Hello from South Africa

[ZA.Raptor]

Hi, I'm from Benoni, 30kms outside Johannesburg. The only things that has ever happened in Benoni is that Charlise Theron was born here.

Q. What do you call a girl in a white tracksuit in Benoni ?
A. The Bride.

Actually its a fine place to live. Out in the country but close enough to Joburg to have access to all the shops, etc. that you need. Not that its helping at all for a Cagiva. Very rare here in SA...

I've just bought a 2003 Raptor 1000, but shes in great condition, except for a couple of missing body panels, only 13000kms.

[shedmonkey]

welcome aboard what are the roads like down there?

[Red Mist]

Glad you've joined us. Wish we could join you for a beer in your local because SA sounds like an amazing place. Try and send some piccies in and it would be good if you could tell us a bit about the bike scene there.

The bike scene here involves getting wet.

Cheers.

[shebee]

Welcome in

[Crap Tartan]

The bike scene here involves getting wet.

Cheers.

and not just on the outside!!!!


failte me old SA mucker.......................

[snapdragon]

Welcome in

[ZA.Raptor]

Hi everyone.

OK lets see - the roads here are OK I guess, some have plenty potholes, but the more main roads are maintained OK. Drivers here are a different story though - no discipline at all. They will stop in the middle of the road if they have a problem, or do a U-turn at an intersection without warning...

I'm on the highveld (interior) in SA, and while we definitely have problems here, what we do have (IMHO) some of the best weather in the world. I don't use my bike to commute, just weekend use, and I think I've been caught by the rain once in the last few years. When it does rain its almost always a thundershower in the late afternoon in summer that lasts only an hour or 2.

The biking scene here : For many many years biking was basically considered a blue-collar pass-time, but maybe 10 years ago doctors & lawyers started buying Harleys to pose on , and now the adventure scene has really exploded here and at least half the bikes on the roads now are adventure bikes, with BMW GS's the most popular. As traffic gets progressively worse more and more bike commuters are around too...

I bought the raptor only 2 weeks ago - I was looking for a naked bike and I happened to see the Cagiva Raptor advertised. The advert stated "with the SV1000 motor" , otherwise I wouldn't have bought an Italian bike, but after a little research I went and tested it and made an offer and got it cheap. I think the shop was battling to sell it - Cagiva is all but unheard of in SA. Of course parts will be a huge problem, but the Suz motor & box get around 80% of the issues methinks.

Right - THIS ROUNDS' ON ME.

[shedmonkey]

The weather sounds like the same here its only rained once in 2 years but it lasted 1year and 11 months.
Ans Cagiva bits are a pig to get in any country

[snapdragon]

-/-Right - THIS ROUNDS' ON ME.

This is just what I wanted to hear Cheers

[shebee]

Tequila and lime please... make mine a pint

[Red Mist]

"When it does rain its almost always a thundershower in the late afternoon in summer that lasts only an hour or 2."

Yeah, we get those thundershowers too. Ours also last about an hour or two, then we have a 15 minute break before the next one. Also, only about half of our thundershowers occur in the afternoon.

Are there any jobs going in South Africa? It sounds nice.

[Hairy_Mark]

Since it is now some time since the humiliating drubbing handed out to our cricket team at the hands of the Proteas, I can swallow my pride and add my welcome!

I bet the roads are great in South Africa and hope you have as much fun as we do (On the occasional nice sunny days)

Best regards and if I could ask a small favour...if you see Hashim Amla walking by the side of the road when you're riding, please
knock him over...not to cause serious injury of course. Just enough to keep him off the cricket field for a bit! If you don't see Hashim,
I'm not too fussy. Graham Smith or Jaques Kallis would do just as well.

Cheers from a happy biker, but a pretty miserable England fan!

[ZA.Raptor]

A PINT of Tequila and lime !? Brave words. I mean, brave last words. haha.

The weather I described is in Joburg, which is in the interior up on the highveld (Over 1500m above sea level), other areas have different climates - Durban is sub-tropical and Cape-Town is Temperate, lower interior areas are arid. (the Kalahari desert...).

Jobs: hmm, we have a huge shortage of skilled labour, but its not so easy to get a job nowadays if you're white. I guess it would really depend on your profession...

As you can see from the above, in SA the weather is good, but the politics is bad. oh well. A lot of friends have emigrated over the last 20 years or so, and I can understand that if you are raising children, but since I'm unmarried with no kids I'll be one of those die-hards that will leave when the mobs are breaking down my door and I'm down to my last box of ammo

Yeah we do have some truly amazing driving roads, in fact, almost anything you can imagine from mountain passes to coastal highways, desert roads where you can see the road still going straight ahead 10kms away to rain-forest double-tracks. Of course the distances are huge so its never a day-trip

It is a great place to visit, and pounds (or dollars or euros) go a loooong way in SA. Of course, the opposite is true too - when buying foreign parts for a Cagiva (for example) , the rands go a very very short way. bah.

[Red Mist]

As I white tourist, would you advise me to bring my own ammo? You don't normally need that sort of thing when travelling around over here unless you're in certain parts of Manchester or London. Do you have to be on your guard everytime you go out, or is it generally an easy going place?

[ZA.Raptor]

Erm, I might had made the wrong impression with my last message. It is generally safe here, I mean to go do your shopping or go sightseeing, take the kids to school, etc. There are definitely some areas which are unsafe to go into (whether you're black or white) , especially after dark. And if your car were to break down while driving through a less than savoury place you should certainly be aware of the possibility of robbery, but generally its OK. For example I would go to a club in town at night because there will be security, but I wouldn't take a walk in town or on a quiet road after dark unless there was a damn good reason.

My "last box of ammo" statement was referring more to if South Africa goes the way of Zimbabwe, and mobs roam the streets looting as they go. This scenario has become more likely just in the last 3 or 4 years.. Our president is a criminal, whose charges were only dropped because he was elected president, and he is filling parliament with his cronies. Large scale armed protests have also begun again which haven't really been seen since apartheid days, which protestors barricading and burning vehicles on the highway.

Anyway, enough doom & gloom. Currently as a south african or a tourist with a bit of caution & common sense it is still a wonderful place, and I would hate to leave. Thats what I meant by "I'll leave when I'm down to my last box of ammo".