Tech - Gear - News - reviews

AFRICA’S ONLY ADVENTURE & OVERLAND E-ZINE

ADVENTUREMagazine

Tech - Gear - News - reviews

AFRICA’S ONLY ADVENTURE & OVERLAND E-ZINE

ADVENTUREMagazine

INSIDECederberg Adventure Bike Challenge

Farkled KLE500Quads 4 Quads

Yamaha XT660RFranschhoek Pass

& MUCH MORE

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For more information and sales visit www.hexdiagnostics.co.za or call +27 21 880 1433

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Adventure Magazine

5November already, wow. This has been a busy year for us all and we have really been enjoying everything Adventure Magazine related.

This past month we headed off to the Cederberg Adventure Bike Challenge that was held about 300km outside Cape Town in the magical Cederberg district. Let me tell you, what an great event with even greater riders and spectators a-like. But Ill let you read all about it later.

We also have some techincal bits to tickle your reading taste buds on how to change your swing-arm bearings. Surely

most of us like getting our hands dirty, but for those of you who aren’t comfortable with it. We now have a nice step by step article for you to follow on your own bike.

We also rode some magical twisty roads here in the winelands that are a must for anything 2 wheels orrientated.

We also have a farkled KLE500 of Peter to share with you and Etienne reviews the XT660R for us.

Enjoy guys and girls, till next time.

Stephen + Kirsten

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Crew & Contributors Editor-In-ChiefStephen de VriesCopywright EditorKirsten SheldonContributors Frants CombrinkEtienne van Rensburg

Photography & DesignKirsten SheldonStephen de VriesStitchedkitten Photographywww.stitchedkitten.co.zaWeb Hosting Redhammerwww.redhammer.co.zaContact082 5888383022 461 2526Advertising Enquiriesinfo@adventuremagazine.co.za

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Contents

GS911 - AdGSworkShop - AdShiftracing.co.za - AdYamaha Tenere AdGear Review : Oxford foot pumpPhoto of the monthMonster bike madnessQuad 4 QuadsMotogear.co.za - AdYamaha XT660R Owners reviewFranschhoek PassPennyTECHCederberg Adventure Bike Challenge Event ReviewTulies Adventure Bike Trips - Ad

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Contents

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Gear

There are many techniques to inflate a tire, but for the most basic one, a bicycle hand pump is probably the simplest option to take along on a bike trip, and if like me, you commute everyday and don’t own a car, some form of inflation device is absolutely necessary.

My personal preference is a manual foot or hand pump. Re-garding the foot pumps, I have to as yet find one small enough to use for biking, and as for

the hand pumps, they are just awkward to use, unless you go for the Oxford one.

I had the misfortune of suf-fering a puncture on the way home from work, which will be 4 times as many punctures I have had in town as on any gravel road. Out came the tire levers and out came the non-return valve of the tube. I checked the tire for a nail of sorts, but only discovered a thin piece of wire from the inside.

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Click me to feature your product here.

At this point I really wanted tubeless tires, but when I waited for the glue to vulcanize the rubber, I thought it was the perfect time to get out of that stove and make some coffee. Alas, this is the commute and no such luxuries in the urban jungle.

Then out came the Oxford hand/foot pump. I call it a hand/foot pump since it is the size of a hand pump, but works like a foot pump. You open the top and pull the filling valve out which is connected to a piece of piping. At the same end is a pedal which acts as the foot piece. The other end unclasps and pulls out making the pump ready for action.

It inflated my 100/90 18inch

tires quite quickly and I was not too tired after the experi-ence. As for the feature of being a foot pump, it worked great as a matter of fact. I used one of those pure foot pumps before and found them awkward at best, akin to a balancing act on a hock-ey puck.

The Oxford pump is mostly plastic and everything is quite sturdy, but don’t expect to defend yourself with it and still use it afterward. At R230 it is a good buy that will do the job reliably.

The oxford pump was pur-chased from World of Quads in Port Elizabeth.

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Photo of the MonthSubmitted by Stitched Kitten Photography - Cape Town.

Submit you pictures to info@adventuremagazine.co.za

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Photo of the MonthSubmitted by Stitched Kitten Photography - Cape Town.

Submit you pictures to info@adventuremagazine.co.za

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Monster Bike Madness

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By Peter Nieman.

