Riding through winter ❄️

The cold fronts have started hitting South Africa harshly, and all while motorcycle riding is still limited by the national lockdown for the global COVID-19 pandemic.

And although we are still limited in our riding for pure leasure right now, at some point every biker is jumping on their choosen two wheeled steed and heading out in these icy cold conditions for the faintest bit of freedom we love about riding.

I figured I would check out online, for interests sake, about winter riding tips for our unusual African climate, and was somewhat surprised to not find much in the way of information regarding this topic.

There are hoards of articles surrounding winter riding in the Northern hemisphere, where snow is a challenge too deal with, and fair enough, it makes sense that they would have pages upon pages, as well as videos etc. regarding safe riding during winter.

Yet, funny enough, we on the southern tip of Africa don’t concern ourselves with the simplest safety measures to take care of that chilly, yet enjoyable ride.

So I’ve now sat down, with a ton of notes I’ve scribbled down through a day of thinking about the topic and compiled some silly things that South African motorcycle riders should take into account while riding during our winters.

1. Warm hands = more control

The first thing to address is the most obvious problem that we African riders deal with during winter, cold and frozen hands. No matter how thick skinned you may think you are, the cold air hitting your hands, even while only riding 60km/h, can stiffen your hands and make your grip something too be somewhat desired.

Sadly though, it is the easiest thing to overcome, and yet the last thing you would think of.

Warm hands mean that you have a solid grip on the bars, as well as the controls that make your motorcycle function.

The solution is stupidly simple though! Inner liner gloves!

The air pocket between the liner and your normal leather gloves create a thermal barrier that will keep your hands nice and warm while riding.

2. Cold tyres are soft tyres

There is a reason why the guys on the race track have those nice expensive tyre warmers strapped onto their tyres before climbing onto their bikes too tear up the asphalt? It’s not just too get the rubber sticky you see.

It all has to do with that physics class from high school. Cold air contracts, while hot air expands. The trick here is to understand what this means when it comes to riding your motorcycle in our winter months.

Take the last few days in our beautiful country for example. Temperatures have been around 0°C – 2°C and that means that your tyres have actually been deflated when you first start the engine. Remember that cold air contracts. This means that when you first set out, those tyres give you a “slippery” feel. This in all reality is actually the surface of the tyres that are moving irregularly, because they don’t actually have sufficient pressure pushing against the the inner walls to keep the correct riding shape on the outside and hence surface contact.

The solution, well that’s a difficult one really. Either pump your tyres as hard as safely recommended by the manufacturer, or take it easy until you can work some heat into them before pushing the motorcycle to the limits.

3. Warm oil moves better

Now this may seem like something really stupid, but I have seen tons of motorcycle riders make this mistake more often than one would think.

There is a reason why motorcycle manufacturers have a recommended operating temperature. Yes, we get that you don’t want to have to warm up your motorcycle before jumping on and riding off, but it can really save you a lot on maintenance in the long run.

You see, the trick here is that cold oil doesn’t move through your engine as well as hot oil. This means that cold oil is not lubricating the heart of your baby like it should be.

Surely I don’t need to go into further scientific explanation on this topic?

The solution is also really simple, just idle your motorcycle for a bit before riding.

4. Black ice – the biker’s nightmare

The last thing I’m going to write about on this topic is something that I’ve personally seen many motorcycle riders fall prey too.

Black ice is a very real thing and is scary as hell to encounter under the wheels of a motorcycle, regardless of the engine size of the pony you are on.

What happens is basic geography, but I’ll explain it in the easiest way I can.

So what happens is, when the outside temperature results in dew settling on the tarmac, along comes the icy cold and freezes this little bit of water.

This leads to an unwanted skid pan waiting down the road, just to throw your wheels out from under you.

The solution is multi-folded though and comes down to each rider on their own.

Either avoid it completely, where possible, or if you get stuck spinning on the black ice, cut the power immediately. Whenever there is a moment of doubt, cut the power!

