Some pics from the Hippo rally in Richards Bay

LuckyL's bike parked on the pier

View of the rally site down the left of this street- was very empty

Some of the tents and bikers

Waiting for the mass ride to start - approx. 84 riders

One bike I will trade my XJR1200 for - a Lawson replica 1200 muscle bike

Now, in my eyes,this is not a bike... aircon, heaters, radio / cd player, built in garmin, boot.....

 Salagatle!

Rhino Rally -South Africa

So, continuing on my previous post about the road trip myself and LuckyL undertook:-
We arrived in Harrismith around lunchtime, Friday 28th Sept. Paid our entrance fee, made our way down to the Rally Office, got our badges, and then drove around the very extensive camp site, looking for the ideal place to set up camp.



Some places were too far from the "events" center, some too near, some too close to the water (dams and stream), but eventually we found a spot which we liked. It happened to be right next door to a section cordoned off for sole use by the Roadhogs, a bike club I used to ride for many, many years ago.

WE DECIDED TO PITCH THE TENT UNDER A SMALL TREE - FOR SHADE

So, we set up camp. Put up the tent and gazebo, unloaded the bikes, and took a ride around. Not long, and we saw the weather start to come up, so we went back to the car, got in, and decided to have a nap while the rain fell. Rain, hail, and incredible wind!
With the wind blowing later, we moved the trailer next to the tent, and tied the gazebo down onto it with ropes. However, with the storm that came over, the gazebo "lost" two of its legs, so we had to make a different plan.

This was plan B. Relocate the tent on top of the trailer, and the gazebo, with 2 long legs, 2 broken legs over the trailer, ans tie the whole thing down onto thew trailer.

 This was now, in effect, a caravan! We put our bags with clothing into the tent, and slept in the back of the car - double bed mattress and all! No way I was going to risk being blown away, rained on in another freak storm. This configuration held up well, and drew many comments from passing bikers!

Fallen tree.....

The storm that came up suddenly was so bad that it blew a tree down, crushing 2 tents (luckily uninhabited at the time), and and crushed some poor sods motorbike!!!

Smashed bike.....

As soon as it was over, we went back down to the events area. Pretty soon the wind came up again. At some point it blew away a few gazebos. Then it destroyed the tent of one of the stalls. I quickly ripped the back panels off of the next rent, as this was also going to take a flight, and let the wind blow through it. LuckyL and I spent some time helping the guys salvage what they could, and then left them to rebuild their stand best they could.

The remains of the structure of some poor sods gazebo - or 2!

We made our way around, checking out the damage to the various stalls, and some of the private tents. Eventually we ended up at the bar counter, inside a massive marquis. Just outside,some guys were trying to better secure the tent poles / ropes, with some of the 1m and 2 m long rope pegs having pulled out of the ground!
I bought a sheet of tickets, so that we could get some drinks. The wind was, by now, challenging the massive ropes and long tent poles. I went inside, much to LuckyL's dismay, to get some drinks. I bought a sheet of tickets (they can't trust their barmen with cash) and at that point the first main tent pole lifted off the ground, and gave way! He went outside - calling me. I demanded a round of drinks. The barman and lady were shocked and stunned - well, was I really going to spend who knows how much time without a drink if this tent collapsed? The second pole lifted off the ground. LuckyL came running back in :
"Dad, lets get out of here man, before it comes down on you head!" Coming, I said, picking up our drinks and following him out. Outside I realized this tent was in trouble. We stood to one side while the wind lashed at it - people were running into the tent to get the bikes out that someone had parked inside - cause they can!
 LuckyL did the honorable thing - opened a beer and filmed the tent collapsing! I will get the video from him and post it here.

The collapsed marquis tent - that's the end with the bar - the other end housed the stage and music / sound equipment. Check the water around it - 4 - 6 inches deep!!!

And then just as suddenly, the wind died down, and the rain fell softly. Simon Fourie - he of Bike SA owner and organiser of this rally walked past. I stopped him and commented "Think you have a problem", to which he responded - Already sorted - the guys are on their way from Durban as we speak! Now that's impressive organising! I offered my assistance if he needed it for anything - he replied - can you put up this tent? Smiled, and went on his way!