I have been riding bikes and quads for almost 20 years. My passion has always been off-road motorcycles, or for that matter off-road sports. Most of my riding has been done with motocross bikes and quads. I love exploring new trails and routes, and I always try to find a lost trail which riders wouldn’t normally find.In the last couple of years I have been introduced to the Dual Sport category of riding and what makes this very pleasant is the fact that you are able to leave your house on the bike and return the same way. There is no need to tailer bikes and you are able to make the choice of where you want to go. Why Did I Choose The KLE 500?It was actually quite easy! I needed to purchase a bike cash and it didn’t leave me with a lot of choice. I started reading up on which bikes were available in 30 - 40k bracket (second hand of course) but it had to be appealing to the eye. Another factor which

was important for me was that the engine had to be reliable. From what I had read the KLE 500 motor was based on the GPZ 500 and the internet was full of positive opinions about this engine. Although it got good reviews the bike had it’s setbacks. There is mention that it is to heavy for it’s CC class and that it was obviously under powered due to the small engine capacity. However the overriding factor was that it was reliable. Inspiration!I love watching the guys race the Dakar in Africa or the Baja 1000 in the States. These bikes look the business and they obviously perform just as well. Strangely enough I find the styling of these bikes encompass the true essence

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15of adventure. The styling is fresh and unique and it makes me wonder why the manufacturers haven’t explored this any further. My aim was to give the KLE a Dakar look that would be unique to the spirit of adventure. I didn’t want people to look at my bike and just think of it as another KLE. It had to turn heads and provide functionality for the type of riding that I do. Modifications!1. My 1st objective was to raise the ground clearance of the bike. Seeing that I liked going off road, I didn’t want to be hampered by a lack of ground clearance. The rear shock has 136mm links which I replaced with 126mm links. I then pushed the front forks down into the triple clamp by 20mm.2. I replaced the original screen with a bronze colour poly carbonate screen which I made myself. The screen is roughly 50cm long and 33cm wide. Here one can choose what shape you want to make your screen. This would make long distance riding far more comfortable as wind and rain

deflection would be a lot more efficient and comfortable. One will also notice in the photo’s that the screen is supported with an aluminium frame in order to prevent it from folding back as the extended screen is to big for the original bracket. The aluminium frame can also double as a mounting point for a GPS. Where the GPS mounts makes it very user friendly to the rider as one can keep an eye on the GPS as well as the road. 3. I replaced the original low fender with a high fender. For this I used a Polisport Super Motard Black Fender. As there is no place on the lower triple clamp to mount the fender, I had to make a special bracket. I liked the idea of the high fender as it gave an off road appeal and it would serve a purpose in various terrains such as muddy conditions.4. I replaced the original tyres with more off road orientated tyres. Besides the fact that it makes the bike look more aggressive, off road tyres have superior performance in all types of off road terrain. I decided to use the Dunlop D606 tyres up front and on the

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rear.5. The next step was to add a luggage system that was easy to fit and remove which gave the rider extra space to carry his kit. For this option I decided to build custom pannier frames. I wasn’t given much choice for aftermarket options and if there was something available it was to expensive and it didn’t justify the expense relative to the cost of the bike. So a tail plate was designed which would incorporate the frames for the soft panniers.

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The tail plate was laser cut from 5mm steel and powder coated. The tail plate has been designed in such a manner that it provides for plenty of fixing points, so that one can tie down bags, tool tubes and the pannier frames. The Pannier frames are made from 20mm square tubing and I took the shape of a Kappa soft pannier bag. The frames are able to adjust forwards or backwards depending on how you want to distribute the weight on the back wheel. 6. The bike needed a better growl. There is nothing worse then a bike that sounds like a bicycle. However this would fit into the grand scheme of things when I would jet the bike for better performance. I wanted an exhaust that complimented the looks of the bike. In this case I like supporting local and decided to put on an Air Age Exhaust which was fitted with a removable quiet core. I was pleasantly surprised by the definitive twin growl that came from the exhaust.7. I am not a big fan of doing major engine modifications but I don’t have any problems

making them breath a little better. For this modification I changed the jetting of the bike approximately 10% more. I also lifted the needle in each carb with spacers. Next I opened up the air box and drilled a couple of holes into the back of the air box so that bike could get more air with the intended fuel delivery. With the above changes I have noticed that the mid range throttle is very strong. The bike gets to top speed a lot quicker and is able to maintain it a lot easier. The fuel efficiency also seems to be about 10% better.8. I also decided to change the original steel handle bars to the Trailtech fat bars. The bars are slightly wider for better steering control and much stronger in the event of a fall. Due to the strength of these bars they do not allow the vibration to filter through to the riders arms. Once the handle bars where changed I decided to add a set of Zeta Aluminium Wrap Around hand guards to protect against wind, stone deflection and for lever protection.9. Aluminium Rear brake rotor

