Article : Camping Adventure on Quads

A great piece from QUAD Magazine, about camping out on Quads....there's some suggestions about gear to pack etc....and, it will make for good homework, in preparation for the weekends away that are in the pipeline.....

Video Clip : Riding with the Boyz& Girlz - Eteza 20 Jan 08

Helmet cam video footage from our ride at Eteza...watch for the youngsters riding around on their quads...

Sergios River Ride - 27 Jan 08

Meeting place : Mthlatuze water board behind Mondi R/bay
Departure Time from home: 11h30am
Arrival time at home: 17h30pm
Distance of outride: +-50km's

Route: starting at Mthlatuze water board, trying to navigate the river until the Nsleni Bridge, back to track then off to Empangeni to escort Herman home, and ride back home to Richards Bay

Quads: 2 x Kymco MXU300, Suzuki LATER-450, Can-am 800 4x4, Kawasaki KEF-400, Yamaha Kodiak 400 4x4, Yamaha Raptor 350

Highlights of trip:
1. watching Herman getting stuck in mud a few times
2. all having a beer at a shabeen
3. watching Mitch's winch in operation saving Herman
4. Padda going through a large puddle of mud and water (and doing it first time without getting stuck)
5. Having a beer at Lighties Sports bar and riding home.

Herman had a hard time getting stuck quite a few time - not due to bad riding but as he has temporary tires on his bike which are designed for track riding and not outriding as we do...............but this did not mean we did not tease him.............

VIEW OF NSELENI RIVER


SERG AND PADDA CROSSING A MUD BOG


HERMAN GETTING TOWED BY MITCH (STUCK IN A MUD BOG)

MITCH TOWING HERMAN (AGAIN)


PADDA, SERG, STEWARD & MITCH POSE AFTER RIDING THROUGH THE BOG

On Sunday, before lunch,we (Padda, Leon, Herman, Mitch,Bruno, Steward and myself) decided to go on an exploration outride :

Starting at Mthlatuze Water Board, we proceeded around its fence, leading to the river, we then tried to follow the river or find a route to the Nselni Bridge, making it about one-fifth of the way (some of us getting stuck in the mud and bog a few times), then following the railway line until we found a Shabeen near the Spoornet Nsezi Depot. Stopping there for a ice cold refreshment. Then riding to the Nseleni river stopping at a shaded spot on the river enjoying the view and another ice cold refreshment.

At about 14h30 Mitch and Bruno had to leave the group and ride home.

The remaining group then decided to ride to the track. At the track Herman showed us all how to get free airtime, while Padda showed us how to cross a huge mud pool without getting stuck.

At the track we all met our friend Denver (he joined us for the last exploration ride around Lake Hlabane) We then left the track to escort Herman home, stopping off at Lighties Sports bar to get Padda a coke and the rest of us decided to also enjoy an ice cold refreshment. After leaving Lighties we rode home.

THE BOYS GETTING A REFRESHMENT AT THE SHABEEN

SERG AND HERMAN (HERMAN SHEDDING A TEAR DUE TO HIM GETTING STUCK SO MUCH)


PADDA AT TRACK, RIDING THOUGH MUD POOL................

submitted by Sergio

Mitch, Warthog + Roxy RCB-Kwambo ride - 27 Jan 08

Early Sunday morning, Bruno, Yolande and Mitch set of for a short 50 km ride that took them mostly through the forest area to the town of Kwambo. The highlight was the early morning, damp forest river section. This section is a must for the next trip.

Short breaks were taken to absorb the forest peace and serenity.

The route takes the riders under the line that services RBM mining.

Some refreshments went down well....

One wrong turn, prompted by the GPS as a short cut, took the team through a long grass section, close to an intermittent stream. Here the grass was 1 meter tall. The lead bike took the brunt of the grass seeds and bugs which set up home on the warm quad. Within minutes the bike was un-drivable with spiders and ants crawling all over the bike and rider......Eeeiiiissshhhh.

By sunset, after a high pressure clean, they were still coming out of the holes in the body work......Lesson = avoid riding in long grass....

