125cc take the tasks??
 

hello there,my named hippo from Malaysia,after reading Ewan& Charley Boorman on their quest for RTW(book :: Long Way Round) giving me some motivation and inspiration to look other countries and seeing other cultures as well.

But for me,choosing the bikes giving quit heavy task and like me from third world countries,big bike are most expensive items to buy,although i using vulcan 1500cc rite now.Plannig to sell this bike when the time has come and buying 125cc dual-purposed bikes.Branded new bikes dual-purpose 250cc up likes hondas & kawasaki are quite expensive especially new ones in my country and i could't effort it.

So it seen,that 125cc local assembly manufacture model are more reasonable to get.So me and friend are consider model like Muz 125SX Dual/enduro bike.Are this model can take the pressure,carry all equiment,speeding on mountain route in pakistan,heavy traffic like India or dessert like Iran,saudi.


Now,i'm preparing my route,destination,costing,other matter/task.Will go across S.E Asia to middle east on 2008 from now.

Any advise much appreciate.Sorry for my English.

[This message has been edited by HippoEleben (edited 14 December 2005).]

hello Hippo,
I rode through south america with 2 dutch guys on 100cc bikes. they had no problems at all , only lacked a bit of power up in the Andes.
travel light, go slow and spend your money on the trip and not too much on preparing your bike,
have a good trip,
Mark

thank bro for your advise,will try my best.

Hi Hippo,
125cc will do the job. Also it is easy to fix, easy to find a spares etc. Only the problem might be the speed. You might go up to 100-100km/h. However, in many Middle East Countries the speed limit is between 90-120km/h. So even with 125cc u are above the speed limits. Try to travel light, do not take to much staff. 2x25 panniers will carry all of your staff.

Just take care of protective clothing. As previously told, dont spend to much money on you bike, save for travel.

Drop me a line when you come to Turkey. I might support you with a free acommodation if I am in Izmir.

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ride safely
ozhan u.
'97 F650
www.ozhanu.com/gezi

thanks guys!!you all are very supportive.

I am sure you are on the right track. Did you see in Charlie and Ewans book where their cameraman rode circles around them on a 350cc Russian bike, when his was out of action? You would have thought they would have got the message from that. I think that not only is it possible to do it on a 125cc bike, but that you are better off with a small bike (especially in Asis) then you would be with a big bike. M'Lady and I are planning this trip on Suzuki TS185 trail bikes.
So good for you. You go for it.
Regards

Nigel in NZ



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"The world is a book and those who do not travel read but a page"- St Augustine

125cc should be great if you take your time.
We crossed Russia East to West on 250cc bikes.
A Japanese boy crossed the same way and travelled on to Paris on a Honda 125cc road bike. You will be fine, have a ball.

yup....."the red devil".......hehehehe.

just visiting a book store and bought several interesting books,one of my preparation.Bought book on GPS Navigation(GPS For Dummies),info on laptop too and several road country maps.

Order also Ted Simon Book :: Jupiter's Travels :: Four Year on motorcycle journey.

am I in the right track??

On a 125 you want to travel light. That excludes the laptop for me.

Don't know about GPS. Can you get GPS maps for where you want to go? Your bike needs to have 12V electrics. Some 125's will have 6V.

Maps are good. I always start dreaming when I look at maps...

this Muz 125 using 12V power scource.Ok guys!!i managed to find good secondhand bikes(MuZ 125cc) under 1.5K mileage.Will buy'it next month and planning to go to borneo on Jun 2006.Shipping my bike to Kuching and rode through Sarawak,Brunei and Sabah(Borneo)

This will be my first long distance route.My first training ground to knowed my ability,endurance,how i planning,how my budget,etc.

On 2007,will try to enter Indonesia.

Sure it's possible, everything is possible if you really want to. I've rode from Burkina Faso to France on a 50 cc moped, about 12000kms. Ok, it's slow, and this one couldn't climb on the high atlas, but still I managed to go trough really rough roads in Guinea! However,I think I'll get at least a 125cc next time!