The next morning......

That night at about 8.30 pm, a truck arrived out of which climbed about 10 - 15 guys. They couldn't believe what they saw. By 3 am the next morning, the tent had been rebuilt, with new rope pegs, and all clean and sorted. They left off the side sheets, and that would have been the answer the day before, to remove them, and allow the wind to blow through. Anyway, they got it fixed.

Stalls - or rather what was stalls.

Simon Fourie -we got him to wheelie that scooter

There were some crazy stunt riders doing some shows, and they came through the camp sites,and decided out braai was a good obstacle...

Anyway,  Saturday was a nice clear day.
More to follow.

Salagatle!

R.I.P Brother....

Biker president killed in accident

File image

‘Evil’ Erik was the national president of the motorcyle association

08 October 2012 | Siyabonga Ngwenya

Mr 'Evil' Erik Edeling, a father of two, was killed in a motorcyle accident on Sunday afternoon on the R25 on his way home to Kempton Park.

"We were travelling home from the Classic Motorcyle Club. A truck that did not stop at the stop street crossed over from the right hand side as we were approaching from under the Zuurfontein bridge," said Mr Hilton Labuschagne, who had known Mr Edeling for more than 10 years.

Mr Labuschagne recalls that he saw his friend swerve to try and avoid the collision. He fell off his bike and slid under the left back wheel.

"There was a lot of smoke when he braked," he said.
According to ER 24 spokesman, André Visser, Edeling died on the scene.

An avid lover of Kawasaki motorcycles, he was the national president of the Tudor Rebels Motorcycle Association for the past 27 years and a well-known member of the biker community. He was the owner of the popular motorcyle shop, Motorcyle Magic, on Long Street.

"He loved bikes and even opened a bike hospital on End Street in Joburg that sold second hand motorcyles," recalled Mr Labuschagne.

Terrible way to die - and that because a PDI (Read kaffir) didn't stop, and that, because the cops don't do their jobs!!!

Salagatle!

Hectic.....

OK, so I have been unavailable for some time - and my site has been "Off-line" for some time too. Many reasons for both, but I'm not going to go into them for now, suffice to say, I'm back. However, by now, I probably have no more readers left - ah well, that's life!

So what have I been up to? Well, after finishing up at IBM, I came in to the new job offices for a week, to start getting into the new role. Did some work on a new deal, and sorted out what was a seriously questionable document (Quality was poor), it would seem that I have learned something at my previous employer after all, even if it's only to do a professional document - nah, I learned a lot there!
The next week I went in for one day. The Friday in court was short and sweet, postponed again, then me and LuckyL went home, packed the car, loaded the two bikes, and set off for Richards Bay, and the Hippo rally!

Hippo Rally - we had a reasonably good drive down to RB. Got there, and went straight to my brothers home. Unpacked the car, unloaded the bikes, and chilled. Decided we would go and register the next day.
Saturday morning a quick blitz down to the rally site, paid, collected our badges, then blitzed back to town to have breakfast with brother - Big Bear!

So, the Hippo rally was not very well attended. Seems like the previous 2 years were similar. In the past, the local cops were seriously full of shit, continuously harassing the bikers, making it difficult to get around without being stopped 2, 3, 4 times a day! The inland bikers had told the organizers this would happen. Also, due to problems with getting a venue approved by the organizers with the local municipal bodies, meant they had a late announcement, and most of the bikers had already made alternative plans. Be that as it may, we didn't care much either way, as we had the opportunity to attend the rally as the program showed events we wanted to be in / see, and leave to ride around at our leisure at other times.
The Sunday morning mass ride was attended by between 80 and 100 riders. Upfront was a SAPS / Highway police car (VW Golf GTI), followed by a local traffic police car (not sure what it was, then a massive Dodge double cab truck, then the bikers. The drive through town was slow, as expected, but once we got onto the highway to Empangeni, the SAPS car, driven by a policeman who is also a biker stepped up to 160 - 170km/h! And we,naturally, chased him! Highlight of the ride was the lights on top of the traffic officials car, which, at 160km/h decided to desert the vehicle, flew off the roof, and landed somewhere in the veld next to the highway! He had to pull off to recover the unit, and probably spent a lot of time trying to think of a good excuse to give to his boss back at the office!!!! Anyway, overall the cops were quite accommodating, a few roadblocks were set up around the area, mainly to check for drunken driving (I have no problem with that), and we managed to evade all of them, knowing the area as well as we do, and knowing the back-roads.

