Me and my Bike ready for our first long adventure

[Garth Ensley]

This photo is of myself and my bike Ganesha, as we are about to leave from my home in Sedgefield to Mozambique. Its about 3000km and ive never done this before. I can only go around 80km/h and im a bit top heavy but i am working on that today.

[palace15]

Originally Posted by Garth Ensley

This photo is of myself and my bike Ganesha, as we are about to leave from my home in Sedgefield to Mozambique. Its about 3000km and ive never done this before. I can only go around 80km/h and im a bit top heavy but i am working on that today.

What Sedgefield is that at 3000km to Mozambique? have a good trip but I would ditch the metal box and board on the side or you may well not enjoy the ride.

[docsherlock]

Agree - get rid of box and board; taking those on a bike is insanity; if you wanna do that you'd be better off in a car.

[Flyingdoctor]

Hi Garth, welcome to the HUBB

My initial thoughts were the same as the other two posters about the box and board, however, if you load the heavy things in the bottom and all the light stuff at the top you will minimise the effects. This may mean that you'll have to empty it to find what you need but it may help. Have you weighed it without anything in it, and have you modified the rear subframe at all to take the extra weight? My topbox usually comes in at around 15kg fully loaded and I wouldn't really want to go much heavier but that box looks like it could be 15kg empty.

As for the board, have you ridden the bike with it fitted? How does it fare at speed. Personally I'd just hire something along the way. If it rides OK though, although it looks a bit odd, go with it. It'll certainly be a talking point on your trip, especially if your miles inland!

You can get used to riding anything after a few weeks I'm sure but if it's unbalanced with your leg inside you're going to spend a lot of time board side down when you stop. Remember you'll be riding on the right and putting your right leg down at the side of the road will be a real stretch at times to the extent that I'd move it to the other side.

We're all assuming it's for a surf board. Are you one of these "extreme ironers" Now that would be pretty cool!



Good luck with your trip whatever you decide, vive la différence!

[docsherlock]

Garth,

One puff of wind with that set up and you could be toast. Your set up is beyond eccentric - it is dangerous; this is not criticism, it is advice and opinion and as Mark Harf would say, worth exactly what you paid for it.

Be careful out there.

[stuxtttr]

Nice photo enjoy your trip i like your set up

you can always unload if you hit some heavy terrain

[Chris Scott]

Garth, that is a shocker ;-)
You may have outdone my all-time favourite (below) but I guess there's no easy way to carry a board on a bike.
You might want to get some body armour, but.

Ch

[Threewheelbonnie]

One word solution : Sidecar.

Stuff in the box, board on top (or take a canoe and put your stuff inside in).

Andy

[Chris Scott]

... Sidecar

I think I'd rather take my chances on Garth's version. ;-p Anyway, my first bike was no oil painting.

I saw this in the 2012 Touratech catalogue - CoG about as low as it gets and those SUPs surf pretty well too.

Ch

[estebangc]

Hi Garth,

to HUBB. Wish you happy travels, good surfing and safe riding. Be sure all the comments just want to help you ride safely, you won't find pointless criticism in HUBB (well, we may all have a bad day, but it's the exception ).

I got the Touratech magazine in Swiss-Moto show in Zürich and there was an article about a German couple on a KTM 990 carrying TWO surf boards through South America! And there is also a HUBBer from California who carries his surf board on his bike (a DR650?), but I cannot remember his name, nor his web site (something like ridingwaves.com or similar). Maybe they can tell you about their experiences (in windy days?), so you can also improve your outfit.

Happy travels and good luck chasing both of your dreams (riding & surfing),

Esteban

[McCrankpin]

Originally Posted by estebangc

Hi Garth,

to HUBB.

And there is also a HUBBer from California who carries his surf board on his bike (a DR650?), but I cannot remember his name, nor his web site (something like ridingwaves.com or similar). Maybe they can tell you about their experiences (in windy days?), so you can also improve your outfit.

Happy travels and good luck chasing both of your dreams (riding & surfing),

Esteban

Here y' go.....

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...f-2012-a-64360
It seems to me the set-up worked OK.
And I vaguely remember bugsonmyboard posting stuff on other threads as well.

Hope you find the big waves!

[estebangc]

Originally Posted by McCrankpin

Here y' go.....

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...f-2012-a-64360
It seems to me the set-up worked OK.
And I vaguely remember bugsonmyboard posting stuff on other threads as well.

Hope you find the big waves!

Should I say... team player! Thanks Mc for complementing my bad memory (I outsourced it to google!). I had read him in other threads, but hadn't seen this one, really interesting pictures, tomorrow the text!

I saw many scooters like this in Bali, you can even rent them (actually, stole the pic from a rental). Well, not as demanding as Mosambique pistes for your subframe, but still a scooter with a surfboard (look at the two hangers, I imagine they may even protect a bit the board on a slide)!

[desmondx]

Good work Garth. Doing long distances with a surfboard is very much possible if you do it right. Me and 3 friends are going from Santiago to Los Angeles, all riding Honda XR250's. All has been fine so far. We are currently in Lima, Peru.

The most important thing that I can see you are doing wrong is not securing the nose of your surfboard. This is very important! See image below of a the nose clipped to the bike. Make sure you do this!

[Garth Ensley]

Wow , thanks for all the replys , some of them were valid and i appreciate them very much. OK so Ganesha (my df200 ) and i did a good few thousand km as is , i just mounted the surfboard rack on the other side,sure if the wind started lowing a gale i wouldn't ride it. But with all my gear and board we managed fine. This is my first bike and i guess because ive been ignorant to wats needed or not its been a gr8 experiment though. The bike was taking a bit of strain with all the weight i had to reinforce the box bracket after it snapped and also 8 spokes in my back tire snapped but the gr8 thing was i was fully prepared and could camp anywhere , surf anywhere and get amazing photographs. Since then i have got a new bike a transalp 600 and now the bike handles the weight much better, i will change the box when i can afford it , but for now it will have to do. i have done 3000km on this bike already and its a dream, alot heavier but much more comfortable. I love travelling by bike and sue i know i know nothing about all the logistics of whats supposed to work or not but right now im a Nomad , with wheels that will go just about anywhere. And im loving every minute of it.

[Selous]

Originally Posted by Garth Ensley

Wow , thanks for all the replys , some of them were valid and i appreciate them very much. OK so Ganesha (my df200 ) and i did a good few thousand km as is , i just mounted the surfboard rack on the other side,sure if the wind started lowing a gale i wouldn't ride it. But with all my gear and board we managed fine. This is my first bike and i guess because ive been ignorant to wats needed or not its been a gr8 experiment though. The bike was taking a bit of strain with all the weight i had to reinforce the box bracket after it snapped and also 8 spokes in my back tire snapped but the gr8 thing was i was fully prepared and could camp anywhere , surf anywhere and get amazing photographs. Since then i have got a new bike a transalp 600 and now the bike handles the weight much better, i will change the box when i can afford it , but for now it will have to do.Attachment 7579 i have done 3000km on this bike already and its a dream, alot heavier but much more comfortable. I love travelling by bike and sue i know i know nothing about all the logistics of whats supposed to work or not but right now im a Nomad , with wheels that will go just about anywhere. And im loving every minute of it.

Hi Gareth, welcome & if it works for you good if not ditch it change it find a solution.

I pers use a Dry roll bag on top across the panniers but I dont do any ironing