And so I end this post for now. There are a ton of other things that can be discussed about riding a motorcycle safely in South African winter.

Till the next epic post then, ride safe!

Ps. Keep an eye open on the Facebook page for “The Freedom Run” event coming up soon, when lockdown finally let’s us ride together!

All Terrain Gear - The Lockdown Review

Lockdown. Day, who knows anymore. What I do know is that it has been far too long, with nothing to review or write about. 
But there is a silver lining to the cloud hanging over our nation as online stores begin to open up again, and delivery services start up fully again. Once again we can order items for our motorcycles and get them fitted before we can do some serious riding once more. 
So online we went and searched for gear that we’ve been looking at to kit a BMW GS 1200 Adventure with. It is truly remarkable how many aftermarket items are available for the GS in South Africa. Nevertheless however, the items I was looking for are universal, as long as you can either find or get brackets fabricated/machined specifically for your own motorcycle. 
Online I hunted, until I found a brand that caught my attention. In this case, I was looking for something specifically South African. Not just designed here, but fully manufactured here as well. 
A few simple clicks later, and my order was in process for delivery. Online shopping is soooo much easier than going from store to store looking for things. Other than my jacket, helmet and gloves, I’ll choose online shopping any day of the week. 
The next morning, the dogs are charging the main gate and my phone rings.
“I’m on my way”
Damn that was fast! The courier van is standing outside with a masked delivery guy standing with a big box in arms. There’s a nice big label on my box, ATG. 

Now the first question is obvious, what is ATG. I’m not just going to tell you what it stands for, but also a little bit of the info I’ve managed to get about them.
So ATG stands for All Terrain Gear. The locally designed and manufactured range of saddle bags, tool pouches, motorcycle camping equipment, back packs etc. Turns out that there are actually quite a few brands under this one banner, and I got a little something from the top ones to check out and share a soft review on, seeing that I can’t actually go riding properly as yet with lockdown.

What has been ordered for the GS, as rides are planned all over the nation when lockdown finally allows us to hit the road?
Well let’s start on the left of the pic and work through.
Item 1 is a OSAH DryPak 60l duffel bag that’s going to get strapped onto the top box while riding.
Item 2 is a ATG Tool Roll, for carrying all my emergency tools while on the road.
Under the Tool Roll, is an extra 30lt Liner Bag with IP66 dust and waterproof ratings too insert into the existing top box.
And lastly, the crown jewels of the box, the ATG Overlander Motorcycle Saddlebags in 30lt + 30lt configuration and also kitted with the interior IP66 Liner bag as just mentioned for the top box.
In a state of sheer excitement however, I couldn’t wait to see what this amazingly solid gear would look like on the bike, and so I just had to test fit it in place.

This however might have been a slightly bad idea, considering that it just makes a person more depressed at the fact that hardcore riding is still currently off the cards, but damn it looks good on the bike!
Back to the topic on hand however, when you start looking at the finer details of these bags, you notice that they are built African tough and ruggered. You can feel that this is not some cheap knockoff that is going to tear or wear out easily. These bags are made to outlast a rider!
HUGE thumbs up to ATG for the quality control and design on these bags.
Additionally, also supplied by ATG, I got a set of Alpine Earplugs. Another useful product from them as the distributor for Alpine here in the RSA.

A few of you may be wondering why you would want earplugs while riding your motorcycle, and there are a ton of reasons why you should actually own a set. I won’t spoil that surprise as yet for you, but if you are someone that uses earplugs, these are top class! 
Special note on the earplugs: although I haven’t had a chance to test them while riding as yet, they work wonderfully for when the wife nags you during lockdown 🤣 
So as I sign off on this review, I seriously encourage you to check www.atgear.co.za or www.osah.co.za to order some epic items for your motorcycle ride as soon as lockdown ends! 

P.s. Keep an eye out for the next podcast episide when we get into more details about ATG!  

The new old cruiser from BMW - R18!

You need to wonder what has caused BMW to enter into the modern cruiser market, up against some of the oldest and more well known brands in the world. Well considering the claims from, sheer brilliance is what can be expected from the brand new R18!

