To the original poster, if you go with the Tenere, it would be an excellent choice. In reality, you would be hard pressed to make a poor choice with modern bikes. In fact I would say that any person contemplating a long trip spend a little time on research, pick any one of the common choices of bikes, and then spend a lot of time honing your skills. For every hour you spend faffing on the interenet, that is an hour that you could be spending learning how to ride a bike in various conditions, fully loaded and offroad. You can't practice a lot of those skills enough, many things happen in a split second and you have to have imbeded those skills and keep them practiced so that when the Egyptian truck driver comes hurtling at you at night with his lights off, you react appropriately and save your skin.

Well said MountainMan. I have been round the block and have been building up scramblers (as we use to call them in SAfrica) since the age of 16. The only problem i forsee is that I can take a 2stroke engine apart blindfolded and growing up movin to road bikes (and doing my bit for grey imports), I have always had someone else do the work.
I will def go do a mehanics course as this is essential to my travels. I'm blessed as I'll be driving to Cpt with my brother who has recently bought a Toyota Landcruiser VX Turbo. 96 Diesel. (he's so proud) This means I can stick as much spares as I like on his roof for when that dreaded time comes...breaking down.

I'm taking everything in and perhaps once I arrive after 5 months travelling through Eastern Europe and Africa I too will become an EVANGELIST for whichever bike I'm riding...

Thanks for all the advice!!! I'm really appreciate it!

Hey Pimp Yoda,

Lol, see the hornets nest that you inadvertently poked with what seemed like a simple question but ended up being a big stick?

With your long background in bikes and experience in South Africa you are already way ahead of most and when coming down, you will wonder what all the fuss was about.

Are you going east coast? If so, having your brother along will be a multiple blessing, not only to share a once in a lifetime experience but as you say to carry some of your gear!

One route I would suggest if you are going east coast is to go along Lake Turkana instead Moyale in northern Kenya. The route is rougher, and much, much less travelled, but was certainly a highlight. With a truck to carry a lot of your weight and the spare fuel and water, the riding will be easier to enjoy and it is truly is unique corner of Africa.


And last off topic comments:

First, the views held by Mollydog, while sometimes at the extreme, do serve a purpose in that they stir the pot and balance a lot of the preconceptions that exist in the general public. I'm sure a lot of people begin the dream to ride around the world and have in their mind that they have to use a BMW to do so.

As we all know that is not true, many options exist and this thought sort of thinking has to be jarred out of them so they can make a reasoned choice amongst options, sometimes better suited to their specific trip, sometmes not. I can't tell you how many people around the world, with varying levels of experience, would walk up to me and make comments along the lines of "I'm going to ride around the continent, as soon as I get a BMW of course, are you able to get by with your inferior bike?". This became funny after a while, and even funnier after I actually switched bikes and was riding a new model BMW.

Kudos to BMW, this has been hard earned product recognition, based on many years of experience and dedication to long distance and world touring and focused marketing. And comments by Margus and others show this, any business would be proud to have such commited and supportive customers. We should continue to be nice to BMW as well, they are pushing an area that is pretty much a niche to the big guys, even though it is the center of our world. That's probably part of the reason we are so passionate about it.

Plus, the BMW riders and Japanese riders should unite for even more reasons, there is a new enemy in town. As I mentioned before, the most common western bike that I saw in Africa was KTM, and based on my experience, their smugness has exceeded that purported to belong to owners of other brands. Rise up all, the real enemy is not KTM, but the KTM riders (Herby, we know who you are

The survey results are interesting. Ask 10000 riders if they think their bike is reliable and you mostly get an opinion. Of the 10,000 lets say 1000 ride a particular brand, of that how many actually rode enough miles to break down (Urals excluded, even I managed to breakdown five times in 6 months 10,000 km). Lies, ****** lies and statistics or just an oddly worded question? The sample size is in any case too small. I can read the result as 90% of BMW's are reliable or 90% of BMW owners think they are reliable. Is this good bikes or good marketing?

Tough one isn't it

I don't think any rider of any bike is an enemy BTW. The ones who bought their mega cycles and half the Touratech catalogue but can't check their own oil level provide more imeadiate entertainment that the ones actually going places on twenty year old hacks held together with duct tape, but heck, anything's better than not going

Andy

Thanks MountainMan. I did seem to open a hornets nest. In my life I have only owned Japanese bikes. 1 Suzuki, 3 Yamaha's and 2 Kawa's and 1 Honda. Never owned a brand new bike in my life. These bikes have all had their problems including the last bike I owned (Honda) seized the engine so badly that the connrod went staight through the sump.

Needless to say, every bike will give you troubles eventually if you do'nt take care of it properly, Jap or German.

The input has been overwhelming and what I have learnt is to go out and speak to people who has done the journey and ask about common problems to prepare myself in the best possible way no matter what I'm riding.

I'll also go out and test a few bikes and make up my own mind before investing in a friend for life (i hope)

Thanks again and speak soon.

Ps: I will need some advice on the carnet as I do want to sell the bike in SA eventually.

Have fun testing and let us know what you decide, PimpYoda. There is a lot of carnet stuff to read up on, there is a fairly recent post that talks about selling a UK bike in South Africa by bikerfromsark. Be aware that the standard line is that you can't, and the kindly gent who issues the carnet also reads this site so be careful of all the jokes you make about him



"I don't think any rider of any bike is an enemy BTW."

Lol, you are certainly correct, threewheelbonnie. In my experience, on the road, all riders are friends and the great "my bike is better than your bike" debates are mostly reserved for bored people on the internet who are killing time until they can get out riding.

Around the campfire, there are plenty of good humored jabs, (hence my joke) but it's all in good fun, most people are on the road are very, very humble because we all know we are one small problem away from getting towed into town and in remote locations, even small problems can take a lot of time and money to fix. You just hope that your friends aren't quick enough to film the towing and post it on the internet

Hi guys, I've just finished a pretty long trip with my Dakar and have been very happy with it- no breakdowns! I've ridden the standard GS too, though not nearly as far. I didn't like the smaller front wheel on the standard GS when riding off-road. Maybe I needed more time off-road with it. I really do like that 21" front wheel on the Dakar though, just my preference. In Siberia I met a South Korean man who had completed a RTW ride on a standard GS. He went through 3 stock shocks on his trip! I broke my Ohlins in Africa and it wasn't a cheap fix. The Korean guy is on a DR650 now and is happy with the bike. His buddy is a new rider and chose a KTM950. He fell down on the stretch from Khabarovsk to Chita and broke his arm. They put the bikes on the train and spent 6 weeks healing in Mongolia. Have fun- whatever you ride!

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For an overland trip you'd better of with a Dakar, and thorough preparation of the bike, in my experience.
Look I just spent 1 year motorcycling aorund south america, doing lots of tough dirt roads. I had the F650GS (fitted with a White Power rear shock), the husband had the Dakar.
I had a never ending list of problems with. I won't retype all here. IF you take a F650, check my feedback here: bikes


I am not slacking there, I am just listing thing sthat you should keep an eye on. Also make sure to repalce the rear shock, or you won't go far.

Good luck with your preparations!

I forgot to say, since I came back from travelling last May, my bike has been in and out of workshops constantly! I got it back after yet more work last Saturday. I took it on test ride on sunday, phoned workshop again today (Monday) for yet ANOTHER problem... GAHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

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Maria

www.franglais-riders.com

Damn Maria- I think ye bought a lemon!!! See you in Spain- where the pain is mainly on the train! Malaga should be fun- tapas and vino are on me! H.

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