Gomoto Diaries

2008-09-02T00:11:00.000+02:00

I currently live in Northern Ireland. I'm starting up a new relationship with a new consumer commodity: A Toyota Aygo. I dreams are that it will take me to see a few interesting places. I hope to blog about it here.

Moved

2008-09-01T20:05:00.001+02:00

Well, it is two months since I sold my Gomoto for R1600.00. At the time that I sold it the frame had begun to rust (because I made it sleep outside too many nights). The battery was flat and the back tyre had a puncture. The state of disrepair was partly the result of me not looking after the bike as I should. I had allowed the stresses and strains of my life to take over and this was even visible on this blog.

I have decided to try something new. I moved to Northern Ireland. I live in a small town, Banbridge in County Down. I work as a pastor of two congregations of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Twice a week I drive to Larne, another small town on the County Antrim coast. On the way there I drive past this garden feature on one of the roundabouts (We call them "Traffic Circles" in South Africa). It always makes me think of my days on the Gomoto and I really do miss them.

I will probably begin a new blog soon and post a link here. Exactly what theme it will take is still uncertain, but I am playing with the idea of toilets and toilet paper. I might call it "2-Ply". I doubt that many people would read it, but I need a place to document some of my experiences.

For now, I can only thank Gomoto for the good experience I had on one of their bikes. One day I'll return and buy myself a new one. Thanks to all my readers. I hope you enjoy your Gomoto's and please try to be adventurous as possible on them.

Godspeed

Altech Autopage Somerset West Update

2008-05-19T08:55:00.002+02:00

It did take a while, but I eventually got the attention of somebody at the Altech Autopage Shop in Somerset West who was able to address my service problem in a way that gave me some insight into what was happening and with very good results. When the right person got onto the case I received 4 e-mails in three days indicating what was being done to solve the problem.

It does seem as though a third party service agency had not managed the repair of my cellphone very well. They are still waiting for a spare part after 11 weeks. They have also not been communicating very well with the Altech Autopage people in Somerset West.

I don't know what had to happen to accomplish this, but the last e-mail that I received gave me the option of waiting for them to fix the phone or accepting a new phone from them.

The new phone that is being offered is a Sony Ericksson K810i. It seems as though I will now be able to listen to music and take pictures with my phone while I do road trips with my Gomoto. I should receive the phone some time during this week.

I must admit that I am quite pleased. It has been frustrating to wait so long for a resolution to my issue with a broken phone, but I feel that the company eventually dealt with the situation very well and I feel that I could recommend them to my friends as people who do provide reasonably good service.

Altech Autopage Somerset West

2008-05-01T12:01:00.002+02:00

I interrupt the silence on my blog to just complain a bit.

In the three years that I have lived in Somerset West, I have had nothing but bad service from the Cell Phone company that I subscribe to.

Just over a year ago I blogged about my new Sony Erickson M600i cell phone. (This little phone always accompanied me when I drove on my Gomoto. It provided me with good music and entertainment.)

The phone broke in February. The touch screen stopped working and navigating the phone became extremely arduous. (I had read about this problem in reviews about the phone and did not pay it much heed. Now I am affected by it.)

So on 29 February 2008 I ventured down to Altech Autopage in Somerset West, Main Road (Also known as Kalstra) to hand in my favorite phone. I did not realise that I would be seperated from my phone for a long period of time. The shop did not have a loan phone and said that I should just find another phone for myself while they fixed this one.

Anway. It is now 1 May. More than 8 weeks have passed. I have made numerous phone calls and visited the shop personally. And I still have absolutely no indication of where my phone is. Have they lost it? Are they waiting for a spare part to come in? Why has it not been fixed?

I am given no information and absolutely no promises. Each time I contact them they say that they need to wait until Tuesday to see if the phone comes in. Then Tuesday comes, they don't call me to give me a report. I call them, and I am told that it might be ready the next week.

I am disgusted with the service. The people who run the shop are rude and will only respond when I become upset with them.

I hope that anybody who reads this will be wiser than me. Listen to the experiences of other people and do not do business with:

Altech Autopage Cellular
No. 1 Hole in the Wall Centre
Main rd. Somerset West
Tel: (021) 852 9955.

They are not serious about keeping their customers. I have two contracts with them. I will be cancelling one this month, and I cannot wait for the next one to come to the end of its term so that I can move to somebody else who will serve me better.

7460 - 7902Km: A long overdue road trip

2008-04-14T20:19:00.008+02:00

Robert M. Pirsig took his son on a road trip with a motorbike when he was 11 years old. He traveled several thousand miles through America over a period of 17 days. I just returned from a road trip with my 7 year old daughter on a Gomoto. It lasted three days.

My wife was busy preparing for school. She had not worked as hard as she should have during the holidays. She was also adamant that she would not be able to do something in the week of public holidays that were to come. So on a whim I drew the last bit of money from my bank account and made hasty bookings for accommodation. At 11:00 on 12 April, I pulled away from my flat with a backpack, a bag, a 7 year old daughter and a teddy bear on my bike.

Pirsig spent his time on the road meditating in a Zen-like fashion on the metaphysical concept of quality. I took with me a book on the life of Tenzin Palmo, a Bhuddist nun. She was not really into Zen, but her remarkable life story really had a lot of food for thought.

First Stop: BP Garage to put oil into the motorbike. I've been a bit negligent. My motorbike is due for its 7000 km service. I have not taken it yet. And it did not dawn on me earlier that I might suddenly decide to do a road trip without doing any planning. Fortunately I checked the oil levels before I left.

11 Years of age might be the optimal age to take a child on a motorbike road trip. 7 Years is a bit risky. I managed to make it about 35 km's to the highest point of Clarence drive before my pillion became restless. So we stopped for some juice and the first photo.

Stops were relatively frequent. In fact, the whole road trip was characterized by stops.

Betty's Bay for a toilet break.
Kleinmond for some ice-cream and to play at the play area
Hermanus looking for refreshment, but not able to find any due to Eskom's load shedding.
Stanford because everything was now just too much and she was tired.
And finally, at 15:30, Gansbaai, our destination for the first day.

We stayed over at Birkenhead Lodge, a comfortable self catering cottage just outside Gansbaai. The cottage 6 single beds in it, an open plan kitchen with a fire-place in the kitchen, a television. There is also a communal games area and swimming pool. My main complaint was that the establishment does not seem to cater for non-smokers. There are ashtrays everywhere. As somebody who has never smoked or lived with somebody who smokes, I picked up the stale smell of cigarettes in practically every room, in the linen, in the games area... everywhere. Isn't there a law against smoking in places like these? I found it rather unpleasant.

One of the neat little buildings comprising Birkenhead Lodge.

The interior of the cottage that we slept in.

Due to obvious challenges with space on the Gomoto, I did not carry any food with me. When supper time came I almost had a mutiny on my hands with a daughter who did not want to get onto the Gomoto to go look for food. A whisper of the word "Wimpy" did the trick, however, and fortunately this eating place was only 3 minutes drive away. The heartburn lasted all night however.

The next morning we were quite happy to get onto the Gomoto again. Before embarking on the road to our next destination we explored the coastal area around Danger Point where the historical HMS Birkenhead hit a rock in 1852. Several hundred people perished on that night.

A view over a bay to the Danger Point Lighthouse

The Danger Point Lighthouse

Unbeknown to us a similar tragedy was taking place a very short distance away from where we were riding with our bikes. A catamaran, carrying 9 tourists to a shark cage diving adventure was struck by a freak wave. It capsized and 3 tourists lost their lives in the incident. On the way out of Gansbaai we were passed by two emergency vehicles hastening to that scene.

One of my goals for the road trip was to try to see some birds. I took my binoculars with me, but I did not remove them from the bag once! The challenge was to keep the seven year old passenger happy. And I was ready to thank the deities of all parents who take their children on a Gomoto Road Trip when I came upon Klein River Cheese, just outside of Stanford. They have a beautiful picnic site with lots of activities designed for bored motorbike passengers.

We spent 45 minutes there and ate another ice cream.

Then we hit the road to Caledon. Again the motorcycle angels sent us some entertainment. We found poor herp on the road and I was able to engage in some intellectual conversations on biology, ecology and metaphysical questions on death. As soon as I can find the exact Longitude and latitude for this location (exactly 15 km's out of Stanford towards Caledon/Riviersonderend), I'll post the picture on the website for herpetology in Southern Africa.

I loved the scenery on the road to Caledon. And my passenger was kept busy trying to spot all the kilometer markers on the road. (I did not see any Blue Cranes. I did see a Black Harrier though.)
Overberg Landscape somewhere between Stanford and Caledon

Finding a place to eat on a Sunday Afternoon in Caledon is a challenge. I finally found a restaurant at the entrance to the flower garden and we had pizza for lunch. We eventually made it to Greyton, our destination for the day, by 14:30.

In Greyton we stayed at Auberge B&B. For somebody who does road trips on a Gomoto the accommodation was very luxurious! And since I live in a flat, the song of the cricket that was hiding away behind a stack of wood in the fire place was like a symphony that played through the whole night.

A word of warning! Do not travel to Greyton on a Sunday Afternoon if you do not have any cash with you. There are (at least) three ATM's in Greyton. They are however all inside shops. The shops are closed on Sunday Afternoons. At 17:00 my daughter became hungry and I realised that there were no shops to buy some rolls and almost all the restaurants (there are many of them) were closed for the evening. Our choice was Pizza at The Old Mill or a meal at the Greyton Lodge. I ate a vegetarian lasagna. The dogs at the Greyton Lodge are much better entertainment than any jumping castle at the Spur, or McDonalds, or Wimpy.

On Monday morning the mountains had dissappeared. There were clouds everywhere. We left quite early and drove up the Riviersonderend valley to Villiersdorp. My daughter was really cold, so we drank some tea and ate some scones at a coffee shop. I felt a bit intimidated by the large fruit trucks on the road to Grabou. I decided to take a slightly longer route via Franschhoek and Stellenbosch back to Somerset West.

I was 20 minutes late for my 13:00 meeting. My rear end is a bit sore. My passenger was very well behaved and enjoyed the outing with her dad. She has better rear end padding, but sounded a bit hesitant when I mentioned that I'd like to take her for another ride on the Gomoto. I cannot wait for the next opportunity.

You GO! DART!

2008-01-09T06:37:00.000+02:00

These guys did what I dreamt of from the moment I bought my Gomoto.

I'm inspired! I am really inspired!

Customize your Airfilter

2007-06-08T00:12:00.000+02:00

Daniel Dobinson also sent some information about his Gomoto Air Filter

Since my run in with the bad service from the Gomoto shop in Mowbray I've decided to service my bike myself from now on. So this weekend, the time came for its 2nd service and everything was going swimmingly until I opened up the airbox and noticed that there was nowhere for the air to go into! The nice thing about this is that my airfilter was obviously spotless because no dirt could get into it either.

Now I don't know about you or other Gomoto users, but I've never been able to just open up the throttle any old time without the bike boggin down and losing power (especially with 2 people on it), so I immediatly drilled 5/6 8mm holes into the airbox cover and my Gomoto is now going like a dream (like it was meant to from the 1st day!) and the modification has even has added little throaty growl to tis personality.

Just thought I'd let you know-if you want to see what I'm talking about without actually making the modification just remove the airbox cover for a short trip and see if it makes a difference to your bike.

Happy rides Daniel

Brady Kelley's Perspective on the Spokes Issue of his Gomoto

2007-06-08T00:05:00.000+02:00

Brady writes:

I thought I'd tell you about my, somewhat postponed, inevitable spokes issue on my Gomoto. Some time ago I noticed one or two broken, only through inspection, as I didn't hit a big bump or anything. I tightened them now and again, but while I casually shopped around for spokes, I had time. Then, after a long trip, along a fair mixture of roads, I noticed a slight wheel wobble going home on the Friday. The weekend was a bit blurry, as beginning of month weekends can be, but on Monday I knew I had to at least check and tighten the spokes. Many were loose, and many were broken, fifteen in fact, but Dylan (fellow Gomoto rider) had told me he had done some km with fifteen missing, so I tightened up the rest and went to work. I also started looking more urgently for more spokes.

I was phoning and asking around, waiting for responses etc. until the following Friday, when the remaining spokes had enough. On the way to work my back wheel felt like a marshmallow. This was quite close to work, so I rode (almost just pushed) along at the side of the road to work, and got the local Gomoto agents on the phone. I told them to just order a full set, and I borrowed money from work to cover whatever cost. Come Monday, there was no word from the distributor, in fact only by the next Friday there was there word: they had sent the agent a fully laced new rim. I asked the agent if I was obliged to buy the whole new rim, and he grudgingly conceded that he could de-lace it and sell me spokes at R10 a spoke, but I would have to do my own lacing, or pay his three hours of labour for lacing. He wanted R550 for the whole rim, which I jumped at.

Today I fetched it on the way to work with my lift. When I got to work it took me less than five minutes to remove the back wheel and ready it for swapping the tyre. I planned on taking it in to a nearby bike shop to have them swap it, but they couldn't do "while-I-wait", and I couldn't get two lifts there, to drop off and fetch, and still be sure I finished today, so I phone my dad and asked him to bring some tyre leavers. He only had one, so he brought a crowbar as well, and it took the two of use about ten minutes to swap the tyre to the new rim. Then it took about the same for me to replace the back wheel and have the bike functioning again. In fact I'll probably never consider using a shop again for a job like this.

Regards
Brady Kelly

Redefining Freedom

2007-05-31T10:00:00.000+02:00

Having fun on my Gomoto Freedom.
Picture by Claudelle.

Avatar

2007-05-07T02:14:00.000+02:00

Vacation Dreams

2007-05-07T00:15:00.000+02:00

I'm fighting an internal battle with myself at the moment. My friends and family think that I am being rather silly.

I've been working for the same organisation (in many different positions) since I graduated at the end of 1996. (This probably also explains a lot of my other neurosis) The organisation has a policy that an employee is entitled to an extra month of leave after working for 10 years. So this year I officially get 8 weeks leave.

I have applied to go to South-Korea during July-August to teach English in a language school there. I'm currently waiting for the final approval. This option makes a lot of sense. I get a free return flight ticket to an area of the world that I have never been to. I do 6 hours of work a day. The rest of the time (and over week-ends) I get to explore the environment. I also get paid $1300 per month for this work. (I am debating whether this money will buy me a laptop which runs Ubuntu Linux or a new double bed, or if I will have the discipline to rather just kill most of my credit card debt with it).

I have almost no sense of excitement about this trip. Whenever I begin to dream about my holiday, I see myself on a solitary road for 20 days with a sports bag at the back of my motorbike and a two-man tent. Since I bought my Gomoto in 2006 I've been dreaming about taking a long solitary trip (a few thousand kilometers) with my Gomoto. In January-February, when I started to become frustrated with my motorbike, I changed my mind. Now most of the frustration is gone. My spokes don't seem to be breaking anymore. The bike still runs strongly.

It does not help that I just bought myself a copy of Shorelines: A Journey along the South African Coast, written by Chris Marais and Julienne Du Toit. They did with a diesel bakkie what I would like to do (at least in part) with my Gomoto. Their book tells about the people that they meet and the stories they heard on the way.

Imagine if I could travel from the Western Cape to Kwa Zulu Natal with my Gomoto! (I really want to drive over Sani-Pass on my bike!) I could travel about 120 - 200 km's per day and sleep in camping areas or Backpackers hostels on the way. Perhaps I could make a deal with Gomoto that they would provide back-up service for my motorbike at their outlets in a few of the cities/towns along the way.

Everybody tells me that South-Korea is a better option. It won't cost me anything and it is "Overseas!". I'm still trying to persuade myself that it is really as exciting as feeling the wind blow around oneself on an undulating country road near the coast of South Africa.

125cc Scooters are doing it all the way to KKNK

2007-05-01T10:54:00.000+02:00

There seems to be other people in Somerset West who feel adventurous with their 125cc motorbikes. In fact, Dries Rossouw has beaten me in achieving a dream that I have also held for some time. He drove his 125cc Jonway scooter all the way from Somerset-West, via Laignsburg and the Swartberg Pass to Oudtshoorn to attend the Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees.

Perhaps we should organise a 125cc scooter rally to a similar event like this. Imagine if a group of 40 or 50 scooters and Gomotos take a "lunch-run" (as opposed to a breakfast run) out to the Whale festival at Hermanus in September.

Here is the main part of the newspaper article from the District Mail (I will try to type out the article when I get a chance):

Say Africa

2007-04-15T00:11:00.001+02:00

'Though I may be walking in the streets of a city called Amsterdam, the dust on my boots and the rhythm of my feet, and my heartbeat say Africa..." (David Goldblum, Say Africa)

It's been a very long time since I've been able to really use my Gomoto for anything other than driving down to Spar to buy bread and milk or to do some business in town.