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guard for protection when riding in technical terrain. This was sourced from Touratech and the original part is actually from the African Twin rear rotor guard. All I had to do was drill two new holes in order to make it fit.10. Aluminium Rear sprocket guard for protection when riding in technical terrain. This was designed from the original plastic one and was laser cut

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from 6mm aluminium plate.11. Side Stand Plate. Here I took a piece of scrap 6mm aluminium plate and cut a piece that was broader then the original stand. I then drilled 2 holes and counter sunk them into the plate. I then drilled 2 holes into the original stand and used to counter sunk screws to mount the plate. This will help when you need to stand your bike in sandy conditions. Fuel Requirements.The bike has a very small tank and one is limited to about 250km range. You can work around it. I have also gone as far as to make a frame which is mounted to the rear tail plate and one can fix 2 x 3l or 5l Acerbis header tanks to. You then have the option to carry extra fuel should it be required. Front Suspension.The front suspension is a little soft for the weight of the bike. Here one has 2 options. You can either pump some air into the forks or you can use a set of progressive fork springs. At this point in time I have opted to use a little air to see how it

performs and how long it will last. With the riding I have done so far I can safely say that 0.7 bar in the front forks is a good all round pressure for front end performance. Just remember that the fork seals need to be in perfect condition. Headlights.This is quite easy. All one needs to do is replace the original bulbs with halogen night breakers for a 20% increase for better lighting at night. Conclusion.What I really like about the bike is that it has a slender frame, and it is not bulky on the engine. It cruises quite comfortably at 120km/h and it perform just as well off road as what it does on road. The bike now has a unique look and the modifications all have functionality as well. The bike is easy to maintain and relatively cheap to service. Although the design of the engine is old it is still regarded as one of the most reliable around and this is what is important to me.

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QUAD4QUADS

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By Herman Kirstein

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It was with tears in my eyes that I rode into Cane Cutters, Ballito, official end of the 2009 Quads 4 Quads event. Close to a thousand kays in four days behind me, dust all over my body, a sore bum but a feeling of accomplishment. This was not a ride in the park, no easy dirt roads every day. We had to tackle service roads, tunnels, rivers, mountains, cows, goats and other wildlife, quads and slept in tents… IT WAS GREAT FUN!

However, I’m being carried away here. Let me rather start at the beginning. About two months ago I received a phone call from Laurie Searle, asking if I can rally the Christian Motorcyclist Association (CMA) Off-Road Chapter to ride as support crew for Cival MillsError! Reference source not found.. Cival who? Long story short, we agreed not knowing what we are letting ourselves into. A team meeting was arranged, and we met Cival. Sixteen in total, everyone unique and different but with one goal – get Cival to the finish line.

So who’s who in the Zoo:

→ Cival Mills, nickname race cockatiel: driver of the red Ferrari quad / team leader;

→ Laurie and Caroline Searle: team coordinator / dietician / parents of James;

→ James Searle: quad rider / navigator;

→ Douw Jendrezejewski, aka Player 23: quad rider / navigator / comedian;

→ Adriaan Goosen: quad rider / navigator / organiser;

→ Elsa, Jaco & kids Venter: Yamaha 250 2-smoke / back up 4x4 / handy man / mother hen;

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→ Leonard van Greunen: 1150 GS Adventure rider / hooligan;

→ Leon Fouche: 1200 GS Adventure rider / calming influence;

→ Wynand Wentzel: KTM 950 Adventure S / rather late than never;

→ Richard Hudson: camp commandant / back up rider & driver / Mr. Responsibility;

→ Sam Mahlangu: bus driver / Cival’s personal caretaker / man with huge heart;

→ Nikki Janse van Rensburg: Cival’s friend / caretaker / inter-preter / motivator;

→ Marina Kirstein: camp major / my wife / organiser / initia-tor;

→ Me: KTM 950 Adventure S / the “quiet” one.

Other important people:

→ Ari Serils: Director of QASA, the face of Quads 4 Quads;

→ Glenn & Sinead Foley: Family Adventures / Dirt & Quad – the organisers!