Sticking to their general design style of clean lines and crisp German utility, the master in Bavaria sure have out done themselves with R18’s end appeal on the eye. This is clearly an open road, no hassle machine, that won’t hammer the body like a superbike would, yet doesn’t have that dead sit up positioning you’d get uncomfortable with after a few 100k’s from an adventure style bike. Yes, you read that right. No one can say that an adventure bike is truly comfortable on the open road over long distances.
That said though, with the optional extras that can be added to this motorcycle, you’re in for a really personal experience of pure riding pleasure. Yup, BMW has gotten together with some really big names in the aftermarket motorcycle industry, namely Vance & Hines, as well as Roland Sands Design and quite a few other big names, to create an array of extra goodies that will make your very own R18, exactly that, your own!

As for the engine and drive of this beautifully crafted cruiser from the European motorcycle world, yup, you guessed it, bullet proof German engineering at its very best!
Coming packed with the biggest boxer motor ever installed into a production motorcycle, as well as the joys of practical maintenance free shaft drive, the power on your wrist is bound to be an amazing experience on every ride.

 There is a very good reason for that 18 in the name. It stands for the mind dulling 1800cc beast of a motor that huddles in BMW’s double-loop steel frame, with meticulous welding and joints. Add to that the power claims, and you know that you are going to be holding for dear life when you twist that throttle. It is not the maximum power output of 67kw that is going to tear your arms off, it is the claim of a constant curve of 150nm of torque that will do the trick.
The only thing we think that would be nice in this engine configuration, would be a liquid cooled system, which they decided to opt out of for the more traditional air-cooled route. Something we can’t fully comment on though until we’ve managed to test ride one.
With all that power though, they thought things through at least, by adding some of their more tech savvy riding assists.

Not just the stunning retro styled LED headlight, with optional adaptive turning, BMW has also added in their ASC (Stability Control – which can be disengaged), MSR (an electronically controlled system to prevent unwanted slipping on the rear when accelerating too quickly or downshift shudders), as well as three standard drive settings, “Rain”, “Roll” and “Rock”.
So with the addition of some much awaited and very new tech advancement to the cruiser segment, you can expect some serious updates on everyone else's production lines coming, with BMW leading the way.
The now industry standard of ABS is covered by the unique BMW Mottorad Intergral ABS system that has well been established in the world of motorcycles.

In conclusion to our excitement for the launch of this amazing sounding cruiser from BMW, we are pretty keen on getting our hands on one to test and give more details on how she handles on the road. With the figures and specs that we’ve received from BMW regarding this genius piece of German engineering, it should be one heck of a motorcycle to ride.