Today, I decided to change that.

I was not sure where to go. I planned to spend the whole day, but an unexpected appointment in the morning limited my options to either driving somewhere and paying for overnight accommodation or doing a reasonably local trip. I chose to drive from Somerset-West to Rooi-Els and to see where the road leads from there.

Clarens Drive compares very well to the famous Chapman's Peak drive and cyclists and bikers love that road. I stopped just above the Koggelbaai beach to take some pictures.

Today I tried something new. I have recently acquired a new cellphone, and it has the ability to play music. So I loaded 10 songs on the phone. I can only load 10 songs because I currently only have 64mB on the Memory stick in my phone. I got to listen to each song about 4 times. I need to just figure out a way to keep the earphones in their proper place as I put the helmet on.

This picture was taken between Betty's Bay and Kleinmond. Those mountains are in the center of the Koggelberg Biosphere reserve. Soon I would be on top of them.

Approximately 10 kms past Kleinmond, there is a gravel road that that turns up into the mountains on the left. It is marked, Highlands. The first 4 kms is in a terrible condition and I was worried that pieces would soon be falling off my bike. Two big touring bikes came rattling past me at this stage. After 4 kms the road leveled and the most beautiful part of my journey started on beautiful winding roads (The Highlands Road and the Valley Road) with mountains, apple trees, farm dams, and clouds all around me in the Elgin Valley. As I rode past the homesteads children would wave at me and shout remarks.

I was listening to David Goldblum's song, Say Africa from an old Splashy Fen CD. I thought it was the perfect music for the occasion. Definitely much better and more nostalgic than the infamous "De La Rey" song.
The highlands road becomes a tar road after about 11 km's. Far in the background between the clouds (not nicely captured on the picture) is the Helderberg mountain range where my home is.

Being on a Gomoto in the middle of nowhere makes a person's spirits soar.

A dam on the Valley Road in the Elgin Valley. It is one of about 4 spectacular farm dams on the same road. The krom-river, a tributory of the Palmiet river connect these dams. (A map of the area can be found on the wall outside The Orchard farm stall at the entrance to Grabouw.)

I felt so proud when I stopped next to the same three motorbikes that passed me at high speed somewhere between Rooi-Els and Kleinmond. The only thing that I envy about those bikes, are their more comfortable seats as I am still feeling the effects of the ride as I sit here typing this blog.

All in all a most satisfying outing. Care to join me?

Things

2007-04-14T19:22:00.000+02:00

Here's a random list:

Things that I am busy with:

Stretching my mind:

Trying to internalise chapter 4 of "How to think like a computer scientist"

Python is a programming language. The skills that I am confronted with in chapter four is exactly what I learned when I was 13 years old and had an interest in Basic and what I wrote in my matric exam for Computer studies (using Pascal). Who knows perhaps I'll make it to chapter 5.

Reading a book about the Geological history of South Africa.

With my primary training in Theology, I am still struggling to bend my mind around time periods of 3000 million years, but it is beginning to make sense to me. I am getting a basic understanding of tectonic movements and cratons, and even exciting stuff like cataclysmic meteorite collisions. I am not yet at the section that explains the origin of Table Mountain.

To Distract Myself:

I bought a 1000 piece puzzle and I now have about 300 pieces in place (after a week's fevent work)

New Toys

A Sony Ericsson M600i cellphone.

The phone's QWERTY keyboard takes some getting use to. It is also not very easy to operate with one hand. But the touch screen and the little stylus makes communicating very easy. It has a music player, e-mail access, and a useful calendar facility. And I am trying to beat VJ Singh on the Golf Game that is included with the phone.

I took out a new contract as well, with MTN, because where I live Vodacom has terrible signal. One week after signing the new contract, Vodacom contacted the College to request permission to put up a booster antennae on one of the buildings.

A Brand New Ubuntu Fiesty Fawn Desktop.

I had some hard drive damage during last week. (I think my daughter kicked the computer box under my desk). So I downloaded the Beta version of Ubuntu 7.04 which is due for release on 19 April. It is definitely the best operating system that I've had on any of my computers ever.

Some people ask why I am interested in Ubuntu, especially because I am in no sense a geek. I think the operating system is solid and functional. It does everything that I need and it gives me lots of opportunity to play. (In fact many people believe that it is much better than VISTA) And it is FREE! I don't have to worry about pirated copies of Windows. Neither do I have any worries about viruses. I have no need for anti-virus or anti-spyware programmes.

But probably most of all, I love the community behind Ubuntu (and most Linux distros). From my theological perspective I think that they have attributes that beat the best ideals of a great many Christian communities. Just have a look at the Ubuntu Code of Conduct (which they hold all members of the community to). So, I think the main reason why I am devoted to Ubuntu is because of the Ethics.

My Biggest Concerns:

I'm getting fat. I can feel my intestines being put under pressure whenever I go to bed. I hate the feeling.

Wild Hogs

2007-04-14T11:48:00.000+02:00

I've had one of those overwhelming feelings over the past few days that I am a really confused person :-). Some of the most obvious things do not make sense to me. My values seem to be very messed up. Things that some people become incredibly upset about really does not faze me all that much. Sometimes when I think about life real hard, even the things that I value most become almost meaningless.

It was in this mindset that I watched a truly stupid and superficial movie and completely enjoyed it.

Wild Hogs is a movie about 4 middle aged men (a little bit older than myself) who are all in a state of discontent with their lives. They decide that they need to break away from their everyday lives and go on a road trip on their big Motorbikes.

The problem is that they do not really fit the category of "Real Bikers." And over and above that, they are not very wise about most issues in life. As a result they get themselves into a very wide variety of situations, including a very nasty confrontation with a gang of real "Hell's Angels kind of bikers." (Hehe... I've always wondered if those guys on their Harley's are really as fierce as they seem to be with their black leather and roaring engines. This movie confirms this stereotype. And I think, to be safe, I will only ever pick a fight with a nerdish owner of a Vespa.)

Throughout the movie I was telling myself how stupid and superficial it is, but the actors somehow managed to break down my inhibitions, and I had a thoroughly good laugh.

The movie reminded me of my dreams for my Gomoto. The other day, as I was riding through Bains' Kloof pass a large group of bikers on vintage bikes came riding past me. I felt a bit small and insignificant. Whenever I feel that way I tend to remind myself what I paid for my Gomoto and that I was still able to ride through the mountain pass, even though it was a small bike. If only people on Harley's or Vintage bikes, or Vespa's for that matter were allowed to be on the roads, I would not be able to be there. But still, sometimes, I wish I could classify as a real biker.

This movie moved me beyond these rationalisations and just gave me the attitude of "Who Cares!". There is space in this world for all kinds of people. And I think that I still manage to make the world a richer place by being me. (Mnn... at least I hope.)

Go Watch the movie!

And then keep your eye on this blog. He is sure to have a much more erudite perspective (once he watches it).

Some Really Great Comments: Ricardo

2007-04-11T08:38:00.000+02:00

Ricardo wrote the following comment almost a month ago. I think this is really brilliant and I really agree with him on his thoughts on the thrill of riding a scooter at 60 - 80km/h.

And also. It is not only the Vespa guys who can do it in style. Thanks for the comment Ricardo. Please keep in touch.

Hey there, I really enjoy the blog and your adventures on your Gomoto 125.

Against my better judgment as with all things that help us grow I bought a 125 scooter/bike a few days ago. When I first saw “her”, the her in question being a Sachs MadAss 125. Here is a link to the little devil in question.

Yes people may laugh at it being a BMX on steroids but what could I do, I am sure once you saw your bike you knew that it was the one for you and no amount of logical thinking or priorities around functionality leapt into your mind. She is my very first two wheeled form of transport. I am twenty three years old and felt like I was becoming complacent with life in general.

I needed a new way to interact with my environment. I am by no means a “biker” at heart, that is to say I did not dream of a Harley at age three, but once I saw her (I really will come up with a name soon) I could no longer deny something deep inside my psyche saying “go for it!” And in any case, what are pay checks for!?

I took out a little loan and bought her for around R15.000 with tax. Bought me a decent little lid, Shark 500 Air, and some gloves that make me look more hardcore than I could ever really be (carbon fiber on the knuckles and finger joints real snazzy) I am in the process of trying to find me some boots, pants and jacket that won’t have me taking out another loan, but I do not want to compromise on safety.

Scooter rides of the world, wake up and smell the fried flesh on the tar just because you are not moving at 150km/h plus does not make you exempt from wearing all the gear all the time! ATGATT. Yes its hot yes you bought a scooter because you pictured yourself riding through fields of daisies on your vintage Vespa. But you stand a chance of more than just wind running through your hair, you might just have tarmac running through your hair, face, arms, legs and ass! You get the picture:
I did around 20km on her today, learnt that 60km/h is an exhilarating experience on a bike, in the open air; I can see why the temptation of wanting to go harder and faster is there. It is a wonderful experience.

I stopped off at the petrol station and filled her up for R21.50! She is supposed to get around 120km on her 5 liter tank hehe. The guy at the petrol station laughed at me while filling the tank, I am not sure whether this is a good or bad thing but one thing is true, I love my Madass 125.
Please keep posting ! I rather like your little mongrel, I am currently riding my bike without a learners lisence which I don’t like to do but I am going for my learners as soon as I can find a place to take my booking, what is the fine anyway? R1200? :P don’t want one of those but I doubt they will stop me for a fine but rather stop me to look at my precious little devil.

Saturday, 17 March, 2007

5860km: How to fix a punctured front wheel

2007-04-11T07:22:00.000+02:00

I embarked on an adventure of a different kind with my Gomoto this week. When I came back from an appointment at a local church over the week-end I noticed that my front wheel was not quite in its normal state of inflation.

So I stopped at the closest BP and pumped it. The Gomoto took me home, but by the evening the weel was completely deflated, and even when I pushed it to the local maintenance building to pump it up with their compressor, the wheel deflated immediately.

It took a few days to try to solve this problem. I did not really want to suffer the indignity of borrowing a bakkie to load the bike on it so that somebody else could fix it. I thought that perhaps I could do the job myself, but after a visit to the local motor vehicle spares shop I decided that what I had to do was to take the front wheel off myself and take it in to have it fixed.

Many people would do this without thinking twice. I'm still trying to get over the time when I opened my Sony walk-man and I could never put it back together again (circa 1988).

So, I halfheartedly took my toolbox with a shifting spanner and a size 14 out towards the bike. But my half-hearted approach would not work. I realised that I needed the right tools. The front wheel is attached to the fork by a bolt that runs from one end to the other. (I did not know it at that time). This bolt is screwed on incredibly tightly and the shifting spanner was not going to work.

I needed the right tools.

Step 1: Get the right tools. The one side of the bolt is fastened with a size 14 nut. The other side of the bolt responds positively to a size 17 spanner. And then, you need some muscles. I don't have much of that, but I have a 113kg frame and I used it to great effect standing (jumping) on the spanners to unscrew the bolt.

Step 2: I don't think you need to loosen any cables. I did not know it at the beginning, but the hub that contains the break-pads and the speedometer gears actually fits losely into the the center of the wheel. See pictures below. (I wish I knew all the technical descriptions.) So I loosened my breaks.

Step 3: Fix the puncture. Ok, I took a bit of a shortcut. I took the wheel in to Scooter World in the morning, and Danie and his team replaced the tube for me for R100.00 (R60 for the tube, R40 for the labour). I collected the tube at 16:00 that afternoon.

How to put the wheel back:

Step 4: Position it more or less correctly.

Step 5, Insert the insides of the wheel. Be careful not to get grease onto the outside section of the breaks, and don't let the inside speedometer gears (full of grease) fall out.

Step 6: Insert the spacer on the right hand side of the wheel.

Step 7: Fit the wheel into the fork.

Step 8: Look at that long bolt that goes through the wheel. It needs to go through all the right holes, and I somehow think that nothing will work properly if it is not in the right place.

Step 9: Fasten the wheel nuts. Use the correct spanners.

Step 10: Reconnect the Speedometer and break cables

The breaks are amazingly easy to adjust. There is a little nut that needs to be turned and a person can easily feel if the breaks are too tight or too loose.

I need to now take some time off my busy life to take the motorbike on a more interesting adventure. I feel the need to ride over some mountain passes with it. Does anybody want to join me?

5600km New Solid Rims for my Gomoto

2007-03-04T08:23:00.000+02:00

I got my Gomoto back from its latest visit to the Bike Shop on Friday.

I would now describe it as a mixed breed Gomoto as it's rear wheel now sports a solid Rim. While the front wheel still reminds me that it is an older model with a spoked wheel.
With this I hope that we can hail in a new era with less worries and more enjoyment.

Some notes on the experience of changing the wheel:

Timeline:

Wed 14 February: I drive over a speed hump with a passenger and the spokes break.
I spend two days talking to Scooter World to establish that the wheel can in fact be changed and that parts are available.

Friday 16 February: I deliver my Gomoto at Scooter World and I am told that the parts would arrive during the next week. I leave for a work meeting at Hartenbos and only enquire about the progress on Friday 23 February. I am told that the parts are still on their way.

Wednesday 28 February: I am told that the parts had arrived and that the work would be done on Thursday, 1 March.

Friday 2 March: I had many work commitments on Thursday, so I only inquire about the Gomoto on Friday. It is done and I get to drive it home.

This break-down caused my Gomoto to be off the road for 16 days. This is much better than the previous breakdown of the exact same nature that took more than 6 weeks to resolve, and then only partially (Because the bike broke again 8 weeks later.)

Expense:

I have the invoice that glob Trading (Pty) Ltd issued to Scooter World for the parts that were replaced:

Wheel Rr Damper Rubber Mag Freedom Net Price: R144.74
Wheel Rr solid sprocket Freedom: R100.00
Wheel Rr Sprocket Hubb Solid Freedom R184.21
Wheel Rr Sprocket Nutsbolts solid Freedom R 60.00
Wheel Rr Rim solid complete Freedom R504.39
Wheel Rr Brake drum assy R111.00
Wheel Rr. Brake Shoe set Freedom R 30.70

Total (incl VAT) R1293.94

Scooter World added the following charges to the invoice:

Back 18" tyre R158.00
18" tube R61
Labour R120

Total Cost to myself (incl. Vat) R1680.00

Observations on Price:
Scooter world only charged R120 for the labour!
Scooter World did not add any mark-up to the parts!

I must say that it is still an expensive procedure, given the fact that I paid R7500.00 for the motorbike. I sometimes wonder if I should not have fixed the spokes and found somebody to buy the motorbike for R5000 and then have bought myself a new Gomoto for R7000.00.

Customer Service:

Scooter World in the Strand is under new management and it is noticeable. I felt that the service was very professional and friendly. My calls were always returned. Answers were factual and every time that a promise was made, it was kept.

When I took my motorbike in its headlight was pointing sky-ward after my attempts to get the new indicators installed. When I received the bike back, the headlamp was adjusted to its correct position.

The owner seemed very open and approachable. He allowed me to take the motorbike and to pay him by internet bank transfer.

They also tried their best to keep the costs as low as possible for me, which I greatly appreciate.

---
Anyway. I think one ordeal is over. I look forward to my next adventurous trip. I might be able to take a day off in a week or so. I look forward to experiencing my newly acquired Freedom :-).

Gomoto Headlight

2007-02-16T10:19:00.000+02:00

Brady Kelly writes to me:

Hi Weiers,

I hope your Gomoto is still treating you well, if not costing some in fines.

My headlight bulb has blown both filaments, and all the shops I have tried getting a new one at are only capable of looking at me blankly. Have you replaced yours ever, and what bulb did you use if so?

Regards

Brady Kelly

I have absolutely no idea. Perhaps one of the readers know.
I'll also ask at the shop when I take my gomoto in to be fixed.

Customer Service Round 3

2007-02-16T08:27:00.000+02:00

A careful look at this picture will reveal a few broken spokes. This happened on Wednesday. The job that I do is to look after students in a dormitory. And I am probably the only dormitory dean in the world who puts students on the back of a Gomoto (or any motorbike) when they need to see a doctor. This student was late for his appointment and I think I went over a speed bump too fast. When I came to the first turn in the road I felt my back wheel wobble.

This is quite a familiar feeling, as this has happened to me once before.

Now at the outset I want to state that I do not blame Gomoto for this. I think I was careless and had not taken heed of the contraints of the bike.

But, having said that, I think this is probably going to be a litmus test on whether I will continue my relationship with Gomoto for much longer or not. I have previously (and before that)had real trouble with their customer service.

My goal is to get my spoke wheel replaced with a mag-wheel within a reasonable period of time and I will document my efforts here:

Wed 14 Feb at 14:15: I called Scooter World to ask them to please help me find a Mag Wheel along with the extra parts that is needed to make it fit onto the back of my bike. (The mag-wheels come standard with all new Gomotos, but they are smaller than the spoked wheels). I did this within minutes after my bike broke. In fact I was making the phone call as I was waiting for the student at the doctor's rooms. I was surprised to find that Scooter World seems to be under new management.

