2009 DT BOOK ONLINE

Italian
dESTRESS
THERAPY
A day on the SWM lineup…
A de-stress was required.A bunch of
us decided that a day in the saddle
was required, Rob Davies on his
somewhat rare Honda Cross tourer,
Don Gibbons on his Triumph Explorer,
Glenn on his 800 Tiger. While we are
at it, what else can we take, who else
can we invite along. What about the
guys from SWM? A few issues back,
we introduced you to the SWM range
of dirt and adventure bikes…
Some eyebrows were raised – we are
all on big mainline bikes – do we really
want small capacity bikes holding us up?
Sure, we are a lekker bunch of oakes
why not!
Phone calls were made for an impromptu
get together – no clue where we are
going but why not come and join us?
Peter and Kyle from SWM jumped at the
opportunity to ride and promised us that
a special bike would be joining us…
Meeting under the tree at the designated
meeting spot, we were greeted by
the lusty thud of a single cylinder bike
roaring up the country road towards us.
It was Peter with the Ace of Spades – a
fantastically styled little street scrambler.
He was accompanied by Kyle on the
Dual purpose Super Dual 650X.
The best thing about an impromptu ride
is the fact that, very often we have no
cooking clue which direction we are due
to head – so a robust discussion was
undertaken. We only had the day. We
needed reasonable fuel stops. A mixture
of tar and gravel is required.
“OK – lets hit the village of Bapsfontein
for brekkie and work it out from there!”
Right next door to the old Bappies Hotel
is a very cool little restaurant and coffee
shop – Grannies. Guys, they make a
fantastic chow. The shop has much
personality with antiques on sale and
to peruse while you soak in the clean
country air – and it’s a perfect spot to
plan your day…
Still no clue about where to go – OK
chaps – lets head for Bronkhorstspruit
it’s a great ride and there we can decide
what to do…
Go and have a nibble at Grannies in Bappies
The road out to Bronkies is in great
condition – you can open wiiide and
enjoy. We were quite impressed to see
the SWM’s take the lead. We need to say
that, throughout the day, we never had
to wait. We never felt that the smaller
capacity thumpers were holding us up.
Both models thundered along happily
at the 150kph mark all day – and in the
sand monsters that we found, they were
a lot less hard work to ride…
In a heartbeat, the sprawling town
appeared. We carried on for a while –
and then found a gravel road off to our
right.
You know how we say that SA is full of
little adventure riding gems? Well this
was one of them.
The road got progressively more rural
and started to wind its way through the
most beautiful mountains. If we did not
know it, we could have been in the Cape
– or any exotic venue in SA. Really, really
cool. We stopped off at a little bridge
crossing the river. The water was spotless
– a perfect place to gather your thoughts,
share some bench racing tales and take
a little break. That’s what adventuring is
all about. Great mates, great country and
great bikes.
As usually happens on features like this,
we all swapped bikes and rode on. I
chose the Ace of Spades…
If you are looking for a head turning little
barrel of fun, then this is absolutely one
bike that you need to look at. It is small,
compact and powerful and so easy to
ride. It is not tall or intimidating in any
way. Bar ABS, it has no electronics – it is
a simple get on and go for it bike.
It is equally at home in the dirt as it is on
the tar – we were pretty impressed with
the suspension – not a hard ride at all,
even on the corrugations and hitting the
odd large pothole. And it delivers real
world power and performance.
We fully expected to be uncomfortable
on a long ride – but the little SWM never
disappointed. We soon hit a signboard
that told us we were leaving Gauteng.
Shame. We broke the law again – and
continued along to the tar where another
treat awaited us…
A great big flowing freeway with more
curves than a pole dancer. And we did
not even know that it existed up to that
point. The Ace Of Spades was even
more fun belting along through the
twisties – like a little flat tracker – open
wiiide, way past the national speed limit
and lean…
At the top of the mountain pass, we
found a refuel station little Spaza Shop
serving cold soft drinks and Lunch Bars.
We asked the proprieter for tips on
a fun route back to Bronkies. He
looks at the Honda and Triumphs and
scratched his head. “Ahhhh, but there
is plenty of sand!” – he points at the
SWM’s, “No problem – but ehhh the
big ones… Eish!”
Our grins got wider… sounds like
fun and we promptly followed his
directions. It all started quite well – we
were wandering what he was on about,
until we hit an ocean of thick sand. I
was grateful to be on the Super Dual.
It is really perfect for a ride like this,
compact and capable with excellent
long travel suspension and a beefy 650
engine that puts great power to the
back wheel.