exploring africa
 

Hy guys- for those of you interested- my wife and I are riding through Africa on 2 yamaha xt250 bikes. Doing it minimalist style. We started in Cape Town about 2 months ago and aim to make it up to Sudan and back down again.

We have a facebook page that we try and update with photos as we go along so that our friends and family can follow our progress.

So if anyone is curious- the page is called exploring africa.

:) :) :)

found your page. Looks good. How is the bike handling the added weight?

Perfectly so far. There has been a lot of really bad roads that I kept on thinking thinking "I can't imagine any bike or car making it to the other side without it being completely destroyed", but boath bikes have taken everything we have thrown at it without any problems. From miles of washboards in Namibia to miles of what felt like boulders in Tanzania.

Only down side so far with the weight was once in really thick soft sand (in Botswana) the engine didnt have enough juice to power through without me getting off and walking next to it.

(Funny story: at the start of that sandy trail we found about 7 GS bikes parked with their riders nowhere to be seen. About 500 m into the trail we found 3 or 4 more GS bikes stuck in the sand- riders nowhere to be seen. When we finally made it to the other side we found the riders all sitting at a table enjoying lunch and a few drinks. :-) )

And cruising speed on the highway is only 80 - 95km/h depending on the angle and the wind. But that's just as fast as jou can go in africa anyway.


I inspected them again just the other day and couldn't see any signs of problems.

So far I am impressed.

OH - AND GET THIS:

With the added waight- both bikes have gotten 320km on a tank of gas!!

THE GAS TANK IS ONLY 9.8L !!!

That was the record so far..with a modest combination of 50km/h zones and long 90km/h sprints in Tanzania. (Every village has a 50km limit and really punishing speedbumps.)

Perfect bike for Africa (well, except for parts availability). I met a Japnese guy who did the trip Paris-Capetown twice on an XT250. I wish I could remember exactly the part.... but he said that one of the pieces in the head was a weak spot and he carried a spare set which he replaced on both trips. Rocker arms?