RIDING THE CAPE PENINSULA

My brother and I visited the beautiful city of Cape Town for three days. Not like we had nothing better to do, but what made us choose Cape Town were two reasons. First not-so-important reason is that the Western Cape holds some of the most breathtaking scenery and wonderful geographical sites. The second and most critical reason was that we found a company that could rent us bikes!

Arrived Cape Town on September 7th and checked into a nice luxury two bedroom apartment equipped with a balcony overlooking the ocean and the Table mountain at the same time, a kitchen (not like we needed it though), living room and some other great facilities. It costed $60 per night. Not a bad rate in my opinion. 

We picked up the motorcycles the next day 8th. We rented from a company called Cape Bike Travel located in downtown Cape Town. We had made a reservation for two BMW F700GS bikes. All we needed was a motorcycle riders license and a credit card. Rented both bikes for two days and it costed a total of $300. We set out for the Cape of Good Hope with a GPS mounted on my bike by the rental company. Did I mention, they drive on the left lane side of the road in South Africa. Adjusting to that was not an easy task, as I confidently rode onto oncoming traffic a few times.

The Cape of Good Hope or Cape Point is the southernmost point in the Cape Peninsula. It was a 100km ride to the Cape and the road winds through some mountains and at the same time being in very close proximity to the ocean. The views were orgasmic!

The next day 9th, we set out on a 300km ride to Cape Agulhas. It is the southernmost point of the African continent and also where the Atlantic and Indian oceans meet. The ride was everything we had dreamed for. Beautiful scenery and very sparse traffic. We tested the limits of the bikes. The BMW F700GS had good acceleration and a nice riding position. However, the handling could be improved upon. Taking bends at over 120 km/h made the bike wobble a bit. We tried to push the bike to its maximum dash speed of 240 km/h, but after 160 km/h, the bike's steering bars also start to wobble. I assumed it was as a result of the touring tires installed. 

Along the route, the temperature fluctuated a lot. It could be 15 degrees Celsius and after 4 km, it goes to 10 degrees and after another 5 km, it goes back up to 19 degrees. However, to my surprise, the BMW had heated hand grips, so the cold was not so unpleasant. From Cape Agulhas, we rode to the Table mountain, a large mountain overlooking the city of Cape Town.

At the Table Mountain, we rode on the cable car taking us from the base 1.5km up to the top of the mountain which has an elevation of over 1000m. From the top, the entire city of Cape Town can be seen, as well as far into the ocean. 

This is just a summary of the parts of the trip that might interest you. Enjoy the pictures and video at the bottom of the page!

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