice was that my YZ450F has quite a bit more raw power, which can be also be attributed to the different gear ratios (The YZ only has 4 gears). The BMW does however deliver much more controlled power to the back wheel, which offers better traction without wheel slip - especially coming out of tight, flat corners. And the power is there across the band. The G450X doesn't lift its front wheel that easy, but it has more than enough power to make the front wheel light over obstacles - even in higher gears.

One issue I experienced was taking small jumps in 2nd gear caused my boot to nick the gear back into neutral - quite surprising when you expect to accelerate after landing, only to find that you don't! But some adjustments on the shifting lever and the problem should be gone.

All in all it was a great experience to ride the G450X. This was certainly rounded off perfectly by the friends from club & shop and the beer and the braai!! Yes, thanks to Roger & Bavarian for making the bikes available to us and thanks for the other clubbies for joining in the fun.

:edit:
I forgot to mention the best part of the BMW - the happy button!!! What a pleasure it was not having to kick the living daylights out of the bike to get it started! And a BIG thank you to Sharkie aka Knopkop for leading us on another club GS trip, and for Mud Pooh Bah aka PdeKoker for making sure nobody got left behind!
:end:

Coming back to Knopkop's "pair". No need to grow some - otherwise what got bashed when that 450 did that backwheel kicker!!!

Marnus wrote:
Pieter and Bruno went first with capable Alan and crazy Riaan taking them around the 20km enduro track. After what felt like eternity, they were back and Knopkop and I got to have our turn. I got to ride one with a full Remus exhaust system, which certainly makes the bike sound a bit better. After we made quick work of the enduro track, we headed for the long sandy stretch at the back, dotted with three 1 meter high jumps for good measure.

This just proves Einsteins relativity theory: Time flies when you are having fun

Relativity theory like in:

E = G450X

Yes... I guess the bike is faster when you ride it than what it is when you wait for it!

From roady perspective - thank you for the photos and sharing your day with us seeing as the LT and other K's and S's cannot partake. Nevertheless - i always keep a watchfull eye on the forum for the photos that you always post seeing as you do roads and destinations i cannot do.

Thanx for the feedback. Pity the water was just a reminder of what should be there. Though this time you get to clearly see the rocks.

Happy-go-lucky wrote:Thanx for the feedback. Pity the water was just a reminder of what should be there. Though this time you get to clearly see the rocks.

Good to see you are back from oom Jan. Where's the report and pics

Mud Pooh-bah wrote: Good to see you are back from oom Jan. Where's the report and pics

Wait for KYKNET's new series of Woema starting in January and you will see our action there

Maybe Facebook is more up to date

Official club policy stipulates that reports shall be filed within 30 days of finishing the trip.....



It seems that Woema is a bit too slow

And Facebook is erm... very exclusive

Wahl wrote:

Mud Pooh-bah wrote: Good to see you are back from oom Jan. Where's the report and pics

Wait for KYKNET's new series of Woema starting in January and you will see our action there

Yep, the best trip report for the other 3 guys of our club. See here for summary of me. http://bmwclubs.heavenforum.org/clothing-f14/off-road-riding-gear-t1042.htm#11740.

For a ride report from a fellow course goer visit http://www.wilddog.za.net/forum/index.php?topic=37589.0

The report is up to the sand where his camera got dropeed and broken.

Will try and get more photo's

Thanks for the link Wahl.. great memories!

Wahl wrote:For a ride report from a fellow course goer visit http://www.wilddog.za.net/forum/index.php?topic=37589.0

The report is up to the sand where his camera got dropeed and broken.

Will try and get more photo's

So who took pics from that point on??

I am meeting another guy who was with us on the course on Friday to get his photo's.