Virgin rider seeks advice on which bike for Africa!

[bakhante]

I'm in the process of thinking about/planning a trip across Africa for next summer, and hope to do it by motorbike. However, I've barely ridden a bike and have no idea what kind of machine would be ideally suited to this particular expedition. Four of us are going, all between 6'0" and 6'4" and of average build. The route length would be about 6,000 miles and we'd hope to do it in two months. Any help would be much appreciated!

[XR Max 600]

6000 african miles... not bad for a first trip. For accurate advice you need to tell me a bit more about your trip. Are you sticking to roads, or do you want to off-road? What parts of africa are you visiting? And how much money do you want to spend. For you average africa trip I would take a seriously modified Honda XR600 or XR650L, unless I had loads of money, then I would take an out-of-the-box KTM Adv. 640. On a more general note, you'll probably come across many people who will tell you you are mad to go to africa on your first trip, IMHO you can safely ignore them provided you prepare properly. By the way, you mentioned 4 of you were going, do any of you know their way round a bike (mechanically that is)?
Good luck!!

[This message has been edited by XR Max 600 (edited 11 March 2003).]

[POB/London]

I'm going to Africa on my first trip. I will leave from London and return to London via Jordan and Syria.

My route is about 60% on unsurfaced roads and pistes. After a **LOT** of consideration I opted for a heavily modified XT600Z (1989):

[jondoe]

Hi!

How do u put photos in a post
I cant figure that out,I can't just copy/paste it!?

cheers

jondoe

[Tony Robson]

To post images take a look at:

Click Here

POB - Is that the bike you are using?

If so can you list the modifcatations you have done?

I've got the XTZ660 - which looks very similar in many ways - did you fit the acerbis hand guards? I've got some for thew XTZ but the catch on the dashboard at the last possible bit - hence fails the MOT?

Is that the original tank - what volume is it? How does it bolt on? The XTZ has a 4 bolt arrangement onto the subframe at the front and 2 bolts to the main frame below the seat. Plus fairing bolts - is the XT600Z similar at all?

Thanks for any info.

Tony.

[freddy]

hi mate how you going , isaw your post on what bike to take on an africa trip , i am probably biased but i think for cheapness, reliability , sheer indestructability then the old overland favorite xt600e , a trained monkey can fix it ,if it gose wrong, also if this is your first trip then you may not want to splash out 4000 or 5000 grand on something that you are probably going to throw down the road or drop in the sand, i am currently in zambia heading to cape town , and apart from a few hiccups in 26500 k,s my fat old tenere has done good service, i am going to ship it or fly it home in april , if you have not got a bike you are more than welcome to come and have a blast on mine and see what you think of a loaded up tenere , cheers freddo