There are good ideas. There are bad ideas. And then there are those rare, beautiful disasters that sit somewhere perfectly in between, the kind that start with a laugh and end with someone pushing a motorcycle in the dark… this was one of those.
It began with what was meant to be a simple little collaboration between us at RideFast Online and Donovan from The Bike Show.
The plan: Each of us would pick a bike from the Bikeshop group’s showroom, fill it with exactly five litres of fuel, and see who could ride the furthest… sounds simple.
Right?
Except, as it turned out, we didn’t all agree on how this was supposed to work. There was a bit of a misunderstanding, or maybe selective hearing, between “fuel economy run” and “fuel efficiency test.” Glenn and Donovan decided they were doing one of those super boring economy challenges where you ride slower than a pensioner on a Sunday, trying to squeeze every last metre out of every drop.
Sean, on the other hand, thought it was a real world test. You know, riding properly, keeping up with traffic, having some fun, but still being vaguely responsible about fuel use.
Naturally, this difference in interpretation would become the running joke of the day.
The morning started at Bikeshop Boksburg, where the team had kindly agreed to supply the bikes, two from their Boksburg branch, and one from Bikeshop Rivonia.
Glenn, ever the eternal optimist, went for a Suzuki Gixxer 150. His logic? “Lightweight, low cc, small tank, low consumption, I’ll win this thing easily.” He even started talking about how scenic back roads and lower speeds would be “more fun” and “better for photos.” It should’ve been known then that he was already plotting. Making him ride that little engine flat out down the N3 freeway past Heidelberg would have been a more ‘Real world’ test.
Donovan, meanwhile, went completely the other way, full silly mode. He chose the Triumph Rocket 2300 Roadster. Yes, 2300cc of British muscle for a fuel saving challenge?
His reasoning: “If I’m just going to be following Glenn and his little sewing machine, I’ll barely touch the throttle. Big engines can be efficient when they’re loafing, you know. Jeremy Clarkson proved it.”
Sean went for something in between, a lightly pre-owned KTM 890 Duke. His thinking was simple, the two litre turbo sports car he daily’s gives 20 km per litre if driven politely, so surely an 890cc parallel twin with a lightweight chassis could do the same… maybe better.
Plus, it’s a KTM Duke, which means he could still have some fun along the way without falling asleep at 40 km/h.
And with that, the stage was set, a featherweight, a heavyweight, and a hooligan.
The crew at Bikeshop Boksburg drained each tank completely. Then, under the suspiciously serious gaze of the rest of the team, they measured exactly five litres into each bike. No cheating. No “just to the neck.” Just five litres and a whole lot of misplaced confidence.
Donovans Triumph did not even register the few dros and his fuel light stubbornly refused to even think of switching off. The KTM’s Guage showed two bars of fuel, as did the little Gixxer.
Engines fired, cameras rolling, they rolled out into Boksburg North traffic.
Immediately, the plan started falling apart.
Picture three idiots on completely mismatched bikes trying to be economical in Boksburg morning traffic. It was stop and go chaos, dodging taxis, trying not to get flattened by impatient bakkies, all while muttering about “momentum loss” every time they hit a red light.
Donovan’s Rocket looked magnificent but completely out of place. He idled menacingly between hatchbacks and bakkies like a bulldog in a puppy parade. Every time the lights turned green, the Triumph would grunt forward with the kind of torque that probably used a cup of fuel per traffic light.
We could almost hear the fuel tank sigh.
Benoni didn’t make it any easier. More lights, more taxis, more near misses. We were all laughing in our helmets at how ridiculous this was.
Eventually, they broke free and turned right onto the Carnival City road. Fewer lights, slightly higher speeds, but the traffic got heavier and more erratic. Glenn, tucked into his Gixxer, was clearly enjoying himself lane splitting between the trucks and taxi’s. Donovan, on the other hand, was trying to balance a 350 kg beast at bicycle speeds, muttering something like “They’re trying to kill me”.
Once across the N17 near Carnival City and joined the Heidelberg road, things finally began to open up. The robots were replaced by occasional four way stops, the traffic thinned out, and we could actually maintain a rhythm. The only problem? The speed limit went up, but Glenn and Donovan’s speed didn’t…
A few kilometres later, we turned left toward Nigel. The road there is lovely! Gentle curves, open spaces, and long straights. When we hit the Nigel CBD, a sleepy little town on the furthest eastern outreaches of the East Rand and Gauteng, Glenn tiptoed through town, trying not to lose a single millilitre of fuel. Donovan also growled every time a light went red or another road user blocked him, Sean just laughed as he watched them trying to time every robot perfectly so they wouldn’t have to stop.
Once through town, we turned right toward Balfour, and that’s where the fun started.
The road between Nigel and Balfour is pure riding joy, open countryside, great surface… for the most part, and those long, sweeping bends that make your heart happy. Sean decided it was time to test the KTM’s “real-world efficiency,” which of course meant giving it a handful through the corners. The Duke responded like a champ, leaping forward with that perfect mix of lightness and aggression. For a few glorious minutes, I forgot all about fuel economy.
