Vincent
Regarding panniers, as Grant says there are plenty of reviews around to make an informed choice. We chose Darr boxes as they were half the price of Touratechs, but uprated the locks and catches to make them more secure. We also wanted to be able to take the panniers off at night, so they have locking catches rather than the semi-permanent u-bolt fixings that are common to most boxes/frames. We had frames custom built by Ernie in Kent and he did a great job, he also supplied the panniers and fitted the catches/locks. After 6000 miles the frames still look like new, but the boxes have a few scratches and dents from slow speed drops. You can pics of our frames/boxes and contact Ernie through our website www.chasingthesun.org.

Regarding shocks - yes, the stock one may well fail eventually, but it may take a long time. Although Chris Bright's failed, he did get all the way through Africa and North America and half way through South America, so you have to way up the balance between spending the cash now or having the potential hassle of replacing it on the road if it fails. I faced the same choice with my driveshaft (I'm riding an 1989 R100GS early paralever model) as they are prone to fail around 40,000 miles and I left the UK with 30,000 miles on the clock. As a new driveshaft costs 270 GBP I decided that I'd risk it and stick with the old one. If it fails it will be inconvenient, but I can get a new one couriered out within a few days and there's always the chance that it will last the trip.
Out of interest, we've just met a guy here in Goa who rode his new R1150GS overland from Germany. He replaced the stock shock with an Ohlins and it failed about five days ago as he was riding on smooth tarmac (the lower mounting bolt sheared in two places). Not only did it unnerve him slightly (!), it caused a considerable amount of damage to the driveshaft housing. He's now facing a large repair bill as, allegedly, BMW won't honour the warranty because he fitted after market parts.
Hope that's helpful in some way. You pays your money and you takes your choice.
Let us know how you get on.
Harvey www.chasingthesun.org

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