Wed 14 Feb at 15:15: I called Gomoto's customer service line 0860 GOMOTO and asked if they had stock of the rimmed wheels. I was informed that they did and that the dealer can order it from them.

Wed 14 Feb at 15:20: I made a pain of myself and called Scooter World again informing them that the Gomoto is expecting their call. They said they had left a message at Gomoto and that they are waiting for a response.

Thursday: 15 Feb: In the morning sometime. I spoke to scooter world. They were waiting for a fax quote from Gomoto for the parts. I asked them to go ahead and order the part if it would cost under R1200.00. I also arranged that I would take the Motorbike in to their workshop on Friday, 16 February as I have to be in Mosselbay/Hartenbos for work related meetings from Sunday - Thursday. (The sad part is that I was planning to take a drive to Mosselbay with my Gomoto.)

I will update the blog as the situation develops.

UPDATE 1: Friday 16 February, 10:15

I just received a call from Scooter World.
They received a faxed quote from Gomoto. The cost of the components to replace the rear wheel comes to R1293.94. This includes about 5 components - the rim, the break drum, breaks, rubbers, sprockets etc.

Along with that there will be a fee of approximately R240 to install (and given my experience with the indicators in front, it is probably not an option to do it myself :-).)

So far I feel quite good. I will deliver my bike at the workshop this afternoon and see how the situation develops.

The Encyclopedia of Motorcycles

2007-02-16T05:28:00.000+02:00

I was in the Somerset Mall today and went into the Paperweight bookshop.

There I discovered a thick volume called, "The Encyclopedia of Motorcycles". It costs over R400, so I do not see myself buying one soon. I saw one interesting article in there on the history of Motorcycles in China.

I scanned the article quickly.

The history of the manufacture of motorcycles is quite different in China than in the West. In the times of the world wars the communist government responded to the needs of the Military to provide them with effective transport. They set up a large factory to build a very limited number of motorcycle models - the most well known one was a copy of a BMW-500cc engine.

In the 1950's the postal service also demanded motorcycles and the factories expanded.

There was no great drive to produce large numbers of motorcycles in this time. The government policy did not really encourage large scale mobility. If I recall, motorcycle production reached approximate 250 000 units per year in the 1950's/1960's.

In the late 1970's and 1980's government began to change their policy. They encouraged the corporations to mass produce motorcycles for the populace. The corporations were still run by government and were managed by means of 5 year plans, but the populace were free to buy the motorcycles as they needed and the corporations became profit driven.

The corporations produced large numbers of motorcycles. Most of the models were imitations of Japanese or European makes, made out of inferior parts in order to keep them affordable. Most of these motorcycles fall in the 50cc - 150cc range.

I cannot remember the exact figures, but today several million motorycles are produced each year.

The article mentions that a very small proportion of these motorcycles make their way out of China. (That is obviously where we come in). The article also believes that these motorcycles will never be a threat to the motorcycle industry in the west. This industry is historically driven by different values (not affordable mass transit but speed, precision, power, and luxury.)

I wish I had time to study the article in more depth. I'll be returning to the shop soon :-). I am quite happy to be associated with a movement (can a person call it that in South Africa) that attempts to popularise the use of affordable and sustainable means of transit over and above the more exclusive and elitist luxury transport industry.

Sexy Chick in Gomoto Outfit

2007-02-16T05:12:00.000+02:00

Hehe, I wonder if this title will draw a lot of readers.

My wife teaches at the local high school. They have a yearly interhouse gala. This year her team's cheerleaders chose the theme of Motorbikes and Biking Culture. They did quite a good job and the whole permiter of the pool was surrounded with Quad bikes and motorbikes.

I wasn't able to contribute my bike to the fray due to the spoke problem, but my wife decided to put on my Gomoto Jacket. I must say she looks quite good in it.

Indicator Improvisation

2007-02-15T07:00:00.000+02:00

I followed Francois' advice and ordered myself a new pair of indicators for my Gomoto from Motoward. So yesterday I started the project of actually installing them.

Now is the time to tell people that I am a little bit technically challenged. When I was a student somebody tried to teach me how to work on the valves of a motorcar and I ended up dropping the same bolt down the timing chain section into the sump two times. (Then I left the sump off until I got the valves sorted out.)

The process of installing these indicators can be described in a similar way. It is really easy to remove the old indicators and then to put the new indicators into the same place and stick the wires into the headlight area.

Then to figure out where the positive wire should go, and then the negative wire (and in the process discover that it actually makes no difference).

And after doing all of that I discover that I never put the bolts in place for the new indicators and I had to undo all the wiring.

The second time went much faster and I fastened the new indicators and even taped the small wires up with insulation tape. And then when I tried to put the head-light back in its place I discovered that the ministalk indicators obstruct the headlamp in such a way that I cannot get it positioned correctly.

Hehe.. I'm still working on that problem, but it is going to require some courage from me because I will have to drill a hole in the plate which originally held the Gomoto indicators. If I do that I will not be able to ever install Gomoto indicators again. Mnnn. I am still working up the courage to do that.

It does not really matter. In a short while I will be so good at replacing indicators and headlamps that Gomoto dealerships will be able to employ me to do just that. :-)

Who would have thought

2007-02-08T07:47:00.000+02:00

I got the fine in October when I decided to drive down to the Beach early in the morning for a jog. I paid it in January.

R300
Speed: 81km in a 60km zone

And yes, I was driving my Gomoto. I should actually have asked for a printout of the photo taken by the traffic officer.

A Friend's Warning

2007-02-08T05:13:00.000+02:00

I received an email from a friend, Brady Kelly, early in January. I have not experienced this as yet. The worst that has happened to me is that the lock-nut that keeps the starter in place vibrated loose. I do think it is worth taking note.

Hi Weiers,

I just thought I’d warn you, although your Gomoto is much older than mine, about a little problem I had yesterday.

In the morning on the way to work, the bike was vibrating quite a bit harsher than before. I asked advice on the BikeSA web site technical forum, and I was advised to check engine and exhaust mountings. When I left work I had a brief look, and found the swing-arm axle bolt had lost its nut and started pulling out!

I bought insulation tape and taped up the end of the bolt to keep it from pulling too fast, and rode home very slowly, stopping to check and tap it in every 100m or so.

I have just found out that this has also happened to another Gomoto owner as well and thought I’d let you know.

Cheers
Brady Kelly

Update:

Brady has subsequently sent me some more information:

I used insulation tape on the thread end of the bolt, to stop it vibrating out, and believe me it moves a lot from vibration. Then I took the main street route home instead of the freeway, so I had the opportunity to stop often and give it a reassuring kick to keep it all the way in. I took it back to the shop the next day where they replaced the nut and checked all the other bolts etc.

I hope your Gomoto is still alright. Mine is still a pleasure now that the little issue is over.

5200 km: Birthday Party in the Bike Shop

2006-12-28T15:38:00.000+02:00

My bike has had its first birthday and all in all it has been a positive experience, except for the fact that I could not have a birthday party for the bike because it was in the repair shop.

The most frustrating part of owning a Gomoto has been that I could not get reliable and quick service from the Gomoto dealer that sold the bike to me.

I just received my Gomoto back from this dealer, yesterday (27 December 2006) after they had it for a full month. Somebody had borrowed my motorbike in the second last week of November and when I got it back about 8 or 9 wheel spokes in the rear wheel was broken. The wheel was wobbling all over the place.

I asked the bike dealer to replace the spoke rim with a new solid rim, as I had found out that this is indeed possible. I phoned the dealer every day for a week to find out what the progress was with the replacement. From what I could piece together from his answers is that Gomoto did not have any solid wheel rims available and that the next shipment would only arrive in a month's time. (I was told this in November, but apparently they still have not arrived.) The dealer said that Gomoto would let him know the next day if they could provide me with a wheel from one of their new bikes, but nothing came from that. I then asked the dealer to please fix the spokes.

After being without a bike for one week I was beginning to become very agitated. They finally offered to give me one of their Gomotos on loan, and I really appreciated that. In fact, I just stopped calling them.

Then, yesterday, as I was climbing up Table Mountain with some family members I received a call from the Gomoto dealer to inform me that my bike is fixed. The cost was R150 and he asked if I could please urgently bring their motorbike back because they need it. I was in Cape Town until late in the afternoon, and I thought that I waited so long for them to fix my bike, that they would not mind to receive their bike the next day. At 17:05 I received a very agitated call from the dealer asking where his bike was. I decided not to argue and took the bike back and paid for mine.

When I had received the bike, it did not have a drop of petrol in it. I had to push it to the petrol station next door to fill it up. I returned it to them with a near full tank.

I immediately became even more frustrated when I could not start my bike. It's battery was flat. I had to kick-start it. And as I was driving home the second of my front indicators fell off.

It is probably too much to wish for, but in my dreams I imagine a Gomoto dealer who would actually have noticed that my indicators were broken while they were fixing the spokes and given me a call suggesting that they replace them or put something more durable on and provide me with a quote. I really get the impression that this dealer really don't care.

I asked him why it took so long to fix my bike. He explained that their mechanic had become sick and actually passed away. They needed to appoint a new mechanic. In the mean time his son was working for them and they could only get to the most important tasks.

I reckon that those are very special circumstances and probably requires me to be more sympathetic. And I really feel bad for them. But I still feel un-cared for as their customer, especially since this is not the first time that I've had long delays in having my bike fixed.

I asked the dealer if he would call me when new stock of the solid rimmed wheels arrive. He said that it would not happen before the middle and end of January and that I should rather call them closer to the time. Again his response makes me feel as though he is not really interested in giving me the service that I would like.

I know that this is my experience with a specific dealer. I am currently debating with myself if I should not find another dealer in a town nearby. It would be more inconvenient, but what can be worse than to be without one's bike for a month at a time (twice in one year!.)

In the mean time, I am trying to find a solution to my broken indicators. Francois suggested that I look at indicators on offer by motorward.

I have also e-mailed a few bike-shops in Cape Town to get quotes and solutions from them.

Yet another Gomoto Experience

2006-12-14T22:02:00.000+02:00

Yesterday I received yet another e-mail from a computer friend, Brady Kelly

He writes about his recently acquired Gomoto. I attach his experiences to this post:

Hi Weiers

I’ve just seen your recent blog updates, and I was quite impressed by the Ceres trip. I’m curious as to how the little engine handles long stretches.

I’m also curious as to my indicators. The bulbs seem to blow for nothing. Both my front units broke, one from vibration and one from catching the bike from falling over, and since I repaired them they seem to be like candle flames.

Regards

Brady Kelly

PS, I’m glad to see you also enjoyed Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Would you believe it was recommended reading on a first year computer science course?

It is interesting that he also experienced problems with broken indicators. One of my rear indicators broke relatively early in the life of my Gomoto, but that was my own stupidity due to over eagerness to demonstrate the effectiveness of a remote starter from 50 meters away. Little did I realise that my bike was in gear. (See a similar experience by Brady just further on)

Recently on my trip to Ceres, my right front indicator also just fell off. It cracked all by itself for no reason. It is now stuck on with some glue, but I think that I would like to put new indicators on when I get the opportunity.

Here is a follow up e-mail from Brady.

Hi Weiers

I’ve had mine for about two months now, and use it daily for my 15km commute to work. It really takes a lot of pain out of a freeway stretch that would normally take nearly an hour by car, and makes it 15 minutes!

I’m also sure your indicator just fell off. My front left did that, but I noticed it wobbling quite a lot so I pulled off and as I touched it it broke off. They really are cheap and nasty, and while bit of Pratley Steel is holding them together now, I am going to look for new ones. In my school years I went through a couple of indicators and there are lots out there.

Talking about electrics, I provided some entertainment in town yesterday when I accidentally nudged the start button. The bike leapt forward off the side stand, and like a stupid I grabbed it by the handle-bars to pick it up. Of course the engine was still running, so my grabbing action wheelied it up for lots of laughs from bystanders. No damage though.

Cheers

Hehe, Brady, I hope you continue enjoying your Gomoto. Thanks for the contribution.

Spam

2006-12-14T18:22:00.000+02:00

Due to a sudden rush of Spam-comments on my blog, I've enabled word verification. I hope it solves the problem.

I also hope that it does not detract readers from leaving their comments.

A Friend's Gomoto

2006-12-14T17:27:00.000+02:00

Francois and I have become friends as a result of my blog. A few weeks ago he sent me some pictures of his his Gomoto. He keeps it in tip-top shape. I still plan to make time to go and visit Francois in Riebeek Valley - on the back of my Gomoto, of course.

He writes:

Hello Weiers,

Included are more descriptive pics and one of the Riebeeck Valley that
might be used as a wallpaper. Customizations include: Changed the
indicators, Moved the Ignition switch to between the dials, Changed the tail
light to an LED version.

For more info on Riebeeck Valley please visit the following website:
http://www.riebeekvalleyhandbook.co.za/
Riebeek Valley Handbook : The guide which tells you everything about the
Riebeek Valley

Please feel free to ask for more info if needed for your Website.

Greetings
Francois

Look at where Francois' ignition switch is situated. This seems like a very good idea to me.

(Did I mention that my one indicator just fell off during my trip to Ceres? This seems to be a common problem with our gomotos and Francois solved it by fitting some custom indicators.)

I like the box on the back of his motorbike.

Gomutcho

2006-12-01T00:38:00.000+02:00

My work held their year-end function at the Houw Hoek Inn in the Elgin Valley past Grabouw.

My wife was teaching, so I drove to this brunch with my motorbike. I over-estimated how long it would take me to get there and I found myself there 40 minutes before the function was scheduled to start.

So I stopped at the Houw Hoek Farm Stall and discovered this. It somehow made me think of my Gomoto. The writing on the edges of the wrapper seems to indicate that the product comes from Russia. But a search of the Internet seems to point to its origins in Brazil.

I bought this packet of sweets for about R2.75.

Klara Majola

2006-11-14T13:15:00.000+02:00

As soon as a person drives over the crest of the Gydo pass, just outside Ceres, there is an unobtrusive turnoff to the left with the sign, Agter-Witzenberg. It is a narrow road that leads through the mountains and opens up inside a completely new valley filled with vinyards and fruit-trees.

Klara Majola lived in this remote farm community with her father who was blind and the rest of the family.

On the 31'st of July 1950, the Cape newspaper Die Burger ran the following news item which I loosely translate here.

Frozen in the Veld
Went searching for her blind father

Ceres. -- An 8 year old black girl froze to death one night in the last week after she went looking for her blind father and got lost. She is Klara Majola. She lived on Mr. Ernst van Dyk's far, Die Eike, in Agter-Witzenberg.
Klara made it a habit to lead her blind dad around the farm and to take him to places where he could gather wood. Later she would then go fetch him.
Her mother went to a nearby farm during the day. She came back at dusk and wanted to go fetch her husband, but Klara offered to do it.
It appears that she could not find her father and got lost. The workers and other occupants of the farm went to look for her. Her father answered their call, but Klara could not be found. Shortly after finding her father, it started to Rain.
Mr. Van Dyk only heard about the events the next day. He immediately gathered a search party. Klara was found dead in a road.
It appears that she slipped over some rocks in a stream and fell into the water. She was to cold and frozen to get up. Her one arm was under her body and the other hand was in her mouth.
It was particularly cold that night and a thick layer of snow had fallen.

This story has been taken up in various ways in Afrikaans literature.

D.J. Opperman was so affected by the story that he wrote a poem about it in Engel uit die klip, Tafelberg, 1951.

Klara Majola

Klara Majola wou haar vader
toe die skemer sak, gaan haal
waar hy, die blinde, hout vergader;
maar Klara Majola het verdwaal.

Klein Klara Majola lê verkluim
in die Bokkeveld se bros kapok,
haar arms en bene bruin
en kromgetrek soos wingerdstok.

Klara Majola, die koue geweld
sif stadiger oor my uit die ruim.
maar nooit sal ek in die Bokkeveld
so warm, Klara Majola, soos jy verkluim.

D.J. Opperman

The story was also transformed into a story by Boerneef in a compilation, Teen die Helling. The title of this story was "Klara Mentoor".

Anyway. The point is that I had the privilege of driving into that very same valley with my Gomoto over the week-end. At that stage I did not know the significant link that it had to the literature that I grew up with. But still, I am happy to have been there.

Other people's Gomoto Experiences

2006-11-12T12:12:00.000+02:00

I have not been very active on this blog for about a month. This has mainly been due to the fact that I sometimes struggle to balance work-life, family-life, and the life required by my dreams. The Gomoto-blog fits into my dream life, and it took a back-seat for a while.