We hung around in RB for a few more days. Whilst we were there, I visited Alan P (He of the recent cancer operation) and his family, at their home several times. Was great to get together with them again, out of the hospital environment. He's doing much better, ans now has started his next round of chemo. We then made our way down to Durban, to another mates place, to await Friday morning when we were driving up to Harrismith for the Rhino Rally! This is the biggest bike rally in the country. Every year it gets bigger and better - 2012 was going to be no different. It would also be the first rally that LuckyL would attend, where he stayed on site for the duration of the rally, and would witness first hand the shenanigans that go on - throughout the weekend, 24x7! A real eye opener for him, and to boot, one that would start with a serious, destructive storm!

More to follow.

Salagatle!

The more things change, the more they stay the same

It's been a while since I posted anything of consequence. it's been difficult to come up with something worth sharing, hence the quality of posts of late. I read quite a few good blogs, and wish I could emulate some of those writers, but it's just not happening for me right now.

Too much stuff going on, taking away my powers of creativity I suppose! Be that as it may, I still have a whole lot of stuff going on in my head, and will one day probably be in a position to post them here. Problems still with exposing myself with regards my family or employer. It's a tough one, but until I have a change in career, I am stifled.

It's interesting to note that I am not alone in this dilemma. A few of them who's blogs I used to follow have stopped posting, and the reasons being "I post my updates on Facebook" (that's a load of crap, and useless", or, I just don't get to it anymore. Lost interest, and that's that! Fine, I don't have a problem with that, it's their choice, but I would feel like I would be abandoning another project if I did that, and so, I keep going. And I still don't really care if anyone reads my stuff or not, it's just a place for me to try and be creative, and to vent.

I'm going to visit a place in Pretoria that imports DIY type stainless steel railings / balustrades soon. I think I mentioned this before. The plan is two-fold. One, I really need to replace my railings on the balconies at home, and need to put in hand rails on the staircase. Secondly, I think it could be a good opportunity to start a small business. I know I can install this stuff, so if I can get it at competitive pricing, I could get a nice side line going. Who knows, could become a profitable business. But first things first, I need to take a days leave so I can go and see the company, and look at their product quality. Maybe next week.

And therein lies the problem. Maybe next week! Why not book the day off now? Why wait? Well, mainly because I have a very low level of interest right now. I couldn't be bothered. Why not? I have no idea.

I suppose I don't have the self belief! I know it's a very competitive market out there. I know a dozen guys who could be doing it, and if they are not, why not? And, and, and I can keep making excuses, and never get round to it. But I will. Soon. It's probably going to be the only way to get GMan gainfully (and legally) employed. If I can get him interested in the first place.  Will go and put in for a days leave as soon as I am done here!

Sunday past was Fathers Day. I celebrated my 21st fathers day, and it was good. Slept in a bit - a first for me, and then me and LuckyL mounted our steeds (Yamaha XJR 1200's) and went for a quick breakfast rune - excluding the breakfast stop. We did a quick 70-80 km in about 40 minutes. Not so fast I hear you say? Considering the conditions of our road, the traffic we have to contend with, multiple "HIGH RISK" zones, and the fact that we were traveling in mostly 60 and 70km/ areas (not that we stuck to that) we did OK. Got back home, loaded the Princess into the car and we went for breakfast at the local Wimpy! The start and stop points will not be our home, but a petrol station nearby......

