Nostalgia, it's a great thing. But, taking an old bike is an indulgence. Yeah, Ted Simon (brand new bike at the time?), Guevara (all they could afford?), Lawrence of Arabia (latest kit?).

The world (including world number 3) has moved on. If you ride at 40 mph you're a hazard, and in danger of being wiped out by every truck that batters across the washboard. Everyone will travel faster than you, bar the cyclists (and even they can get there first!).

Two things I found about an Enfield in Africa:

1) If you attempt to ride with other people, which you will, you're the slowest and holding the others up. You can't do the 300 miles a day that's 'normal', so either they wait and get pissed or you always ride solo. It's fun to ride with others. On an old bike you're gonna feel like a lame duck, sometimes.

2) Cars and trucks don't give you much room when they blast past. You must get used to everyone leaving you in a trail of dust. I was always last, always slowest and always being overtaken. On a bad day, being left for dead can have a funny effect on your mind. Even as early on as Spain I was forced off the motor way by an HGV, horns and lights blazing sitting 2 meters off my back light.

Try riding around Edinburgh town centre at 20 mph, just to get a feel for what it's like being slowest. How long could you last?

And about parts... A KTM or BM is just as alien as an Enfield in remote parts. Though I did get a clutch cable fixed by a welder somewhere, could you on a modern bike? All you need (on any bike) is to carry cables and filters, and have someone back home with a bike shop number and a courier (though lie completely about the cost of the parts!).

Having said that, the old Enfield always made me grin when I was somewhere I had no right to be on a bike like that. It looked so much cooler parked up next to a GS or KTM (eh boys?). It sounded great, and only had one mechanical failure which wasn't really its fault. The grin was silly when scraping the pegs on some hairpins north of Addis, or side ways in the sand in Maurtania.

It's not expensive though, my Enfield was doing 90 mpg. A modern bike is around 50 mpg, so big savings on fuel.

Africa is hard enough, an old bike, for the sake of it, just makes it harder. There's good reasons to take a simple bike, but I'd think twice about it just for nostalgia sake. If you want to see the continent then give yourself the best chance for success, and look at something modern.