Which Bike: Cape Town To London?

[spinosaurus7]

Hi All,

Later this year, a friend and I are planning a trip from Cape Town to London, heading up the East Coast initially, but then cutting West and entering Europe through Morocco. Being relatively new to bike travel, neither of us have completed a trip of this magnitude, and so are unsure which bike would be the best choice for surviving the harsh African roads. So far we have been looking at the Yamaha Tenere, Honda TransAlp, and BMW F650. What are your thoughts on these, and any others that you can recommend?

Cheers.

[mark manley]

Any of the bikes you mention will be up to it so it will come down to personal choice and availability, my suggestion would be if you are planning on taking two get the same bikes.
As for your route you might want to look into where it is possible to travel, for instance Algeria is pretty well out of bounds and Libya might not be so easy, also the carnet de passage, I seem to remember than one issued in South Africa is not valid for Egypt, this may well be out of date now or just hearsay but you might want to consider the west route as an alternative, it seems to be easier at the moment.
I am presuming that you are South African, a little more info on you location would be helpful

[GSARiderOne]

I too would recommend both bikes being the same if you can do so. Otherwise, take your pick. They should all do fine.

[Ekke]

I personally think it is more important to be comfortable on the bike you've got than to have two the same bikes. My wife and I ride different bikes because we're significantly different in size so neither is comfortable on the other's bike. Having different bikes didn't make it any more difficult to carry additional tools or spare parts or diagnose bike problems.

Your selection of bikes sounds good and any of them should be able to handle the trip just fine.

Or you could just take a Harley... http://www.threepercenters.it/wp/?p=3905

[venture]

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