All in all - it was one of the better rides so far.

Kids Fun Ride - Kwambo Sat 19 Jan 2008

Saturday 19 Jan was the ideal time to take the younger ones for a short ride around Kwambo. Aziz (6yrs old) on his new Dinli 110. He has taken to the handling of this amazing machine like it was made for him.

"Cruising down the fire breaks is great fun Dad.. check all the dust"

The cleared section in the forest is an ideal open area to let the guys 'open up' the bike with a flat stable surface to ride on.

Amble Inn Survivor-style Enduro - Eshowe 20 Jan 2008

Click the pic to access ZBA Racing's ride report for the Survivor Enduro in Eshowe on 20th Jan - they had a stellar turnout of 78 riders!

They also have a gallery of >70 photos from that event....check it out!!!

BIG AL does Sani Pass - 16 Dec 07

Man, this guy gets around! Here he is at Sani Pass, in December....

I have a feeling it's that Chatquads riding shirt that is his passport to riding pleasure....I gotsta get me one of those...:)

KUSELS FUN RIDE- Wartburg KZN Hosted by Tuskers Motorsport

Click the pic to access Bulldozer's ride report for this terrific ride! I am looking forward to Big AL's photos and report as well, and am eager to join in on future trips into this gorgeous surrounding!

Eteza Family Fun Ride - 20 Jan 2008

Sergio + George + Claudio

George, 4 years old, was thoroughly enjoying his first time riding outside of his parent's garden....

Date : Sunday 20 Jan 2008
Venue : Eteza Track on Van Heerden's Farm
Riders : >20

I was invited to join Sergio's group on a ride to Eteza, from Richards Bay, together with partners and kids. Having seen pix of their other rides, I anticipated a large family-orientated group, and I was not disappointed....

Most of the bunch did the trip from Richards Bay, leaving early in the morning, but Aziz and I met the party at Eteza.

Though it got EXTREMELY hot on the outride, there was NO stopping the kids from continuing to buzz around on their bikes long after the adults had stopped riding, and started "refreshing"....

Out of a riding group of around 25, more than half were ladies and kids! What a great way to spend a Sunday!

Sergio has some ambitious rides in the planning pipeline, and I hope to be a grinning participant on some of them....watch this space....


A point of interest - there were more Kymco quads on this ride than I've ever seen before! These guys swear by the Kymcos, and would not look at anything else....except maybe a demo Outlandger 800 going for a song...but, that's still only a vicious rumor....


Google Earth pictures and GPS Tracks submitted by Victor:

Richards Bay Airport to Kwambo

Kwambo to Eteza

Eteza MX Track close-up

Eteza Outride

Claudio, on a Dino 50

Aziz, taking a turn on Miguel's impressive Polaris Sportsman 90, which is solidly built, has reverse, and could probably tow a few sport bikes out of trouble...


At the start of the outride, with Victor and Padda in the lead, after doing a reccy lap to scout out the potential obstacles.


Victor and I spent a fair amount of time assisting the boys through some of the varied obstacles on the outride


Fly-boy Herman, ripping up the jumps on the MX track, after the outride - he was CLEARING the main tabletop!!!

plenty more photos available in the online photo album....please visit!

Kodiak Guy and Warthog do Hlabane Lake - 12 Jan 2008

Having recently acquired his latest toy, a 2006 Kodiak 400 4x4, Mitch has been seen riding all the backroads and forest tracks within a 50 kay radius of Richards Bay.

He, and Warthog, who had been laid off with a self-inflicted ear injury for the past 2 months and had thus been suffering from withdrawal symptoms, joined up with Sergio, Denver and gang on an explorative jaunt to Lake Hlabane...

Ride plan - Coastal dune forest areas until the lake then attempt to navigate the western bank of the lake.

Participants : 10x riders on various bikes, including 2 spanking new Can-Am Outlanders.

The route to the lake was interrupted with frequent stops for refreshments. One of the stops included some fun in the 'Bowl'.

