After
4000km, you know biking's the only way to go
A group of friends and I came up with the hare-brained idea of visiting the four
corners of South Africa by motorcycle. We started a couple of weeks ago with a
ride to Cape Agulhas, the southernmost tip of the continent.
Because it requires no imagination to be uncomfortable, my wife and I rode
Honda's new XL1000V Varadero for the 3700km, five-day round trip.
The recently upgraded Varadero is a big, comfortable, handsomely-styled fast
tourer with the versatility to take on gravel roads. At R97 800, it's
competitively priced against its nearest rival, BMW's R1200GS, that sells for
R114 950
There are times to
sightsee and times to shoot for distance - and that was our mission heading out
of Johannesburg at sunrise for the first and longest leg, an 1100km slog to Port
Elizabeth.
It's not without trepidation that you tackle such a long haul, even on a
comfort-orientated tourer, but we needn't have worried. The bike proved so comfy
that when we reached Port Elizabeth we both felt fresh enough to have ridden
straight back to Jo'burg.
The seating position is upright and relaxed, the pew nice and wide - Honda seems
to have learned its lesson from the narrow, designed-for-teenage-ballerinas,
saddle on the smaller Africa Twin. At 830mm the seat's not suited to the
vertically challenged but it was fine for my 1.82m.
The high screen is manually adjustable to any of three positions and is very
effective – to the extent that I had to ride with my visor slightly open to
prevent it from fogging up
We arrived at our
overnight stop in Port Elizabeth at 6pm, parked the bikes and went for a
well-earned rest. Inexplicably, a grumpy granny in an adjoining room complained
to the manager that we had "revved our motorcycles all afternoon."
Not everyone's a bike fan...
After first day's long ride the 600km day trips along the eastern Cape coast
seemed almost child's play; the Varadero really is one of the best long-distance
bikes out there.
Cruising power
Its 996cc, fuel-injected, V-twin motor thumps out 69kW at 8000rpm, with 98Nm of
torque at 6 000rpm. If you're used to a superbike, you'll know that's not
kick-ass power but there's lots of strong, smooth and linear cruising strength
that takes you to 210km/h at a push and cruise at 180km/h two-up with the
luggage cases full.
Ah yes, the storage. The 35-litre panniers and 45-litre locking top box (a R12
000 option) easily swallowed five days' worth of (economically packed) luggage
for two, although the panniers' latching system was a bit fiddly.
The weather gods were mostly kind as we rode the picture-postcard Garden Route
over the next three days but the Varadero's tall screen and hand guards came in
handy and helped keep the occasional chilly spell at bay.
The eastern Cape's notoriously strong winds caused some problems; a couple of
times side gusts hit us so hard we were blown into the next lane but a nice
thing about riding in winter is the absence of bugs plastered across your visor
and the bike.
Long ranger
The 25-litre fuel tank is another feather in the Varadero's touring cap; fuel
consumption on the six-speed Honda varied, depending on pace and the wind
strength. The best we got was 5.6 litres/100km and the worst 10.2, with an
average of 7.9 litres/100km.
That worked out to a generous tank range of 316km – there were some bikes in our
group that could barely manage 190km.
Handling is about what you'd expect of a tourer; there's no knee-scraping on the
menu but the big Honda turned in quite crisply for a bike weighed down by two
people and their luggage. With both crew seated well forward to compensate for
the inevitable tail-heaviness, I could get it leaned well over in the mountain
passes.
The brakes - big dual discs up front and a third at the rear - are well up to
the task, with a progressive, not over-sharp, feel. Honda's linked braking
system automatically feeds a percentage of braking power to the rear wheel when
you snatch the front brake, or vice versa. Not everyone likes the system –
experienced riders prefer to have total brake control - but in normal road
riding it wasn't obtrusive.
The instrument panel is large and easy to read with two trip meters and a fuel
consumption computer. The indicators perform double duty as flashing hazard
lights, which came in handy to say "thank you" to cars that moved over to let us
pass.
Courteous drivers
Out on the open road we were taken aback by how courteous motorists were. Closer
to the cities it was a different story altogether, where the more stressed
drivers got into lane blocking (the "Irish Chicane", where a car in the fast
lane stays close alongside a car in the slow lane to prevent anyone overtaking
even on a double carriageway – it's illegal on a racetrack but on the public
roads it's just very bad manners) - and the whole road rage deal.
Perhaps there's a thesis in this.
The Varadero's high, wide handlebars, generous ground clearance and semi-knobbly
tyres made it suitable for gentle off-road work. Our route took us through a
30km dirt section where the bike felt quite stable but with M'lady on the
pillion it wasn't the place to try anything fancy like hard braking or sideways
slides...
We reached Cape Agulhas safely, where the Indian and Atlantic oceans shake
hands, and with photos snapped to prove it we headed back via George, Knysna,
Plettenberg Bay and Port Elizabeth.
Some rear tyre wear was the only evidence of our nearly 4 000km marathon – plus
my jacket needed a good wash after being used as target practice by a
Plettenberg Bay seagull.
So why such an odyssey on a bike?
Because there's a charm and magic about doing it on two wheels instead of
cocooned in a tin box. Because the wind blows harder, the sheep look fluffier
and the yellow fields of rape on the Swellendam-Cape Agulhas road look more
vivid.
And when you stop in small towns people shake their heads and ask: "You rode the
bikes from WHERE?"
Plus that seagull had a good laugh at my expense. - Star Motoring
NOTE:
Some of the photos on Motorcycle Specs are owned by somebody. If you see any of
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to their articles being placed on Motorcycle Specs, it will be removed upon
request. Any correction or more info on these bikes will kindly be
appreciated.
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