Hi all,

I am planning a trip from France to SE Asia next year and I am looking for an Africa Twin RD07 dated between 2000 and 2003, with low mileage like 20 000 km.

I found a nice one dated Nov 2002 with 39 000 km with apparently good maintenance records. Its price is very reasonable.

My questions:
- in general what is a good mileage for starting such overland trip with an Africa Twin?
- between a 20 000 km and a 40 000 km bike, considering the maintenance is properly made, is there any real difference?

My questions might sound a bit stupid as I know the Africa Twin can last much longer than 100 000 km but as I was initially looking for a bike with 20 000 km mileage, I would like to gather several opinions before going for the 39 000 km bike.

Any advice & remarks are welcome.

Thanks in advance!

Sebastien.

I am not an Africa twin owner but would say a bike that has been looked after for 39,000 km is better than one that has been abused for 5,000.

I have done a trans Africa trip without problem on an R80G/S that had done 200,000 km before I started although I did rebuild it first., so don't be put off.

Bonjour sébastien
mon Africa a passé ses 100 mkms....sans problèmes réels
les points à surveiller sont le régulateur..( connectique) lâche souvent autour des 80 mkms et la pompe essence...tous les 40 mkms
la pompe il suffit de changer le petit contacteur interne ( comme une vis platinée) que tu trouves chez "wemoto " ( environ 30€)
nous sommes plusieurs proprio d'Africa qui ont " passé" allégrement les 100.000 kms
moto fiable...mais peut-être lourde suivant ton gabarit
conso..6.5 l /100
je rentre du maroc...la moto était chargée comme une mule...aucuns soucis!!
tu as plusieurs sites de passionnés sur le web...
amitiés
Yves

^^sounds a bit frech to me...

ok, my AT I bought with 60.000km. Drove another 50.000km and after I started our RTW trip... still doing it. 35.000km later stil driving. IMHO there is no difference between 20 and 40k ...

Check some things at the AT, doesnt matter the milage, something like the rectifier and its wiering (get a new rectifier from Ebay and do the wiering new), the chainkit and the Driveshaft (Antriebswelle).

Put always enough of the correct oil, water, brake pads, tyres and you are fine all the way.

cheers Sascha

__________________
Round the world by bike. www.RTWbyBIKE.com

we are on a RTW-trip now with two Africa Twins: (now 58.000km's in the trip)
1993 model now on 168.000km's (uses one liter of oil in 21.000km!!!)
1996 model now on 137.000km's (uses one liter of oil in 5.000 km)

The engine and gearbox are bullit-proof, as long as you keep an eye on the oil levels and do proper maintenance.
Fuelpumps: you need to take a spare with you anyhow.
Rectifier: ours both failed around 70/80.000km's
For the rest: no worries!

Driveshaft: yeah, that can be nasty. The spines can wear of, although this is very rare! If it is okay when you leave, and you only use GOOD QUALITY FRONT SPROCKETS, you'll be fine. Can send you pictures of ours, as I make pictures of the cleaned shaft every time I change the sprocket. After the mileage above, on our bikes you only see a bit of wear which you can just feel with your nail.

Usually the africa twin needs only a fuel pump and a rectifier...
The driveshaft issue is, mainly caused by overtightening the chain.

Hi All,

Thanks a lot for your useful advices. I then decided to go for this 39k bike. The owner apparently took good care of it and it has already several nice pieces of equipment (seat, crashbars etc.).

I wrote down all your advices regarding regulator, drive shaft etc. I will definitely apply those advices when I will be preparing my trip.

Thanks again to all of you! I will keep you posted. Can't wait to get the AT now.

Cheers,

Sébastien.

a lot of people indeed tighten the chain way too much on the AT!

We disconnected the rear shock once to check out the optimal play on the chain, the result:

- Put the bike on the centre stand, so rear wheel off the ground
- Push the chain against the rear edge of the chainslider (lower part). If it can just touch this plastic it is perfect. May need a bit of force to push it against it, no problem.
Seems to work perfect, as both our bikes were bought with around 40.000km's on them... and the driveshafts are still fine now! (only used JT sprockets by the way ;-))

other tips:
- We moved the rectifiers, they are now strapped to the passenger-footpegs on the left. Nice and in the wind, as they are out of the wind and thus cannot cool enough (I think....) and fail.
- Check the clutch-cable: where it leaves the outer part above the gearbox is where it will wear and break. Bend the bracket a bit so that the inner cable does not touch the metal parts of the adjustment rings, and you'll be fine!
- On this RTW trip, we take apart the brake calipers around every 6.000 km's. Clean the pistons, grease them up a bit. They don't really cope well with salt and tend to rust. 1,5 hours work for two bikes now that we do it regularly, but it can prevent a lot of 'shit'.

it will be great if you give all of us a link for photos of your beloved bikes ,or you may can upload it here ,
thats will be very helpful for all of us
cheers and greetings from Egypt

Sorry for the delay Mansour, it's only because there is a relaxed attitude by one or two here to helping out.

The bike is good - no worries. But do take a spare Regulator/rectifier, and also a fuel pump. Or change the pump to a Facet pump. Go to XRV. orgHond a Trail Bike forums for all info. You should also check the condition of the splines on the drive shaft, and again you must go to XRV for all info. This bike will roll on for ever if you attend to these issues.

Enjoy!

just check my website; there are hundreds of pictures of our bikes there! ;-)

Just my 2 c worth

1995 model 223.000 kms (uses one liter of oil every 3000km) done in Europe and South America

so far I had the usual problems: voltage regulator, fuel pump, had to rebuild the brake calipers twice, change the front rim (salt on Swiss roads), rebuild the clutch basket once but will have to change it soon (500 Euros Honda part)

.... all in all a fantastic bike and I will keep riding it every day.

saludos de Brazil Mika

I bought mine with 24000 kilometres on it.. did not burn oil..
By the end of Africa 150000k we started to burn 1/2500 l/k oil .. changed the oil rings and then no loss at all we then went though SE asia. (AWSOME). Anubis now has almost 200000 and we dont burn any oil.. I will start to worry about a warn out engine at half a million Kilometers....

An AT will take you where you wan to go.. just basic maintenance and you are golden

__________________
2000 Africa Twin
http://two-up-ona-twin.blogspot.com

what do you mean with 'changed the oil rings'? The piston rings?
We're thinking of rebuilding the engines of our bikes for the next trip(s)...

My brother in law opened up two AT engines at around 80.000 km's, and did a full measurement on all bearings etc. He found that both engines were around 50% towards their wear limits, vith a bit of variation between parts.
Our bikes ar at 150.000+ km's too....

Did you also measure other stuff on your bike, or just swap the piston rings and that's it? What was the status on e.g. your cam chain tensioner?

I bought my AT (2000 year) with 20,000 miles showing.
Sold it with 26,000 miles.

Never used a drop of oil.
I think between services, 3000, miles, it would use may be zero oil.
I didn't ride it hard, it was a summer toy, so was kept in good condition.

I even bought sparky plugs for it, and the special box spanner.
When I took the plugs out they were like new, so just cleaned them a little and put them back in.

No point wasting to put new plugs in, when nothing wrong with the old ones.

Run like a dream !!