Here’s crossing fingers, toes and everything else that we get to test one soon 😉

P.s. Hopefully in time for the YouTube channel debut 😁

Fast – slow – fast

I couldn’t help but find something amusing while riding the other day. So amusing in fact that here I am ranting on yet another blog post about it 🤣
It hit me the other day oddly enough, while sitting at a Sunday lunch with my father-in-law and his club members, chatting about rides everybody had been on recently.
Here I am, sitting listening instead of actually talking (which I’ve found too serve me well over the years), too these old guys talking about riding well over the local speed limits.
It’s funny too think that I used to be one of these loose cannons, with a wide open throttle every time a start button brought a motorcycle to life between my legs.
Just like that, it started to dawn on me how funny this whole story is and now I’m wondering if this theory cooking in my mind might have some warrant.
Maybe with some of you reading this could share your view point on it in the comments below and we can either confirm it or just put it too rest as a kak idea🤣
So I noticed that the older guys were all bragging about breaking into the 200km/h mark on roads. It occurred to me that it’s been awhile since I’ve felt the need to do this on my personal riding and it got me thinking that maybe it’s an age factor.
When I was younger and dumber, more specifically my late teens and early 20s, I wasn’t happy riding unless I was pushing the absolute limits of the rev counter. I had no worries and nothing holding me back. There wasn’t the stress of paying bills. There wasn’t a care about whether or not I made it out the other end in one piece or a flaming wreck of leather and rubber.
I notice though, this same type of mentality with the older guys that are fairly new to motorcycles. To clarify this, the “mid life crisis” type riders. I haven’t noticed it much in the real veteran riders, although they are honestly few and far between these days.
Most riders now days are either youngsters or old guys that have finally decided to get onto two wheels after years of debating the safety and risks involved in motorcycling, as well finally being able to afford those big ‘ol Harleys I’ve been eyeballing all these years. I digress however, please do excuse me when the squirrels in my head wonder off in the other direction 😉
The question now though is whether you see the trend of the point I’m trying to make here? If not, here’s a simple breakdown of what I’m getting at:
Young / new riders = balls to the wall, high adrenaline riding all the time
Middle aged / experienced riders = calm and relaxed rides, with minimal risks
Old and/or veteran riders = balls to the wall, high adrenaline riding all the time
With this line of thinking though, it seems that the less “worry” one has when swinging a leg over a motorcycle, the faster and more reckless one becomes with the throttle. Kind of makes sense now why manufacturers are so focused on safety features as well. Just take a look at some of the 2020 models that have been released so far and you’ll notice that they come with almost more features than the smartphone in your pocket now days.
And after all the ranting above, I’m now curious to see if I become one of those veteran riders that goes balls to the wall. Luckily still a few more years to go before I get to that stage in my life, so I’ll just be content with chilling and enjoying the scenery on my private rides, keeping my throttle hand rested up for when I need to straddle the new stuff at launches in “controlled” environments 😉

Airflow Seat Covers

The Airflow seat cover – the name kind of says it all, but there’s more to this simple pull over cover then what first meets the eye.
Over a 2 week period, we gave it hell too put the product to the ultimate test against riding conditions in our beautiful South Africa.

First impressions:
The first thing we noticed was how low the price for these covers are, considering the costs of other odds and ends that are available in the motorcycle industry. At only R 650 per a unit direct from the importer, regardless of the size of your seat, that’s not actually a bad price.
Add to that includes next day delivery as well! Even the service that you get when ordering your new Airflow is exceptional, with constant follow ups and tracking details throughout the delivery stage.
As for the packaging, it’s nothing too fancy, but then it’s also not the worst thing in town. In other words, it is the typical type of packaging you’d come to expect in the motorcycle industry 🤣

Fitment:
The Airflow seat cover is surprisingly easy too install on any motorcycle you buy one for, as long as you know how too remove your seat.
Simply pull it over the seat you want to cover and reinstall it. Just like that the Airflow seat cover is installed. So at least you won’t need a master motorcycle mechanic PhD to get it done 😉

Looks:
Surprisingly, the Airflow seat cover design, in terms of looks, is very well thought out. This is a product that you can see was developed by bikers for bikers. The simple plain black design will work with any motorcycle graphics or custom paint job that you might have.
Damn we who live the bikerlife are easy to please - https://southafricamotorcyclist.blogspot.com/2020/01/wearing-black-and-skulls-again.html?m=1

First ride:
It honestly takes a slight touch of getting used to the first time you swing your leg over the Airflow. The extra cushioning it provides, combined with the added slippery surfaces of the advanced plastic structure the product is made of, makes for a very interesting first ride.
After the first few hundred meters however, you start to really enjoy the feeling of the slide across the seat you get.

Does it live up to the manufacturers claims?
Well we’ve tested it beyond what Airflow claims it does, and surprisingly to us, it stood up to the challenge on every turn.
So in short on that question, we can give them serious credit on keeping their claims lower then what the product actually does.