We needed sponsors – this was huge! I want to thank the following sponsors: Rockwell Automation, Exxaro, Leeupan Colliery, Gemini Signs, Fred Sprensil, Sticker & Sign, Bikegear, Peter Madden, the Auditor General of South Africa, Edelweiss Glass and Aluminium, Christo van Heerden, Motorrad Rentals and Zenex Centurion. Thanks for allowing us on focusing on the riding and not about the financials.

With the entries and admin sorted we started our training

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regime with Cival. All we knew was that we would have to cover at least 250 km per day. We watched Ari’s DVD to get an idea of the terrain, and thought we had this creamed. SURPRISE! After meeting with Glenn we realised that we have no clue what to expect. Luckily Glenn offered to take us all on a training ride close to his house with similar terrain what we could expect during the event. No easy open dirt roads with some rail service roads all the way, but river crossings, mountaineering, rocks and uneven twee spoor tracks through farmlands were waiting for us. Will my KTM 950 be able to handle this? Or rather, will I cope? One way to find out.

Thursday, 24 September arrived in a jiffy, and we gathered at Carnival City for the official start. Not that I can remember anything of the venue or whoever said what, I blame the nerves. Now look, I’ve done some dirt tours, even the odd trip to De Wild on the big 950. I even went to the 2006 GS

Challenge at Moolmanshoek. But this was BIGGER than any of those. Riders and their backup crews filled the parking lot, some adjusting and fiddling with their bikes and quads, others searching for the magic cure for nerves from bottles with dark fluids. Then there were those who looked like they are on holiday, gas braais out preparing a healthy egg and wors breakfast. Me? I could not eat.

How will I be able to ride my 950 with all these play bikes and quads? I glanced over to my buddy Leonard and wondered what he was thinking, seeing that he was on his BMW 1150 GS

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Adventure. I could see that my other mate, Leon, was as nervous as I am. He brought his BMW 1200 GS Adventure. I was envious of Elsa on her Yamaha 250, hell I was even envious on the quad riders in our group, foolishly thinking that they will have it easier than us on the big adventure bikes.

Soon all nerves were settled as we rode out from Carnival City. Our first obstacle was less than 1km from the start, a mud hole from hell. Many riders bought their first piece of real estate. Our group made it through safe. The rest of the mornings’ ride was great, fast and dusty. The Gauteng highveld is a dull place after winter. We were heading to Balfour for lunch, but to get there we had to cross a river and navigate kilometres of railroad tracks plagued with loose stones and uneven middle mannetjies. After lunch we realised that we have to push on as time was against us. We rode into Standerton, with some help from our friendly new neighbours

Wynand and Julian from CMA Benoni who guided us to the camping area in the dark. The GPS showed that we traversed 190 km. It took us over 9 hours! Why so long you might ask?

The answer lies with Cival. A remarkable man with a “never say die” attitude. He has lock-in syndrome, causing full paralysis. He can only move his left arm, fingers, and his head. But wait, that’s not all – he cannot speak and has tunnel vision! Communication was done through his “thingy”, a lite writer and the quad rider in front of him gave instructions

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via a two-way radio to inform Cival of the road conditions ahead. That’s it. Can you imagine the physical strain on his body? Let me try and explain the process. Every 20 odd minutes we had to stop so that we can assist Cival to drink and have a quick bite on a jelly baby, with every third stop being a stretch stop. A stretch stop meant we had to release him from his cage, get him to lie down on the tailpiece of his quad and stretch his arm, lower back and bum. Don’t forget his quad. A red Suzuki (I know it does not sound right) with no power steering, hydraulic braking nor independent suspension. He rode that red Ferrari with only his left arm to control it. Well-done brother!

Arriving at the camp we were greeted by the support crew. Amazing people! Their “job” was to set up camp, erect our tents and be on standby if something might go wrong. Our two camp commandants, Richard and Marina, a huge thank you from all of us. I know all of

us riders appreciated your selfless efforts. That night we braaied, as it was national braai day, and soon the night air in Standerton was filled by the wonderful smell of chops and wors and the night sounds were drowned with the laughter of 450 happy participants. We slept like babies, knowing that tomorrow is another day.