Sergio, on his trusty and kitchen sink-carrying Kymco MXU 300

Arriving at the lake was celebrated with Sergio preparing scrambled egg and bacon rolls

Limited Edition Can-Am 800 Outlander MAX XT!!!!

This was Denver Speed, getting his YFZ450 bogged down....

The route then took the team through an informal settlement to the lake side where the ride slowed considerably.The route was interrupted with numerous tree stumps, logs swamps and banks.

The 2WD quads were frequently man-handled over and around the obstacles.

At one stream-crossing, only 3 of the bikes were dragged across, semi submerged. The rest of the team took the opportunity to ride around the stream.

The going was slow, hot and after 3 hours 3 riders needed to head back as it was 13h00 and were only half way.

The rest of the team pushed on and returned home shortly before dark with complaints of sore butts.

General comments on the trip:

The dune forest section- will do it again.
The lake - count me and most others out.... I need to feel the breeze.

submitted by Kodiak Guy, with photos from his Nokia N95 and Warthog's digital cam. More pics can be found in our online photo albums

Sergio Rides to Jolly Robino - 6 December 2007

Sergio and family and friends rode to Jolly Robino with 21 quads and 3 tweelies, and backup vehicles with braaistands and cooler boxes and extra fuel!

I HAVE to ride with these guys, soon - they certainly know how to do it right!!!!

GPS track part 1 - actual vs planned route

GPS track part 2 - actual vs planned route

Sergio's write-up is as follows:

Date : 06.01.2008
Meeting place : Birdswood entrance to forest (before airport)
number of quads/bikes/riders : 21 quads - 2 bikes - 23 riders in total
Distance covered : +- 100km's
Any other GPS data : see above - maps and gps data.


This outride was arranged as one of our riders (Tannie Jenny - who is over 60 , rides a Polaris 250) was going in for an operation on the 7th and would not be able to ride for 2 to 3 months.

The group met behind Birdswood and departed at 07h00am, stopping at various spots on the way for drinks. We met our back up bakkie (driven by my father in law) at the Sokhulu / RbM
crossing.

From there we rode to the RBM concrete dam and then down to the beach, where we all braaied some meat and had a social. Some of the guys then rode to the Jolly Robino.

The ride was fantastic as we had good company and cool weather with some light rain.

Michelle rolled her Kymco 300 Maxxer just before we got to the beach - luckily, it was on the soft sand so she was fine, but her bike suffered a few scratches and broken front plastics.

From the beach we rode almost to Kwambo, turning into the forest and making our way back to my house at Veldenvlei in the late afternoon.

The group of riders that rode varied in age from 7 years old to 62 years old and the quads ranged from a 90cc Polaris to a couple of 800cc Can-Ams.

text and photos submitted by Sergio, GPS tracks by Victor

Kwambo ride - Sunday 6 January

3 Yamahas cannot fit on a dirt road, side-by-side-by-side!

On the ride from Richards Bay to Kwambo, Mitch managed to slow the Raptors of Bruno and Thaven down long enough to have a picture taken....had to be a short stop, since Raptors don't like to stand still...

A more scenic stop (?)

Roxy on her Mom's LTZ250, checking out the scenery, on a high spot just North of Kwambo.

Thaven is wondering whether his leg is going to last such a long ride....
needless to say, it did, and it was...

Is that a BEAR I see before me???

Mitch and the Bear, during the scenic break - he and the Furry One were like teenage sweethearts - they couldn't be parted....

Yes! I finally made it further than my front gate!!!

Since welcoming Baby Jinesa into his life, and helping to open a restaurant that shall remain unnamed, T has had precious little time to ride, but initiating a new bike into our group was occasion enough to bring him and the Rappie out of semi-retirement....

The King and I

We were glad for the company, and for the terrific weather.
This only just beats the peri-peri chicken liver starter at Piatto Meditteranean Kitchen for the perfect way to start a Sunday evening....oops!

Entry-level 4x4 quad shootout

Shootout report for entry-level 4x4 quads, courtesy of QUAD Magazine (click the pic)