morocco 3 weeks april/may

[ex-xt]

Hello
I am planing a new ride in morocco , mostly chefchaouen fes south azrou to zagora then tiznit.
Minimum 50 % off-road .
Cheap places and bivouacs .
Ride a 400 DRZ . maybe will get a 600 ?

points
short days, not more than 200 on tracks
no fixed route
time to talk with people
light material ( minimum roads )
my place is SW of France, near Spain ; 2 days from Algesiras

[Magnon]

Hi ex-xt, might be up for this although it's difficult for me to plan this far ahead and for me 3 weeks might be difficult.

I would use my KTM 690, 200km of piste is fine for me, I like food and drink and meeting local people. I'm English but speak French. I live in the north Dordogne - where are you? Are you planning to ride from your place through Spain?

I've only been to Morrocco on family holidays so have no experience of riding a bike there althogh have done many, many thousand of kms in other parts of Africa.

[Ron. Rainbow]

Hi ex-xt! Don't do forums very often, so only just picked up you thread.

As my other thread, and maybe, other threads, I'm pretty flexible, with only two fixed points. I leave Plymouth 09/04/17, and leave Biloa 24/05/17 heading home. I'm looking at 2-3 nights in Spain on the way down, and the same on the way back as time is luckily not an issue for me, plus I'll be on a 250!

Looks like another guy on this forum maybe going down similar times on a 250 as well. We've touched base and hope to meet up in the next few weeks to see how our plans may align.

Keep in touch, and if your dates fall inbetween mine, would be good to meet up!

[ex-xt]

Hi guys
Unfortunately i did not get the messages ( made a mistake i presume )
Anyway i am flexible too .
A 250 and a big ktm plus a DRZ will make a funny team ! Could be nice anyway .
rainbow : Spain in two days with a 250. You must be much younger than me

magnon : i live in Landes; 15 k from mont de marsan. This time i will ride down to morocco, and if possible change from 15*44 to 14* 44 for the piste.
and reverse on return.
the point for this is the tyres . no easy solution by now.it means at least 2500 k in Spain, plus the same in Morocco. on a round trip .
it sounds good to me to take time, meet people and enjoy sightseeing
bye

[Magnon]

Went through Mont de Marsan the other day en route to the Picos d'Europa so I know it's about 3 hrs from here.

I've just plotted your basic route and it's about 1500km by road so probably more on tracks - so is this 10 days riding or when you say 200km piste and 50:50 piste/road do you allow up to 400km a day?

Riding back north from Tiznit , do you still do 50:50, is it the reverse route or a more westerly route?

Is it possible to use local accommodation all the time to avoid taking camping gear? I'm happy to carry camping gear but it would have to be very basic to keep the weight down.

I do the same as you - fit a 15 tooth front sprocket for the road miles and take a 14 tooth for the off road. Tyres - I would fit a MT 21 front and Mitas E-09 dakar rear and expect them to last the distance but neither are ideal for sand.

[Ron. Rainbow]

Hi all,

Lol, I'm not that young, but I was working on doing 300 miles a day, on my 250, , with an average speed of 50mph, but that's not in tablets of stone. So I'm looking at 6 hours riding. From my calculations it's about 600 miles from Northern Spain to Southern Spain. So my thoughts are 200/250 miles on first day of landing, so 1st night in Spain, then about 300 miles, second night in Spain, the 50/100 miles to ferry crossing, or maybe a 3rd night in Spain. This is based upon using main roads. Sorry about the imperial measurements, but it's difficult changing the habits of a lifetime! Lol

I'll be taking my camping gear, albeit,,it probably doubles my total weight, but if anything goes wrong,mits nice to know, you can just pull over, pitch your tent and have a goods night sleep.

As mentioned before, I'm flexible, and time is not really an issue for me, just the beginning and end dates. On previous threads, there is another guy who's got a 250 and is interested, but no commitment yet, so looks like outline plans are developing. I'll keep an eye on this thread and let all,know how things develop from my Perspective.

Hope we get the chance to touch base in Morocco or on the way there/back, and maybe do a few routes, but if not, hope you have a great time!