Friday, 25 September. Today we ride from Standerton to Newcastle. The same recipe as day one. We left just after 08:30, with the first 70 odd kilometres on fast open dirt roads. Our average moving speed was in excess of 45 km/h. We were flying until Leonard’s trusty 1150 decided enough is enough, and the rear driveshaft bearing seized to be a bearing anymore! Being close to Volksrust we left him there to wait for his brother in law to collect him and the bike. His event was over. But Wynand on his 950 joined us in Perdekop. He was on leave with the family, but decided to join us as it sounded like more fun (sorry

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Lenatha).

We loaded Cival into his bus for the more technical bit, the idea to drop him off with 50 km to go to Newcastle. During this stretch the red Ferrari’s brakes decided not the brake anymore. Glenn arrived and together with Douw and Adriaan they made a plan and soon we were on the road again.

Mother Nature decided that we were to dirty and dusty so she decided to provide us with a cold shower opportunity, combined with a strong wind to ensure that no dust stay behind. This forced us to call it a day 5 km from the end, and again we loaded Cival into the bus as the rest of us rode for Newcastle. Another 201 km of dirt.

Saturday, 26 September. We woke with mist in the air. Today will be interesting. Riders briefing mentioned a mountain with lots of rocks, tunnels and mud. But we were not afraid. Cival tackled the obstacles with vigour, making mince meat of each

and every one of them. Coming down the mountain Leon invested in some prime real estate with a view and Wynand decided to shed some grams from his 950 by breaking his foot brake leaver with an unplanned dismount in the mud. Douw, Adriaan and James on their quads idled down, pressing home their advantage over us on our big bikes.

We continued to the Normadien stockyard for the lunch stop. We loaded Cival into the bus. The next section would be very technical, so technical that Glenn requested that the big bikes take the easier route with less risk. Our quad riders decided to tackle the technical section, and after refuelling we split up for the remainder of the day.

In the mean time our base camp crew decided to spoil us and booked us in at the Colenso Hotel for a warm shower and comfort. Little did they know how this decision would be much more beneficial to us than what they could imagine.

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During the quad technical ride, James overshot a blind corner and kissed a few rocks who did not took kind on his affection and retaliated by breaking his arm and rendering his quad useless for anything else than being an overgrown doorstop. Douw and Adriaan phoned in and Jaco with Richard rode off into the sunset with a trailer to recover the quad. Laurie heard this news as he rode into the official end point in

Weenen to greet us. Some mayhem followed as James was stuck in an area with little to no cell phone reception, it was getting dark fast and we still had two other riders on quads out there and no one seemed to know where they were. Wynand, Leon and I waited in Weenen for Douw and Adriaan, whilst Laurie drove through to Ladysmith where James was admitted in hospital.

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A call to Jaco informed us that Douw and Adriaan are riding back behind the bakkie to Colenso Hotel, so we headed there as well. Riding at night is hazardous in Africa, and Leon almost took a Grey Duiker out. Back at the hotel everyone was waiting nervous, minutes felt like hours. Eventually they all arrived, and a mini reunion was held. Coffee and toasted sandwiches were prepared whilst we all shared events of the day. We called it a day at 00:30. We rode 316 km. Over 14 hours on the road, including all the stops and waiting on Douw and Adriaan.

Sunday, 27 September. The final day, and Cival’s birthday. Everyone was up early. Laurie and Caroline went to see James in hospital before his operation. We decided earlier that this being the longest day, and we want Cival to participate in the mass ride to the finish line, that we would travel to Sevenoaks, the lunch stop, via tar to make up some time. From there the team would follow the trail, looking for a suitable spot where Cival can get onto the trail with no more than 30 km to go. I must be honest; this section of riding was fantastic. The big bikes came into their own, being able to reach speeds in excess of 150 km/h we made the play bikes and quads look silly. By grace we crossed paths with the support crew about 15 km from the assembly point for the mass ride, and quickly we got Cival strapped in and ready to go. We arrived at the assembly point, and were greeted by about 100 odd other riders. Most of them came over to greet Cival and to share stories. Others played in the mud pit, causing much entertainment for the rest. Even Cival took a spin though the mud. We rode 275 km.

