Spectating at The Roof Of Africa: The Voge DS 300

Guys we do have more Roof News waiting in the wings, like the story about the Rock n Roll Preacher – the oldest Roof entrant that has been sent in by one of the guys who went to back him up. That will be in the next newsletter – and it’s a great story. But for now we need to tell you a little bit about the wheels that we used to go along and spectate this year…

Every year at Roof time, we call the importers and try to get our mitts onto adv bikes, because, quite frankly, a motorcycle is absolutely the best way to follow The Roof Of Africa. Last year – as sometimes happens, we ran a little bit late with our request, so we had to cast our eye around the office to see what was available.

At the Dirt And Trail offices, we have a Voge 300 DS that the importers seem to have forgotten about. Young Deon has used it for more than six months as his daily commute and we reckon that we’ve put about 4000 plus KM’s on the clock since we received it. Best of all, he’s been getting in excess of 30 KM’s to a litre…

We lubed and tensioned the chain, checked the oil, gave it a scrub and loaded it up onto the trailer and headed for the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho.

Industry giant

Imported into SA by South African Motorcycles, Voge is the premium brand of Loncin, a Chinese industrial giant founded in 1983 that now has more than 9,000 employees and produces more than 2.5 million motorbikes, 3 million engine blocks and 150,000 ATVs annually.

Loncin also produces electric cars, scooters, generators, lawnmowers, industrial machinery and helicopter drones. Loncin develops components for major car brands such as Volkswagen, Mercedes, Ford, Audi, Volvo,…

So if you think it’s a Mickey Mouse, you’d be mistaken.

If you follow our scribblings, you’ll have seen several of their models pop up over the years – and every time we’ve ridden one, we’ve come away impressed.

Don’t be deceived by the DS Moniker, this is no ADV bike – just given the wheel size, the more road biased tires fitted and smaller suspension travel, you’ll know that it is a soft roader machine.

So how would it hold up to Lesotho?

In great company with the Riders For Health team.

Actually rather well.

Even Big Peter Schleuter rode it, so it can handle an “Ehhhm” more portly rider with ease. The electric start, liquid cooled, fuel injected machine started up at sparrows (No seriously, 5am odd) every morning for the long roads out to the start finish. Then it was taken up and down gnarly, rocky gravel trails to catch the action all around the routes, with more than one spectator coming across, scratching his head and asking what the heck it was…

Anyway, without going into too much detail, the bike ate The Roof circuit (No not the race itself, that would be silly) for breakfast and it smiled all the way.

Three days of flogging, from climbing the mountain behind the Maseru Mall, to visiting some hard to find climbs throughout the race, with riders of all shapes and sizes in the saddle confirmed that this is a great choice.

Adjustable screen. Digital Display...But wait there’s more.

On the Sunday after The Roof, we went to pay the ‘Riders For Health’ a visit.

We had 3 bikes and four riders… and on that day, we did 220 KMS – TWO UP, with a combined weight knocking on the door of 180 kg’s on the little 300. Half was fast tar, the rest was gravel if you could call it that with steep rocky climbs, river crossings and tight descents into the hard to reach villages.

It easily kept up with the pack, didn’t skip a beat and still managed a top speed of 130 odd KPH on the long tar sections.

Solo she gets to a top speed of 145.

So if you want a “Real World” Test, we trust that this will set your mind at ease should you be looking at adding one to your garage.

To say that we are impressed is very possibly the understatement of the century.

The bike has not used a drop of oil, nothing has come adrift and it simply starts and runs, every day… And oh yes, Deons regular wheels are parked because this one is so economical to run.

NOTE: Some of the pics depict a rider not appropriately attired. Please ride in the correct riding gear.

Highlights:

Mileage 7775 kms (We’ve done more than 6000 of those).

Carry rack, ABS, Adjustable screen, USB Charger, skid plate.

Engine type: Single-cylinder, four-stroke, water-cooled

Capacity: 292,4

Compression: 11:1

Max power: 19 kW / 8500 rpm

Max torque: 25 Nm / 7000 rpm

Starting system: Electric

Service intervals: 7500KMs

Transmission: 6 gears