Hi Chris, I think you should be able to pick up comms gear easy enough, Autocoms are widely used or equivalent radios on the same frequency at least, and theres a lot of 2nd hand stuff about. Theyre all pretty simple to fit. Ill keep an eye on ebay for anything suitable and try and get a few spare bike to bike units to bring with us.

Hey all -

Checking in to let you all know that I'm still up for this, and riding towards Africa now.

I rode across the US, and into Canada, and then have shipped the bike to S Korea, and will get to Vladivostok this Saturday. Should be in europe for late August, and after relaxing, ready to tackle Africa.

I havent started on any visas/carnets yet, but am following this thread closely. I've been so busy figuring out this leg of the trip, i havent thought that far ahead, but did manage to get 2 british passports, so i can be processing 1, while on the road with the other.

NY-Lon

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WineAndWater. RTW - Raising money for Wine to Water, supporting clean water projects in 15 countries.

Wow, I was thinking about heading into Asia, but this fits nicely into my schedule. Could you cope with an of road rookie staying their RTW journey joining you? :what:

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drivelandy: of course - I think that we'll all keep close watch on this thread as the end of Sept approaches to try to meet up.

Tires: I'm going to run mefo explorers since they are reported to have decent dirt/gravel transaction and pretty long life - some report up to 10K miles on a single rear. I'll carry the rear until morocco or Senegal or so and then install.

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bugsonmyboard.org
two wheeled wave hunting dispatches

Tires:

I've run D606s off-road, but they wear far too quickly. I get maybe 4k miles out of them.

TKCs I can get 5-8k, and so now I'm trying the 50/50 on/off road K60s, which I also think I can get close to 10k miles out of.

I havent ridden these before, so will see if they are good enough off road.

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WineAndWater. RTW - Raising money for Wine to Water, supporting clean water projects in 15 countries.

Thanks for getting in touch Paul,

I'm excited now. I get made redundant on the 5th July and have no plans after that. This will be the start of my RTW trip. I need to start the program of inoculations ASAP. I'll refit my radio to the bike for comms. My plan was to have K60 tyres fitted.

Steve

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Hi, Guy's.


I've got some more questions. (again)

Gary: Have you already booked your plane tickets for the 29th of Sept.? If you did, assuming you have to put the bike together and all; do you also take the train (or boat) that same day or another? If you do, which line/what time? You do arrive in Calais, don't you? If so, I can meet you there.

Paul: If you are driving up to Spain from the 4th of Sept. you arrive in Calais the 4th or 5th, now the question: Because the most pain in the ass to take with you are tires I suppose, so I was thinking if you have a big Land-Rover with you, can I throw some tires in? I won't be driving along till Spain, as I ride together with Gary for the race to southern Spain, because that saves me a whole lot of days-off at work (they are limited ). So if its ok I'll ride up to Calais, then when your are, meet each other, drink some coffee and let me throw some tires in. For the rest I don't want to use the truck as much as possible. (I like the idea of doing it all on my own together with my beloved friend Mr. X.T. Ténéré. XD)

Also a question about the intercom you told about, that's a radio? So if I buy a radio with a range of 1 km, I can log on to your frequency? Any specific type you can recommend?

Another thing is: Maps. I have downloaded the “T4A” (Tracks-4-Africa a map which is put together by people that have already been there, and logged their tracks). A mate of mine will put it on my Garmin Montana 600, which is the device I will take along. Also I do have some paper maps, proper ones for Marocco and Senegal/The Gambia, and West-Africa on a 1 : 2.200.000 scale which makes it practically useless for motorcycling.

Hope to hear from you soon.

Kind regards.

Jeroen

Board? Are there other surfers on this little excursion?

Sorry for delay - I just returned from riding the continental devide route in the western US. Absolutely phenomenal! I have 2 weeks to get the bike ship shape and ship her out. she gets a fresh chain, sprockets, tires, air filter, and valve check.

Joren - Yes, I already have my flight for Sept 29th, but may try to make it a few days earlier.

No bike disassemble - roll on roll off. I arrive the morning of the 29th, so ideally I get out of there the same day, don't know how likely that is though. I'll don't have anything booked to get to Calais yet, but I'll keep you posted here when I figure it out. Unless I move my flight forward, sounds like I may be a bit behind some folks.

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bugsonmyboard.org
two wheeled wave hunting dispatches

Sorry my mistake, I've been jumping in and out of this thread and lost track of who the players are. Seems like I have Paul and Gary confused...

Not much in the way of swells around here in SL, small beach breaks of maximum 2' on the Freetown Peninsular. Have to wait until Robertsport, Liberia before something worth remembering. There's ride-able waves on some of the city beaches in Dakar conditions permitting. You might see something on the coast road down through Morocco/West Sahara.

Maybe see you guys in the few months here in Freetown. Should've stopped raining by then.

lets all bring boards anyway

cool -thanks for the lowdown Cam. I've gotten some cracking waves in Morrocco in the past and heard about some great but fickle surf in Senegal, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. Got to go check it out!

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bugsonmyboard.org
two wheeled wave hunting dispatches

Gee I'm planning on riding across northern Spain, then down through Portugal in late September. I was also thinking about taking the ferry from Algeciras to Ceuta, instead of straight to Tangier. Then I/we could ride across northern Morocco to see more of it. Anybody interested in any part of this?

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Have returned to Latin America ... again in 2024/2025. +15179800336 WhatsApp

Hi All,
Jeroen, we will arrive in Calais on the 4th Sept, hopefully about Midday, you can put tyres and anything else bulky and awkward to carry in the Landrover, theres quite a lot of room in there and we have the full length roof rack aswell.
Radios, any 466Mhz radio with about 8 channels should work reasonably well, I went with the Kenwood ones as they are small, I will try and find out exactly what frequency each channel is on so you can get one that matches exactly.
Ill send you all my phone number too when Ive decided which phone to take, and the sat phone number when Ive activated it.

Hello from Russia. I'm still riding through siberia. Its big...

Still planning on getting to Southern Europe mid Sept, and then be comfortably into Africa by the end of Sept.

Seems like some of this thread are earlier in Sept, and some later.

I'll keep you posted as i get closer.

Ps. I still havent done any visa/carnet work, but do realize that i need to get on that soon! Ay tips welcome.

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WineAndWater. RTW - Raising money for Wine to Water, supporting clean water projects in 15 countries.

Paul - If you can spare LR space, then I'd like to put 2 tires in ... or on. Guess I'll get them somewhere in Spain or Portugal for my DR. And I still want a radio

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Have returned to Latin America ... again in 2024/2025. +15179800336 WhatsApp

Will you be needing support/drivers for the LR? I am very interested in your trip, though I don't ride a bike, but find the idea of being a support person highly intriguing. I am a 61 yo American and will be in London, heading for Morocco and then the rest of West Africa a little later than you all. I am planning on flying to Fez, since it is cheap on RyanAir, around Sept 20th. I was planning on the overland route and paying my own way, but with this team, it looks really cool.

Need the help?

David