Nico Malan Pass
November, 2022
It’s not often that you get to ride from the windy West coast, through the Karoo highlands and into Johannesburg. And it’s less often that you get to ride back too. Now throw in hastily conceived plans made in Jozi on Friday afternoon, for a Sunday afternoon coffee in Makhanda (previously Grahamstown) and just like that, you have a road trip. Now throw in some record-breaking rainstorms and you’ve got yourself a road trip to test bike and rider. Or you can just fly. But let’s imagine for a moment that flying was not an option.
Let’s start with packing for four days and three nights of official work events and two days of travel on either side of that. Let’s throw in an additional night visiting a friend as usually happens and you end up with a lot of things to stuff into a bag.
The Nico Malan Pass in the Eastern Cape province of the holy land is a pleasant surprise when you’re heading from Bloemfontein through to Grahamstown / Makhanda. The earlier Penhoek Pass in the Stormberg Mountains having already got the #mountainpass on a #motorcycle thing on the tarmac.
If you’re heading south into Makhanda, the pass drops you down 673 vertical metres over 13.8 km. Its turns are a delight. Short, sharp hairpins and longer curves bundled together on mostly good tarmac. There was only an odd pothole but the sight lines on the pass are mostly good, making for a relaxed flowing ride down the pass, using engine braking. It’s a joy to ride on a relatively light, well balanced machine like this Honda NC750x.
It’s easy to see how this is rated as a potentially dangerous pass to ride. The weather conditions can change quickly, with reports of dense fog, snow and rain all being confirmed in different parts of the year.
This was a good day to ride. It was mostly overcast, the road was damp and dry in places. There were a few wet patches from a storm the night before but these had clear sight lines. The Michelin Road 6 tyres on the bike did a sterling job of keeping even my ham-fisted riding efforts in check. They had also performed faultlessly in the streaming wet on a 400km + ride the day before from Jozi to Bloem.
This is a pass worth riding at least once although ideally have a few goes if you’re out there early enough. Highly recommended.
© Jesh Baker for OppiStoep, 2022
#mountainpassonamotorcycle #nicomalanpass
