36,000 miles, MOT May 09, UK tax Nov 08, yellow, Adventure screen and Tobinators, Hepco and Becker engine bars, Hepco and Becker panniers (38litres and 45litres), Givi Monokey topbox (45l), heated grips, Famsa tankbag with sidepods, Autocom intercom with 2 headsets, Datatool system 3 alarm (currently not working and disabled), Oxford Monster lock.

We were halfway through a tour to Africa, having ridden from the UK to Timbuktu. Unfortunately, the trip was cut short a few days into the return journey when we collided with a cow. The bike is still in good working order — it had to be ridden 30 miles to Bamako. However, it did receive slight crash damage — the front brake master cylinder needs replacing and there is cosmetic damage to the nose.

We spent about £1,000 on the bike before heading off to Africa. Work included rebuilding the shaft drive and replacing the seals on it, as well as replacing both fork seals. The rear tyre (Tourance) has about 1,000 miles left in it; the front is fine.

The luggage and documents are all in the UK as we were flown home — my wife broke her leg in the accident — and sadly, we were obliged to leave the bike behind.

The bike is very reliable — in the 5,000 or so miles we drove from Brighton to Timbuktu, the only problem we ever had was with the alarm. Mechanically, it is in perfect nick. It also featured heavily in our blog for The Times online: Timbuktu by motorbike Pt 5: into Mali

Pity your first post is to sell the bike.

Seeing as the bike's stuck in Bamako I would suggest your asking price is waaay over the top. Have a look at the for sale section on UKGSer to get an idea of the private sale asking price for a UK bike. For example, there's currently a 2003 1150GS with panniers and 12500 miles for £5400.

Then make allowances for the fact that
(a) it's a purchase 'sight unseen',
(b) it needs air fares to go and get it, and
(c) there's the cost of getting it back to the UK including getting hold of a rear tyre in West Africa.

Tim

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I have to agree that you will be very lucky to sell it under those circumstances. Have you thought about offering someone free use of it to get it back to the UK ? I know that might sound strange, but its worth real money back here - and very little where it is, especially considering the considerable risk a purchaser would be taking. And no - I'm not offering !

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I dont really know the market for used BMWs in the UK, so can't comment on that.

However typically you will see 2nd hand large motorbikes (anything 600 cc and above) trading at a significant premium to their European prices in Africa. That is simply due to the fact that they are not usually imported into the country and are extremely difficult to find. The same principle is also the reason that you see so many 2nd hand French car traders driving down to West Africa to sell vehicles.

I was approached on several occasions in Bamako with people wanting to buy my KTM, so I think there is a decent local and expat market to sell your bike. I didnt sell but I understand the system of transfering the foreign rego across to a Malian rego also seems to be relatively painless and is looked after by the buyer.

Fany and Nico at Augerge Djamilla in Bamako seem to have good contacts in the car trade area. Might be worth dropping them an email to see if there is any local interest in buying the bike. You can find contact details on this post

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...ko-mopti-29586

I'd consider riding it back for you. PM me if interested.

Other than that, there's seems to be a larger (than Bamako) high-end bike market in Accra, but then you'd have to it get there. Quite a few sports bikes kicking about (the nicked ones still have UK tax discs!).

Was with someone on a KTM who tried selling it in Bamako, got lots if interest but they realised he wanted to head home and messed him about a lot. they had the time.

cheers,
Doug

Thanks for all the replies and advice about selling our GS. It is still in Bamako and we have been pursuing various options about getting it home, all of which are going to hurt financially, and we're left wondering whether it's worth it. So we are seriously looking for someone who'd be interested in riding it home —*Dougie, it could be you! Can you drop me an email at nexpa2002@yahoo.com and we can take it from there? Thanks

have emailed you.

cheers