Soon Ari and Glenn arrived, and the mass ride took off. I shed a tear. The feeling of accomplishment was overwhelming. I could only imagine how it must have felt for Cival and all the other paraplegic and quadriplegic riders who made it this far. As we rode into Cane Cutters all the back up crews and families of the riders cheered us on. We felt as if we conquered

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the Dakar. Tears were flowing freely. Cival’s parents made the trip down with other family to greet him home; even a birthday cake was prepared. Soon Cane Cutters was filled with numerous voices whishing Cival a happy birthday. The festivities drew to a close, with Glenn presenting a cheque of R 1 000 000 to the QuadPara Association of South Africa, and Cival’s dad who won the auction for the signed riding shirts of Ari Serils, Andre Venter and Wahl Bartman. Our mission accomplished! The team split up, some rode back to Gauteng that same evening, others planned ahead and stayed on for a well-deserved break, whilst Wynand, Leon, Marina and I booked into the Collisheen B & B. We rode back on Monday morning.

Some interesting observations:

→ Not all quad riders are hooligans, most of them are true human beings;

→ Two wheelers and four wheelers can get along;

→ A large dual purpose bike is a great weapon of choice for this kind of event;

→ Family Adventures can organise;

→ The food was great;

→ Scenery fantastic;

→ The local communities through which we travelled were extremely friendly;

→ The towns we stayed over were very hospitable;

→ This was the sixth annual Quads 4 Quads event;

→ Only God can group sixteen individuals together with dif-ferent backgrounds and personalities for four days and

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made it work;

→ I’ll be back.

Until we ride again, keep the rubber side down and the shinny side up.

Herman Kirstein

CMA Off-Road Chapter Centurion

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Yamaha XT660R By Etienne van Rensburg

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Yamaha’s XT660R, has to be one of the most underrated dual sports bikes out there, it has everything the normal rider could want, a good price tag, and equally good parts backup to boot.

First impressions:

At first glance the bike looks like a mean offroader, the XT500 of yesteryear’s heritage is still well and alive within this bike. The build quality is good and solid, no flimsy plastics etc.

A 21” front and 17” rear is wrapped in Maxxis knobblies, the twin exhausts compliment and otherwise “clean” rear end nicely. There are no big fair-ings only the small plastic tank shrouds. The bike I rode had been raised compliments of Andy XT660R, and I was still able to get both feet on the ground . . . just barely.

The instrumentation panel is fully digital and neat.

Riding impressions

Swinging a leg over the bike, you can immediately feel the 170+ kg’s under you, the han-dle bar position in very natural

when sitting, not to far forward or back, although i did find it a bit low when standing, a problem which can quickly be sorted by Motogear.co.za with some bar raisers. Pressing the happy button you can hear the starter motor trying to get the 660cc liquid-cooled, 4-stroke, single cylinder, 4-valve, SOHC motor started, and that distinct thumper sound coming from the aftermarket exhausts. Pull-ing away I immediately noticed how little vibrations the bike has, compared to some of the other bikes I have ridden in the 650 class. I could clearly feel the difference with this bike having EFI, opposed to the carburetted bike Im com-ing off. Once the bike is creat-ing enough gyroscopic force (above 40km/h) the weight of the bike is not so promi-

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nent anymore. Going up one of the hills standing, I though I was going about 50km/h looking down at the speedo it already said 95km/h scary stuff! Through the turns, sitting weight forward and leg out, the slightest blip of the throttle made the rear step out, me only weighing about 50 odd kg’s added to the success. I found the bike allot easier to control through technical stuff than I though it would be, al-though with the EFI you have to be on the clutch abit more. Im not a fan of the aftermarket

screen on this bike, the buffet-ing was bad, I’d prefer the mini screen the bike came out with.

Turning it into a proper dual sport bike requires some things that aren’t standard on the bike, but once you’ve added them, then you’d have the per-fect mid sized dual sport bike.

Wind in my face, the standard screen doesn’t cut it, it actually just accelerates wind into your face, aftermarket options are widely available, don’t neces-sarily go for the Yamaha after-market one, there are other, better options around.

Falling off, the bike has stan-dard rubber footpegs, when standing and accelerating hard your boots will often slip off, on most bikes you can remove

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the rubbers and use the metal peg underneath, but on the XT this isn’t an option. A tip: BMW GS footpegs fit the XT, and the pillion pegs on the XT and KTM 950/990 are the same. Oth-erwise a Yamaha WR footpeg also works well, and are nice and aggressive.

Protecting the pointy bits, the standard bike doesn’t have a bashplate, and the exhaust header pipes are vulnerable running underneath the bike, a good aluminium bashplate that comes up along the sides of the bike is recommended. A proper set of engine crash bars will also help protecting your

baby when it falls over.

