Its getting really real

Ok, it’s been three weeks in my dream job. And what an experience!

For our first test I bumped into the very same Transalp I had for two weeks in Cape Town (I remembered the numberplate), and tested it along with the F650GS (again!), but this time in Dakar spec, and the Suzuki V-Strom and Kawasaki Versys. We rode for two days around the foot of the Drakensburg mountains, based at Mount-ex-sources.

I have an inherent discomfort with trailies and dual-purpose bikes, because they are so tall and bulky. I live in perpetual fear of dropping them.

So I was quite apprehensive when for the second test, we were getting even bigger ones; this time the 1200GS BMW, Triumph 1050 Tiger, Ducati Multistrada 1000s, and Beull Ulyses (the tallest of the bunch). They all are fantastic bikes, and very unique. I can’t wait for my longterm bike which will be a Multistrada 1100s.

It is a great relief not to have dropped any of these tall, heavy bikes. But by the end of the week I was quite comfortable, especially with the Buell. However, I remain cautious.

Next week I get a Suzuki DR650 for a week. So my reluctant relationship with trailies continues. I am going to do an off-road riding course sometime, and that will probably the single biggest factor in me finally getting my peace with these bikes. After all, as a journo, I will spent a lot of time with them in future.

We take these bikes to stunning locations. I’ve been to parts of the country I have only seen on postcards; the amphitheatre, the Long-tom Pass, the Natal Midlands. It is difficult to miss the scenic Cape Town with so much else to woe me.

And I most definitely don’t miss that wind in Cape Town! But I am now beginning to miss my friends. My cat will be delivered tomorrow, and I can’t wait. I just hope the poor thing does not get a shock and scrambles off into nowhere!

I was wondering where the stress of a job like this would come. Any job has stress; otherwise it would not be a job.

Well, I am glad I asked; it is hectic. Or hazardous is more like it. We work on public roads, so keeping an eye on the traffic is stressful. Doing repeat runs through a particular corner to get the shot the photographer wants is tiring and especially when you so it in a group, 30cm apart from one another. We easily do that from dawn in the morning till dusk.

My approach to writing about bikes is also challenged; I tend to be very arrogant and negative in my reviews. Well, I am part of a bigger whole now, so diplomacy is key; you don’t want to piss of the people that supplies you your bread!

We are selling a dream; and that dream is motorcycling. So I have to cut down on the negative parts of motorcycling and sell the positives more.

I have to change my frame of reference; not everybody has my background where a bike is my only mode of transport, and hence has a particular set of requirements to fulfill. The readers of Topbike are affluent and have a bike for weekend fun. They want to know what to replace it with and where to take it. They have the means to afford the latest big cruiser, trailie, quad or superbike. So the fact that you can’t go shopping with the latest R6 might be a problem for me, but not my readers.

And difficult as it is to imagine, there are actually people who like, want, and buy the Honda Transalp. So I have to put myself in their shoes, and paint the bike in a way that makes it appealing to them.

Tough job!

In the end, it is a learning experience, and I enjoy it!