Glenn and Donovan eventually caught up again when Sean slowed right down and dawdled along waiting for them, with Glenn gleefully shouting something about wasting petrol at him. Sean just laughed. He wasn’t about to crawl along beautiful tarmac like a scared tortoise, if he ran out of fuel early, at least he’d have had fun doing it. We hit long uphills where it was impossible not to rev the little gixxer in order to maintain the roads speed limit of 100KPH, and BLAM! We hit a massive pothole at the top of one of the rises and one of the cameras went skittling across the tarmac into the surrounding bushveld.
Damn!
Balfour’s CBD was another story. Busy, hot, and crawling with traffic. Glenn was still hypermiling, coasting down every downhill, and trying to skip red lights so he wouldn’t have to waste fuel accelerating again. Every time we passed a petrol station, he’d cajole us with, “Come on, guys, shall we call it? Let’s go eat and you guys can get nome fuel”
“Nope,” we said.
Winning is a powerful motivator.
Once we cleared Balfour, the road toward Greylingstad is magic, smooth, fast, and crowded with massive, howling monsters thundering along at 100 km/h, making Glenn’s tiny Gixxer look like a bug in their slipstream. More than once, we were convinced he was going to end up part of a radiator grille.
Casualty #1
Donovan’s Triumph began to surge, hunting for fuel and then it was all over.
“Uh, lads… I think that’s me.”
Sure enough, the Triumph Rocket 2300 had run dry, just outside Balfour, at 92 kilometres. It didn’t even register as “low fuel” when we added the five litres, so he’d been running blind from the start.
The big Brit had finally gulped its last drop. To be absolutely honest and all the ribald jibes aside, we were gobsmacked that that big machine had made it so far on what, for a Rocket, is fumes…
We left him looking very glum on the side of the country road. The camera crew, were eventually bribed to fetch him some fuel.
Glenn and Sean carried on toward Val Hotel, our unofficial finish line and the promise of cold Coke and a cheeseburger.
The last stretch into Val is as typically South African as it gets, a narrow, patch repaired strip of tar surrounded by wide open veld. By now, the sun was low, the air cooler, and the rivalry between Glenn and Sean was in full swing.
Sean tucked in behind the Gixxer while Glenn slowed right down he tried weaving to shake him. Ridiculous! A Big Bad Duke slipstreaming a little Suzuki Gixxer. Up the hills!
All this just trying to mess with each other’s rhythm at ridiculously, slow speeds. Glenn even tried slowing to a crawl to make hin pass, but Sean wasn’t biting. He can balance a bike at walking pace all day, so we ended up doing this hilarious slow motion duel with many people driving past shaking their heads.
Until: Casualty #2: Less than a kilometre from Val, the KTM coughed. Once. Twice… silence.
Sean yanked in the clutch, tucked down, and coasted for all he was worth. He could see the Val Hotel ahead, so close he could smell the chips, but the Duke rolled to a stop about 200 metres short. 134.5 km on five litres. Not bad, considering he’d been having an actual ride instead of a rolling meditation session.
Glenn, of course, kept going on his little Suzuki.
We eventually all rolled into Val Hotel for a late lunch and some bench racing and as the shadows started getting longer.
We shared the results with our followers online, and watched the comments flood in, everyone placing bets, debating who’d cheated, who’d drafted whom, and whether Donovan’s Rocket had actually idled more fuel than it burned.
Ever been to Val? It’s a really lekker place for motorcycles and riders of all shapes and sizes…
Despite many attempted negotiations by Foley to get on to one of the bigger bikes, Donovan and Sean decided to crack on back to Bikeshop Boksburg with full tanks of fuel at a proper pace. Glenn carried on with his test and finally sputtered to a stop later that afternoon.
A whopping 168 km on just five litres!
Smug doesn’t even begin to describe the look on his face… until he realised that he’d only be home loooong after dinner time.
So, what did we learn?
The Rocket 2300 normally drinks like a rugby team on payday, but if you go just fast enough to keep from falling over it will get around 18.5km per litre. The KTM 890 Duke can actually sip fuel politely and get about 27kms per litre, but only if you resist the temptation to behave like a hooligan. It did however use a lot more fuel on the way back to Bikeshop Boksburg.
The Little Gixxer is a soldier. The most fun in the traffic, it maxxes out at 100KPH with a larger rider in the saddle. Even though it was impossible to keep things tidy, she still managed an astonishing 33.6 kilometres per litre.
Most importantly, we confirmed that even the dumbest ideas can turn into the best days out on two wheels.
We had a great laugh, and a reminder that sometimes the journey really is the point, even if it involves crawling through Boksburg, outsmarting trucks, and coasting into Val on fumes.
Would we do it again?
In a heartbeat.