Protecting your levers, you are going to want to get a decent set of handguards, look out for ones that have a metal bar and a plastic spoiler on the outside, and then you can easily re-place the plastic spoilers if they get broken.

Getting there, there is some concern regarding the 15l tank of the bike, but the EFI is very fuel efficient and will give you around 300km on a tank if your right hand is civilised.

Sliding away, the standard Mi-chelin Sirac tyres are terrible,

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look into a set of dual sport or knobbly tyres, the best knobbly combination on the XT would be a Michelin Dessert at the front, and a Michelin T63 at the rear. When weaving occurs at higher speeds look at the front tyres pressure, it should be run at 1.5bar with the Dessert.

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Franschhoek, wow what a magical mountain pass. Sure it’s only 13km long but those bends are amazing. We started off with probably one of the most track friendly bikes available today, the KTM 990 Super Moto Touring (SMT). Only 7kg’s heavier than the original 990 Super Moto it’s really not worlds apart in the weight department. Even the steering geometry is identical. The only thing aesthetically different is the front cowl area with a windscreen. The pass starts with a lovely hairpin to get the tires rolling and then with plenty of easy

S-bends and then a couple more hairpins. But after you go around the first hairpin, it makes you realise that you are then and there you can your machine, it’s no racetrack, but it’s as close as you can get. The tar is smooth with only a couple of sections that caution needs to be taken with a couple of loose gravel sections towards the end. It really is motorcycle heaven and that’s mainly why there are about 200+ motorcycles that pass through there on any given weekend of the year. If you are in Cape Town, Franschhoek is a must do.

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pennyTECH

Swing arm bearing replacement

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We at Adventure Magazine always try to keep the ad-venture going, and that is the reason behind our new monthly slot called Penny-Tech…….err well, we hope it’s a monthly slot. PennyTech is pretty much anything on any bike which is a cheap way of getting going again, but spe-cifically regarding the bike. This is not just another poor-mans solution show-and-tell. These are the things we have found that works to keep our steel horses going, ranging from home tuning, to making your own tools which eliminate the dealer, to replacing some-thing on your steed with an off the shelf product, which by no means lessens the reliability of said steed. The knowledge we hope to build we hope will be great to take along on your trip into the unknown if you are stuck in some dusty town, and all they have is a hard-ware store and universal auto parts shop.

The first article regards the 1981 BMW R80G/S which belongs to our Marketing guy, who had to replace his swing arm bearings after a

slight spruce-up, and being an ex-engineer rejecting most assumptions of reality, didn’t find a plausible reason why a simple bearing had to cost as much as it does at the Bavarian Company. This is what he came up with.

Through the decades BMW have strived to manufacture motorcycles which require very little maintenance as is proved by their service inter-vals decreasing in frequency as the newer models became available; the 3rd generation Para-lever swing arm requires almost no maintenance, not even sure if you can change oil…..their longevity seems to be on par with my Mono-lever swing arm.

The same principle was applied to the G/S’s swing arm bearing. No more was it required to re-move the swing arm and clean the bearings and repack them as the new design incorporated a dust seal (the new ones are completely sealed). However, 27 years later, the price for that bearing, if you need to replace it, just seemed way too high for my liking, considering when

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you look at its mechanical function, it isn’t anything special.

What BMW has done was to convince the bearing manufacturer to make a custom bearing. This was either because no standard parts where available in the early 1980’s which incorporated a dust seal, or because they wanted to sell the bearing themselves at an inflated price.

For the purpose of this discussion, I refer to the part with the moving parts as the bearing, and the part that looks like a cone, the race. Whether the terminology is correct is up to you, the point is to replace a bearing, not study engineering jargon.

Whatever the reason, this is what it looks like (fig 1) and as you take it out, out comes the seals (fig 2 & 3 & 4).

What makes it different from a standard bearing available off the shelf today, is that the race has an extended surface plus a lip where the dust seals meet, and the bearing roller has a raised lip to allow the dust seals to seal (fig 5). Comparing the roller bearings with that of an off the shelf one, you will notice that the mechanical part of the bearing, the surface area that does the actual work, is exactly the same (fig 6).

First you will have to remove your old bearings including the races (do this IF you need to replace your bearings though). There are many ways to re-move bearing races….the one I liked the most was a method

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used by my neighbor at the time. He made a few lever-age hooks from round bar and depressed the race out, kind of like using the bend as lever-age point and the tip below the cone to push.