Have fun!

http://africanmoped.over-blog.com

On another thread, I discussed becoming a Zongshen dealer, one of the reasons being that I live on the US side of the US/Mexico border in the state of Arizona. I want to look into renting and/or selling their 200cc enduro bikes for people wanting to ride into Mexico. I am hesitant due to the reliability factor, but it sounds like the 125cc Muz is similar to what Zongshen manufactures. Hearing others' responses gives me hope that this might not be such a far out plan after all.

Yo
Me and a good friend from Oz are following the route Ewan and Charley rode, next april on a couple of Gilera Runner 125s. I think the only advantage they had is the long easy roads in Europe up to Kazakhstan, and USA. Other than that any bike will just about do. If anything a smaller lighter bike will be better especially on the really muddy boggy sandy tracks. Don't be fooled. You can see the world on a motorised skateboard if you really want to and don't need huge fuel guzzling off road bikes. One thing I would say is get some off road tyres. They will save you time on the slippery roads, punctures and falling off so much. Good luck and never stop travelling.

Will you have the caravan of support vehicles following you?

I've just bought a Honda XR125L 125cc road/trail bike and I love it. Apart from the long highway stretches I think it would have worked fine for me on my Morocco trip. I'm off to Salisbury Plain at the weekend to see how it copes with dirt tracks and potholes...

I remember that they featured two guys on 50cc Yamaha Zuma scooters on The Speed Channel, a motorsport cable television channel in the US. There is a motorcycle show every Tuesday called Two Wheel Tuesday, and the host and his buddy rode (roughly the majority) of route 66 from somehwere in the eastern part of the US to L.A. They had a crew with them, and did the segments weekly, so it wasn't as dramatic as going straight through. Three guys on TGB 150cc delivery scooters rode cross country from New York City to L.A. for the TGB company. I think the story and photos are on a site called www.cobramotors.com, the site being a distributor/dealer of the Taiwanese made scooters. Here is a direct link to the cross-country story: http://www.cobrasales.com/news/cobra...orts112004.htm

There is a scooter Canonball Run in the US, from coast to coast I believe, a distance of 3293 miles in only 9 days. All scooters are in the range of 125-251 cc. There are even vintage ones participating.

I'm not 100% certain, but I believe it is an annual event. For more info, chack out this link: http://www.scootercannonball.com/

If I am brave enough, I might try a cross country (U.S)run on a GY-series enduro 200cc. In the near future, I'd consider one of the 150-250cc scooters, preferably one with a stereo for a cross country jaunt.

I have a Loncin-manufactured 200cc bike, which are almost identical to the Zongshen 200. I bought my bike based on a recommendation from another fellow here in Mexico who owns the same model.

In his first year he rode his little 200cc just over 13 thousand KM, mostly commuting on the freeway but with the occasional weekend trip away from home. Now, that's sure not Iron Butt territory, but it's not that low either. In that time, he never had any mechanical problems of any time, just regular scheduled maintenance. He never did anything more than replace the plug, check the valves, or change the oil.

I think a lot of these initial reports of questionable reliability are from folks who are new to riding. They find a cheap motorcycle for half the price of a Japanese-made equivalent, are too cheap to take the bike into the shop regularly and don't know how to do their own maintenance, don't bother following the breask-in instructions - and then become upset when the bike doesn't hold up to their demands.

I just purchased a Jetmoto GY200 enduro. The company is based in San Francisco, CA, but are manufactured under contract in China. It uses the common Lifan 163FML 200cc engine, which is similar to what the Loncin uses. Since it is based on the 1980's XR200 engine, (the difference from the XR is that it has electric start), it is a highly reliable engine. The rest of the bike has a decent quality to it, too. I think the put downs were warranted 2 years ago, but the companies have made tremendous strides since then. Living a few miles from the Mexican border, where Baja Norte and Sonora meet, I will be making trips to both Mexican states in the near future. I am much more confident in these bikes, now. Due to the types of roads in the US Southwest and Northern Mexico, I would like to deal in enduros, and for daily, strictly off-road playthings, ATV's.

ChinaBikes is a group I belong to that discusses Chinese-made bikes in general, including scooters, enduros, cruisers, and "sport" bikes.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ChinaBikes/

Check the group out