MotoMedia

Meet The Team: The people behind the stories...

Glenn Foley

Glenn Foley:

My Love affair with bikes started at school when I first swung a leg over a little ItalJet on a flat track. I bailed, burned my leg raw and crawled off vowing to ride again. 

Boarding school, I was back on a bike, this time Mr Potgieters Z200 which we scaled regularly at night to get to the Village and back to buy vetkoek. We had a side hustle going charging hostel guys for any orders… In between, on school holidays, my brother has a Kawasaki farm bike and I learned how to crash that.

Leaving school, bikes were all we could afford and another Kawasaki Z200 (There’s a theme here) was my sole means of transport for millions of kilometres. Somewhere there is a photo of that bike with a fish tank on the back… but that’s a story in itself. 

Working in a retail bike shop and workshop in central JHB, I got to know Simon Fourie From Bike SA – and long story short, after lots of bikes – mostly road going Honda’s and a Suzuki or two, mostly salvaged from The Bike Hospital, he offered me a position at the magazine where I cut my teeth in motorcycle everything for eight great years. 

My bike then was a V-Max and I loved that thing! 

The rest is history. The dirt bug bit after a trip to Zambia where it was baptism of fire on an old steel tank KDX through the Zambezi valley. Man that was something, totally unprepared insanity and it turned out to be the catalyst for  the Adventure Company and Bike SA’s offroad magazine. Dirt And Trail Magazine came along soon after which was followed by RideFast.

Both titles have enjoyed great success.

With the world going digital we turned our attention to the magazine’s current format – and the love affair with motorcycles continues… 

Here’s to the future!

Sean Hendley

Sean Hendley:

My old man got me my first motorcycle at the tender age of four years old back in 1974, so 2024 marks 50 years that I have been riding motorcycles. My first bike was a Yamaha 50cc FS1, 1973 model that I banged around the garden, then around the local parks and eventually the local quarry until I eventually had to chuck it in the bin somewhere around 1982. A few weeks later we were offered a Yamaha YZ 125 ex-race bike that was no longer needed by the team and I managed to blow it up just as I was called up for my National Service in January 1989. During my national service I managed to sneak out the military issue Honda XR650R’s most weekends. After the army I needed wheels and bought a CB750F, then a CB900F2 Bol’dor, then onto 3 or 4 1100 Katanas, a bunch of GSX 1100’s one of which I managed stop quite abruptly against a bakkie in 1995 and spent the next 2 months chatting up all the student nurses. I’ve been the President of a bike club, that’s how I met my Wife. I banged around on quads for a while before eventually maturing onto an adventure bike. Nowadays I get to ride the latest and greatest the industry has to offer…. And tell you all about it. 

Donovan Fourie

Donovan Fourie:

Donovan has been lauded for many things in his life: The world’s fastest Ewok, Red Beard the cake-eating pirate and “you are actually much smaller in real life”. He is the son of Simon Fourie of Bike SA fame and presenter on IgnitionTV’s The Bike Show. He has been riding motorcycles since he was four years old, has been making motorcycle noises since he was six months and raced superbikes for 26 years. Beyond that, he spent a decade helping run an advanced riding academy at Phakisa Freeway. He sometimes finds time to type stuff, too.

Deon VDL

Deon vdl.

 I got into racing photography in 2019 and had my first time shooting the SASCS. This is where my love of motorcycles became a passion. In 2022, I did my first article and photos for Ridefast Magazine and kept working with the team until September 2023 when I joined the family full time. Enjoying the experience. 

‘Coz you need a bike in your life.

Mike Wessels

Mike Wessels:

Has been obsessed with riding and fixing motorcycles since he was 6 years old. He’d bunk school to go ride with his friends. The fun never stopped and will keep riding as long as he can throw a leg over a bike. “There is just nothing like it and I’ve tried a lot of sports, motorcycles just give you some sense of freedom from the stress life throws at you.”

Now he gets to ride with us and shares his knowledge on these pages.

James Lottering

James Lottering:

A passionate motorhead, James has been involved in motorsports since he was a lightie. His dad raced everything that has an engine and the passion stuck. He helps to build race cars, race bikes, he races MX and dirt bikes – and anything with an engine… 

He grew up reading Dirt And Trail magazine – and now he’s a part of our team.

Zygmund Brodalka

Zygmund B Brodalka

Well, were to start. My love for motorbikes, more specifically dirt bikes came at a very young age in the 80’s purely because I could watch Camel Motocross and Supercross Series live on Saturday’s on Total Sport.

Between the Moto’s I would ride my BMX as my Mom thought this sport “Motocross” is a moneyless pit. Somehow, my brother Czeslaw manage to get an IT 175 out of the deal. So, I got the short end of the stick and had to stick with BMX racing which I thoroughly enjoyed. But there is nothing that compared to that RM 80 of Jaques Scholtz that we used to ride at the quarry, 3 different tracks and soil that lead all the way to Durbanville High School. It was a riding heaven on Saturday’s and Sundays.

I really never could afford to race MX but had a couple of Suzuki’s and started off on a Honda CR 80 twin shock 1980 Elsinore, the little Red Rocket. The only other way I really could stay in the sport other than just watching is through Photography which takes me to most Nationals throughout the years. Since 2006 I started shooting at Claybrick and Zone 7 and seriously started shooting MX Nationals in 2011. Thats how the journey began and continues.

Black Rock

Stefan van der Riet

Since I was a young lad, I begged and pleaded with my parents for my very own motorbike, so that I could be one of the cool kids and enjoy the open road. On my 18th birthday, my dad gifted me a jaw dropping 2008 Aprilia RS 125 (the last facelift model). That two stroke super trooper took me all over the place, solidified my love for motorcycles and scored me the girl of my dreams. After breaking many a speed limit and racing everything on wheels with my Italian stallion for 3 beautiful years, we sadly had to part ways in order to buy a car because of “adulting” and “responsibilities”. After a 3 year hiatus, only occasionally stealing a buddy’s bike for a joy ride, I finished my studies and landed at DT’s doorstep with big eyes and a camera ready for action. It was with the magazine that learned about dirt, a medium I never saw myself enjoying. One day Glenn chucked some old leatt kit on me, threw me on his good ol’ CRF 230 and said “keep up”. After crashing into a couple of rocks and falling on my head once or twice I decided that dirt bikes might be too gnarly, so naturally Glenn thought it would be a great idea to hand me the keys to a brand new Africa Twin. And so a street Rossi turned into an adventure biker.  I’ve explored every dirt road in town, crept up mountains around Lesotho and explored the country with my tent strapped to the back. Motorcycles became my entire life, so much so that I forget that I own a car sometimes…

René Swart 

I started my two wheeled journey back in high school, when I got my trusty 125 Gomoto scooter. I had a blast riding all around town and occasionally felt little adventurous and tackled a dirt road or two. Later on, Stefan roped me in on some magazine shoots and that’s when I really got hooked on the bike life. In 2022 I got my first real motorcycle, the cheeky little KTM Duke 390 and I loved it. Not long after I realised that I could not keep up with Stefan and a year later I went for the Kawasaki versys 300 X, my trusted mountain goat. It might not be the most powerful, but it takes me on many adventures. I love being able to photograph and experience new bikes and seeing how technology advances. I also occasionally steal a bigger bike from the guys to test something with a little more power.

Ryan Hunt

Other contributors include some famous names like Ryan Hunt.

Garth Taylor

Singer/ songwriter Garth Taylor.

And Mix FM DJ, Al Your Pal.

But then, we don’t really like to name drop!

Enjoy!

The Motomedia Team

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