 Red lines - According to Google, it's 76km. That's as the crow flies.
Yellow lines - as the road goes.
We leave from the filling station, turn 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, back past turn 2, 1 and then back to the filing station. The section between turn 2 and 3 is relatively fat. The part between Turn 4 and 5 is extremely fast, massive ;long corners - in fact, we both run this section at full taps! Not sure what will happen if we have a farmer come out onto the road in his tractor one day! Turn 5 back to turn 2 is up and over a mountain (OK, so it might not qualify as one in the US, but it's ours!) and it's a narrow twisting winding road, with loads of blind corners, but also great for blitzing!!!!Nice quick adrenaline rush before breakfast!

Salagatle!

LuckyL's XR 200 R

Previously posted about the bike LuckyL and I were rebuilding. This past weekend we finished it.

This was at about 11 pm Friday night

Thiswas at 1.05 am Saturday morning - I called it a day!

And this was the finished product at 4pm Saturday.

So we did a moer of a lot of work on this bike, in a few days. It was great, even though LuckyL and I did have some words every now and then during the work. Mainly because he does not have patience, and it's really required when doing a project of this nature.

We going to be tackling the next one soon, and it should go a bit easier (lessons learned) and now a guy at work had a 500cc he wants us to do for him - not sure what he's willing to pay for it though.

More later,

Salagatle!

Update on LuckyL and his bright ideas!!!

I recently posted about LuckyL and I respraying the Xr200R off road bike quickly one Saturday morning because it was looking very sad, and he wanted to use it on the Sunday. Here's the link for a refresher.

Anyway,  the bike looked ok, for the ay. We didn't strip anything, just cleaned it with a high pressure hose, let it dry, and touched it up with spray paint (in a can)!

Thats the after look. LuckyL in his undies as he was too lazy to go upstairs to get into his garage clothes, so opted to strip down to his undies instead!

Anyway, their Sunday out-ride went well. He came off once, due to a mix of sloppy mud, a hole, and a crap front tyre.
So, he decided we needed a new front tyre and inner tube, a new chain, rear and front sprockets. No problem. Got them from a no name brand shop in Edenvale for around R1000. (Honda wanted over R1200 for chain and sprockets only!)

Then, before we could even fit this, he decided the rear shock needed to be serviced / re-gassed OK, I helped him take it off - that is not an easy job I might add, and we found a place that will re-gas it for R75. Cheap enough.
In the meantime, he, and his riding mates decide they going to the Eastern Transvaal, or maybe to Swaziland at the end of April. We have a long weekend, so they want to spend a couple of days doing forest rides, and the like. Sounds fine, and fun!!!

We have more then enough time to reassemble the bike in time for that.
This week Monday night I get home, AND HE HAS STRIPPED DOWN THE WHOLE BIKE!!!! WTF?!?!?

he decided that he really wanted to overhaul the whole bike!!! So, I help hi strip it down further, and make notes on what we will need (shopping list) - and tell him what and how to get all the parts cleaned and ready.
Tuesday night he informs me that the boys want to go riding - THIS SUNDAY!!!! "Areyoufuckingmental" was my first thought. My comment was "OK, so we have to do as much as we can every night, and final assembly Saturday!

Last night, with most of the parts already cleaned, I started to respray. First undercoat for all the parts. And some cleaning where LuckyL didn't do a good job.  Then, when everything was done, we started with final color, and got through mostly everything. Tonight we will do second coat of final color on the parts that need it.
Once again we using spray cans of paint, as I still don't have a compressor and spay gun, not the time to teach myself and LuckyL how to use it. So that's the next think on my "Birthday present for myself" list!

This is what the garage looked like Tuesday late afternoon:-

Front shocks - getting new shock protectors soon!

Rear wheel, and front rim with new tyre waiting to be fitted

Bits and pieces of bike.......

More bits and pieces, rear swing-arm, handle bars, tools, stuff..... FFS!!!

Not to bad - I suppose. The motor and frame where around there somewhere, maybe outside being pressure washed.......!

After last nights 3.5 hour session....

Frame - redone - Bck wheel in the background - resprayed with "Chrome"!

Back and front wheels resprayed - "Chrome". Oh, and the front shock too! Handlebars - done!

Plastics - done. Although I'm not sure this paint will stick. Plastic is a bitch to paint!

Thats the whole motor! Hanging in the garage - resprayed with Engine spray - 300deg.C!! Looks damn fine!

