africa twin 650 mods
 

Im heading off on a world tour next year and I have an africa twin 1989 650 to do it on.
Im looking for further info regarding mods to the bike its currently stock.

crash bars/ protection for the bike. which ones and what company

panniers/racks- it appears metal mule are the current fav but heard good things about tesch and bad reports of the M-Mule frames. It appears ernie at overland has a huge backlog so that options out.

Is it worth getting a better screen? such as the touring ones which are slightly higher.

Spares- I have seen a good few posts regarding what to take but is there anything that this model has issues with.

electrics- for charging phones and cameras ect.

If the experienced guys could point me the right way I would be grateful.

So far the main objective is to get to thailand then rest up there and then head off elsewhere.

thx,
garry

Hi Garry,
I used to have this bike for a couple of years and did about 40K Km on it. It was a very reliable machine. I only had two issues with it (consider the age). First of them was a broken fuel level probe in the tank and then one of CDI units went (yes, this bike has two CDI units). The reason: the bottom of the seat got lower due to its wear and tear and riders weight and broke the CDI unit connector off. Solution: I made a bracket which went over CDI units and was sitting on the frame held in place by two clamps.

As per screen: I bought a tall MRA screen and it was a great improvement.

Also I made a bigger rear and new side racks. Used soft luggage.

Otherwise the bike stayed stock.

Still thinking whether it was a good idea to sell AT for R100GS.:confused1:

Good luck,
Jiris