An interesting phenomenon that has been happening though, is that people e-mail me with their experiences of their Gomotos and some even ask me for advice because they are considering investing in a Gomoto. I am really enjoying this. I also get quite a number of hits every week from people who searched Google for "Gomoto" or "Gomoto Motorcycles".

Up until now my advice has been very positive. Yes! By all means, go ahead and buy it! You will really enjoy it. I say this because I am enjoying my Gomoto, not because anybody has asked me to say this.

A week or so ago I received this e-mail from Daniel Dobinson. Daniel has commented on my blog before. He is also a proud owner of a Gomoto. He gave me permission to publish his e-mail on my blog as long as I take responsibility for the spelling mistakes (Fortunately Firefox 2 has a built-in spell checker).

Hey Weiers

Well, remember I told you that i bought a Gomoto-just like yours! Well, its also red but has the mags on the wheels. Thought I'd update you about my thoughts on it(I've run out of work!)

Well, firstly, it's just as fun as any other bike I've had! I was really surprised to find that a tiny engine and old school bike could be so much fun. I've owned a 250cc motocross bike and a CBR400 before and I think it's really just the freedom (from traffic jams?) a bike gives you thats so wonderful.

I've fitted it with a bike box so now the only inconvenience of motorcycling has been
removed. I can now go for runs after work, do some limited shopping and go to the beach with all my paraphernalia stuffed in the back.

I've done 1000km on it so its first free service is due. I have reservations about the type of service that I'll get from 2 wheel mecca, because so far its been a bit on the slack side. My complaints are thus: the front fender came with a weird stain on it that can't be removed. The sales guy assured me it will be replaced on the first service but I'll wait and see if that occurs.

The alarm (which is endlessly entertaining) has already packed in so I've disconnected it- I hope its under some warranty of sorts cos it's a handy thing to have. The last thing is that my carburetor hasn't been adjusted properly and so I've fiddled with it a bit but have to have the choke on the middle setting for it to run without bogging down after 7000 revs. I have tried to get they guys at 2 wheel mecca to look at it but they've never really fixed it so hopefully the mechanic will be able to to a proper job when i finally get it in for its service.

Well thats it. I'm really happy with it and soon my girlfriend will be riding it to work, in which case I might have to buy one for myself! Just wanted to let you know. I think the Gomoto sales must be booming because I see at least a couple every day on the roads and give them a good toot-tooting as we pass each other. I haven't taken it off road yet but plan on doing so soon!

Regards
Daniel

PS: I a friend recently took part in a rally on a Gomoto... to Oudtshoorn! took him 9
hours apparently.

De Hellenwagen

2006-11-12T10:27:00.000+02:00

There is an Afrikaans folk tale of Jan Ellis who worked as a postal driver in the mid-nineteenth century in the Western cape. He worked on the route between Ceres and Wellington. One night he was riding his postal cart, drawn by 4 horses. He had six passengers with him. It was the beginning of winter and there was a chill in the air. His passengers were wrapped in blankets to keep the cold out.

I took this picture at the Posryers museum in Ceres

Jan Ellis reached the deepest and narrowest section of Bain's Kloof at midnight. The rider, the horses, and the passengers were all very tense. At one stage they came to a sharp turn and the horses came to a standstill. They began to snort and push themselves backward. Jan Ellis had to do everything in his power to control the horses (or they would have gone over the precipice).

It was then that they heard the sound of an oncoming wagon. They could clearly hear it rattle over the rocks. Then the wagon appeared in the dim moonlight and they could see that it was going at an incredibly high and uncontrollable speed.

In the darkness this wagon was chasing over rocks, stones and bushes, where, even at day a person could only move at walking speed!

As the wagon came closer, its tent came into view. There was a driver in front. And it was clear that there was no way to avoid a collision. It seemed as though the wagon was going to ride right through Jan's postal cart. With a devilish noise the wagon came closer. The passengers saw six mules pulling the wagon: their bodies glistening with sweat and their mouthes wide open and foaming.

Fearfully Jan shouted at them, "Where the Devil are you going!"

"We're going to Heellll!" came a long drawn out shout from the ghost wagon, followed by a satanic laughter that made all the passenger's blood curdle.

As this apparition came closer and closer, the passengers on Jan's postal cart jumped off and fled into the dark fynbos. With just a few steps left before the collision the ghost wagon swerved . Right across them the driver of this wagon looked around and pushed his cape back revealing his face: white as that of a dead person, with brightly glowing orange eyes. Then that blood-curdling laughter came again and the wagon disappeared into the night.

A week later the news came to Wellington that Jan Ellis drove his post-cart into a ravine in Bain's Kloof. It seems as though he had to swerve for an oncoming vehicle.

Apparently the story still does the rounds in the Ceres Wellington area, that a fiery wagon drives through these passes at a high speed, forcing other vehicles to turn out and fall down the steep cliffs.

---------------
Yesterday I found a rational explanation for this story.

It was a GOMOTO!

My Gomoto at the highest section of Bain's Kloof Pass. (More photos of the kloof in the slide show account of my latest expedition posted just two blogs ago.)

---------------
References:

"Die Vuurwa". An Afrikaans short story published in Afrika Vertel 2, a composition of short stories for South African high school learners. Editors: Annah Siteyini, Sidney Miller. Publishers: Nasou Via Afrika: Capetown. 2006. The story is an adaptation of a similar story recorded by Abel Coetzee.

This kind of story can be traced back to early Germanic folklore of over 2400 years ago. It then spread across Europe in different forms. Sometimes it made mention of a wild chase of a group of wild spirits under leadership of Wodan, the chief of the Teutonic deities. In the Netherlands the story became known as "The Fiery Wagon", or hellewagen.

Who knows, perhaps this blog will cause some people in future generations to talk about the Fiery Gomoto, a fiery motorbike and its driver from Hell :-).

Admirers

2006-11-12T09:00:00.000+02:00

My Gomoto seems to draw admirers everywhere I go :-)

Or perhaps it is just the fact that a stranger with a helmet rips out a camera from beneath his Gomoto Suit and starts clicking at name boards in a a busy downtown Ceres.

When these guys saw the camera they rushed to pose for a shot.

4703 km: Trip to Ceres

2006-11-12T08:50:00.000+02:00

Correction: I did my calculations again. I did not travel 450km on that day. I did in fact travel 350km's. Sorry for misrepresenting the information.

The Language of my Dreams

2006-10-02T20:41:00.000+02:00

One of the way in which I reward myself from time to time when the business of day to day life make way for a short break is by buying a travel magazine. These magazines provide me with dreams and ideas for leisure trips and hard core adventures on my Gomoto.

My favorite magazine by far is Weg, an Afrikaans travel magazine. I enjoy the informative articles, the creative use of language, and the inspiration found in the magazine.

Last week my wife decided to spoil me with this magazine. EXCEPT! She bought the English version of the magazine, called Go!.

The articles are exactly the same. The pictures are the same. The layout has not changed. The translation is excellent.

BUT. It is just not the same. Somehow it just does not feel right. I'm not even sure if the camp fire food (made according to an English recipe), would taste exactly as the food made according to the same recipe in Afrikaans.

I live and work in English. My family speaks English exclusively at home. But it would seem that my dreams, of travel in particular is in Afrikaans.

If I wanted English, I'd buy the Getaway magazine. But who wants to Getaway if you can go with Weg!

Helderberg Farm

2006-10-02T07:32:00.000+02:00

I finally got to take my Gomoto on a pleasure trip over the week-end. It was only about 10 km's, but that is about as much as I can manage without my daughter falling asleep at the back.

The farm is on the R44 between Somerset West and Stellenbosh, and practically borders the College where I live. I think they are incredibly successful in capitalising on the tourist market in the area. (They have 4x4 trails, playgrounds, animals for kids to feed, hiking trails, view-sites, exclusive picnic and braai areas - you pay for most of this of course.)

I visit them for the strawberries that they sell. They sell punnets of strawberries at the same price for which you get them in the shops (about R20 for 800g or so). But then they sell 3kg boxes of Jam Strawberries. These strawberries are either small or a little bit to ripe for the punnets. A 3kg box only costs R30, and who needs the fancy packed stuff anyway.

I'm not sure if the farmer was too impressed with me parking my gomoto practically in his straberries to get this photo :-)

Training and Enrichment

2006-09-17T16:16:00.000+02:00

My work took me to two very diverse training/enrichment programmes in the last two weeks.

The first was a flashy conference on Higher education and community engagement. The conference was attended by 200 - 300 representatives of the elite of higher education in South Africa and we were treated to five star food, hospitality, and very stimulating discussions and debate. Several remarks were made by international experts that South Africa was ahead of even developed countries as far as the conception, debate, and implementation of community engagement in higher education was concerned. It was very stimulating and I am still busy internalising a number of the concepts that were discussed there.

The second training programme that I attended was organised by "Working on Fire." It was a basic two-day course on fire safety, the prevention and combat of Veld, Forest, and Mountain fires. The training forms part of a workplace skills development programme for farm workers and is in all likelihood positioned somewhere in the FET-range (accessible to people with a Grade 9 certificate). We arrived at the place for the seminar and the presenter was an hour late; there was no coffee, tea or refreshments of any kind. (We hoped this would change on the second day, but it just got worse when the presenter, who was late could also not find the pictures that he wanted to show us on his laptop; and still no coffee, tea, or refreshments). At the end of the second day we were all placed in a squad and made to jog military style to the area where we would be introduced to fire-fighting equipment and its correct use.

The surprising fact is that the training that I received from "Working on Fire" caused a greater paradigm shift in my thinking and my actions, than I got from the very high quality conference on Higher education and community engagement.

I've always gone out of my way to involve myself with fire fighting. A fire poses an immediate challenge that requires a person to think strategically and solve problems. It is always exciting. I realise however that I was extremely lucky not to have been injured or killed in the process.

My approach to fighting fire has almost always been one similar to the one used by "Van der Merwe" who came rushing into the fire where other teams had given up on the fight. He did not even stop his bakkie. His people just jumped out and fought for life and death, extinguising the fire. When commended for his bravery he explained that he had no intention of killing the fire, but that his bakkie's brakes had failed.

Anyway in the future I will be a much more effective fire fighter and team player.

The most frustrating part of both of these training opportunities was that I had to find alternative means to get to them because my Gomoto was broken.

The Real Cost of Owning a Gomoto

2006-09-17T15:25:00.000+02:00

I took my Gomoto GT in for its 4000 km service 12 days ago on a Wednesday. I was then told that I should not expect to get it before Monday.

When I heard nothing from them by Tuesday, I called. I could only get hold of the manager of Scooter World late in the afternoon. They had not yet looked at the motorbike. Neither had they ordered the parts that I requested to have replaced. Apparently two people had just bought brand new motorbikes earlier in the week, and they would not work and that took priority.

I phoned again on Thursday afternoon, and this time I became really unhappy when I was told that they would work on my bike as soon as possible.

I see that I missed a phone call from Gomoto / Scooter World on Friday. No message was left. Unfortunately I was in a seminar that kept me busy until after business hours.

I have no idea what the status of my motorbike is. I hope and trust that it will be ready tomorrow morning.

My bike has now been out of commission for three weeks. It was broken for a week before I could find the time to take it in to be fixed. Now it has been at the repairs shop for another two weeks. If I was running a small business, or if I had to use the bike to commute to work every day, I would now have been livid.

I do use my bike on a daily basis. This hiatus in its working condition has caused quite a lot of discomfort. I am fortunate because my wife owns a car. I needed to plan carefully to slot my travels into a time when her car was available.

Riding a Gomoto is pleasurable. Three weeks without this pleasure! Very Upsetting.

Update: Monday, 18 September

I called Scooter World this morning. Everything has been fixed.

They were just experiencing a few challenges with the wheels:

1. It appears it is not possible to replace the spoke wheels with rimmed wheels in this model.

2. But they will replace the spoked wheel at the back with a new one. This happens under warranty, and therefore I will not be paying as much. This is very good news for me.

3. I received another call from the owner of the shop in the afternoon. The wheel will be delivered tomorrow afternoon and I should be able to collect my bike at 17:00.

4. The final cost for fixing the clutch handle, and servicing has now been reduced to R500 and something. That is much better than the R1200.

I feel much better, and my liking for the manager at Scooter World has gone up again!

UPDATE: Wednesday 20 September 2006

Frustration levels are back to RED ALERT! I made all my arrangements to get a lift down to Scooter World to collect my Gomoto, on Tuesday afternoon. At 16:35 I called. A lady answered the phone and gave me a message that I could collect the motorbike at about 12:00 on Wednesday. It is now 11:40 on Wednesday. I don't have access to a lift until this afternoon and all the business that I had to do in town has to wait until somebody finally feels that it is important enough for them to fix my bike. I'm too scared to even call. I will just become more and more upset!

FINAL UPDATE: Wednesday 20 September 2006

I finally collected my Gomoto at 15:00 in the afternoon. The seat was not bolted on. I guess that is the result of me taking it apart before I took it in to them. I forgot to take in service booklet to have it signed, so I guess I will have to visit the shop again.

Whoopee!

2006-09-12T07:17:00.000+02:00

Mnn, I've not tried this before. :-)
Picture from: bikepics.

Update:

Unless I take one of my own photos and turn it onto its side.

The Social Ideology of the Motorcar

2006-09-11T21:02:00.000+02:00

Aquila, posted the following graphic on his blog to indicate the driving statistics of a typical morning trip from his home in Northriding, Johannesburg to his office in Sandton.

This graphic clearly illustrates some of the poignant thoughts of the social philosopher, André Gorz, who argues in an article "The Social Ideology of the Motorcar" that cars "are like castles or villas by the sea: luxury goods invented for the exclusive pleasure of a very rich minority, and which in conception and nature were never intended for the people." Paradoxically, however, the motorcar has become a "luxury object that has been devalued by its own spread."

This sounds very theoretical, but what it comes down to, is that it is just not practical for every person to own and drive a motorcar as they wish to. In South Africa only a small portion of the population owns a motorcar, and already the roads are clogged up to the extent that, in some places, it takes 52 minutes to travel 15 kilometres.

Compare this to many other developing countries where a smaller section of the population own cars and many more people drive around on motorbikes not unlike the Gomoto. The streets might seem much busier and slightly more chaotic and noisy, but I would like to presume that the population as a whole experience slightly more freedom of movement than we experience in the South African metropole.

I love my Gomoto 125cc GT motorbike. :-) Your ride to freedom.

(Thanks to Aquila for the picture - he often photographs other cars on the road. Thanks also to Kabir for sharing this very insightful article with me. I will be commenting on some other aspects of what I've read later.)

An Apology to my Readers

2006-09-11T20:43:00.000+02:00

When I set up my blog, I used all the conventional internet wisdom that I know. I used a "disposable" e-mail account so that I do not put myself at risk for spam or unwanted consequences of going public in an online way. (I have some friends who would be even more paranoid. They would even manufacture complete pseudo-identities in order to protect their real identity. I did not do that.)

In the beginning I feverishly checked in on my gmail account to read statistical reports from the statistics engine I have on my site and to check for e-mail. As time went on, I lost my enthusiasm for statistics and google ratings. I write primarily as an expression of what I enjoy, not to promote my writing etc. (Perhaps the fact that my blog receive 2 hits on average per day made my visits to my gmail account demotivating).

This week-end I discovered how this back-fired. I began to suspect that one of my readers had tried to contact me and I checked into gmail. I got quite a shock when I realised that three individual readers had tried to contact me. Some as far back as three weeks ago!

Two of these readers wanted to ask me some questions before they bought a Gomoto for themselves. One reader sent me a delightful article by a fellow Marxist/socialist like myself, André Gorz and I will certainly give a review and response to this article very soon. I am SO upset with myself for not checking in more frequently.

Fortunately one of the readers have gone ahead and invested in a Gomoto completely independently of me! I hope that I could set up an interview with him to get his perspectives on the motorbike. Perhaps we could even ride to some destination together.

I have remedied the situation. In future any e-mails sent to me via my blog will be delivered directly to the e-mail address that I use every day. Chances are that I will not miss any feedback aymore.

I apologise for managing this aspect of my blog so poorly. I promise that it will improve with immediate effect.

My Long Ride to Freedom?

2006-09-07T14:47:00.000+02:00

Life happened to me this week, and I was not able to even think about my broken Gomoto until yesterday (Wednesday).

I offered somebody with a bakkie a two-litre Coke and off I went with the Gomoto in a few pieces to Scooter World.

I asked for a 4000km service. I also asked them to figure out why the Gomoto could not start and why the headlight keeps going on and off intermittently while I ride.

I explained that my spokes were busy breaking and then I was presented with a seductive option. Gomoto no longer keep those spokes, but they are prepared to replace the weels with mags at half price. Normal price is R500 per wheel, so I can get two new solid-rimmed mags for 500.

