A group of 18 adventure riders left Port Elizabeth (PE) last Thursday on a 4 day trip to De Aar (a town in the Karoo) and back. Every rider had to include a generous donation with their trip fees which went towards sponsoring a prosthetic leg for a young biker who lost his one leg in a motorbike accident and he had no medical aid to get a new leg. The prosthetist who made the limb was also on the trip.
Little did I know that the majority of the bikes were 1200 BMW's, 1190 KTM's and 990 KTM's. One guy had an 800 BMW, the closest to my 660 Tenere.
The trip kicked off with a group photo at the Ford dealer in PE who sponsored the backup vehicle, a Ford double cab 4x4.

The first off-road session was through the Baviaanskloof which is a very popular and renowned adventure bike ride in South Africa. At the deepest water crossing, five bikes went down and one had to be towed by the Ford to jump start it to get the water out the engine.


Luckily the 660 made it through !


Taking a break at the coffee shop after the water crossing and before we hit the rain.


First night stay was in Willowmore at the Historical Guesthouse.


Some of the roads were suitable for short stints with the Tenere up to 145kph. Some KTM's did 200 !


Waiting for another water crossing next to a block house from the Anglo Boer War


The second overnight stop was at a lovely game farm


My friend on his 800GS saw the deep ditch too late and went straight into it. Fortunately he was standing at the time and the bike threw him clear. He suffered slight shoulder and hip pain, but the bike is a write-off. The backup Ford was towing a 3 bike trailer for just such an event.


Somewhere next to the road in the Karoo


The 660 Tenere could keep up with the bigger bikes on the dirt roads and fortunately they kept to under 150kph on the paved roads.
But after the second day, I found that double sided tape is not strong enough to hold a number plate on a home made tail tidy mudguard


The last night we stayed at another guest farm, Ganora, with very friendly hosts.


In front of my cabin of the last night.


The last day we went through 2 game farms but I could not stop to take photo's. The group was in a hurry to beat some threatening rain which we got into about 100km from PE. We got home very whet and cold.

My blue steed never gave a miss and saved me a few times from mistakes I made on the farm roads. The only maintenance I did was to oil the chain every morning.

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2014 XT660Z - Barrett pipe, DNA stage1.5, Barkbuster hand guards and handlebars, Pivot pegs, Teknik suspension, Guard-it engine protector combo, B&B rear rack, Trax topbox.

Looks great mate & all for a good cause to.

What an amazing adventure. Thanks for sharing with us. Quite inspirational.

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2010 XT660Z Blue, Exan can, UFO high front fender, SW Motech baseplate, heated grips, 12v point, Kevs Fuel & O2 mod, DNA Stage 2 Filter and cover, Givi tall screen, Mefo mfe 99s, Kevs throttle mod, TT high seat and 'compass'

Great ride and photos, the Tenere did you proud! . ..worthy cause too. Your friend was lucky not to be more hurt. Steve