Moved Thread: new adventure - help please?

[Tcc]

Here is my situation.
I am unemployed but trying to get a new career and will know in the next few weeks if it will happen or not.
I have a 2004 YZF R1 which i am considering p/x for a bmw gs adventure, gs800, triumph tiger xc or something similar.
I have a budget of £10000 in the bank but this will have to be used for a new bike.
I really need to do a bike adventure over 2 to 3 months.
As i am out of work with no real chances of finding something soon and have a crap year and been really unhappy i really want to do something big from the UK to europe, further/ round the world?.
Has anyone got any options, ideas, planned trips etc?

[henryuk]

I had a fantastic trip for less than 10k including bike around central asia (the 'stans) and across Russia. Of the 10k I only spent 2k on the bike - this left a lot more for accomodation and petrol and also meant I looked like less of a 'target' for thieves and corrupt officials.

The stans are a bit of a headache when it comes to getting visas, but are dead safe places to travel on the whole with a totally different culture, landscape etc - a proper adventure

I was pretty bored/miserable when I left and it totally changed my outlook and lit the 'fire in my belly' that I had when I was a kid, I've never looked back since!

It's important to have a bike you want for this sort of thing but you might want to reconsider taking a big GS or a new tiger. My advice would be keep it simple and keep it light - you can often find yourself cursing how heavy a bike is when you're in sand etc and a Japanese 650 single or the older F650 single will still cruise at an acceptable speed.

If you want to keep it over a ton all day long you'll need something bigger (and more in your bribe fund!)

A lot of North Africa is well accessible in that time frame, or you could even fly into Latin America and buy a bike - there are loads of options.

Reading ride reports here or on any Adventure Rider forum is great for mouth-watering inspiration!

[henryuk]

Also where are you based and when do you want to go?

My next adventure bike is a Honda Innova 125, it cost 250 quid and I'm taking it to Guinea Bissau and back on a 2 grand budget. This is probably the lower end of bike adventure budgeting - you can spend anything from this to 25 grand on a 'package' tour.

I fully recommend going solo, especially if you want to get your head straight - being on the bike all that time is like a form of meditation