Bits and pieces and odds and ends. Don't think this bike ever looked so good, or at least, the sum of the parts!

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is starting to look damn fine - just hope we can get this all rebuilt an finished Saturday.
I know the finish wont last, but we do have a second bike just like this one. It also needs to be redone, and the motor has to go in for an overhaul. So I'm thinking to buy a small compressor, with spray guns and other attachments - I see them sold off as a set in places like Makro - and we can "learn" on the second bike. Once we have it right, we will redo this one - or just sell them both and buy something newer / in better nick. However, I don't think you going to get a newer bike that will last as long as these two have, and still run - and cost so little to maintain!!!

Will post more stuff over the next few days as we progress.

Salagatle!

12/12/2011

Been a while (again) since I posted anything here. Well, anything worth reading I suppose. But hey, I also got stuff to do you know! Anyway, here's an update on the status of stuff, and if I am repeating anything, tough!
The Matriarch is now comfortable in her new home, settled, and making friends. The house is sold, and registered under the new owners, so that's also sorted. I bought her car from her for the amount offered to her by the second hand dealers, and then, a month later, sold it for a small profit! Every Saturday evening I pick her up, and take her to church. This last weekend I fitted a sliding Xpanda security door (LIU) to her patio door. They all say it's not really necessary, that it's safe, etc, blah, blah, blah, but if you come from an unsafe environment, there is no way you buying into that shit, so I fitted it for her, and now if she wants to she can sleep with the patio door open, or, when she goes out during the day, she dos not have to close up / lock up everything, her home and stuff is safe. Was a bit of a challenge fitting it, especially as I was on my own, but I got it done - good.

LuckyL has had a bit of ad luck with his car - just as I was bragging that he made such a good buy. So, We had 2 new tyres fitted - R 1750 (including wheel alignment), we had the starter serviced (was sticking occasionally, so cheaper to service it now than wait for it to break) and we had the car serviced - 148000km, needed to be done anyway - R 2500, and all this so that he could be safe going down to Ballito for the matric vacs. Oh, and we had a tow bar fitted - R 1950.

get the car back fro the service, and it starts giving error codes on the dashboard. Take it back to the garage. Turns out that the warning light is for a faulty Cam position sensor. OK, call around - Opel - R2200 - 4 days to come from the factory. OPEL A.S.A.P. in Pretoria - R 1300, and he has stock. It's Saturday morning, but we scream through to get it. Monday morning deliver to the mechanic. He fits it - still shows an error. Tuesday and Wednesday we do a million tests, changes, repairs, no help. Thursday morning we fit a new cam-belt and tension pulley. Same shit. By now I know we got shit, and as he was supposed to leave Thursday morning, we let him leave, at 1.15 in the afternoon, with the Princesses car, and trailer in tow!
Friday, and the mechanic says take off the battery terminals, and unplug the computer, leave over noight, and reconnect. Could be that the computer is now confused with all the errors and changes, and maybe needs to be reset.
Funny thing I identify though - if the car has been standing for a few hours (ie it;s cold) it starts and there is no warning light. Then you drive it for a while, stop to pick up something, and then start the car again after say 5 / 10 minutes, the fucking lights come on!!!! Anyway, I do the battery / computer thing, and Saturday afternoon, affter fitting the door for the Matricah, I reconect all the bits, start the car, and it's OK! Great, drive to the petrol station, 2 km away, stop. Fill up. Start, no problem. Great! Drive to the bottle store, push the car a bit, 8 km away. Stop. Go inside, buy some stuff, come out (6 minutes maybe?) and start the car - fucking light is back. Go home. Leave the car for 45 miutes - now it's cold again, start the car, no light.

OK - so I have discovered that the light only comes on if you are starting the car when it's hot. Should make it easier for the mechanic to fault find, with assistance from the Technical Manager from OPEL assisting. Here's hoping - I dropped off the car this am, and need it back by Thursday, as Friday is a public holiday here, and we want to leave for our vacation on Sunday!!!!

OK, so the Princess is using my car, and I'm commuting on the bike.......Fucking cars with fucking stupid ECU's! Gimme a pre 80's muscle car any day!!!!

