Will have my KTM 690 Oryx after all …

KTM Cape Town 690 Oryx

This morning I had a long chat with Ashley from KTM Cape Town who sounded very upset and disappointed with my previous two posts.

I understand that I might have said stuff that upset him, but he also understands my concerns and he admitted that regrettably he failed to manage my exceptions the way he wanted to and apologised for that. He also assured me that they indeed got burgled and I apologise for my comments in the previous post, I am sure being a victim of any form of burglary is very upsetting.

He does sound very passionate about building up their reputation that might have been scarred by previous owners before they taken it over in 2007. He is also very determined to build proper relationships with his customers. He seems dedicated and caring from the conversation we had. All he wants is happy customers and all I want to be is a happy customer !

He promised, come hell or high water, that he will have my bike ready by the time I get to Cape Town. I trust him and I’m not going to worry about it anymore, so after all, I will have my new 690 in about 2 weeks, exciting stuff !

This reminds me, I probably need new boots as all my other boots are muddy and stinky. I like the Scott 250 boots which I intend to use for road use only. I think I will order them today.

This weekend we also got some more enduro practice with the guys from Desert Rose Racing, been raining quite a bit the last few days, so it’s gonna be another muddy and dirty one

The week after that, I am off to South Africa … will keep you posted !

Related articles

• KTM 690 Oryx or Not ? (uk2za.wordpress.com)
• KTM 690 Oryx saga continues … (uk2za.wordpress.com)

KTM 690 Oryx saga continues …

Following on from my previous post :  KTM 690 Oryx or Not ? … I have not heard anything from KTM Cape Town since my email to them on Sunday. I have sent them another email late last night and still no reply, so I decided to phone them up.

I asked to speak to Ashley and they put me through … he assured me that they weren’t ignoring me, he had his phone, laptop, etc .. stolen (I do find that hard to believe), so didn’t have access to email. In my emails I also copied his wife Amanda and Charl (not sure what his position is, but dealt with him before), so someone must have gotten my email at least ?

Anyway, he said that he doesn’t have what I ordered, black fairing and clear tanks, but Rally Raid said they are sending a shipment this coming Friday although Amanda told me they were expecting stuff last week already?

Why have they only ordered now and not 3 months ago when I paid for it ? He also mentioned that he had it with Rally Raid, because what they say and what they do are two different things … Strange,  when I ordered stuff from Rally Raid, I received all my stuff within 2 days, never had a problem with Rally Raid before.

Ashley told me, he will have what I ordered by the 10th of Feb 2012 and said I shouldn’t worry, it will be fine which put my mind at ease …

UNTIL …. cheekily, I phoned up John at Rally Raid who informed me that they have no outstanding orders from KTM Cape Town since December when they shipped them loads of stuff and there are no shipments scheduled to leave this Friday !!!!??

Why all the lies ? Why can’t they just be honest and tell me that they haven’t placed the order yet ? Nothing KTM Cape Town have said to me thus far seemed to be the truth, in fact, all I know is that there is a 690 Enduro box with my name on it, might as well be an empty box for all I know.

Not going well so far …. and this is after I parted with R105,000 (+/- £10,000)

some more Enduro training …

Two weekends ago, I took my recently acquired KTM 450 EXC to the Desert Rose Racing/Academy Enduro practice days. It was the first time I have ridden the 450, but I was very happy except for the occasional wheel spin (on the rim). I have since bought a better rimlock which I hope will solve the issue.

I am specifically training for the Dawn to Dusk Enduro in August down in Wales. Last year I attempted the “Big Bike Rally” at the Dawn to Dusk on my BMW F800GS which was disastrous. My alternator/stator had problems which meant the battery didn’t get charged and the bike died within the first lap, to my relief to be honest, it was very muddy and with a 180kg motorcycle it’s not fun

So, hence the new 450 … Below as some videos of the practice days, good fun, relaxed environment to practice at your own pace and well recommended. I am going out there again this Sunday, can’t wait !

KTM 690 Oryx or Not ?

I have to say, I am getting slightly worried now. About 3 months ago, I paid a R20,000 deposit to KTM Cape Town to build me one of their KTM 690 Oryx bikes so that I can pick it up once I am there on holiday. Since then, the guys at KTM Cape Town asked me to pay in full “to help their cashflow” ….  R105,000 in total, maybe my mistake ?

Well, since I have paid in full, everything has gone a little quiet. They seem to be unresponsive to emails and even if they reply, they seem very vague as to whether they will be able to have the motorcycle ready for collection in time. I found out last week, that they have everything except the tank kit, which makes me believe they never ordered the stuff months ago when they said they did or they used my stuff for someone else. I have since sent them another email asking whether they have received all my bits and pieces, but again, silence …

I will be arriving in Cape Town in around 2 weeks from now, which is why I am a little concerned, if they couldn’t get the stuff in the 3 months since I paid for it, what are the chances they will have it and build the bike in 2 weeks ??