Keep scrolling. There’s more below…
About The Gixxer:
Glenn says:
The reason that I chose the 150 is because I figured that it would have a bit morre grunt than a 125, it would be more fun than a scooter on a ride like this and – it’s flippen pretty! Guess what? I was correct on all counts. I kind of knew that it would be economical, but I had no clue just how light on fuel it would be – especially if you consider that I generally fall into the demographic that’s built for larger bikes.
Honestly, it wasn’t really an economy run either. Through town it’s easy to keep things tidy on a little bike, but on the longer, more open roads you need to open her up to keep up with everyone else.
Suzuki’s little Samurai is a gem. Comfortable and nippy with a quality build feel to it. After more than 300KM’s in the saddle, through crazy GP G20 traffic disruptions, Lunatic traffic down the Carnival City road and those long lazy backroads through the farmlands we can absolutelly confirm it.
Normal sized SA riders won’t do much more than 100KPH. Lighter peeps migh go slightly faster than that, but we do guarantee that you’ll smile at the few refuels that you’ll occasionally have to undertake.
This ones got just more than 500KM’s on the clock and is on the floor at Bikeshop Rivonia for R32990.00.
About the 890 Duke:
Séan says:
It is really a great little bike…., actually NO! It’s a great bike – Full Stop!
Since when did we start referring to 900cc’s of adrenalin packed power as little? That parallel twin really does give you quite a kick in the arse when you yank the throttle against the stops and flick up though the box with the power shifter. Tuck in into the sculpted bodywork and lay on the tank behind the clocks and you should see north of 200kmh pretty damn quickly, and be able to easily maintain it. And for such a short, agile machine it never once felt twitchy or flighty at those kinds of speeds, even when the road surfaces announced ANC managed municipalities.
Tilt it into a corner at high speed and you can feel that some serious thought was put into the suspension and chassis design and set up. The 890 Duke is a proper track and mountain pass weapon, however, if you ride in it in a civilised manner, it is also adequately comfortable, (even for my long chassis), to spend long hours in the saddle like I did during this test. The quickshifter was a great help during this ride, a real world rider aide not only to go faster, but also to keep things smooth.
How? Well you do not have to keep shutting off and rolling on every time you pull the clutch in to change gears, so efficient throttle modulation is so much easier, you get to the revs and speed you want and just change as required.
That parallel twin is a gem. Ride nicely and it sips fuel, but whack on the gas and it gets your adrenalin pumping, a huge amount of fun!
Isn’t that the point of riding? I might not have won this challenge, but I did come darn close to the little Gixxer150, which only got 34 odd km’s more than I did. So you make up your minds who really won.
this ones on the floor at Bikeshop Boksburg with just less than 20k on the clock. It’ll cost you RR159900. thats with an Akarapovic pipe.
About the Triumph:
Donovan Says:
People laughed. Of course they did. A Triumph Rocket 3 with a motor the size and temperament of Hades participating in the frugalness of an economy run? You must be having a laugh. The explanation made them stop and think though…
During one of Top Gear’s many shenanigans, they ran a Toyota Prius hybrid against a BMW M3 sports saloon around their track. Both cars drove together, and in the end, the M3 amazingly used less fuel. The reason is that the torquier M3 used far less throttle than the flat-out Prius.
If torque can earn fuel economy, then the king of motorcycle torque should be the victor. Correct?
With the presence of a volcano, the Rocket 3 sat on the showroom of Boksburg, its immense gravity field forming a little solar system with the surrounding motorcycles.
This is a 2017 model with a little fewer than 10,000km on the clock. That glorious 2,300cc triple motor thumps out 225Nm of torque. Just imagine how much economy that can make!
The theory showed some promise. Riding through Boksburg, 60km/h required 1mm of throttle and a meagre 1,000rpm. The 80km/h limit required 1.5mm of throttle and 1,400rpm. When we eventually navigated beyond Boksburg’s civilisation, the 100km/h limit necessitated 2.5mm of throttle and a whole 2,000rpm of throttle.
At this point, Glenn’s little 150 was flat out. On the uphills, it had to change down a gear. The Triumph simply went to 2.6mm of throttle.
What’s more, five litres of fuel earned two dashes on the fuel gauge of the KTM and the Suzuki. The behemoth has a 24-litre fuel tank, and the five litres didn’t even register. Throughout the journey, the fuel gauge registered nothing at all. Even the range meter showed a consistent 0km.
Despite the fact that the butterfly opening on the throttle bodies required a microscope to be seen, the mighty Rocket eventually ground to a halt after 92km.
That’s about 90km further than most people predicted it would travel. It’s also 92km with the fuel gauge showing zero.
It didn’t win. It barely made the podium, even in a competition of three. But I’m proud of that Triumph.
it’s on the floor at Bikeshop Boksburg for R149900.
That’s a lot of bike for the money.
You really do need a motorcycle in your life. Watch out for our shenanigans on The Bike Show, 8 times a week on IgnitionTV DStv channel 189
These Pre owned bikes came from from Bikeshop Boksburg and Bikeshop Rivonia
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