Pros:
• Well priced
• Brilliant delivery
• All round brilliant aftermarket accessory
Cons:
• Plastic feel
• Sliding takes a bit of getting used too
• Make sure you get the right size for your motorcycle

Cleaning my helmet and skin

Let me start by saying that cleaning and polishing my gear is one of the most soothing things on the list of things I do when it comes to living the bikerlife. This of course doesn’t top actually riding, but I thoroughly enjoy doing it none the less.
I digress from the reason I’m writing the post however.
So the other day my wife walks into the garage and asks me what I’m doing while I’m deep in my own mission of meticulously applying the good ‘ol trusted Dubbin to my leathers to hear her.
She gently touches my shoulder leading to me flying up from the chair in shock and asks me the question again.
“Cleaning up my gear my love”, I mumble as I crack back on my task.
“You do know that it’s all going to get dirty during your next ride right?” as she turns, shaking her head to leave me in my own little zone.
This gets me thinking though as too why I’m so hell bent on getting my leather looking and smelling brand new, just to get hammered by bugs, wind and on occasion rain as I sit with a motorcycle rumbling between my legs???
Is it my CDO (in other words, OCD that is so severe that I even have to rearrange the letters alphabetically 🤣), or is there something deeper to this routine I’ve practiced throughout all my years of riding?
As I take a step back to admire my now spotless leather, and gleaming helmet, the beginning of reason begins to smack me in the face about this entire endeavour.
Every time I gear up, I take on my biking identity! No, this isn’t a split personality disorder here before you come to that thought, which I might now have placed into head 😉
My leather becomes my skin. If I’m unfortunate in having to slide down the road, it’s the part of my body that gets ripped to pieces. So obviously it makes sense that I treat it as my own skin. That means keeping in clean and well taken care of to keep as much of my inside intact.
As for my helmet, it’s not merely my head, it’s my face while I’m riding as well. Kind of makes sense why everyone has a habit of choosing a different design, that just tends to match their own personality right? So it makes perfect sense to keep it sparkling clean seeing that your face is the first impression you leave on people you meet along the road of life.

And so my conclusion is set. I know now why I take such intensive care of all my riding gear. Kind of makes a ton a sense when you look at it in that context.
Enjoy the riding guys and gals 😉 till the next blog post!

Wearing black and skulls again?

I’m back with yet another mind provocative thought. This time it’s all about the biker obsession with the colour black and skulls. And I’m not just talking about the guys and gals that ride cruiser style motorcycles. I’ve know many adventure riders and even been a super bike rider myself, yet black clothing and skulls seems to catch our attention.
So let’s think first about the black clothing we all own. Heck, one look at the washing line after the washing machine has done its job, shocked me the other day when I actually realized that all of my clothing is black or so dark in colour that it is bordering black.
Why would we wear black though, considering that we spend our riding time out in the open, being beaten on in the sun. Kind of the worst idea, if I think back to that physics class in high school about how light rays work and that black absorbs light. But then I thought about it further and came to a few reasons that would explain this biker life obsession with black.
For starters, its much easier to keep clean, especially if something happens on the road that turns us into grease monkeys. And secondly, black is the colour of most of the leather that we all wear for protection, because its easier and cheaper dyeing leather black instead of other colours.
Just my points regarding black, despite that it involves you sweating in the slightest bit of shade you do manage to find at the next jol you attend.

Now onto the topic of skulls, we boldly head. Prior to this blog post, I sat and read up on a ton of articles and other blogs on this exact topic. The general consensus on all of these prior articles/posts is surprisingly the same in the long run, but there must be something else surely that draws the attention of motorcycle riders across the spectrum and worldwide.
Yes, I agree that the effects of WW2 had quite a bit to do with the rise of military veterans arriving back from war and purchasing motorcycles at a minimal cost from the army in various countries. Most notably the Harley-Davidson’s of the American Army. This led to veterans creating “gangs” made up of service units, which in turn led to the use of military unit insignia, which tends to have a lot of skulls involved, so as to frighten the enemy.
There is also the ancient approach to it, in that skulls signify immortality, seeing that it is all that remains once all the juicy bits decay into the ground.
However, I myself, as a motorcyclist, don’t feel any particular draw to any of these theories, that still do have some significance to the biker lifestyle, however not so much to me personally.
For me, it is more so a reflection of mortality that attracts me to the skulls that adorn of motorcycles and gear.
And this includes the jewellery that I wear even when I'm not riding.
I tend to side with the mortality that the famous biker skull symbolizes.
Bare with me here now as we delve into the depths and possibly relate together.
Every time I swing my leg over a motorcycle saddle, I embrace the fact of my mortality.
I accept that there is a possibility that I might not make it to my final destination. This doesn’t mean that all the skulls adorning me mean that I am an irresponsible rider in any way though. After all, I could be taken out by the cager at the next intersection that jumps a red light.
However, in the depths of my being, it means that I am embracing the dangers of the life I live as a biker. I live my life as fully as possible, in every way, and the skulls are merely a display and reminder that I am not afraid of death.
I know who I am and what I have accomplished, and that means I know where I believe I’m going if this ride is my last ride.
So thus, I adorn my skulls in all the black attire I wear on a daily basis, showing and sharing my way of life as fully as possible.
Ride safe all you awesome, black clad and skull adorned bikers!

