West Africa - Portugal to Guine Bissau - Africa Twin point of view
 

Let me share the Africa Twin point of view of my trip through West Africa - Portugal to Guine Bissau in 16 days from the 5th to the 20th of February. Hopefully it will be of some interest to someone.

The kind feedback that I've received from this forum during the preparation phase was very useful http://www.xrv.org.uk/forums/images/..._thumright.gif and made write this post

http://static.panoramio.com/photos/medium/49164975.jpg

In a nutshell:

Model
RD07A

Age and mileage on departure
14 years, 30'000km

This trip
5'500km in 16 days, I returned by plane, the bike by container

Modifications
SW crash bars
Hand lever protectors
Pivot pegs
Analog voltmeter
Bracket and ignition key switched powered GPS
Headlight metallic mesh
25mm risers for the handlebar
Small steel plate welded to the side stand

Modification I should have done
Metallic hoses for the front brakes

Bike strong points
It keeps on going. It's a Honda so it is very balanced, it does everything in a competent way but iy is not brilliant in any domain

Bike weak points
It's heavy and a couple of horses more would be handy for the faster parts

Bike problems during the trip
The speedo cable broke

Same bike again
Sure!

Biggest surprise
Never reached reserve, although in Western Sahara some fuel stations were dry
And the original fuel pump is still ... pumping!

Spares I took (but didn't use!)
Regulator
Facet fuel pump
Used throttle and clutch cables
Handlebar levers
Used spark plugs
Some chain links
1 liter engine oil - used 250ml

Service before departure
Engine oil and filter
Air filter
New throttle and clutch cables
New front wheel and rear wheel bearings
New regulator (the original one was busted)
New chain and sprockets (the original ones were busted)
Front brake pads

Luggage system
Nomada cases plus Touratech mounting frame

Tyres
Continental TKC80

Number of punctures
Zero!

A couple of photos can be found here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/148874...57674765250191

This same message was posted on XRV.org.uk

Best Regards,
Luis Cabrita

Thanks for sharing, preprep is all part of the fun. Enjoying prepping my rd04 for next year, have tkc to go on and I'll carry mitas :-)

Africa Twin RD04