RIDEFAST Magazine October 2020

The Bike
Last month you would have read how
my mate Trevor and I flirted with the law
and went for a bit of a wander around
the bushveld out past Beestekraal Stasie
on the other two member of the R1250R
family. Yes, we were actually allowed
to as we had media travel passes and
testing bikes and reviewing venues is
actually part of our day to day job. So
we are no strangers to the tech on these
bikes, also having had considerable
experience with them in their Adventure
form for our sister magazine Dirt & Trail.
The Ride
After a few U-turn's and back tracking,
We (The Beemer and I), got off the
freeway and headed down the old road
to Heidelberg from Brakpan, then it was
onto Dennysville, Heilbron, Petrus Steyn/
Lindley. I hooked a left to Bethlehem and
a right to Clarens and into the Golden
Gate National Park. After exploring some
of the scenic drives in Golden Gate, it
was out the other side to Phutadijaba
Then another right past Sterkfontein
dam, down Oliviershoek Pass past
Little Switzerland, through Bergville and
Winterton. We explored some back roads
into Mooirivier, down through Nottingham
road and eventually hooked up with the
N3 south for the final burn to my digs
for the night in Hillcrest. Two nights in
good old KZN calling on some of our
advertisers and then it was on to the N3
north back to Gauteng, The return trip
was a high speed burn all the way up the
N3 home.
Now don't get me wrong, KZN is very
lekker, but north of the Vaal is where my
heart is.
If you have never ridden the back roads
through southern Gauteng and the
Eastern Free State into the 'Berg' you
have missed out big time. Firstly, once
you get south of Alberton the roads start
getting quieter and once you pass the
Vaal dam, most of them are in really good
condition.
In the eastern Free State they are long,
twisty and have a low Spietkop factor and
the scenery is disturbingly beautiful.
Tall grey and green Poplars, with leaves
gently rustling in the breeze, green and gold
farmers fields, (now I understand the ''Boks''
kit), dotted with red barns, rusty sheds, old
sandstone farm houses with wrap around
stoeps. Livestock and their calves and
lambs grazing lazily in lush green fields,
farm dogs yapping in the distance, chicken
telling them to fokfokfokfokoff,
and dams sparkling in the sunlight like
jewels on a beautiful tapestry. Then it's
is into the Maluti mountains, with tall
cathedrals of yellow, orange and white
sandstone Jutting majestically against
the sapphire blue sky, overlooking the
picturesque town of Bethlehem and the
quaint little artists village of Clarens - and
everywhere I went was just coated in a
blanket of white butterflies.
I took a little detour along the scenic
routes in the Golden Gate National Park
which are all gloriously paved so you do
not need some knobbly shod dual purpose
bike to get up to all the view points.
Next time you ride your sports bike
through this part of the world, treat
yourself and head up the scenic route, not
only is it mind bendingly gorgeous, but
it is also some pretty fun riding - narrow,
tight and twisty roads with no run off, no
barriers and nowhere to go but down if
you get it wrong...
And it gets even better once you get into
the ''Berg'' proper.
Oliviershoek pass is sprinkled with so
many cool place to stop for a quick chow
or even stay for a few days, but I was
there for the corners which really give you
a proper workout, on the gas up through
the gears, on the brakes kicking back
down through the gears as you crank it
over into bends so tight you can inspect
your own exhaust pipe, then it is back on
the gas, up through the gears, hard on the
brakes, kick back down through the box,
chuck it over the other way and... Repeat,
repeat, repeat, repeat.
Riding enthusiastically is quite a work out.
The little road side stall is overrun by
cyclists but it serves some great ice cold
bevvies. A welcome sight.
Then, it was a a quick blitz back to top
and back down again - just because,
and then we wandered off down through
Nottingham Road, looking longingly at the
brewery but racing the sinking sun ...
Next time!
I am completely familiar with all the
features offered by BMW and how they
all work and affect your ride.
I am not a fan of fairings, so the RT
version of this motorcycle is not my cup
of tea, whereas the R-HP is right up my
alley. The fairing on the RS does actually
appeal to me, the bike is naked enough
to keep you out in the elements enough
to really enjoy the wind and bugs in your
beard, but it is protective enough to keep
some of the chill, debris and wind off your
upper body.
The seating position is aggressive
enough to make the RS fun to ride hard
down mountain passes or even on the
track, but comfy enough to knock out 750
kays in a day without needing a visit to
your chiropractor or physio.
I connected my cell phone to the dash
so I could keep an eye out for any
emergency calls, I'm personally not a fan
of comms kits mounted to helmets.
The TFT dash display is the usual BMW
excellence, with an instinctively easy
to use nav wheel to scroll through all
the info you would ever need ... Except
your frikkin ''range to empty'', which I
did eventually find a day or two later 3
menu's in.
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