For the next 10 months, I spent another 9 Grand in total, as the brand new, out the box Gomoto, slowly but surely vibrated itself to pieces and fell apart day by day. I replaced the Motor, Gearbox, exhaust and some bodywork in that time, and while I must admit, when it DID work, it was awesome and very fuel efficient, unfortunately the build quality left much to be desired. Turned out the tyres or wheels were buggered, but I had had enough, and sold it on Gumtree to a knowledgeable chap who claimed it was a good scoot.

During this period, I had got my Learner's Licence, and was commuting daily from Parklands to Claremont and back. This also got me used to the weather, and lane splitting, and all the other obstacles that come with commuting by Bike. I also became a member of ThinkBike, which made sense at the time.

Together we made a bracket and mounted a Kappa Top box, which carried the required Rain suit, and although a little small for my 6,2" frame, It was my next learning curve in dealing with traffic, and gears, and lack of speed, all at the same time.

The M5 is a dodgy piece of road, as I couldn't go quicker than 90 Km's, and often had a truck or two come bombing past me, almost blowing me off the side of the Highway into the Black River. Commuting still rocked, taking me a mellow 50 minutes to get to the office, vs a good 1 1/2 hours by car.

By the time I had left to go arrange the payment he had received about 10 other interested buyers, but I had managed to get there first. So I had bought my next bike, another Suzuki, a 650cc V-STROM.

Sheesh, what a bike, and what a difference from my previous little "chopper/Delivery bike", this thing blew trucks and cars away, and all of a sudden, I was seriously commuting. Managed to sell the GN on Gumtree again, and was now a "real biker" I even inherited a nice Shark Helmet to go with the bike.

I also managed to get a Driver license booking out in Malmesbury, and went to do my License with a good mate Jaco one cold and wet winter's morning, and passed first time on the big Strom. I was now officially legal.

The V-strom was amazing, and Dee and myself were going for out-rides and having a great time on this machine. But one early April morning on my commute to work, a chap in a delivery van decided to try and cross the West Coast Road which I was approaching going to work. The resultant front brake grab on a wet, cold, and cambered road resulted in a sudden blackout, which when cleared, I found myself sliding down the West Coast Road, watching the V-Strom smash into the front of the Delivery Van as I luckily slid past right through the wet intersection. end of Bike.

Insurance paid out as it wasn't my fault, and I was bike-less. Borrowed one of Max's Bajaj trainers, and finally did a deal on a Yamaha XT 660 R.

This was nice, much lighter than the Strom and easier to handle, but it was a Thumper, and I really missed the V Twin of the Strom. Over time though I got used the XT's quirkiness, and the weird surging that came with this bike. The Top Box and the Foot pegs came off the trashed Strom and onto this bike, and another year went by.

2 Weeks later I went up with Dee to Swellendam one day and rode my "new" bike back home. What an amazing bike, and although the same power-plant and gearbox etc as the XT 660 R, a TOTALLY different bike to ride, much more comfortable and sure to control. So I've stuck with the Yamaha Family, and have established a good relationship with Heynemann Yamaha, and more recently, Helderberg Yamaha in Somerset West, whom I use for keeping the bike in tip top condition.

Here's the Juggernaut. I decided I needed to move the Tenere' on as I wanted something that both Dee and myself would enjoy as a more comfortable tourer. A guy on the Wilddogs Forum wanted a Tenere', and had a 1200 GSA with a few thousand Km's on, so we did a straight swap deal. 660 Tenere for a 1200 GS Adventure.

Did a round trip of 650 km's early in March to Riversdale, and in a Wimpy in a Garage, we did the transaction. The "Juggernaut" was the latest acquisition. All of a sudden, in a space of a few days, I have gone from owning a Yamaha, to owning two BMW's.. The Juggernaut, and Herman, the Cafe' Racer.

Eventually sold the Cafe Racer to help fund a car for Kieron, my kid who matriculated in 2012, so that went well, but I do miss the Cafe', and might still get something like that again. Then, after a few months, I got another urge, to go back to a Scooter.. But this time, a Maxi-Scoot.. I liked the automatic part for commuting, and after a bit of looking around, I was VERY lucky to have found someone wanting to sell one. I had decided on a Suzuki Burgman AN 400, as this seemed to cater for all my requirements. The 650 was too big (width) wise, and this was capable of doing 120 with ease, and could take 2 people. A few days later, it was home.

Advertised the Juggernaut as he was just standing in the garage gathering dust, and a nice chap bought it for a very good price I think.

It was a stunning little bike and looked awesome. My kid then was about to Matriculate, and so I sold this bike to help fund him a car. In hind-sight, this was a terrible mistake, but that's what life is all about, making mistakes and learning.

Click here for my BMW "Cafe' Racer" project

 After the Screen, I also purchased the Givi Heavy Duty Box Mount from Max, and got Suzuki South to ship me down a Give Mounting Bracket for the Burgman. Great, strong and robust mounting system for the Top Box base Plate, and now, I believe I have over 100 Litre's of available space, between the 62 litres under the seat, and the additional large Top Box, which also serves as a Backrest for when Dee's on the back.

Finally, I wanted a more comfortable back rest. The Burgman comes with a strange, "bum" rest, that's all I can call it. So got my contractor to weld up some nice steel bars which would then fit in the stock mounting system through he seat, and I fabricated a Backrest. Now it's like riding to work on my Couch. Final mods were to replace all the Bulbs with either Blue Halogen's or LED's, and I shaped a piece of orange Perspex for the Bright Light, to aid traffic commuting.. Awesome piece of kit to get to work and back on.

Managed to get a GREAT deal on a 2015 Burgman 650, and so, "Burgie" got sold in May 2017. Go well scoot, you were arguably, the best bike of them all.

So, this is how he looks now, July 2013. I call him "Billy" but not sure about that, based in Billy Idol, and the "rockers" movement from the 60's.. I've removed all the "Harley-look-alike-crap", and removed the rear mudguard. Fitted a cleaner rear mudguard and tail light, moved the Number plate to the side as I did on the BMW Cafe, and most recently, I cut up the old Suzuki Burgman Windscreen to help aid the wind deflection. This is a true naked bike, and I'm very used to screens and protection, so, decided to fabricate my own out of left overs in the garage. For now, it's perfect.

Also fitted a screw-in oil temp gauge and removed the Air Injectors. And lastly, bought the same sent of bar end mirrors on eBay as I had on the BMW Cafe and mounted them. Lowered the Bar quite a bit, and there he is. This Paint job is a replica of the Original "Paul Smith" Limited edition Bonneville, which has been replicated locally by a professional custom spray painter, and as this is the only one in SA that looks like this, I kinda like it, as does Dee.

December 2013, and the Speedster project arrived, so the Bonneville has been sold to a new English home. Many safe miles "Billy".

Enter Max again, with this "other" concept, also a BMW, but this time, it's known as a "brick". the K-Series range of BMW's featured a 4 and 3 Cylinder motor on it's side in the frame. Very square and in comparison to the R series, certainly the ugly duckling of them both. However, the 3cylinder is a triple, and needless to say, it makes a wonderful noise.

So, I searched, and searched, and discovered this was also a very scarce bike, and when they did come up for sale, they got bought up as fast as they were advertised. So chatted to good old Max, who had this one and was about to do his second conversion. (He'd just finished one). So I bent his rubber arm and bought it from him.

Click here for my second BMW "Cafe' Racer" project

AWESOME scooter, has electric windscreen adjustment, electric folding mirrors, heated grips, heated seats, twin cylinder, a REALLY nice piece of kit, and although this one is 2 years old, it only had 1 400 km's on the clock. So, almost new in my books.