Added to my list is replacement of the broken clutch bracket, broken ignition lock nut, broken break-light switch. (Somehow, Reynard had absolutely no recollection that I had been to his shop about 5 weeks earlier to order those same parts in order for me to replace them then.)

I asked how much it would cost. Obviously I was not able to get a final answer, but I was informed that it would be in the vicinity of R1200.

Now I know that I am definitely being a bit unreasonable here. I am replacing a whole lot of broken parts. And some of the parts are broken due to my own negligence. But I still can't help feeling a bit done in. When I bought the motorbike I was told that I would pay about R220 for a service. Technically that is still the case, but here, after 3700 km's I find myself paying R1200. (I should probably not have ordered the mag-wheels, but who can argue against the fact that the company will not be manufacturing/importing spokes anymore).

I'm wondering if this is not the beginning of my own "Ride to Freedom". The last time that I found myself in this situation was when I bought my first computer and found that I was paying copious amounts of money to have other people install operating systems and fix hardware. I took some risks and today I hardly have to pay anybody to do anything on my computer (which runs Linux).

Next time I will probably buy myself a little electrical meter and take the advice of people like Francois (who is a regular and welcome commenter on my blog) to do things myself. Surely I should be able to figure out how things work. That will certainly be my first step on my ride to freedom.

Hmmpf... I'm still cringing at the fact that I'm paying 1/7th of the price of the bike for its first decent service at 3700km. (Oh yes: And it really hurts me that I take the bike in on Wednesday, but can only expect it back on Monday or Tuesday! Am I from a different world? Is this normal?)

3708km: Electrical Woes

2006-09-01T10:06:00.000+02:00

My Gomoto takes me everywhere. Yesterday it took me to the dentist to have my tooth extracted. I've never experienced so much physical violence directed towards me in my whole life! But my Gomoto provided me with a comforting ride back home (despite the fact that my whole body was shaking from shock). The Gomoto could do nothing for me however, when the anesthetic worked itself out of my system. Not even my wife could do anything for me. She was getting really frustrated with me tossing and turning and eating Myprodals like Smarties.

This morning (still with a throbbing pain in my mouth), I put my daughter on the seat behind me on the daily creche' routine. It is spring day and she had to take flowers to school. I don't have any flowers growing in my flat, so I stopped at about three places to help myself to some flowers. About 500metres into the journey, my Gomoto decided to just switch itself off. I let out an expletive and reached for the remote control in my pocket to switch it back on again. But nothing happened. So I stuck the key into the ignition and turned it. The familiar blue light came on, and went off immediately. Nothing could pursuade my Gomoto 125 cc motorbike to start. So I left it on the side of the road, walked my daughter to school, and returned to try to switch it on again. It seems the Gomoto is quite a stubborn creature, and I ended up pushing it up the hill back to my flat.

In the garage I found a size 10 and a size 14 spanner and removed the seat. I found a 15w fuse. It is definitely blown. I happen to have another 15w fuse lying around and stuck it in, but still to no avail. I pushed and pulled on some of the wires. Checked the batery, looked at all the connections I could see. But still nothing.

So I called Scooter World in the Strand, and the verdict is that I need to bring my motorbike in to them. They are too busy today to come fetch it themselves. I'm not quite sure if I am going to be able to do that. I don't have many friends with bakkies. (One friend recently bought a Landrover, but I don't think it is up to carrying this kind of load :-). I'll wait until Monday and ask Scooter world if they could please come and fetch it. (At a cost of R30. VERY REASONABLE).

In the mean time, without my Gomoto Freedom, I'll sit at home and feel sorry for myself with my throbbing mouth and jaw.

I hope Scooter World will provide promt service and help me get back to my usual freedom as soon as possible.

Dark Star Safari

2006-08-16T12:23:00.000+02:00

I just started reading Paul Theroux's Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Cape Town. I've only read a few pages so far, but am already inspired!

Out of touch in Africa was where I wanted to be. The wish to disappear sends many travelers away. If you are thoroughly sick of being kept waiting at home or at work, travel is perfect: let other people wait for a change. Travel is a sort of revenge for having been put on hold, or having to elave messages on answering machines, not knowing your party's extension, being kept waiting all your working life -- the homebound writer's irritants. But also being kept waiting is the human condition.

I thought: Let other people explain where I am, and I imagined the dialogue.
'When will Paul be back?'
'We don't know.'
'Where is he?'
'Where not sure.'
'Can we get in touch with him?'
'No."

Travel in the African bush can also be a sort of revenge on mobile phones and fax machines, on telephones and the daily paper, on the creepier aspects of globalization that allow anyone who chooses to get their insinuating hands on you. I desired to be unobtainable. Mr Kurtz, sick as he is, attemtps to escape from Marlow's riverboat, crawling on all fours like an animal, trying to flee into the jungle. I understood that.

I was going to Africa for the best reasons - in a spirit of discovery; and for the pettiest - simply to disappear, to light out, with a suggestion of I dare you to try and find me.

Home had become a routine, and routines make time pass quickly. I was a sitting duck in this predictable routine: people knew when to call me, they knew when I would be at my desk. I was in such regular touch it was like having a job, a mode of life I hated. I was sick of being called up and importuned, asked for favors, hit up for money. You stick around too long and people begin to impose their own deadliens on you. "I need this by the 25th...' or 'Please read this by Friday...' or 'Try to finish this over the weekend...' or 'Let's have a conference call on Wednesday...' Call me ... fax me ... email me ... You can get me anytime on my mobile phone -- here's the number.

Everyone always available at any time in the totally accessible world seemed to me pure horror. It made me want to find a place that was not accessible at all ... no phones, no fax machines, not even mail delivery, the wonderful old world of being out of touch; in short, of being far away.

I'm happy that I live in Africa.
I am happy that I own a Gomoto to help me achieve this ideal from time to time.

Safety Theories (no 1)

2006-07-29T16:40:00.000+02:00

Hehe, I cannot resist to try my hand at a "Gomoto" theory on safety. In fact two. One is just a reflection on already well established political theory. The other one is pretty much my own and I will probably type that up in a seperate blog entry..

Can we ignore the fact that the society in South Africa is violent and unsafe? No. There are a great many people who keep us sober on that issue.

But from my perspective most people who complain vocally have some motive: either to challenge the powers in government; to show them up as incompetent, uninvolved, or misguided; or to harken back to an "old regime" where there was an appearance of safety as a result of a highly oppressive and undemocratic regime.

I would proffer a more realistic "Gomoto" theory to criminality in South Africa. All that is required is that we acknowledge that we live in a highly unequal society. In a country where an economic system of several centuries were structured to enrich a minority group of South Africans, and keep the greatest majority of the population in structural poverty, there will be great inequalities. In such an unequal society there is undeniably a greater need for those who are priveledged to secure or defend what they own or posess. In countries where there is not such a great gap between rich an poor, there is not such a great need for security. Crime is also lower. A corollary observation is that rampant inequalities in society cause a sense of alienation. People do not feel included in dominant value systems and express this alienation in alternative ways. Often this is in the form of violent or criminal behaviour.

My point, from my perspective on my small Gomoto motorbike is: If we want to take crime and violence in South Africa seriously it will be in our best interest to do everything in our power to eradicate the gap between rich and poor, to uplift the conditions of marginalised societies, and to establish harmonious relationships between people. This, I believe is a much better approach than to stand on our Ivory towers and to scream and shout damnation at governments and people who are merely trying to cope with the symptoms of a bigger challenge.

In a sense with the onset of democracy we have only started on our "ride to freedom." We face the challenge to now build our nation. And I am committed to do my bit to improve the quality of life for all in my country.

Safety

2006-07-29T15:55:00.000+02:00

Shortly before I left on my last Gomoto road trip the South African media highlighted an anti-crime weblog which really upset me. I agreed with the comments by many common South Africans and politicians that the site is un-patriotic and that it is excessively negative in its focus and destructive in its attempts to dissuade people from visiting the country.

I even dreamt up a scheme in which I would challenge bloggers and web-site owners to use the name of this anti-crime website, and its owner, Neil Watson in conjunction with words like "misguided hatemonger" in an attempt to let his blog reach top listings on Google for that particular description.

I don't feel strongly about such a strong activism right now, but I have been wondering about crime and personal safety in South Africa (and elsewhere for that matter. A colleague of mine was in Palestine on a middle-east tour just when the current war between Hesbollah and Israel erupted.)

I also have crime horror stories to tell. But I have also had a very positive experience of South Africa. An experience that I saw replicated as I travelled on my Gomoto.

Let me list some of these experiences:
I lived 8 km's outside of Heidelberg, Gauteng for 3 years. In those three years I hardly ever locked the doors of my house, not even if I was due to spend a whole day away from home. I was never robbed. It could just be luck. I know of roberries and other criminal incidents that occured around us at that time.

I'm now living for a second year in Somerset West, in the Cape province, and again I seldom lock the door to my house and I have a general sense of safety.

As I drove on my Gomoto I spoke to the lady in charge of the camp-site in Greyton. I was concerned about leaving all my belongings in a tent in a deserted camp-site. She told me that in the 8 years that she was living there, she had not experienced any crime.

The next day I arrived at the Backpackers in Struisbaai. The owner was not there. There was nobody in the guest house, but everything was open and there were big signs welcoming me in and requesting me to make myself at home.

I'm not trying to deny that there is crime in South Africa. But, I strongly believe that focussing only on the crime in a negative and pessimistic way causes us to sometimes lose sight of the fact that there are many accounts of high levels of personal safety as well.

Am I immune to crime? No. I've experienced it myself. But I am not prepared to let those experiences be the main determinant of my perspective of life and beauty in South Africa.

As I ride my Gomoto 125GT through the country I would love to focus on the beauty, the enjoyment, and the relative peace that is all over.

(I might post two more philosophical theories on this issue a bit later though.)

Busy!

2006-07-22T09:46:00.000+02:00

My Gomoto GT125 has been neglected a bit this week in more ways than one.

When I set foot back at work after my road trip last week I found myself in a whirlpool of busyness that transformed itself into 17 hour work days on three occasions and the only day that I did not work under 14 hours was last week Saturday: When my door was only knocked on twice by arriving students (one of them at 23:30 in the evening).

The Gomoto stood in the garage waiting for some loving attention, but all it got was an irritable owner who would jump on it and whizz off to a meeting at the High School or to go pick his daughter up from the crèche. This photo was taken by Michelle on her late afternoon walk one afternoon while I was in a meeting at the high school to discuss their development plans for a new dormitory.

On one of the occasional rushed trips (this time to go teach my special Afrikaans class), the back wheel suddenly made a completely unprovoked noise. Somehow a second spoke broke. And that reminded me that I still want to write a rant about the poor service I have been receiving from Scooter World in the Strand, but I will do that later. (I've been struggling to get spare parts for my Gomoto from them for three weeks. They still have not called me to say that the stuff arrived. And I have not had the time to follow it up with them.)

There is a certain exhiliration in working hard. And my job is fortunately quite varied. I am just completing a project in which I installed 25 new network points in the top floor of my dormitory. I did most of the work myself and saved my college several thousands of Rand in the process. And I've learned what a crimping tool was (it is not a tool used on sex offenders for forced castrations!). I had to redo several of my connections and if I was a networking company boss I would have fired myself for my ineptness, but eventually it was very satisfying to watch the green lights on the switch go on as students began to connect their PCs to the network. Then there are the usual challenges of dealing with returning students and security at the College and getting the Gym up and running again. My wife and I have also initiated a project to make our campus more child friendly. Lots of fun and exciting planning involved.

But this exhiliration comes with its trade-offs. Wife and daughter only got a few minutes of my attention every day. Somehow the hard work messed my eating habits up and I ate take aways twice this week. My belt feels tight, as though I have regained some of the weight-losses of previous weeks (dissappointing), and I am beginning to wish for another break.

I think the coldest cold front of this winter is ravaging our section of the world at the moment, so there is little chance of taking the Gomoto for a spin today or tomorrow. I am still a bit unahappy about the broken spoke, but will rant about it on a better day.

If I could choose between the exhiliration of being busy and the exhiliration of driving on a deserted road with my Gomoto, I'd probably choose the latter.

Road Trip Photos (3)

2006-07-12T21:25:00.000+02:00

One last picture. I parked my Gomoto at Hermanus which boasts one of the best land-based whale watching sights in the world. The whales come to this coast line every year between July and October to breed. I did not see any whales this time (I only saw one in Struisbaai). But the view was still quite magnificent. Outside the view on the right hand side of the photo is the old harbour and very beautiful rock cliffs. This is what road trips are all about.

Road Trip Photos (2)

2006-07-12T19:45:00.000+02:00

This is my Motorbike in front of the backpacker lodge in Struisbaai. Inside the bag is my tent, sleeping bag, blow-up mattrass, gas stove, food, clothes, toiletries... etc. It must have weighed 16 kilograms.

I'm thinking it will be nice if I asked a welder to weld together a frame that I can bolt onto my carrier rack at the back that is just big enough for the bag in this picture. The frame can include a back-rest for me and a flat area above the black bag on which I can tie another small bag (or sleeping bag or mattrass). I can then mount this black bag onto the frame with a metal cable or a set of locks. I could even pull a canvass over the whole frame to protect the load from rain. Or to keep it out of reach of inquisitive eyes.

This is my bike, without it's load at the tip of Africa. I could technically have driven it to the actual monument, just 50 metres further, but there were tourists, and there were big stakes in the rocks to prevent cars from going through. So I decided to be considerate.

And below are photos of the backpackers lodge that I stayed in:

(This is the door to the TV-Lounge and the Office. Conveniently marked with a pen and arrows.)

This is where everybody hangs out.

The fire-place.

Visitors are encouraged to write messages on the wall. This caught my attention for obvious reasons.

The dormitory room that I slept in. I am a dormitory dean and the furniture inspired me.

Road Trip Photos (1)

2006-07-12T19:37:00.000+02:00

These Photos were taken with a cellphone camera. They are not very artistic, but gives a bit of a view of where my Gomoto went this week-end.

One view of the mountains at Greyton. Taken after I walked into them for about 20 minutes.

My tent and motorbike just before sunset. (Notice the shadow :-) )

The tent was pitched in the middle of nowhere under two majestic pine-trees.

Gomoto Tips

2006-07-11T22:17:00.000+02:00

Tips for Riding on Gravel Roads

On my recent 600km road trip, I travelled at least 200 km's on gravel roads. I made the following mental notes. Don't take them as absolutes. I might have made some wrong observations.

Remember that you only have two wheels. Your wheels are also rather narrow and it means your traction tends to be rather precarious.
Slow down. Don't drive as fast as you would in a car.
If each bump feels like you hit a brick, it might help to deflate your tires just a little bit.
Don't change direction suddenly. Even if you see the pothole coming, don't swerve sharply. You're likely to end up in another pothole a few short metres further.
Gravel roads tend to have soft sandy spots. Watch out for them and avoid if possible. If you cannot avoid them, keep your steering wheel as straight as possible. Reduce speed before you drive into them.
Check your mirrors and blindspots before you change direction; even if you have not seen a car on the entire road. I got confused by a sign that warned of upcoming road works. When I decided to turn onto the "so-called detour", a bakkie just came screeching past me. He almost ended up in a ditch, and Gomoto's and their drivers must have been the focus of every negative thought that he had for the rest of the day.
Some farmers have dogs who have nothing better to do than to stand on the side of the road to intimidate motorcyclists. Don't show any fear. Just accellerate and aim straight at the dog. It will get out of the way!
Most secondary roads in South Africa have concrete kilometre markers on the side. If you are not sure that you are on the right road, check those markers. They should usually tell you how long the stretch of road is. In that way you can decide what the consequences would be if you were on the wrong road!

Tips for Riding in Fog

I rode in fog for a second time since I've taken my Gomoto on road trips. It tends to be quite an scary experience.

Wear reflective clothing.
Expect to get wet. It is water afterall.
Don't waste time cleaning the visor of your helmet every few seconds, just lift it up. Your eyes will burn a bit in the wind, but you will at least be able to see where you are going.

Tips for Riding on Gravel Roads in Fog (early on Winters Mornings)

Hehe. That is exactly what happened to me just after sunrise on the road between Struisbaai and Gansbaai.

Wear protective clothing. You might fall. (I fortunately did not fall, but I wore protective clothing).
Dress warmly with several layers of clothes beneath the protective layer.
Expect to get dirty! Dust and water create interesting patterns on your clothes.
Oncomming traffic will cause dust to come into your eyes and your eyes will tear like a baby.
Don't take the long route if you do not plan to stop at the attractions. I had no idea what "Die Dam" was, but decided to drive past there anyway. I never stopped, and ended up driving 40km's more than I could have if I drove directly to Gansbaai.
Wear protective clothing. You might fall.
Enjoy the adventure. There is nothing like it!

3310km: Successful Multi-day Road Trip

2006-07-11T21:22:00.000+02:00

I'm back home after driving 600km in three days on my Gomoto.

