BMW Eco 1000 Challenge

The BMW Eco1000 website is now live.

Check it out here:

http://gseco1000.bmw-motorrad.co.za/Web/Default.aspx

Entry fee

The entry fee is R1 800 including VAT.

Meals included as follows:

■Start venue: Refreshments
■First night at the camp sites: a braai. (Please be sure to indicate this choice on the registration form)
■End destination in Gariep: dinner and breakfast

The fee excludes:

■excludes all camp fees and accommodation

So who's joining??

Camping - presume this is predominantly a GS ride.

I am actually very, very, very disappointed with this whole idea. I went through the web site and it seems that the actual route is outsourced to the participants. It even looks as if you can take an all-tar route there and back. And then having to pay R1800 for a braai, dinner and breakfast??? This is taking everything that made the GS Challenge something to look forward to and threw it out the door. Just like an ABBG, but only for GS'es?

At least there is still the "mini GS Challenge" somewhere in around Sabie to look forward to.

Whomever thought of this should have his/her GS taken away.

No thanks. I'll rather join a Sharkie trip - for mahala...

KTM is going to have a field day with this one

I have just gained access to the new BMW Eco Challenge website. You can find it here.

I scanned through the pages, trying to see what this whole thing is about, and as I read each page, I became more and more irritated. At this point in time, I am quite angry, so pardon me if this reads a bit like a vloermoer. (tantrum, in other words...).

This is an event replacing the coveted GS Challenge. An event that is dressed up as some sort of quasi Eco event - but all it REALLY is, is a drive down to Gariep dam, a braai there, and a drive back home. You even get to pick your own bloody route, or you can do a dealer route - a route that I presume will be developed by each dealer, to have on and off road sections at the discretion of the dealer. Okay - let me breathe a bit and think about this....

Last year, we had the extremely unfortunate death of a fellow rider on the orange route - the first death on the GS challenge since the event started (there were other deaths, but these occurred on the way to or back from the challenges in previous years). So I think BMW got a BIG scare (with our society becoming more litigious by the day), and is unable or unwilling to introduce certain minimum skill or experience criteria for each route. Also, the preparation might have become a little much for them, and there was not much profit in there. Regardless of the opportunity they give their customers to really experience the bike in a controlled environment. Now they are shuffling the responsibility and burden to the dealerships?

So the Eco Challenge is born. A GS biker gathering. Like the Buffalo. Like the Paradise. Like all the other hodge-podge things you read about. The GS Challenge was the BIG event. Last year was my first, and would definitely have been the first of many, many to come - in that format. It means that every time I get onto the bike to do offroad, it is in preparation for the Challenge. It means that I read about technique, about equipment settings. Everything to be able to enjoy areas in the country where one could not normally get to, without suffering damage to bike and person.

And it is not like the Eco is cheap, in any case... The cost is R1800 per person, including the following: Refreshments at start, a braai for the first evening, dinner and breakfast in Gariep. And that is IT. It excludes accommodation, camp fees, and any other meals.

So what will my approach be? Well, the GS challenge was enormously expensive for me last year, had to get quite a few things (like offroad boots, camelbak, compressor and other odds and ends), total cost around R10000 (including the Challenge entry fee, of course). This club organises fantastic GS events over weekends which I did not partake in because of time and responsibility issues. I will focus my energy on these events now, gladly paying R10k per year for these different trips, and making a plan around the responsibilities and time.

This is not meant to discourage anyone from doing the Eco Challenge - I would love to hear the story from riders that have been there. Me? Don't bother looking for me in the campsite or on the road. There is just no point, is there?

I posted a poll elsewhere on the site - here

Ja nee,

There are two threads on this topic...

Admin can we join them please???

Thanks !!

http://bmwclubs.heavenforum.org/other-trips-f29/bmw-eco-challenge-1000-t948.htm

KnopKop wrote:...There are two threads on this topic... Admin can we join them please???

Thanks !!

http://bmwclubs.heavenforum.org/other-trips-f29/bmw-eco-challenge-1000-t948.htm

There are actually 3 threads now: All under the same heading..
Admin will lock 2 of them..
Please go ahead on the Poll thread.

http://bmwclubs.heavenforum.org/bmw-eco-1000-challenge-f131/bmw-eco-challenge-1000-t948.htm?sid=80e3a66d2937c971aa067088d9d20290