Now, have an engineering shop make you two spacers of the following dimensions out of preferably steel: Outside Diameter: 28mm (this is to fit into the dust seal)Inside Diameter: 17mm (this is so that the alignment axle can fit snugly)Thickness: 4mm (to make up the empty space which I will explain now)

You could ask them to harden the spacer if you wish, but I don’t see it as necessary (fig. 7 for the spacer in green)

Buy any bearing brand you like, as long as it’s a TAPER ROLLER BEARING with an outside diameter of 40mm; an inside diameter of 17mm, and a T (which if I remember cor-rectly means the width of the bearing) 16mm. Also buy two dust seals of the same out-

side diameter as the bearings, but inside diameter of 28mm, and T of 4mm (it’s the cheap one freely available….there is a thinner one but really ex-pensive). Koyo Bearing code I used: 30203.JR (fig. 8 for dust seal in green)

Take the old race (if you still have it) and grind down the outside diameter just enough so that it will fall into the swing-arm where it used to be, but still removes VERY easily. You’re going to use this later, or get a piece of metal pipe with a diameter of 39mm)

Heat the swing arm (I dunked it in hot water since it was completely dissembled) and put the bearing race in the freezer for about an hour. Put the race in the swing arm

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(right way around please!!!) with a little bit of penetrating oil like Q20, put the old race onto of the new one and hit it into the swing arm using a rub-ber mallet trying to hit the old race evenly, you don’t want the race to go in skew (unless you have access to a press). You will her a “clink” sound when the race is in all the way. Mea-sure the race profile by mea-suring the distance from the edge of the race to the edge of the swing arm…they should all be equal other wise your race is misaligned.Now, pack your bearing with grease, pop it in the race, pop in the dust seal, in goes the spacer….and bob is your aunty you have a new bearing in your swing arm with a dust seal and it is a lot cheaper than the original….it is also available just about everywhere immedi-ately. (fig. 9 – 11)

Now it’s your turn. Send us your PennyTech tricks and we will publish them in the maga-zine and on our website. Each month we will also choose which PennyTech trick is the best, and you will receive a mystery item from Adventure Magazine. It can be anything as long as it is adventure re-lated or to your adventure mo-torcycle. Don’t forget to send us at least before and after picture or a drawing of some kind. Send us your mug-shot as well so that we can see who we’re talking to, as well as the rest of our readers.

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pennytech@adventuremagazine.co.za

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pennytech@adventuremagazine.co.za

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The weekend of 23rd October saw the Cederberg Adventure Bike Challenge take place near Wupperthal in the Cederberg, approximately 300km from Cape Town. Motorrad Adventure’s were the main organisers and adventurers came from as far as Gauteng to attend. The base camp was situated at the Bidoux youth camp situated about 50km outside Clanwilliam. There were no interruptions from a single cellular device as there is no reception out in the area meaning a perfect for a weekend away spent with friends and fellow riders alike.

There was an interesting skills challenge organised by fellow Country Trax instructors, interesting enough to keep riders on their toes, should they have missed their turn. 3 different routes were planned daily with a green route for novices and an orange and red route for the more experienced guys. There were 3 ladies present on their steeds, just proof that the lifestyle indeed caters to the fairer sex too. They actually performed pretty well on the skills challenges alongside the men. Motorcycles varied from our 990 SMT (loaned to us by KTM CAPETOWN) to

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plenty of 1200GS BMW’s, KTM Adventures, KLR650’s , Enduro bikes and even a very special HPN BMW R80GS. Most nights were spent around a bon fire chatting to friends and having a jolly good time. Catering was provided by the camp and we braai’d in the evening. Among the vendors that were there were KTM Cape Town, Droomers Yamaha, Suzuki West Coast, I-Warehouse, GS911, and R2H.

Yamaha had a couple of the Yamaha XT660z Tenere’s there on demo and loaned them out on the rides. I thought that was rather nice as the Tenere

is extremely capable in those conditions. Entertainment was provided by Andre-Michael, a solo artist from the Eastern Freestate. His music was pleasant and he performed most of the nights.

We would like to thank Hennie Lowe & Rony Desodt for having us over for the night. We really appreciate the hospitality. Thank you to Ashley and his crew from KTM Cape Town for sending us up on the KTM 990SMT.

We look forward to next years event!

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