Anyway, I will give them the benefit of the doubt. If it’s not ready, I will be very disappointed to say the least…

enduro training …

I recently spend some time with Desert Rose Racing Academy on an Enduro training day since I am planning to do the Dawn to Dusk enduro this year. Good fun and well recommended …

I also purchased a KTM 450 EXC and fitted some new plastics.Will fit my new tyres this week and hopefully get some practice in.

In a few years I would also like to compete in rallies like the Tuareg or TransAnatolia Rallye, but I first need to master some sand riding. I think a Moroccan tour with Desert Rose Racing Academy might just be the thing for that …

Below is a video of a failed little hill climb from the recent enduro training … so I need a lot more training, although I did manage it in the end

…and some new Kini Red Bull stuff…

Ooooooh, and I have just ordered some nice new Kini Red Bull riding gear … nice

New mini-African adventure

This blog was mainly dedicated to my London to South Africa expedition on my BMW F800GS, but I have decided to still use this blog for any other motorcycling tours/adventures I might do.

I recently purchased a KTM 690 Enduro R from KTM in Cape Town. It is a bike they nicknamed the Oryx since they do a Rally Raid fairing and tank conversion.

I have also locally (in the UK) ordered some other Rally Raid products like the rear aux tank, tank bolts, GPS bracket, etc … which I plan to take with me to South Africa in Feb 2012 so that they can fit them before I take delivery of the new bike. I have also purchased the Rally graphics kit, so when I am done with it, it will look something like this:

So, in the little mini-African adventure, I will be riding my new, what I like to call, KTM 690 Rally bike from Cape Town to Bloemfontein about a 1000km away. I am going to try and avoid any motorways and/or toll roads, planning to sleep over somewhere halfway.

I had a quick look at Google maps and most of the roads I plan to take will be gravel or some form off “off-road”.

I plan to take my helmet cameras and document as much of it as I can, tweet and blog as well … so watch this space. I will depart Cape Town around 15 feb 2012.

some new videos, Ethiopia and Malawi …

It’s been a few months now since I have returned to the UK after my trip down Africa. I have now finally settled down in Kent and all my computers are set up and stuff … so when I’m bored I’m slowly doing some videos of the trip … the two most recent ones are Ethiopia and Malawi … others will follow soon, enjoy !

last and probably the most expensive border …

Well, I guess you can call it the last border … that is the UK border, getting my bike back into the country and what a mission !

First of all, the scheduled departure has been delayed from South Africa several times. First of all, they had too many passengers and they couldn’t load the bike. Then obviously the dreaded snow in the UK and with Heathrow closed it meant another few days delay … but eventually it arrived in the UK on the 23rd of this month.

Eager to get back on the bike, I went straight to Heathrow’s Cargo section. On arrival I was told that the bike needs to clear customs first … no problem, done it about 15 times before. “Where is customs?”, I asked … “Their are no customs here” … what ? Heathrow that doesn’t have customs ? It’s all up in Manchester or somewhere apparently.

I was then told, I will need to use an agent and then and only then customs clearance may take about 2 days. The worst border in Africa, which is probably Egypt took about 4 hours … now they are telling me the UK customs take 2 days. Also, I can’t do it myself like I always did, I have to pay someone to do it …. just a way of making money I think.

Anyway, with no choice, I had to use an agent which charges £40 just to pick up some documents and another £45 for customs clearance. I was also told not to hang around as it wouldn’t happen on the same day, so very disappointed I went back to London again.

Luckily the next morning I got a call from the agent to tell me customs have cleared the bike and I am now free to go pick it up. Total charges were about £190 which makes this officially the most expensive border of the whole trip. For that price, luckily the staff at Virgin Atlantic cargo did uncrate it for me and disposed of all the packaging material (as seen in the photo above) …

Was good, but bloody freezing to be back on the bike again !

… when hell freezes over …

Well, it almost feels like it. Back in London, UK and I am absolutely freezing. The bike is still in sunny South Africa due to board a Virgin Atlantic flight on Monday night, so should have my wheels back my next week. I also ordered some handlebar muffs, I do not care if it looks stupid, I am not going to have freezing fingers again this year !!!

I still don’t have a place to stay in London, living with friends at the moment, but as soon as I find something, I will start editing videos of the trip. I have in the meantime, uploaded all the photos which can be found here: http://bit.ly/fFoGVB

I have also uploaded some “unedited” clips to Youtube …

for more … check out my Youtube channel : http://www.youtube.com/user/andreels