Yamaha Motor Southern Africa invites you to gear up for a powerful cause at the Soweto Motorbike School - Mandela Day Charity Run, happening on Saturday, 19 July 2025. Riders will gather at Linex Sandton and hit the road at 09:00, journeying together to the Thato Ke Matla orphanage home in Orange farm, a place of care and refuge for children in need.

But that’s just the beginning.

In the spirit of Nelson Mandela’s legacy of service and compassion, this year’s event, like those of previous years, includes a donation drive leading up to the run. We’re calling on riders, community members, and road warriors to help us collect clothing, toys and non-perishable food items.

All donations will be delivered to the children at the Thato Ke Matla orphanage home as part of the event.

Drop-off points:

• Linex Sandton: 19 Eastern Service Road, Kelvin, Sandton
• Linex Lynnwood: 224 Simon Vermooten Road, Silverton, Pretoria

Whether you're joining the charity run or supporting the cause from the sidelines, your impact matters. Together, we can rev our engines for change and ride with purpose.

Words: Bill Hunter.

Last time we reported on our Avenis 125 we delved into the storage capacity with a comical twist, which we’re sure you enjoyed? This time around we have something completely different – a day out with a South African Junior gymnastic Champion, more on that in a while.

So far we’re getting nearer to the first 1,000km service and still enjoying every moment on our MotoGP painted scooter. Wherever we go people comment on how attractive it is and when we inform them about 50km/litre they’re even more impressed, also with the. R32,950 price tag. “Ooo, I wouldn’t mind one of those myself”, is the most common response, and we can’t blame them.  

Anyway, after speaking (obviously after a beer or two) to my friend Grahame Fidler (former SA gymnastic coach and International judge), he dribbled, “Why don’t we use ‘it’ as a piece of apparatus at my gym”? “Err, OK”, I replied with a hint of trepidation. A few weeks later we met at the Rand Gym along with the extremely cheerful Sibu Zulu – one of the best SA gymnastic prospects for the forthcoming Olympics.

After choosing a placement for the Avenis, Sibu was soon leaping over myself while sitting on the scooter, with a superb display of immeasurable ability. Sibu seemed to enjoy this impressive act more than myself, because when someone is running towards you at over 20kmh, then leaping meters into the air after coming close to my head, it did make me question why we were doing this, still nothing untoward happened. After that he performed handstands, and other acts, using the twin grab rails at the rear of the scooter, he did complain they were a bit ‘slippy’ though, excuse me I thought, and where’s the chalk you professionals use? He then proceeded to spring up and down, again meters high, on the trampoline, perform standing back flips directly in front of me, while still retaining his perfect Colgate smile, tremendous. So is the Avenis 125 a good choice for performing these gymnastic feats, maybe, but please don’t try this at home- as they say.

A massive thank you goes out to Sibu and of course the Rand Gym for a very entertaining morning. If you’d like to take your kids, and become a member, to this highly professional facility please visit their site listed below, but you can’t take your scooter inside I’m afraid. Interestingly Sibu and his brother Stuart both ride scooters, which was pleasing to see them both on two wheels. We most certainly need to get Sibu to the next Olympics too, so any donations will be greatly received, again the Rand Gym will tell you how. Right, I’m off to try and perform similar handstands at my house and then probably go straight to hospital. Chat next time with more unique ideas using our Avenis 125, hopefully.

Images: Vaulting John Sudoku.

Click on www.randgym.co.za for more information on becoming a future gymnast.

www.suzukimotorcycle.co.za

15/05/25