My friend Riaan

I never thought the day would come. He has been threatening to do it for years now, and we eventually stopped listening to him. Then I got the news; Riaan bought a bike. Finally!

The fact that it was an unregistered import from Lesotho and that the bike has been standing in a garage for 10years was beside the point. Riaan has a bike, and that is all that matters. Now there would be three of us easy-riding through the Cape’s mountain passes and beach roads.


The bike was a surprisingly clean Honda XL250. He got it for next to nothing, and all he had to do was to get it running. Oh yeah, and deal with customs and the traffic department to get it legalised, but that was not exactly a priority…

Well, it was actually up to handy-man Eddie to come to the rescue as usual and sort the bike out. Which he did. To my surprise. Couldn’t believe it when he got the thing starting with a loud bang in a cloud of black smoke. He spent almost a whole day stripping, cleaning and putting together the carbs. Good man, this Eddie.

And that same night Riaan had his first ride. Knowing how reckless and over-confident Riaan can be, I was a bit scared for his sake. I don’t refer to him as a loose canon without reason; mechanical things, especially computers and cameras, just seem to break automatically when he walks into the room. What he doesn’t destroy he looses. Will it be the same with his bike? It turned out to be ok; he got the hang of the working of the controls and balancing the bike predictably quickly. He was always a very fast learner. The XL has quite a snappy throttle action (great for wheelies!), but even that did not faze Riaan. He spent learning the ropes late into the evening.

The next morning he ventured into the traffic, and my other concern got dispelled. He also learned quickly how to place himself on the road with regard to other vehicles, and “read” the traffic. Within days he behaved like a seasoned commuter, blending in with the daily rush.

And pretty soon as well, the bike was too slow for him; he wished for more power – always a good sign. Or a bad one, if you are his mother.

He had a small accident because of a truck dumping oil right in front of him at a stop street. Because he was just pulling away, it was a slow drop, so no damage. And he learned one of those things no-one ever tells you and you just figure out for yourself with time and experience; at stop streets, always stand in the “tracks” of the cars instead of the middle of the lane. There is bound to be slippery grease and oil, especially when it rains.

The second accident was more serouis. The old story. Car turned right into his oncoming path. The bike ended up in a box, and he a few weeks in hospital with most of his calf muscle missing.

The XL got fixed and ran again. However, life with the XL came to an abrupt end one Sunday morning. The bike stuttered, lost power, and came to a halt. It refused to go further. Riaan pushed the bike almost 8 kms to the closest workshop. When they opened the engine they discovered it ran almost dry of oil!

But Riaan responded in anger; no-one ever mentioned anything about checking oil-levels and topping up the oil to him. All he did was throw in petrol and ride; day after day. That was another expensive lesson to learn.

Still another lesson was waiting in the wings; learning about the dishonesty of bike mechanics. Said workshop had his bike in pieces for 3 or 4 months, having extolled the money for the job from him before the time, and not delivering. Riaan eventually carried his bike away in boxes to another workshop in the city centre. Needles to say, service is not much better. It’s been almost a year now since his bike seized and he is still waiting for it to be delivered.

In the mean-time, Riaan upgraded to a BMW R75; a bike that has the power and image best suited to his artistic and unconventional nature. It wasn’t a promising start either; the bike came with non-standard Keihin carburators and only after many more (dishonest) workshops and thousands of rands, he got the bike running.

But he is very happy with his bike at the moment; enjoying every sound and vibration.

Riaan was actually the first of us to take the long road solo; he rode a five hour trip to Victoria-Wes in the middle of the Karoo. A more comfortable tourer you can’t get; and from Victoria-Wes he has the rest of the sub-continent in mind: he is taking the long way back home.

The Bee-em got stolen right in front of my home in broad daylight with no-one seeing a thing. Having a soft spot for old bikes, he got a rare Suzuki GS850L. He has already criss-crossed the lenght and breath of the country on it.