Hi Phil,
Thanks for the welcome.
Yes RR's are extremely popular here, especially with the black riders and their clubs. There's also an official RR cup run by BMW Motorrad SA.
It's a bit of a strange bike to choose here though, unless you're at the track every weekend or live in KZN or the Cape. The roads up here at altitude on the Highveld are generally just arrow-straight so there's not an awful lot in the way of corners. Great if you want to max it out though.The roads in KZN and the Cape are a lot more interesting and twisty. Plus at the altitude we're at there's a power loss compared to sea level of around 18%. Very noticeable if you ride down to the coast.
Yes the GS is extremely popular as you'd expect. It's easily the most popular bike in the country, they're absolutely everywhere. Much like at home in the UK. However, at least here you can use it like it was designed for. You could ride from here to Cape Town ( or anywhere for that matter ) and never touch a tar road if you don't want to. Plus a lot of the back roads aren't in the greatest of condition ( lots of huge pot holes and bumps ) and it soaks them up with ease.
South Africa does have its problems, of that there's no doubt. However having lived here for the past 9 years, I can honestly say it's absolute motorcycling utopia. The police are pretty rubbish to fair, most people ride without numberplates, you can ride as fast as you want pretty much anywhere ( if that's your thing ), the scenery is stunning and the weather's awesome ( obvs ):fat:. Although general driving standards are pretty awful for the public (you need to keep your eyes well and truly open all of the time). Fuel is cheap as chips, track days are a fraction of the cost of back home and every trip you make feels like an adventure. It's pretty cool. I'd thoroughly recommend it to anybody.
A