So, for most of this year I was telling management that if they don't allow me to take leave during school vacations, which happen to coincide with company quarter ends, I will take my leave in December. Not sure if they thought I was joking, but 6 weeks ago I put in for leave from 19th Dec to 3rd January, and I still have another 8 days due to me before end January!!! When I informed management that I had put in the application, I also informed them that if they did not approve it, I would go on leave anyway, and we could sort it out with the CCMA (LIU) afterward!!! Needless to say, it has not been officially approved online, but neither has it been declined, so I go on leave, as of Thursday this week!!! Princess managed to arrange free accommodation with her boss in his apartment on the coast, so I'm looking forward to some serious "do nothing" chilling for a few weeks.

On the transport front, apart from LuckyL's car, my old Toyota is also gettin gto the end of it's life, but I need to nurse it along for a while longer - no finances for replacing that now. I've put all the motorbikes up for sale though, LuckyL's Aprilia RS 125 - he does not ride it anymore anyway, my Yamaha XJR 1200, or his XJR 1200, we need to keep one of them in the family for occasional rides, and. like now, when we short of one car.

I've also started to clean out 'stuff" in the garage. I've given away  boxes of tools I don't need (old stuff, miming tools, inherited from a friends late dad) really big stuff that can only be used really in industry, or on farms. A box full of lathe cutting tools. A couple of old Micrometers (still in inches), and so on. When I get back from vacation, going to do more cleaning out - will do a coule of trips to the antique shop to sell of some old stuff, as well as the local Cash Crusaders / pawn shop, to get rid of other unwanted stuff just stored in the garage - bicycles, bird cage, fish tank, hi-fi stand, double bunk bed, double bed with mattrass... fuck there is a whole houshold of stuff in the basement and garage. Going to clean out, and pocket the cash.
Then I'm getting into the stuff upstairs - the study / library has become a storeroom for stuff. No, I have no idea what it is, but it's going - Dump / pawn / trash / donate - whatever. There is also stuff in the safe that I know I am never going to use / wear / look at / bother with. Need to find a new home for that, as well as some of the stuff in the bar - loads of shit to get rid of. Suppose I'm heading towards a minimalistic lifestyle, makes more sense - hell we work all our lives to buy "stuff" which, one day we realize we really don't need / want / adds no value to our lives. Fuck it - time to clean up!
OK, that was a long paragraph!

Back in a bit - need a smoke.

OK, so on the home front - I fired the gardener, and got a new one. You would think these morons would appreciate a steady, regular job. No way, they start to skip a day here, come late the next ... so I sent him in his moer, and told he he can starve next to the road along with the rest of his brothers. Then I had a chat to my neighbor who has a gardener in twice a week, and got this guy to come in on Saturdays. Didn't turn up this week, but probably due to the fact it had been raining most of Thursday and Friday, and looked like rain on Saturday morning. Hope he comes in next week, or else there will be a jungle of lawn by the time we get back from our vacation.

GMan - well, he joined us for dinner on Saturday, and seems like he might join us for Xmas down at the coast. His girlfriend is in the UK, visiting with her mom and brother and step dad. Other than that, no other news on him.

Enough for now - will post more, if I feel like it, whilst sitting on the deck in Ballito, watching the sea......
Later all

Salagatle!

Email from Jayne (with a why)

This is a scary set of photos, but what's more amazing to me is the photo's of the biker. And NO, it's not gory pics of body parts - scroll down and be as surprised as I was.

Safe for sensitive viewing - and NO I didn't get permission to post these pics, not am I intending to - if they come to me in an email, they must be common property.

Injuries:-
-Fractured right ankle.
-Broken right toe.
-Broken right collar bone.
-Shattered right wrist.
-Shattered right humorous.
-Soft tissue damage left & right.

And One  Ex.Super - Bike  !

This guy was so lucky, I cannot begin to explain. Suffice to say he was wearing the right gear, and I am sure he managed to get away from the  bike just before impact, or on impact, as the bike continued on it's way to self destruction, he was probably skidding along the tar......


Salagatle!