Originally Posted by Dazzerrtw

I may be wrong...but I was told that the worn out put shaft was caused by useing after market front sprockets.

my AT as only ever had genuine sprockets supplied by Mr Honda,and there is no sign of any ware on the out put shaft at 44,000 miles.

I still think that the AT is one of the best all round bike's that I have had,and it does what I need better than other bike's I have tried over the years

Don't worry about part's...I have friend's riding bike's from the 1930's so our Africa twin's may well be going for a long time to come.

as for price...you can't pay enough for something this good looking

excuse the ballsup in this reply!I put it in the wrong place..

Very tasty pic, D. Is that in Morocco, on the way to Erfoud, or Ouarzazate??

I was also told that non Honda sprockets are too hard, and I tried to find metallurgy info to heat and soften the centre only, but it was a no-no.

I have one AT which has done 200,000 kms. Before I got it, it had a c/shaft replacement at around 50,000 kms, but not since then. Funnily enough, the c/shaft bearing has now gone, but at 200,000kms thats understandable.

Like you, I think these bikes do the job, like the old GSs and other makes, so what more does anyone want. I know some people, a few individuals, feel the need to spend loadsa money on the latest bikes, which is nice if you believe what the journos tell you. It gives them a sense of "doing the right thing", like staying in fashion.

I dont mean that if you can, buying a new bike isnt a good thing (my ATs were new once) for the modern KTMs seem to be fabulous, eg, but there's maybe a bit of overkill there. Which of course costs money. The new Yamaha 1200 Ténéré looks stunning and huge, just like the price. Way out of my league.