Would I do it again?
Yes, most definitely!

I reported on the first day and a half's travel in my previous blog entry.
I will give a brief report on the rest of the trip here, in the form of an interview with myself :-)

So where did you sleep on Monday night?
I spent the night under a warm down duvet in a dormitory room of the CAPE AGULHAS BACKPACKERS in a small coastal town called Struisbaai. It is situated just 5 kilometres from Cape Aghullas, the southern most tip of Africa.

I thought you had packed a tent? Why a backpackers?
The two local caravan parks charge R84 per night for a stand. When I arrived, eager to pitch my tent, the lady at the campsite refused to let me enter before i investigated the Backpackers. They charge only R70 per person per night. It was not a difficult decision to make. (In fact, it was real relief. On my way from Bredasdorp to Struisbaai the wind blew so strongly that my Gomoto could sometimes not exceed 55km per hour!

What would you call a Gomoto with wings?
I have no idea! Probably a micro-light which only has a reverse gear. (Not enough power to fly forward.)

Corny Joke

Can you describe the backpackers hostel?
It is a new establishment which opened in February 2006. The owners have done everything possible to cultivate a laid-back relaxed atmosphere. The dormitory rooms have very neat and practical furniture, warm down duvets, en-suite showers, towels. The focus is on being practical. There is a notice at the toilet roll holder: "No Toilet Paper: Look in the kitchen cupboard above the plates." There are instructions on how to recycle trash. Each drawer in the kitchen is labelled with what utensils a person will find in it. (I like that, it is quite empowering to know where to find things when you need them). The colour schemes are vibrant. An outdoors patio, fire-place, and swimming pool is the center where most life seems to happen. Visitors have the option of writing a message on the green walls around the fire place. Almost everybody have written nice things. (Perhaps the not-so-nice things were painted over again.) I wrote my blog-address on the wall.

The owners of the place were not there, but their brother did a good job to make me feel welcome. The only one that made me feel a bit unwelcome was one of the dogs who did not know that I had moved in. And when I surprised it by suddenly opening a door it gave me quite a growl. I soon made friends with it, however and then it ignored me for the rest of the night.

Were there other people in the hostel?
Apparently there were about 7 people in the hostel the night before, but I only saw evidence in the form of some left-over bread. I decided not to eat it though. At about 19:00 the Moolman family from Johannesburg moved into another one of the dormitory rooms. Their 14 year old son had just competed in an inter-provincial Formula 3 powerboat championship competition on the Theewaterskloof dam in Villiers and they were on their way back home. The boy and his team came second. Congratulations!

So you spent your whole day laying around the hostel?
NO! I drove my Gomoto all over the place. I was not in the mood to explore Museums (and there are several at L'Agullas). I went to the southern most point of the continent, and then drove on to a small residential area, called Suiderstrand, situated within the Aghullas National Park. There is only one rough gravel road that leads to it, but I somehow got lost on the way back and ended up on a 4x4 track leading through the National park! In the beginning it was quite an adventure! I was hoping it would take me home in a different way, but about 5 minutes into the track, I hit some sandy spots. It is quite interesting to notice how a Gomoto Motrobike handles thick sand. One of two things tend to happen: 1) If the sand is very thick, the front wheel sinks directly into it, but inertia causes the driver to almost shoot over the handle bars. 2) More commonly though the front wheel suddenly gives way to the side, and then the back wheel seems to follow a person in a side-ways skid, and it takes quite a bit of muscling and exercise of the whole body to remain on the bike!

The sandy bits were interspersed with rocky sections, and in hindsight I am amazed that my Gomoto and its tires survived the ordeal. (I eventually decided that if this 4x4 route was going to lead anywhere it would take too long to get there. I turned back and got to see the lovely skid paterns created by my bike, followed by trenches where my boots hit the ground in an effort to retain my balance.) It was a really fun outing. I am now more convinced than ever that my Gomoto 125 cc motorbike can take any terrain that Africa can throw at it! (Although, I must honestly say that I would choose to bypass such difficult terrain should there be other options available.)

I bought my daughter a few small gifts at one of many shell-shops/art shops in the area. I bought some fresh milk (which the Moolman family promptly finished when they arrived at the Backpackers :-) ). And I went for a run on the 14km long white Sandy beach!

Did you run 14 km's?
No! I ran 15 minutes in one direction, and then I turned back and slogged my way back to the Backpackers (which is situated 200 metres from the beach - And NO!, I probably did run more than 200 metres). I did not have any footwear with me other than my boots, so I did my run without footwear. Later in the evening I got some weird cramps in my feet, which were obvioulsy traumatised by the strange new activity that they were exposed to.

I learned something useful. Apparently the name "Struisbaai" is derived from an old Dutch word, "Struis" (Obviously), which means "Large" or "Big". So I'm proud to say that my deductive reasoning figured out where the word "Volstruis" (Afrikaans for "Ostrich") comes from.

Would you go back to Struisbaai?

Yes, but this time en-route to some other interesting alcoves that I never got to explore. Apparently Arniston/Waenhuiskraans has a large cave that a person can only reach during low tide. And I would like to explore the De Mond and De Hoop nature reserves. (People who like Kite-Surfing will probably prefer to stay at Struisbaai for longer periods of time).

How far did you travel on the second day of your journey?
I travelled approximately 150 km's from Greyton to Struisbaai. I saw many Merino sheep, and a few beautiful pairs of Blue Cranes (actually they are all over the Overberg but always a beautiful sight.)

Yawn... Perhaps you can continue the story tomorrow. I'm off to bed.

3086km: Pitstop Bredasdorp

2006-07-10T13:35:00.000+02:00

Yesterday at 11:15 I set off on my first multi-day road trip with my odometer exactly at 2800 km.
The bike does not look particularly pretty. I took the red carry case off the back, and tied a large bag onto the back seat which contains my 2 -man tent, a sleeping bag, a gas stove, cutlery, food, and some clothes.

I rode up Sir Lowry's pass to Grabouw (average up the pass approximately 50km/h). Then I turned off the highway and headed across the beautiful Hottentots Holland mountains and the Theewaterskloof dam to the small town of Villiers. The trip was just over 70 km, and I reached there at approximately 13:00. I supported the local economy and bypassed the well-known shops to go to a small cafe on the side of the road where I bought a stale pie (made in Gansbaai) and a Pepsi for R11.00. One person appraoched me and asked where I was headed with this lawnmower with the big load.

So I left Villiers and followed a beautifully scenic route down a valley through wich the sonderend river flows. Most of the road was gravel road and my speed averaged around 60km/h. There was hardly any trafic on the road and at one occasion I had the opportunity to follow two large fish eagles as they flew along the river. The countryside is beautifully green with freshly planted meadows of what I think is either canola or feed for the milk (Jersey) or sheep (merino) farms in the area.

After about 40 minutes of travel I reached Genadendal, a small town that used to be a mission station. The mission station seems to have done a good job in Christianising the community because everybody on the streets were dressed in suits and ties. They were obviously not very good in developing the community because it was clear that the area was still quite poor. Of course, I could not go into any of the four or five museums in the area, because it was Sunday and they were only open on the other 6 days of the week. So I headed for my final destination, Greyton, a few kilometres further on.

Greyton is a really quaint little town with beautiful houses, lovely gardens, mostly gravel roads, at least 40 guest houses, several art shops, handmade material shops, restaurants, and a chocolate shop. (No Automatic Teller Machine.) I searched for the municipal campsite which I finally found outside of town on the side of the Sonderend river. There were no other campers. No Electricity. No warm water (although there is a place to make a fire to warm water. The fire was only made the next morning at 10:00 when I was on my way out of the camp site.) The lady who runs the campsite moved there 8 years ago and she does not have electricity in her house either. She runs a television off some car batteries.

I pitched my tent and then headed to explore the town and the nature reserve. I had to make way for several cows and one bull with an ominous rope through his nose as I drove through the town. It suddenly hit me that a RED Gomoto is probably a bit of a liability when it comes to navigating one's way through a heard of cattle. But everything happened without much trouble.

The mountains in the area are beautiful. Fortunately it was not too cold. (I saw photos of the town when the mountains are covered with snow). The unreliable thermometer on my cellphone claimed that it was about 9 degrees celcius during the night.

After hiking in the mountains I cooked my rice. (Something that is a treat because nobody in my household eats rice). As the sun went down I crawled into the tent and read about 50 pages from a textbook on Postmodern Curriculum Theory with the aid of the led light of a head torch that I own.

A phonecall from a relative reminded me that the world cup soccer final had started at 20:00, and not at 21:00 as usual. So I jumped on my bike and drove the 4 km back to town to the restaurant that had advertised that they would screen the event. The restaurant was really smart. Smarter than the Spur! And better run as well. I got to see the final on a large flat screen (amazing quality). Around me was about 20 other people, of whom several were foreigners. Wealthy people, who were obviously either on holiday, or owned a second or third home in the area. They were all sipping wine from large glasses. I bought myself a small can of Coke for R8. (R8.00 &#%$&!!!).

I left the extremely warm lounge, managed to dodge two fierce looking dogs roaming the road (I always thought dogs were my friends, until I started riding bicycles and motorcycles), and crawled into a now-cold tent.

I only tried to stick my nose out of the tent after 08:00 this morning. It was really cold, and everything outside was wet with some kind of precipitation. In fact the inside of the flysheet of my tent was also wet, and that proved to be quite a challenge, because the sun was just not coming over the mountains. (I saw the sun for the first time at 10:00 in the morning, but by that time I had decided to try to dry the tent with my towel and to pack up because I had to get to Bredasdorp, and hopefully to Cape Aghullas after that. My cellphone battery suddenly died on me (it should not have, but perhaps I spent too much time talking to my family on Sunday.) So my stress levels were a bit higher than they should have been. (Strange though: because if something had to happen to me, I would not really know if a cellphone would have made my life any better.)

But that is the reason why I am in an internet cafe in Bredasdorp in stead of exploring the southern most tip of Africa. My phone is busy charging in a cellphone shop.

Cost so far:

Pie and Coke in Villiers: R11.00
Drinks During World Cup Match: R20.00
Cost to pitch tent for night: R40.00
Cost of Petrol when I filled up at Riviersonderend: R32.00
Lunch at Bredasdorp: R33.00 (+R7 tip) = R40.
Cost of time at internet cafe: R20.00 (What a waste! The connection is also extremely slow!)

I'm not going to add everything up now.

Oh yes. I bought myself a long sleeve t-shirt at Mr. Price for R29.00. I felt just a little bit too cold last night. There is a bite in the air and apparently there is a cold front moving in.

But now my time is up, and I need to go on my adventures again.

Mindspace: Marginalisation

2006-07-06T19:42:00.000+02:00

Apart from the obvious fun and adventure that accompanies my ownership of a Gomoto, it also holds some symbolic value.

I choose to drive a Gomoto, in stead of a car. I do this because I cannot afford to buy a car. I used to own a car, but the maintenance and insurance was just too much. The Gomoto is one of the most inexpensive bikes on the road. It is one of the smallest ones. It uses very old technology compared to the Hondas and Yamahas of today. Somehow the Gomoto symbolises my experience of being marginalised in society.

Now this is not a reactionary political rant. I've always been rather liberal politically. (I think I was the only White man who voted for the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania in the 1999 general elections, although I have since then rejected their political views because they obviously do not really live up to the "Pan" in their Azanianism by regarding some Africans as more African than others.) I strongly support the attempts to counteract the undeniable structural bias that still exists in the South African economy towards white people.

The fact is that there are many levels where I often find myself on the threshold of society. Financially, I am not in a high income bracket (I chose the wrong career) and according to my calculations my real income has dropped in the last 4 or 5 years, in stead of escalating. Politically I am not in the main stream. Philosophically I often find myself at odds with what the people "in power" hold to be true.

And in a strange way, owning a Gomoto embodies the sum-total of this awareness of being on the margins.

To me this is not necessarily a negative observation. Being a bit of a revisionist of Marxist theory, I do not believe that my life and my identity is determined (imposed upon me without my consent) by those who are wealthier, or more powerful than me. To me there is much to be said for being on the margins. Being on the margins is like standing on a threshold, about to exit an existence that is oppressive and depressing. Looking at/anticipating/inviting the wide open space out there.

When I think of being on the margin, I think of other words, like doorway, leading edge, facing forward. And I like what Stephen Toulmin says about such things:

Those who choose to face forward into the future are our pioneers, prophets, creatives, dreamers, explorers, intuitives, risk-takers, artists, and imaginers. They anticipate the future in the present. They shape and form that future. They create possibilities for the future by living fully in the present. They learn from the past but they don’t live in and for the past. They surf the leading edge of the wave.

(The original context in which I read this quote is here).

What better way to go searching for these values and attributes than exploring the countryside of South Africa with a somewhat marginalised Gomoto 125cc motorbike.

Horizons Unlimited

2006-07-05T01:09:00.000+02:00

I found an amazing website which tells the stories of Motorcycle Travelers throughout the world.

This particular blog entry by Robert Bielesh, who travelled through South America on his motorbike really inspired me. I copy one relevant piece here, although the whole travel blog is worth reading.

April 22, 2006 GMT

(1) Peru: The South

While visiting a museum on the outskirts of Arica, we met a Japanese couple who were travelling South America, for one (1) year, on their Yamaha....Yamaha 90 that is.

They were a retired couple in their 60s. They had special panniers built, a triple deck luggage pack on the back carrier, a large front basket, not unlike that found on a bicycle and double capacity gas tank giving them 10 liters of capacity and a range of almost 400 kms. I was astounded. I evaluated my 1100 cc brute, weighing in at 525 lbs plus 100 pounds of luggage plus 200 pounds of rider, tipping the scale at 700 lbs.

Their combination was about 200 lbs for the bike plus 100 lbs for the luggage plus 200 lbs for the rider and passenger coming to about 400 lbs. I was simply amazed that the suspension system was up to the load and the pounding. On my bike and other large bikes the weakest link seems to be the suspension. The rear shocks inevitably fail...and yet their tiny 1-1/2" diameter rear shocks and simple front suspension just kept on working and working and working. The motorcycle world could learn a valuable lesson from Yamaha here.

(Photo taken by the author of the particular blog - URL above)

(At another place he publishes a photo of people who make a business by using their 125cc Honda Motorbikes as taxis to get around town. They charge 30c per ride.)

Surely I can travel through South Africa on my 125cc Gomoto Gt motorbike.

2711km: Replacement Parts

2006-07-05T00:58:00.000+02:00

It helps to wash your motorbike from time to time. It gives you the opportunity to observe it very carefully.

As I observed my Gomoto on Sunday, while watching it, I noticed a few things that worried me. So I took it for a ride to the Gomoto shop in the Strand this morning and the very friendly mechanic helped me to get words to describe what I was missing:

1. A spoke was broken in the back wheel. Apparently this happens from time to time and I have now ordered two spokes.

2. The little wire that was hanging loose was actually my back brake-light switch. I thought it was attached to the break, and I thought that I saw the break light coming on when I fiddled with it. I've ordered a new one. I have no idea how and when it broke.

3. The reason why my ignition switch was hanging loose was because the ignition switch nut had come loose and fallen off. I've ordered a new one.

4. The fall that I described above did not break my clutch lever, but the clutch lever bracket. I've ordered a new one.

The Gomoto shop promised that these parts should be available by Friday. I hope so. They all seem very easy to replace. I'll probably do it myself.

I thought I would tell them about my blog, but when I asked them if they had internet access they looked at me with a quizical look and then some faint recognition that I am probably talking about that evil thing that their minister preached about in church a while ago. So I thought I'll keep my blog to myself for a while longer.

Very nice people at that Gomoto shop. The owner comes from Namibia. When he delivered my motorbike he saw my daughter and said that I must bring her to play by his son (same age) at some stage. I should arrange that playdate some time. I've met him a few times at different places in Somerset West. He always recognises me and calls me "his friend". I think he is actually a good friend. I've always had good service from him.

Photoblog

2006-07-03T16:40:00.000+02:00

Who said handsome people don't ride Gomotos!

The pictures were taken by my friend, Claudelle Bender. She is starting a website and I will link to it as soon as it is ready.

Getting Smaller

2006-07-03T15:16:00.000+02:00

I am not the smallest of people, thanks to very unwise addiction to MacDonalds and Spur food. But I am also under the impression that the sizes of the standard Gomoto motorcycle gear is also not exactly measured for the average South African.

When I tried to buy a helmet from their store, their largest size did not fit around my head. I also asked for an Extra Large Gomoto riding suit. But I could never fit into the pants very comfortably. The poppers kept popping open around my waste.

Until today that is! I put my Gomoto riding suit on for some photos (watch the blog for a few samples), and it fitted around my waste without me having to feel like I am in a corset. It would seem that one month of cooking my own food, in stead of eating out frequently is paying off. Now imagine if I actually added some good exercise!