Slow is sometimes better 😉

A bellowing “Gaan ons ry?” (“Are we going to ride” for our English readers) greets me on this fine Friday morning, as my father-in-law has just woken up.
As the founder of South Africa Motorcyclist, and considering the fact that I’m the original instigator that got this man on a motorcycle for the first time in his life some 10 years ago, my answer is a very obvious “YES oom!”
Let’s actually back into that for a bit, considering that this is the first real post of this blog shall we…
So I met my father-in-law, oddly enough, way before I met his daughter whom today I affectionately refer to as “wifey” despite her cringing every time I say it. P.s. Love you gogga!
Back then I was still wet behind the ears, working in the local supermarket and of course on the one motorcycle I still regret having sold, a 2003 Honda Fireblade in red and black. Man what a bike she was!
Either way, the old man and I hit it off almost instantly when he first came into that shop after having moved into the area. He was always intrigued by the motorcycles parked outside, yes multiples, and he asked me tons of questions about them. The reason for riding. The reason why I was so hardcore at on my choice of owning a Honda. Where did I ride and why. The list to carrying on with this is quite extensive, so I won’t bore you with it.
Needless to say, a few months after he and I had started becoming friends, he arrived one day on a stunning ’99 Honda VT750 Shadow, which I incidentally own now. Now he owns yet another Honda as well as his more “wife friendly” Harley.
Back to the topic behind the post though. We set off this morning from the homestead, to the garage around the corner for some much needed petrol for a trip to Montana, Pretoria.
He looks over at me, as oddly enough we don’t get a chance to ride together much, and asks me the most obvious question considering that I’m on a far older bike than today’s standard, “What’s the average speed you can hit on the highway?”
With a moment’s thought on my part, “Let’s cruise around 100 - 120km/h”
I can see the joy draining out of his face at these words. He was obviously hoping for the 140 + km/h mark that seems to be a motorcyclist norm from the West Rand to Pretoria via the infamous R28.
I’m grinning from ear to ear to see what happens next though as we climb into the highway.
As the k’s start steadily sweeping by, I can see that he’s starting to enjoy this slower pace. He’s looking around and pointing at things it seems he has never seen before on this beautiful stretch of South African road.
All the way to the North East side of Pretoria and back to Roodepoort we ride at a very chilled pace between 100 - 120km/h. Barely using the amount of petrol we normally would. Cars going past us, without us even bothering to open the throttle and leave them far away in the mirror.
Yes, I’m riding an old girl, but that V-twin motor grumbling between my legs has more than enough power to push the old man’s limits that he normally rides, but that’s not what I’m after today.
I ride tons of various motorcycle makes and types daily, but it’s different testing a bike versus enjoy the ride of a bike.
We finally make it home, safe and sound, every biker’s goal.
As my father-in-law’s helmet comes off, I can see a nice big satisfied and relaxed smile across his face.
“That was the most amazing ride I’ve had in ages! Who would have thought that going slower could be so fun!”
“That was kind of the point”, is all I can reply through my own relaxed smile.