… picked up my Rally Raid KTM 690 (Oryx)

I arrived in Cape Town a few days ago. Saturday morning, I went through to KTM Cape Town to drop off the Guts Racing seat foam/cover and the Rally Raid rear aux tank.

Yesterday and today, they got the sear re-covered and fitted the aux tank for me. I have to say, I was really impressed with the work done and I am very happy with the bike. I signed a few papers, paid for the Akrapovic exhaust and I was on my way. Did only around 60km today in a very windy Cape Town.

I plan to get up early tomorrow morning and go for a ride along the coast before it gets too windy.

Friday, I am off to Bloemfontein … more pics, tweets and eventually videos to follow.

Location:Strand, Western Cape,South Africa

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)

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…

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.