I should actually take note of the kilometer reading on my Gomoto and use it to keep track of my weight loss.

The Ugliest Sight in the World

2006-07-02T10:18:00.000+02:00

A motorbike rolling forward by itself and falling onto its side!

And it happened to me for the fourth time this year. This morning! I was on my way to the Spar to buy some cheese for our weekly omellette breakfast. I stood by my kitchen door and pressed the remote-control starter button and watched how the motorbike that was standing on the road started stuttering forward, off its stand and ended up lying on its side on the road.

That remote starter (yes, you can press a button on a remote control and start the bike) is such a curse! And I have not learned to resist the temptation to use it. I am always careful to put my bike in neutral when I park. But it seems I sometimes do not get it quite right. (Or a kid from the neigbourhood might have walked past and kicked the gear leaver. Or my daughter might have decided to climb onto the bike when I was not there). And then the bike is in gear and starting it causes it to think it is HERBY and that its owner wants it to ride on its own. (Perhaps it is trying to live up to Gomoto's slogan: Your Ride to Freedom!)

The damage this morning: Mirror is loose, and needs tightening. The clutch-lever is broken and needs to be replaced. (I've needed to replace it before, for the same reason). The rubber foot-rest looks like it has had better days as it always seems to experience the greatest impact when the side of the bike hits the road.

Follow the Leader

2006-07-01T08:50:00.000+02:00

This week has been a week of analysis and practical thinking. In my mind I was visiting all my relationships and trying to figure out what they were made of. Why have I been constantly on the war path with my five year old daughter? What are the strongest and most enduring qualities that sustain my realtionship with my wife. Why do I frequently find myself struggling to balance my work, study, exercise, entertainment and family responsibilities? I suspect that these are universal questions asked by the greater majority of non-hedonistic people or people who are not complete drug addicts yet. (Does watching three seasons of the series, 24 in a matter of two weeks count as addiction?)

At the same time I have engaged in a new practical rigour in approaching my finances. It might sound strange to many people, but I actually borrowed money to buy my Gomoto. At R7500, a great many people would have been able to fork out cash! (I should have doen that) I've borrowed money to buy other things as well (and many of them have much less value than my Gomoto.) So since I was paid this week I ensured that I made the best possible financial choices. And I think I was mostly successful. The problem is that I need to now survive the month on almost no money, and then make these same choices every month for the next 12 months before I would be able to say that I am clear. (I am using a debt snowball approach. Although I am tempted to try an additional approach of buying a Lotto ticket each week as well.) This week I am celebrating the fact that I now have a written out menu for a healthy cooked meal for every week-day of the month. The menu is interesting and it has variety. I can cook most meals in a mater of 25-30 minutes. And I have been very successful at sticking to the menu. (I have not yet learned to eat only a small portion of these meals). The food is remarkably tasty (I never thought there was much in life to beat the taste of McDonalds Chips, but I have now been off McDondalds for more than a month! Yipee!). It definitely saves money!

Anyway. The result is that not much have fed my creative brain. In fact when my wife called me to sit with her and watch the movie "Elizabeth Town", I was rather bored and frustrated with this romantic girlish love story. But I watched it, and smiled (grimaced) slightly at the scenes of the totally outrageous funeral. A week later, however those scenes have faded from memory, but what remains in my mind are the pictures of the main character (Drew) on a road trip with a map drawn by his girlfriend (Claire). She wanted him to discover her America. One of her instructions was that he should not contact her. She wanted him to feel a loneliness and a longing for her (or something like that. I did not pay enough attention.)

Riding on the Gomoto is also a lonely endeavor. It is something that I am longing for now. I feel a need to re-kindle the romantic in life. To stop worrying about life's practicalities. And I think I found a way to do it. I'll be able to take some leave for two days in the next two weeks. I am going to ride to Greyton, and then to Bredasdorp and L'Agullus, and I'm going to try to draw a map for the ones I love. With pictures and descriptions of the road that I've travelled. I want to do it on my own, but I want to draw the map in such a way that the ones I love will read it and one day be able to replicate the journey that I travelled and enjoy it more than me.

I know there is a game that people play where they leave small gifts at a variety of GPS co-ordinates. I cannot buy a GPS (I can, but it is not in my financial plans at the moment). But I can put together a map and even some music (First song: Koos Kombuis, Baskitaar), and play "follow the leader."

2658km: My First Tag

2006-06-28T13:57:00.000+02:00

I've just been exposed to a new game that seems to be popular amongst bloggers. Every once in a while we play "tag". So, I got an e-mail that I was tagged by Michelle. I checked, and she was tagged by Chitty who was tagged by Blagrag who was tagged by Vesper,and somebody even mentioned that they saw it on Chloe's blog (although I don't see it yet).

So I will try to play along as nicely as possible.

"The rules are simple: Write 10 words beginning with that letter in your journal, including an explanation what the word means to you and why, and then pass out letters to those who want to play along."

And Michelle chose the letter "G" to pass out to me.

She helped me with the first one.

1. Gomoto. A major theme on my blog. My red 125 cc Gomoto motorbike with wich I enjoy exploring the world.

2. Guts. Somebody told me this morning that I had more guts than brains. I did not have my wife's car at my disposal but urgently wanted to buy some conduit from the hardware store. I need it for a little project in which I'm trying to install a network in the dormitory where I work. So I took my Gomoto down to town, bought the 12 m of conduit (in 2m lenghts), tied them together with a rope. and put the rope over my shoulders. It was a bit of a balancing act, but I got the necessary supplies back to my office without causing any serious accidents.

3. Gatsometer. I initially thought this was only an Afrikaans word :-). But a quick check on Google, showed me that most English speaking people should also be familiar with this device that is used by traffic authorities to measure your speed. I've been quite smug in my contentment that I would not have much cause to worry about these "speed traps" while driving on my Gomoto, as it is not designed for very high speeds. But ALAS! today I was almost caught by one. Going 70km/h in a 60km zone with all the conduit (see "Guts" above) over my shoulders.

4. Gasoline. Just to brag again that my little Gomoto travels 42 kilometres on 1 litre of gasoline when I ride between 60 and 75 km/h.

5. Gun. Another reason why I don't own a car? When last have you heard of a motorcylist being hi-jacked? Or if you are like me, you won't get hi-jacked. You will just get assaulted with the gun. When I owned my own car I used to twist the little spray nozzles used to clean the windscreen to the side. I would then ride on the beach front and squirt the pedestrians and oncomming traffic with a spray of water. I once squirted the wrong vehicle, and a few minutes later found myself looking down the barrel of a gun. I am fortunately still here to tell the story. It will therefore come as no surprise that I believe that guns should be outlawed.

6. Genadendal. The next place that I intend to visit with my Gomoto. I plan to take a day off next week to drive to Genadendal. I estimate Genadendal to be approximately 160km from where I live, but I plan to drive there via Villiers, in order to fit in two mountain passes with little traffic. It should be close to a 400 km round trip. Genadendal is one of the first mission stations that was established by those evil colonialists early in South African history.

7. Greyton. A small town close to Genadendal. I am told that there is a camp site there that charges only R30 per person per night. I have not discussed this with my wife yet, but I may want to sleep over in my little two man tent before returning home from my trip to Genadendal. If this happens it will be the first time that I do an overnight trip with my Gomoto.

8. Girl. I'm the dean of a men's residence. We are quite popular amongst the girls. But below is a photo of the girl in my life. You must see her in a helmet!

This picture of my daughter was taken by a friend who does this kind of work for a living. She is busy setting up a website, and I will link to it soon.

9. Green Tea. I bought myself some last week. It has a mint flavour and I've been drinking one cup, every day at 11.00. I am not a great tea drinker, but I am really enjoying this particular flavour.

10. Get Rich Slowly. Get Rich Slowly is the blog that I've been compulsively reading in the last two weeks. I've discovered that my credit cards charge far too much interest for me to sustain the lifestyle that I am living, and my job does not pay enough. Get Rich Slowly has made me feel good about cutting down on the expenses in my life and living a more simple life. I highly recommend it.

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Well, that is the end of my assignment. I do not know enough bloggers to pass the tag on to. When I see some, I will present them with the letter X or something. I hope you enjoyed reading my responses.

Electrical Quirks

2006-06-28T08:58:00.000+02:00

My Gomoto's next service is at 4000km.

There is something strange happening to the electrical system on my motorbike. Sometimes the small lights that light up the rev counter goes off for some reason. Then when I look again, it is on again. While I was travelling through the fog on my way to Worcester the other day my emergency flickers did not want to go on. But I discovered that if I first put on the left flicker, and then the right flicker, and then tried the emergency switch, they would work.

Some people would be at the Gomoto shop complaining. Perhaps I need to go visit the friendly shop owner down at the Strand.

But for some reason I'm not really concerned. I'll just go on my adventures anyway, and wait for the 4000km service.

(And hope the bike does nor break down when I come close to Mali. ... Mnnn ... come to think about it. I'm not quite sure what I would do if my bike had to break down on a trip.)

2633km: Growing Up

2006-06-21T07:53:00.000+02:00

Friday was a public holiday in South Africa. It was a day for people to relax and enjoy a long week-end. I had, however, foolishly agreed to participate in a Regional Youth Leadership Summit in Worcester where I had to do a presentation on "The Context, the Trends, and the Impact of Postmodernism" to a number of young people between the ages of 16 and 30.

I had put off my preperation for this to the last minute (as usual), and I could kick myself for having agreed to do the presentation in the first place. With all my misgivings about the presentation, and the work around it, I decided to turn it into an adventure. I could at least ride to Worcester on my Gomoto!

I had done this 300km return trip before, earlier in the year, on a warm summer's day. Then my purpose was to explore and I had driven through Wellington and the Bain's Kloof Pass on a leisurely ride.

This time it was winter. My presentation was at 09:00. I had to leave at 06:30. The weather report predicted clear weather, but the temperature outside was only about 7 degrees. Fortunately previous exposure to cold circumstances have taught me that gloves are essential. I still do not own proper motorcycle gloves, but I found a thick pair of cotton and wool gloves. I wore several layers of clothes under the tight-fitting Gomoto Riding Suit that I was given when I bought the motorbike. I even wore two pairs of socks (I was not wearing boots, but the shoes that I needed to appear halfway decent for the presentation).

As I reached Stellenbosh, the streetlights created a shadow-effect in the darkness of the morning making it appear that a faster motorbike was passing me every few seconds.

The sun rose as I was reaching Paarl, and preparing to go up Du Toitskloof Pass. (Did I mention that the trip was going to take me over a 890 meter mountain pass?). I welcomed the sun, hoping that my nose could now stop running, and that my fingers would stop feeling like they were going to fall off.

The mountains were beautiful in the morning light. We had good rain in the Cape in the last few days and practically every kloof was spewing a beautiful waterfall. By the time that I had reached the top of the pass, I actually started to feel warm, but I still had 40 km's to go.

And this is where the trouble started. As I exited the kloof through which the Du Toit's Kloof pass (the main road between Cape Town and the northen part of the country) was built, it appeared that the valley that Worcestor is situated in was covered with a dense fog! No Sunlight! The last 30 kilometres were quite scary. Everything was wet (did you know that some kinds of fog is actually a kind of light rain). I had to keep wiping my helmet visor to see the road, and even then, I could not see anything more than 1 or 2 seconds ahead of me. The road was a double lane high-way with no shoulder, and my fear was constantly that some big truck would ride over me from the back.

Well, the fact that I am still writing this post, proves that I survived the trip. I stopped at the Shell Ultra City and went to the bathroom. When I came out, there were about 10 ultra modern and large motorcycles there. The drivers had the best leather apparrel (and gloves!) and seemed to have thouroughly enjoyed their ride. I felt quite proud that my Gomoto 125cc motorcycle had done what even the big-shots have done.

Anyway, this post is long now, but what I wanted to reflect on briefly is the concept of growing up. One of the senior presenters at the summit that I attended remarked that I still had to grow up.

I'm actually happy that I'm not "grown up" yet. If maturity requires me to see the world exactly as other people see it. If maturity means the end of a sense of adventure, and wonder. If maturity means that I should stop asking certain questions. Then I don't want to be grown up. I often look at my peers who are running around town with their 4x4's and living "responsible" lives looking after children and families, and wonder why it seems as though they have it all so together. I also have my family. I think I look after them responsibly, but I sometimes still prefer to feel like a student who goes through life without too many worries. In fact, I think it is a source of personal power: To choose an open, questioning, explorative, "not alltogether figured out" approach to life.

Afterall, what does being "grown up" really have to offer?

Baggage Management : Light Travel

2006-06-14T09:33:00.000+02:00

As with almost all things relating to motorcycles, I have absolutely no experience with motorcycle baggage management systems.

Except for a quick Google search which brought me to the conclusion that a traditional set of bags (on the side, on the back, on the tank) could almost cost me as much as the motorbike cost in the beginning.

Which means that I need to keep looking, or think creatively. As I was driving a bus full of school kids through town on Friday I saw a delivery motorbike not unlike my Gomoto with a large plastic crate on it, the kind that you buy in plastic shops. I think it holds about 50 litres of water.

That would be my last resort. In the mean time I will continue searching for baggage systems that might be affordable. I will also treasure lists of stuff that a person can take to make travel lighter. Like this one.

Cederberg Table Mountain

2006-06-11T20:44:00.000+02:00

My envisioned long distance tour through South Africa on my 125cc Gomoto motorcycle got a bit of a boost last week when a friend invited me to go hiking with him in the Cederberg. He wanted to climb Table Mountain, the second highest peak in this range of mountains.

I agreed, but had to immediately set out (in defiance of a budget that did not have the space) to buy myself a small 2-man tent and a -5 degree sleeping bag from Outdoor Warehouse. (When I arrived at Outdoor Warehouse, I stood looking at about three possible tents. The shop-assistant did not know this, but he made the sale on the particular tent when he explained that it was a popular tent amongst motorcyclists who like to travel lightly!).

The trip to the Cederberg did not happen on the Gomoto. We traveled in my friend's car. The area had just been through a week-end in which they received 200ml of rain. All the roads were badly damaged and we had to take a 75 km detour because we could not drive across the low water bridge that gave access to the mountain range.

On the first day we hiked up a kloof (Welbedacht Kloof) and slept at the top of the kloof close to a stream. The night was cold, but not as cold as expected and my 4 layers of clothes and the new sleeping bag helped keep me warm.

On the second day we left our tents and hiked up the mountain. It took about 4 hours to get to the top (Approximately 1900 metres above sea-level.) The walk was really beautiful.

This picture was taken at sunset on the day that we had climbed Table Mountain. Table mountain is the brightly illuminated one in the background.

This is me on top of the mountain. Across the valley is Sneeuberg, the highest peak in this range.

This is us back at the car park after 3 days of hiking.

I am now a step closer to taking my motorcycle trip. My most important task will be to find a luggage system to pack my equipment in. On this trip I carried about 14 kg with me. I imagine that I would be able to do my motorcycle trip with more or less the same amount of equipment.

2344km: 80 km/h

2006-06-10T10:26:00.000+02:00

My Gomoto booklet stated quite categorically that I should not drive the motorbike above 7000 revs in the first 1800 km. I followed this religiously (well about 99% of the time).

I realise that since I reached that magical 1800 km mark, I have not taken my bike out on a nice long trip on the open road. All of my journeys were in and around town.

Yesterday, I drove out of Somerset-West towards Stellenbosh to buy some grape juice at the Mooiberge farm stall. This stetch of open road allowed me to get a feel for my motorbike at 8000 and 9000 revs. At 8000 revs it makes a pleasant huming noise and I get to travel at approximately 80 - 85 km/h. 9000 revs and there-around sends me to a more pleasant 90-95 km/h, but I get the distinct impression that the engine is not really supposed to be driven at that speed for too long periods of time.

I settled it in my mind that I should just plan to enjoy travelling through the country at 75 - 80 km/h when I do my long trip with this motorbike.

Then this morning I got two responses to a note that I posted on the Thorntree forum at lonelyplanet.com. Both of them have relevance to the thoughts I was just developing in my mind:

You will have to badly mistreat your 125 unless ou manage to travel very light. My best recommendation for overland travel in Southern Africa is a 650 like a Kawasaki KLR or Suzuki DR.

This statement was made by somebody who owns a motorcycle rental business in Cape Town and I am know he is very knowledgeable on the issue.

Another commenter said:

This is something which i have wanted to do for a long while. However, not on that particular brand.
I sometimes drive a Honda Activa 100cc. I have test driven a Gomoto 125 .....Hopelessly under-powered.
Also, after experiencing a blow-out on the back wheel of the Honda, at 80 kmh, I realised the danger of the small wheels on the scooters.
But, touring long distances on a scooter is still something I will probably end up doing. I heard that the guys from Vespa, at the entrance to the Waterfont are currently on a tour of South Africa with their latest models.