[ex-xt]

Hi Ron
This sounds great for me either . 3 days for Spain is a good plan.
If I have time, i am also married ( maybe my wife will go also to morocco at the moment ) so around 3 weeks or 4 will be the maximum.
Anyway we could make a part of the trip together : some nice pistes need to be done not alone but are the prettiest !

magnon the previous way is only a proposittion ; i made half of it ( till zag) last year by pistes with group of much better pilots than me ah ah ) so i would like to reach the sea
The back way will be by roads .
tyre ? one ce more AC 10 : too good on dirt and wet tracks really. I will start with new ones , the will do the job
50/50 in general not in a day ! that means,if tracks it si 200 k max ; on road surely more . To give an idea, "rough " riders on ktm made twice more !

we shall stay in touch, i have to finish planning this year ! I n november will ride from here to andalousia by pistes, back by roads or ??? a time to test the gear .
s yours

[Magnon]

Hi ex-xt, Total trip for me would be 5600km so just about possible on one set of tyres but if there is a problem then no doubt it would be back in Spain or France. I have to be back end of April (28th) as it's my wife's birthday. Special year for us also as we will have been in France for 25 years. Also I think it may be getting too hot in May - but I don't know, although 30 degrees is hot enough for me!

I'm happy enough to do 4/500km on tarmac in a day but I agree that 200km on piste is enough. I not a fast rider but can sustain a decent pace all day.

What sort of fuel range is required? I have 22/23 litres on the KTM which should give at least 300km.

[ex-xt]

hi folks
magnon : 300 k would be the big maximum on this trip. except maybe between zagora and the sea ( did not make it already ) .
3 or 4 riders are planning this trip on this forum .
Mayhe it is time to precise some "routes " .
first : cross france
second ! cross spane maybe via west route form Aragon to andalousia; then a boat to Tanger ?

[Magnon]

I think I'll have to give this a miss sadly. We are awaiting the outcome of a court case which we thought would be all finished this year but it turns out it's not even getting to the court until early May 2017 - that'll be 4 years then!

[ex-xt]

magnon . SO no treek this very year.
hope it is gonna be OK anyway.

[PropTP]

Ex-XT do you have a departure date?

I just got confirmed the whole of april off. Plan is to ride from Denmark to Madrid, where ill visit my sister for a couple of days and continue onwards to Morocco.

I dont have any fixed routes yet, but im pretty flexible. Ideally id like a buddy for some of the pistes.

[ex-xt]

here are my possibles dates
between the 2 d and the 24th of aprill as I am supposed to ride in Portugal end of the month.
the way of travelling is above .
I am checkiing for last longing tyres, And fixing a kind of fairing and two extra lights ...
Now
time to check
-bikes
-irl experience of riding abroad including
The Dual Sport Rider’s Dirt Road Rating System – Texas Adventure
mostly two' s and ones ' s ; some three's we can escape.
-mechanical minimum

And , first of all, i like to stop for a while to look around , discuss, enjoy to rest .
here are my answers
_ 400 Drz, tested in two raid,s 15 L tank , blabla
- 3 raids , the biggest is the eldest
_improving off roads, but not so much
- over 500 000 k on bike bla bla
- minimum for this bike ( tyres, cables , oil , air filter )
-need to rest sometimes
have a nice day

[Ron. Rainbow]

Hi Ex-Xt! Please have a look at my post, which links in with yours a bit. Happy to team up at some time along the trip and do some routes.

Whether they're the right tyres or not, I'll be putting hiedanau scout 60 (I think that's what they're called) on the KTM 690 I'll be taking. I don't want to have the hassle of having to change the tyres on route. A decision I may regret!

Hope to see you in Morroco!

Byron

[ex-xt]

here are my dates .
Il will take me around 3 days through Spain, 12 in Morocoo, and 3 back .
BUT maybe i will pay a visit to my family now living in RABAT . In this case return alone . This can be changed also.
tires will be MT21 .
starting around first week of april .
Point 2 :
answers needed to the questions .. PLEASE
( reasons can be explained by mp, mostly " baltringues" on the internet )