my favorite: honda nx 250!

have been travelling tough roads with this extremely light, small and economic bike. algeria (hoggar south, b.o.d to illizi), south america (for example: uyuni to san pedro / pictures here) and morocco (taouz-mhamid etc.) - no problems so far...
the small size of the bike gives you full control even in dangerous terrain. with a "white power" rear shock absorber you will be ready for any challenge, even with lots of stuff (the original absorber is the one weak part of the bike). the fuel comsumption of 3-3,5 l /100km saves a lot of money and logistics while travelling long and "dry" roads.
the honda nx 250 is extremely reliable - my south american one is looking back on 110000 km. there has been no breakdown, no mechanical problem - nothing.
this bike is cheap in germany (built until 95), and - because it is a favorite by women - usually in perfect condition.
you will need the original 20kw for sandy deserts, most of the older ones have full power.
one problem are the tires. the front one lasts about 35000km, so no problem here. but the rear one (120-90/16) is virtually not available in poorer countries. worse than that, life expectance of both available products adds to only about 10000km. so bring along two, if you're going a long way from home!

with a bike like this i'm sure you will share my travel experience:
half cost - double fun!

good luck to everyone

that's right I got a yumbo 200cc 6speeds dakar 200 ds bike with 1200 miles so far .and I would put it up with klr650's dr650's f650gs' all day.

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Here\'s Another Find Mess you Got Us In

For me it would be an MZ ETZ250 or the later ETZ251. Tough, cheap, reliable, fully encased chain and above all fixable. Spent this morning with a mate thrashing a couple on and off road through the mountains of West Wales. Didn't miss a beat and when it came to fallen trees and tricky spots hey its a 250 2T so man handling is no problem. No, we went places they would have stopped big bikes in their tracks.

Stephen

I agree on the 250! I drove a Yamaha XT 250 from Quito, Ecuador to the middle of Peru. My goal was Bolivia but a pig got in my way. Killed the pig, and the bike, and left me wobbling around Ayacucho, Peru for two weeks (best part of my trip). I reached local fame, "el gringo que mato el chancho". A friend, myth, legend, Jodi Thomas, rode a Yamaha 250 from Cochabamba, Bolivia around South America for over a year with only one rule, no asphalt. She hit a cow, broke a collar bone, but kept going.

Remember, beware farm animals, and any mechanical part can be made.

Chris

Hi

My friend and I do some travels on our bikes - MZ TS 250/1 ( 1979 ) and CZ 175 ( 1973 ) . We live in Poland, and so far we have been to Slovakia, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Austria, Romania, Hungary.
On such light bike ( cz - 110kg, mz - 130 kg ) we can reach many remote places, through mud, meadows...
The trips are cheap as the vehicles take little fuel, we are not affraid of sleeping in a forest by the bikes as as for value they costt little.
What is more, our speed is low - aobut 70, so we have the opportunity to see much from the saddle.

greetings from Poland

me!
http://motoebici.altervista.org
From Italy to Nepal,
From Italy to Cape Town
on 250CC

Nicolas
http://motoebici.altervista.org

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http://motoebici.altervista.org

I once rode a cb250 1000 miles From maimi flordia to tenn. Cool

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THE ADVENTURE IS IN THE RIDE

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THE ADVENTURE IS IN THE RIDE

Modern 250 four strokes are well capable of doing large amounts of distance with good reliability, I had a Yam TTR 250 Raid, very good for overlanding - at a nice steady pace, leccy and kick start, H4 headlight, good sized rack, Acerbis do a 22 litre tank and its not too tall. I rode the thing all the time, around all of Europe and when I eventually sold it, I'd done 74,000 km on it with no major problems at all, and yeah maybe it takes a bit longer on a small capacity bike, but when you go fast you miss an awful lot of stuff, just pack light, ride slow and keep the few grand you saved from not buying a Paris Dakar replica in your back pocket. Gipper.

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Cheers
Grif

'11 KTM 450 EXC
'09 Suzuki DR650
'00 Discovery Series 2 V8
'95 Defender 90 300 Tdi Overlander
http://gipperstravels.blogspot.ca

I am riding a xr250l BAJA.. i just rode from Singapore cross Malaysia and then to the beautiful island of Ko Samui a few weeks ago.. people are skeptical about small bike for long distance,though the total journey was just about 3000km.. I wanted to prove my point. The bike was actually doing well throughout the whole trip, the fuel consumption, the engine.. everything, the only major complaint was the seat of the bike.. well Singapore is just a f***ing small island of just like 50 km apart, so we dont really feel uncomfortable on the samll and narrow seat, but after riding for 20 hours non stop.. tell me about it!!! I can swear to god that I got buttf**** by the seat a million times.! I went with one of my friend riding a 1988 xr250r, and we really curse and swear along the way!!! come to think of it, its really fun though, upon completion of the trip, the feeling was SWEET!! who need a 1000cc to travel far? perhaps i have not gone more then 3000km, but until now, i think a 250 will be nice.. and the best of all, we can hit off road when the tarmac is missing isn't it?

In 2002 I rode from Osaka, Japan to Barcelona on a used Suzuki Djebel 250. Took me 7months and went through all kinds of climates/terrains, through Russia, Mongolia, Central Asia, Eastern Europe and Europe proper. The bike was fantastic and reasonably comfortable to ride. Im 187cm and 80kgs.

The most important thing is to pack LIGHT. I had 27kgs of gear plus 2days food.

In 3weeks time, my girlfriend and I are starting our Australia to Morocco trip, 2-up on a Honda CT110!!!!
18months together. Itll be slow but we will get there.

If you can do it on a bicycle, you can do it on any motorbike.

Just get on it and ride.

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Round the world on a Postie bike, 2-up
Bilingual Blog (japanese and English)
http://faster-than-walking.com

Onya mate!
Are you doing a blog? I would LOVE to keep up with your story. CT90/CT110 are such great bikes.

Kind regards

Nigel in NZ

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The mouth of a perfectly contented man is filled with . -- 2200 BC Egyptian inscription

Hey Nigel.
Just getting something together now. I like the idea of informing other people about whats happening but Im not too keen on the idea of a quote BLOG unquote. Im looking at other options like audio/video podcasts as an alternative but I may just be forced to go with blogger. Not much time left.
Will post back here.
Nathan

Our bilingual Blog
Faster-Than-Walking

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Round the world on a Postie bike, 2-up
Bilingual Blog (japanese and English)
http://faster-than-walking.com

Just got a bilingual blog together.
Faster-Than-Walking

N

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Round the world on a Postie bike, 2-up
Bilingual Blog (japanese and English)
http://faster-than-walking.com