Again, this commenter is definitely well informed.

And suddenly I have a whole lot of questions that I want to sort out.

What exactly is this abuse that they mention? Will I be putting too much strain on the engine if I took it out on the road at 80km/h for four or five hours a day? (I know my butt would feel the strain). Or would I be straining it if I drove at 90-100 km/h (where I imagine most motorcyclists would prefer to be, but I don't have a compulsion to be there because I have never driven a faster motorcycle.)

I went hiking in the Cederberg with a friend last week. We carried everything with us for three days. My backpack with the tent and clothes and food for four days weighed about 14 or 15 kg. I definitely took a lot of strain, and I was also definitely under-powered. But I took it slowly, and I made it to the top of the mountain. It was beautiful.

I imagine that my motorcycle trip through the country will also be done with approximately 15kg's of luggage. I won't be doing it for the thril of speed and high-ways. I would like to explore small towns and back-roads at a leisurely pace.

I wish I had more wisdom. Am I being foolish? Am I unaware of the mechanical realities that I am dealing with? Or is it possible to define stress and strain and power in different ways?

I don't know.

2187km: I need gloves

2006-05-22T20:18:00.000+02:00

One of the reasons I cite for buying my Gomoto is that it can easily take me to interesting places to exercise.

This has not necessarily turned out to be the case. In fact, the Gomoto has made me slightly lazy. My daughter's Montesorri creche' is a few hundred metres down the road. I always used to walk to school with her. Now, I put her on the back of the Gomoto. Usually when I arrive, I have about 20 kids run to the gate screaming: "Look there is Jeandre's dad." The admiration with wich they look at me, my daughter, and my red 125cc is very remarkable; and the pride with wich my daughter gets off the motorbike is very good for my ego.

This morning, however, was a different story. I am sure I could see scowls on the faces of the people driving their kids to school in their Volvos and Jeep Grand Cherokees. I had somehow lost track of atmospheric conditions in the snug second floor flat that I live in. When I got out of the garage, with my daughter on the Gomoto, I realised that it was raining. In fact, the temperature was about 11 degrees Celsius. My daughter was a little bit under-dressed, and I was wearing a pair of shorts, some running shoes, and a track-suit top over my T-Shirt. My plan was to drop my daughter at school and then drive the 14km's to the beach for a much needed jog.

My daughter survived the few hundred metres to school with just a thin layer of water gathering on her clothes, and I continued down to the beach. It was cold, but I still had a warm core temperature due to spending most of my time in a warm flat. In fact, the only parts of my body that suffered greatly were my fingers. They became very cold and I really had to fumble to get them to press the correct button on my remote control starter to switch the bike off, after I arrived at the beach.

The weather at the beach was actually quite pleasant. The sun had appeared and the peaks behind Simon's Town and Fishoek had a beautiful bright glare. There was only a slight drizzle at the start of my 4km run. The beach was deserted (apart from two "out of their mind" surfers, and another young couple that seemed to be celebrating some marital bliss). For once there were no "ou tannies" or 3 year old kids walking with their mommies and dogs. The beach also showed signs of a rather stormy night at sea with pieces of driftwood and sea weed scattered around. A sea-gull was pecking at a washed up starfish (I wish my daughter was there to see that) and there were shells that I usually only see on more deserted beaches (like Rooi-Els). Perhaps they do wash out every day, but there are more people to pick them up.

Anyway, the run was invigorating and I worked up a bit of a sweat. Then I returned to my motorbike and noticed what had happened to the weather. It had settled itself right on the mountain where I live. By the time that I reached the first traffic light out of the Strand, the rain was creating all kinds of accoustic affects on my helmet and my visor turned into a blur. It did not really matter, because the only body parts that really suffered were my fingers.

Just past Somerset-Mall, I rode next to one of those trucks that are ferrying toxic waste from the old AECI-chemical plant to a dumpsite in Malmesbury. I was a bit concerned when I noticed that the water running from my visor had actually taken on a distinctly brown coloration. When the truck turned onto the N2, I was relieved, but by this time, the tracksuit top that I had on had stopped providing any resistance to the rain. In stead it served as a conduit to allow litres of icy rain water to run down my chest and arms.

All of this was very exilirating. When I got home I walked into my house and struggled for a good 30 seconds to undo the latches of my helmet. In the shower it seemed as though the steam preferred to condensate against my body, in stead of on the cold glass around the shower.

But it was exhilirating and I felt really alive. I just wish I had a pair of gloves.

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Disclaimer: My helmet visor was blurred by the rain. I might be a few kilometres out on the odometer reading in the heading.

This blog entry could also be titled: Why I need a wetsuit.
(or perhaps the commentators could suggest something more apt :-) ).

Google found me

2006-05-18T06:52:00.000+02:00

Today I'm excited because it would seem that somewhere during the night one of the Google Spiders crawled over my blog and I am immediately placed right with the Gomoto Website in terms of relevance when a search is done for Gomoto.

I did a search for Weiers Coetser, and it is quite disconcerting to see how much information it churns up about my hobbies and interests. Although if you are a computer geek, it also shows my ignorance about things.

The next challenge will be to get into the rankings for anybody who does a search for "125cc motorbike blog"! I suppose that is asking a lot!

But anyway, that is not my reason for being around. What does rankings on Google really have to do with my personal dreams of travel and exploration on a 125cc motorbike, and not just any 125cc motorbike! A Gomoto!

Yesterday and today it has been raining heavily in Cape Town. I've used the bike to drive down to a local school where I teach Afrikaans to a single class of second language learners. Not much to write about.

Perhaps I can spend some time today telling about my experience of the Gomoto itself, the people that I bought it from, how it rides, and possibly where it has taken me allready.

Somewhere Out There

2006-05-17T07:38:00.000+02:00

I know they have to be somewhere out there:

A few crazy individuals who see their Gomoto as more than a delivery vehicle (carrying huge delivery boxes, swearing at it for being so slow, driving without enjoyment) or merely as an easy means of transit to and from work.

I know in my soul that there are a few "alternative travellers" who believe or dream that the Gomoto can take them places and enhance their life journey.

And I can't wait to meet them.

My driver's manual, Warranty & Service Book has a number printed on it: 0693.

I wonder if that is an accurate reflection of how many Gomoto's had been sold at the time that I bought mine. Surely a few of those customers have felt like taking their bikes on long imaginative trips.

One of my (numerous) problems is that I'm an inherently shy person. I was riding my Gomoto in Cape Point Nature reserve a few weeks ago when I saw two motorbikes coming in the opposite direction. I must have been 200 metres from them when I realised that these are brothers/sisters to my motorbike. Foolishly, I just kept riding. I should have waved at them, turned around, flagged them down! But I just kept going, already embarrassed at the thought of intruding on their journey, wondering what I would ask them anyway.

There has to be someone somewhere out there, a soul partner, on an alternative, but imaginative journey. Preferrably on a Gomoto :-). (And one day I will find them.)

Insanity

2006-05-13T11:37:00.000+02:00

My Gomoto is going nowhere today. In stead I will be using my wife's car in the next hour to drive to the airport to collect my Mother-in-Law, who is coming to visit us for a week.

I am tempted to say that this is the reason why the topic of "Insanity" is on my mind, but truth be told, we tend to call on her when we actually need to establish sanity in the household!

"Insanity" is a major theme in Robert M. Pirsig's "Zen, and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance." In the book the narrator, who is on a motorcycle road trip through America, tells about his alter-ego, Phaedrus, who challenged some of the basic values and tenets of the modern university. An interesting tension is developed throughout the book between the narrator, (who has a history of mental illness) and Phaedrus. The narrator's son, Chris, who is accompanying him on this road trip, is also showing worrying symptoms of latent mental illness.

Though I think Pirsig's development of the theme of insanity is very subtle and complex, I sense that he would have it that insanity is something that becomes very relevant as a person questions and rejects the major values that society is built on. Within these situations there simply are not enough resources to create stability and provide affirmative feedback. This isolation, along with society's need to instill fear against, and shower shame upon such individuals could easily be the catalysts of mental instability.

(In later posts I might want to expand these notions of sanity and insanity as springing from a very specific bourgouis context. I have read some studies that try to describe insanity as a defense mechanism against absurd and depersonalising power relations in society.)

Today, however, I don't know if I'm capable of doing that. I myself feel like I am on the fringe, and I'm busy unravelling.

I'll try to hold on, however, and hope that the final unravelling takes place far away from anywhere where it could cause any damage or leave a big mess. I'll trust my Gomoto to take me there.

Trip up Helderberg Mountain

2006-05-12T22:23:00.000+02:00

I live in a beautiful part of the country. This week a friend entrusted her camera to me for a few hours. I headed up Helderberg mountain (West Peak). The sticker on the Gomoto Fuel Tank says, for "on-road" use only. I decided to choose the broadest possible definition of "on-road".
I live and work in one of the buildings down there.

Sections of the mountain still have dense Pine forests.

A view over Gordon's bay from halfway up the mountain.

I found these brightly coloured trees in one of the valleys on the way up.
I parked my Gomoto on the top contour and hiked a bit higher up the mountain.

It was a beautiful day after a very cold week-end.

2083 km: Space (or "Why I'm not a psychologist")

2006-05-12T11:30:00.000+02:00

A phonecall this morning to inform me that a meeting was cancelled saw me get onto my Gomoto for a quick jog on the Strand beach. It was surprisingly hot for a Winter's day, and my pace was not much faster than that of the "ou tannies" who walk on the beach at that time (Reminds me of a song by Koos Kombuis on that topic).

So I was able to think once again. I remembered the time when I was in grade 6. Then I was a great runner! I used to beat any opposition, even the ones in grade 7 (Need to scan in a photo from that time one day). It was the day of our annual road-race, and yes, I won. I obliterated everybody who had any ideals of achieving the first place. I was proud. Ecstatic. I am usually a shy person, but on that day I walked up to one of the teachers, and asked her: "Did you see me win?".

I remember her response up until today. Actually, it cannot really be described as a response. It was just an inconsequential "Yes." Not a congratulations, not a smile or a hug or great enthusiasm. Just a "yes".

I realised a bit later that her son had come second.

I have a friend who has gone through a hard time recently. I had a conversation with her this morning about some advances I've made in my emotional life. She was very positive and affirming. But somehow I was left with the feeling that I was in the wrong space at that time. It is frightening to realise that there are times when a person's presence in a particular situation can actually accentuate hurt and doubts, even if it is meant positively.

That is probably why it is good that I am not a psychologist.

One more reason why I am greatful that I have a Gomoto. This morning it created space for me to realise that there are some spaces that, even though they are beautiful, are holy, and tender and is best left unentered.

How do they get there?

2006-05-12T11:03:00.000+02:00

I've not had the priviledge to travel extensively through Africa. But from the little that I've seen during my trips to Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, and Kenya, there are motorbikes everywhere.

My observation can be confirmed by these pictures of transport in Lagos or this street photograph from Timbuktu, Mali.

My reasoning is that if they were able to get their motorbikes there, I see no reason why I cannot take mine there either.

Expect to see much more about a dreamed about trip through Africa on my red Gomoto!

2063km : Perspective

2006-05-11T10:52:00.000+02:00

The odometer was on 2063km when the thought came to me that perspective is more fundamental than opinion. Now most philosophers will wonder what I'm going on about, but to me it was quite a meaningful thought.

I was busy driving back from the provincial traffic authority where I had to pay R160,00 penance for allowing 5 students to use my Green Mamba (Ford Tracer) to go to a religious meeting sometime last November (See previous blog entry).

I was in a rather unpleasant and depressed mood; not really because I had to kiss some hard earned (that is what I would like my boss to believe) money goodbye; but mainly due to one of those major relationship problems that tend to happen to marriages. Despite this unpleasant mood, I had to lift my helmet visor once or twice at the traffic lights because I was struggling to control my laughter.

When I handed over the cheque to the cashier my eye had caught one of those letters that are written by people who feel the fines they received were unfair or too harsh. It was one short paragraph, which I will do my best to quote here:

I refer to the fines mentioned above. I would like to apologise for my shortsighted and reckless driving. I had not considdered [sic] the possible consequences of these misdemeanors and assure you that I have now learned that I need to drive more carefully in the future. I kindly request you to cancel these fines as they amount to quite a lot of money and my budget is quite small and cannot accomodate them.

I decided to look at the name, and, amazingly(!), there I saw the name of somebody who lives on the same campus as me. I even memorised his ID-number so that I could prove to him that I've seen it, should it be necessary :-).

I found that submission very humerous. I can imagine the irritation of the prosecuting authority who needs to consider this appeal. I wonder what his/her opinion would be of the submission. And then I thought of the submission that I had written explaining why R300 was too much for me to pay for a student's offense, and felt quite grateful that it was reduced to R160. As the traffic light turned green, I dropped my visor and thought: "It's all a matter of perspective." And in a moment it solved my issues about my relationship problems.

Conflict result from strongly held opinions. These opinions are not always right. The reason why they are not always right is because they are based on some less specific and more general perspectives. If I can develop the ability to critically sort through perspectives, I would not need to hold on to strong opinions which hurt the relationship.

I have an idea that the best way to ensure that perspectives do not prematurely lead to strong opinions is to develop a sense of humour. I really need to laugh a little bit more at the "serious" situations that I find myself in. I really should not take things too seriously. Play with perspectives. It will make me a happier person.

I sincerely hope that the prosecuting authority will have the same opinion when he reads the above submission.

Gomoto is a lifestyle

2006-05-09T21:07:00.000+02:00

The following article from represent.co.za shares some of the ideology behind the Gomoto lifestyle.

Requiem Eternam Ford Tracer

2006-05-09T20:28:00.000+02:00

I sold my 1996, 1600 Ford Tracer with 300 000km on the odometer (actually the odometer stopped working at 289 321km) to a student for R3600.

I've been told that I could have sold the car for more. I don't care. I was protesting.

Protesting the fact that I had to put in a pint of oil every time I filled the tank.

Protesting the fact that I got 400km of driving on a 45 litre tank.

Protesting the fact that I spent on average R6000 a year on maintenance to just keep the car on the road. (The last quote I got to recondition the engine amounted to R12 000).

Protesting the fact that my numberplate: CFM28508 had become one of the most well known numberplates amongst law enforcement officials. I work in a student dormitory and students were forever borrowing my car for very good and undeniably important and urgent purposes. But when the speeding fines came, they had either left the institution of learning, or claimed poverty or blamed it on everybody in the car who put pressure on them to drive fast. (The last fine is lying on my desk. It was issued on 22 November 2005 at bluedowns. The prosecuting authority has now informed me that I no longer need to pay R300 for the student's offence, but only R160.00.)

The final straw was when a student called me from Worcester (120 km from my home) to let me know that the back wheel had burst. When I enquired from him why he was so far away he explained that somebody had missed the Greyhoud bus in Belville and they had to chase/follow the bus all the way to the stop in Worcester. Asked why it was necessary for him to call me he explained that he had borrowed the jack and wheel spanner to a foreign student who needed it to register an imported car in Botswana. The car had remained in Botswana with my jack.

I decided to ask the student for all the money that he had earned transporting students. My agreement with him was that he was to share it with me, but I hardly ever saw anything. He gave me R1800. At an impulse I told him that if he could give me just R1800 more, I would give him the car, with all its papers.

I got the money in a matter of hours and the car is still driving students around. It is probably still running on the same set of sparkplugs, and it often runs low on oil (as evidenced by huge black patches on the tarmac where it is parked).

And the student has probably recouped the money he invested in the car four or five times.

But as far as I am concerned the car is dead to me. I have no part in it. I do not miss it. I have not shed a single tear over the car.

Because, now I am driving a Gomoto.

I Wish

2006-05-09T20:07:00.000+02:00

I wish Gomoto's could come with these pretty attachments by default. That would be value for money.

(Picture from the gomoto website. See link in side-bar.)

The Dream (1)

2006-05-07T23:16:00.000+02:00

I can picture it vividly in my mind's eye.

A small two-man tent pitched in a quiet forgotten campsite in the foothills of one of South Africa's mountain ranges. A small, but lively fire burning in a braai area. Not a soul in sight. Just me, a can of bully beef stewing in a dixi-pan, and my Gomoto parked next to me.

Solitude. Peace.

Away from tortured thoughts and worries about my future. Away from agonising urges to indulge in yet another addiction (eating cheese from the fridge, checking e-mail for the 345th time in the day). At peace
with the myself, with the universe, for a moment.

That is one of the major themes that I will building this blog around. I plan to share the peaceful serene moments that I envision and experience as I travel through South Africa with my small 125cc motorbike.

I'd like to tell you how I plan for it, and the experiences that I have
as I do it.

It is my journey and I hope you will enjoy it.

My Gomoto

2006-05-06T22:30:00.000+02:00