WOW... Please post more pýctures!!
safe travells,
m.

The bike is now finished and I have sent new photos today to Yamaha Diversion home page, see http://www.xs4all.nl/~kimkodde/ydcn.html
and click on Bike Pictures and Yamaha Diversion Offroad.

See you in Africa!
Skonte

Hi All

One to think about, more and more people are using Imo style computers

You've got all your eggs in one basket if it goes wrong. The fitting to the wheel/fork is not the best I've seen.

Are clocking going to be a safer option even though they are heavier.

Cheers

Julio

Hi Julio

It depends on how you attach the things, I have now been riding for three months without any problems. The trip included approx 15.000 km on rough pistes in West Africa and a lot of rain in Ghana on gravel/mud roads.
Give it some protection, and it will be fine, as long as you choose some quality stuff.
Standard clocks and vajer are also breakable.

Rgs
Skonte

Here is some pictures (bilder) from the trip;
http://groups.msn.com/skonte/vlkommen.msnw
but the text is mainly in swedish, pardon!

Perfect adv bike? for my take have a look here:
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb...ML/000303.html

IMO, something that you can shoot when lame without crying into your carnet is always desirable

Farmer Chris

__________________
Adventure Motorcycling Handbook 8 • Morocco Overland 3 • Overlanders Handbook 2 • Twit

I have diven Yamaha xt 600's & 500's, Kawasaki KLR650's, owned a Suzuki DR600,
and I have worked on these bikes.
And I can say without a doubt in my mind that there is no comparison to these bikes and the BMW models.
Starting with the price of parts:
BMW keep all parts available for all models from 1970.
Most parts even though in some cases being more expensive will outlast the parts of the Japanese models by three to four times in most cases.
And most importantly BMW dealers are found almost everywhere.
Most of them will keep most regularly needed parts in stock and if not it will take two days to get supplyed by the main supplier, or three weeks to get the parts from BMW Motorrad in Germany.( This is the case in South Africa and might differ for other aireas.)
To get to the other part of being the perfect touring bike I think you need to add somewhat to the already good design to make it perfect, and the right people for this is HPN in Germany.
HPN built the Dakar Ralley bikes for the BMW factory and on the basis of these models are they building custom bikes dealing directly with thier clients.
The options is so varied that everyone should find a sulotion to thier unique travel problems.
Basicaly these bikes are indistructeble, very simple and have brilliant handeling characteristics.
The motors can be made to produce good power for most comfortable slow tourers or can be turned into power monsters that will keep you hanging on for dear life.
But most importantly they fullfil all the requirements of the first mesage posted in this thread.

Sorry guys, but
if it's really got to be german, I'd vote for an MZ Baghira.
State of the art frame, Marzocchi fork, WP at the rear.
Fix a ktm adventure tank on it and the XTZ660 ténéré engine will take you anywhere.

And for the price of 1 HPN, I'd have 4 brand new motorcycles, as they still produce them.

Even if yamaha engine parts would be harder to find, which I doubt, I'd still be better off because they don't break down in the first place.

IMHO It would have to be Japanese. I'd avoid any of the junk BMW churn out. Four BMW's and all have had faults. One, F650GS, I bought brand new was so bad I got my money back. The 1200GS I recently sold was faultless for three weeks before it developed a fault and the dealer had it for ten days trying to locate the fault and that was with the aid of a diagnostic computer. What chance would you have in the middle of nowhere ? LB.

__________________
\"Bon Chance\"

Although it hurts me to admit it,i must agree with the above comment.I've had BM's and Jap's of various ages/sizes over the last 20 years and although i really,really want to convince myself that the BM's are better....i can't.And of all the Jap's i've had,the ones that have come out tops as far as strength and hardyness are concerned,are Honda.

------------------
Just going for a short ride on my bike....

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Just going for a short ride on my bike....

I have a question regarding the "easily fixed by a local" bit. Is there really a good reason for not knowing how to fix your own bike? I understand that you may not have certain special tools, but arrangements can be made. I know a lot of people are not that mechanically/electrically inclined, but it is really not a difficult subject to learn (my opinion only, of course). Why do people prefer to not know how?


Just my two cents on some of the others...

If you don't go that fast, you don't need a lot of power, what you really need is just a good range of gears. A smaller motor with a wide range of gears is smaller, lighter, and will get better fuel economy.

I just bought a Honda VTR 250 motor on eBay. I am going to try to convert it to turbo-diesel. If it works, I will post. The next step would be a 3 or 4 speed rear wheel (overlanding really only needs two, but I want to see how high I can get my fuel economy on the highway). If that works, then I make a unibody (body as structural member like a newer car) chassis. Why unibody? A unibody is the most efficient way to make a structure. If I make the luggage an integral portion of the structure, the whole thing gets lighter weight. I intend to make the structure out of composites (mostly kevlar), which allows repairs to be made on the side of the road with spare pieces of cloth and little packets of epoxy. The last thing to do will be to make sure that enough nooks and crannies are sealed luggage (front and back panniers, etc.) that the whole thing will float. Why does everybody need a floating motorcycle? Just because. :-D
Ideally I would also want two wheel drive, but only if I could keep it light and robust.

Lots and lots of winter projects....

Matthew McLaughlin

Whatever happened to the Diesel KLE being developed for the millitary. If that was ever available to te public I think that would be the 'perfect travel bike'. LB.

__________________
\"Bon Chance\"

Perhaps the perfect travel bike (for the third world anyway) would be a bike that looks like a local farmers low capacity trail bike but with the power of a 600 big single? And with suspension to match. I've bought the bike for my trip now but the more I think about it the more I want a bike that does not isolate me from the locals. My XT600e may be a reasonable compromise between power, carrying capacity and "Who me? Rich foreigner? Nah, look at me salt of the earth old traily" looks. However, the screen I've fitted and the big ally boxes look a bit flash. I may paint the boxes green and remove the screen when I get to the hot/dry countries if I feel a bit conspicous.
Matt

__________________
http://adventure-writing.blogspot.com

http://scotlandnepal.blogspot.com/

*Disclaimer* - I am not saying my bike is better than your bike. I am not saying my way is better than your way. I am not mocking your religion/politics/other belief system. When reading my post imagine me sitting behind a frothing pint of ale, smiling and offering you a bag of peanuts. This is the sentiment in which my post is made. Please accept it as such!

Hi Matt,

Just don't wash the bike, it'll soon look the part.
My MZ baghira with dirt looks great even with the patched up screen from a recent off in the dirt from Potosi to Uyuni - Bike and driver survived, nearside tourtech box wasn't so well off!!!!!!

Best wishes

Alec.
Very dirty Baghira

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I wanna go back.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Livotlout:
[B]Hi Matt,

Just don't wash the bike, it'll soon look the part.

An option that appeals to me. Always take the path of least resistance (or work!) I say!
Matt

__________________
http://adventure-writing.blogspot.com

http://scotlandnepal.blogspot.com/

*Disclaimer* - I am not saying my bike is better than your bike. I am not saying my way is better than your way. I am not mocking your religion/politics/other belief system. When reading my post imagine me sitting behind a frothing pint of ale, smiling and offering you a bag of peanuts. This is the sentiment in which my post is made. Please accept it as such!