The bike is ok, the noise i was initially concerned about is still there although not as bad (bad). But the last 1000 miles of desert hasnt killed it (even at 250 miles a day), in fact it doesnt sound much different, so what the hell!!! Ill ride it until it dies....

The fact that the front sprocket was put on backwards and caused the output shaft seal to fail about 3km over the Moroccan border didnt really inspire confidence, but then neither did the wrongly routed brake hose that I didnt spot on my mates bike which almost got cut through by the disk on our first offroad section.....After that I checked both bikes REALLY closely!!!!!

Im normally anal about my bike prep so all this shit is killing me. For them not to have checked my head bearings as part of an overhaul costing 1400 euros for a desert trip is, quite frankly, shit......Especially as when I cracked the bearing open today I found the reason it didnt run notchy before it failed....it had siezed solid and rusted up! it failed when the lower bearing cage disintegrated with resultant chaos.

Its ironic really, the DRZ is by far my favoutite bike to date of all the bikes Ive ever ridden in long distance desert conditions. For one reason or another its also been the least reliable. I think its pretty obvious that that has little to with the model and more to do with the purchase of a lemon and unfortunate circumstances.

Still I have to say, Ive had a grin on my face six feet wide all week prior to my latest mishap.....boy oh boy does that DRZ do dunes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Why, Oh Why, Oh Why, etc......have they stopped making them?

What the hell do we do now?

Dave

Hoping for new head bearings from Suzuki Maroc at Noon tomorrow....after a mere 24 hour wait. Can it really be true? If it is then theres time for another 500 miles of piste yet.....Watch this post!!!!