Kawa-kawa uphill conquered by big bikes
When we talk about Honda’s CBR1000, dirt riding would never come to mind. Heck, this piece of engineering marvel from Japan is built for the circuit, from technology developed by Honda from its decades of Grand Prix experience.
However, our friends in Davao City had a different idea: ride the CBR1000 on Kawa-kawa.
For those who are not familiar, Kawa-kawa is a very steep uphill near Davao City that is dreaded even by the skilled off-road riders. It is so steep, even dirt bikes built for off-road abuse have a hard time scaling it.
So, on Sunday evening, over a couple of drinks, our friends from the Davao Enduro community decided to challenge themselves by scaling this hill riding big bikes. It was settled that one will be riding a Yamaha Tenere 700 (Hope Ferolin), while the other rider onboard a Honda CBR1000 (Manuel Yap). To raise the stakes, the winner of the challenge will take home a PHP 100,000 pot money – which was raised by the Davao Enduro group.
But here’s the catch: the challenge will be done in 3-day’s time (which was today, Tuesday).
Screenshot from Trail ni Mckoy reels
Each rider have 3 attempts to scale Kawa-kawa, and some minor modifications to the bike are allowed. The CBR1000, opted to install spikes on its rear road tire to improve traction. As far as we can see on the live videos posted on social media, the rider of the T7, with its wheels already set up for enduro use, opted to keep it that way.
The T7 went on first, but fell short on its attempt on Kawa-kawa’s first line (leftmost). The CBR1000, took the fourth line (rightmost) and succeeded on the first attempt. The T7, successfully completed his second and third attempts on the first line of Kawa-kawa.
Photo courtesy of Bornok Mangosong
After resting the CBR1000’s engine for a few minutes to avoid overheating, the sportbike’s rider took T7’s line and successfully scaled the steep hill in his second attempt. According to our friends who witnessed this crazy challenge, the challenge was declared a DRAW and the pot money – was spent for the celebration of camaraderie and the joy of riding off-road.
While this was just a mere katuwaan – an event that was just for fun – it is also worth noting that this is the first-ever event that officially put big bikes head-to-head on an off-road uphill challenge. Motocross champion Bornok Mangosong holds the distinction of being the first rider to scale the steep Kawa-kawa onboard a big bike (T7).
