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Go with whatever bike that fits your budget. It might help to get a decent paid job between your trips. Quote:
A while ago I started to read a blog where two people traveled long distances with bikes that fall apart all the time. In the beginning I found it quite amusing but after a while I found that there are limited interesting ways to describe a welders workshop. |
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I'm being a bit tongue in cheek of course, but in all seriousness, two people who have done different amounts of prep could do the exact same route, do the exact same things, and for the one who had done less prep, it could be a real "adventure", and for the other, just a pleasant jaunt. |
What do you lot mean by 'prep'. Some of you imply that prep is improving the off road ability of the bike and some seem to take the view that prep equals reliability.
Most travellers seem to choose their bike on personal preference and in some cases a degree of inverted snobbery. If you've always ridden Suzuki you'll probably stick with Suzuki. Your budget determines how new a bike you buy (2 year Suzuki or a 10 year old BMW maybe). Once you have your bike you would do four things by way of prep:
If you choose to 'simplify' your life and embark on a trip with no prep then at the end of the day your bike will bankrupt you and your trip will be much shorter and less adventurous than intended. I agree that reading books/blogs that just list an ongoing list of breakdowns and bodge repairs until the bike becomes unserviceable is not very interesting. |
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To me, if you do all of this to the nth degree (ie plan exact routes, book hotels in advance, know exactly when you'll be in what city, etc.) you are basically squeezing all of the adventure out of a trip, no matter where you're going, which is undesirable. The key is to plan enough, but not too much, so that you can have an "adventure" but not necessarily an "ADVENTURE!!!". |
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It does worry me that the net and literature is full of other peoples shopping lists that seem to be taken as must haves, but hey it's your money. When I first started I did the shopping list thing, F650 with every Touratech bit I could cram on. It died in North Africa because I didn't know that Rotax were idiots when it came to understanding waterpump seals. My close to stock Bonneville lightly breathed on with bits like a well greased up coil has made up home every time for the last 7 years. I think prep is items 1 and 2, not shopping and if that's taken as inverse snobbery by guys with different experiences so be it. Andy |
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If you've owned the bike for some time then you can improve it intelligently but best avoid too many non standard parts if travelling far afield. 'Planning' - what's that! All you need is a destination and a vague idea of a route. It can, however, be cheaper and quicker to get visas for some places before you go and you should know how you're are going to get cash in the countries you're visiting - see, learnt that from a lack of planning. My approach is to sort out the bike to minimise the hassle and time wasted fixing it on the journey, find out about the paperwork and do as much as you can before you go. Test your equipment, especially if you're camping, on a shakedown trip but leave the route, accommodation etc. until you're moving (and in a perfect world - don't have a schedule or time limit). |
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Interesting comments regarding swapping stock parts for "improved" after market components. In my experience it is usually the non-standard after market parts that are the weak link in the chain and are the cause of most failures.
Like 3WB says can you really tell the difference with after market suspension? I have two Burgmen - a 3 yeard old one with IKON rear replacement shocks and YSS emulators up front, while the other 9 year old one is stock. There is a marginal improvement (on road) with the after market kit but it is always the stock bike I take off road riding (e.g up the Oodnadatta track over easter) rather than the modded one. On this last ride I covered 4,000kms of which 800km were dirt including a lot of sand, deep loose gravel and heavily corrugated most of the time. Hardest part of the ride was having to push the bike for close to 1km through a deep soft sand/pebbles creek bed (which was the road) enroute to the painted desert. It was a real adventure even though the bike ran perfectly the whole way. Things like fuel capacity mods do not need to be expensive. Usually I strap an empty 5 or 10 litre oil container to the rear seat but this time I knew I didn't need that much extra fuel capacity. So for the one leg of the ride where I did I scrounged around in the rubbish bin at the fuel stop, found 2 empty 1.5 littre coke bottles which I rinsed, filled with fuel and strapped to my seat. 60 kms down the road I poured them in my tank and carried the empties to my destination. |
adventure
hi guys my first post, so forgive the naievety, lol ok here goes, whats the best standard,ie unprepped bike for adventure travel, hoping to do a little light off tarmac work, unsurfaced roads ect, so in standard trim, with a budget of about £3,500 for the bike, i was thinking of a gs1150 perhaps,all replies and ideas welcome, oh yea starting with uk, then european hoping to go further as and when time and the evil stuff permits, so uk first for weekends to start?????
top 5 bikes pls folks within the budget,,,,:cool4: |
Adventure?
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Attachment 4672 Then just take inappropriate equipment with you and get lost somewhere along the way. |
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Andy |
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If I were contemplating a RTW type trip I'd service it myself, and go... (no 'ring piece antenna' on 1150's) just the same as when I have set out on a 3000 mile trip round Spain. Still running on standard shocks and final drive etc... you'd get a good one for £3500 or even an 1100. You keep your five MZ's etc, I'll take my GS any day...:thumbup1: |
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Well...... in light of that......
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Shouldn't that read 'Inappropriate people' taking equipment to out-of-the-way-places?....:cool4:
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