In Australia we are about to get our first shipment of these, and I was wondering if they are a good thing, especially off road. Also does anyone know of aftermarket tanks, goodies for these bikes.

Regards

Have a search on google (www.google.com) for Transalp and you'll be flooded - tons of info out there.

I owned/toured (Europe, not RTW) but never took off-road the 600V and it was fantastic - comfortable, reliable, good value bike. I used to pick up a lot of hints and tips from http://www.xs4all.nl/~hanzw/index.htm

Daz

The Transalp is an excellent bike, although I am thinking from the " buy one, service it myself and keep " prospective. It is not a fast, modern bike.
What it is, though, is very often incredibly reliable and easy to work on ( a bit fiddly sometimes ) and comfortable. Frugal too, around 70 m.p.g.if ridden gently.
The only minus is that Honda overprice this bike badly, and spares are outrageously overpriced for a bike which carries an engine developed in the 80's. Maybe you chaps will get an introductory price?
Solid bike!

In december 2000 I bought a new Transalp. Have 64000km on the clock. Been all over France, done a lot in the Alps and seen all of Marocco with it. It went down on his sides almost 18th time by now. Always low speeds (hmmm, well once almost 40km/h I think) and off road.
Besides normal services and maintenance nothing has happened to the bike!!!

Deep water, mud, snow, sand, rocky tracks, big oueds, little oueds (that I didn't see in time sometimes...),... It all went ok. There are some pics on the website below.

Really happy with it. It looks a bit banged now, but it is the most trusty think I ever had.

One modification I would consider:
* higher screen.
For the rest you can pretty much do what you want.

If you take it off road: I use Michelin Desert. They were great. Since it is a heavy bike, I think you do need these tires.


have fun!!!




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http://users.pandora.be/pieter.maes2/

Thanks for the feedback

Cheers

Yes I would definitely recommend the Transalp. When I was buying my bike, the decision was between an F650 and the Trannie (as these both offered the on road comfort and off road ability that I was looking for). Transalp won merely because while I was 'browsing' some second hand bikes I fell in love with a secondhand 99 XL600. I've taken her to the Saharah (Morocco) and she was an absolute gem, even though I came off a few times she just kept on going! I didn't know anything about bikes when I bought it, but I like to do my own maintenance and so far she seems quite easy to work on. I recommend buying the proper workshop manual. Dual Sport bikes aren't big here in the UK (mostly sport and road bikes) so she does feel a bit slow sometimes in that respect, but then I didn't buy her for the speed. I think acceleration is fine and she can cruise happily all day at 80mph approx 130kph))
I don't know what availability of after sales parts and accessories will be down under but they are a bit disappointing here in the UK. More stuff available for the BMW's and the Africa Twin - although I believe you can put a AT tank on a Transalp! Modifications i've made are: -
- added crash bars
- added centre stand
- replaced original hand protectors with proper off road reinforced handprotectors
- exhaust guard to protect soft panniers

Let us know what you get!!!

[This message has been edited by PaulJ (edited 17 November 2002).]

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Africa Trips web journal

Hi,

For goodies take a look at
http://www.africanqueens.de
http://sw-motech.de
and
http://www.touratech.de

they have large fueltanks (also side mounted), crashbars, rally stuff, everything to make you win Paris-Dakar! (and go bankrupt on the way)

Jeroen

Hi,

my wife and i are travelling since almost two years on two Transalp 650s (about 60.000 kms so far in Oz, NZ and SE-Asia). Both bikes are well equipped for long distance travel (Tanks etc.). No problems, comfortable, sometimes a bit heavy offroad (especially for my wife with 168cms and 50kg).

Lots of information on www.transalp.de (but mostly in german).

If you have any questions please contact me.

Ralf

P.S. Did a lot of riding in Oz (11 months, 37.000km). Great country !

Ralf,

Any pics online of your bike? Quite curious what mods you have done. Big Transalp - fan myself.


Safe travels,


Pieter Maes
"Fireboomer"



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http://users.pandora.be/pieter.maes2/

Hello Pieter,

you find a few pic's and a description of the modifications (in German) of our bikes at

http://www.transalp.de/technik/rd-te...-fernreise.php

I have changed some more since then but basically that's what they look like. If you have any questions you could also send me an email.

See you,
Ralf

Ralf,

I LOVE THOSE TA!!!! Untill now I always thought that the next bike would be a AT, but when I saw these Transalps I thought I could as well buy a new TA and do some of the things you did.

Lots of questions. A short English transaltion of the text would help. My German is about as good as my Japanese... ;-)

Nice job!

Pieter.

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http://users.pandora.be/pieter.maes2/

My site
http://simonkennedy.freeservers.com
is all about setting up a Transalp for overlanding.

__________________
Simon Kennedy
Around the world 2000-2004, on a 1993 Honda Transalp

Hello Pieter,

sorry it took a while but internet is sometimes not very cheap and fast while travelling.

Some info regarding your questions:

Fuel tank:
Price? Where did you get it from and how did you take care of the fuel
flow to the enginge? I see the nossles come out of the top of the tank
instead of the bottom. Do you think one can place this himself?

-> The fuel tank is from African Queens (www.africanqueens.de). It's GFK and holds about 34-36l (net). In my case it's actually separated into two tanks with two fuel caps (so i can happily destroy one side and continue riding without fixing it). It has two fuel taps (left/right) that are connected by a fuel line through the gap between the cylinders (T-connector). The fuel line continues to a Mikuni
mechanical fuel pump (necessary because of the low fuel tank) and then continues to the carbs. The nozzles on the top are just breather tubes. Should be no problem to fix the tank to your bike yourself although it
might be a bit tricky sometimes (all very close and all handmade) but African Queens can do the fitting too. Price is about EUR 920 without painting/fitting (yes that's a lot !). You also need a new fairing because the tank will not fit with the original one. It's also made of GFK an is in one piece. Not sure about the price (you probably can get mine in the end of 2003 because i will totally change the bike then (smile !), see below)

ALU bashplate lower front:
Price? Where did you get it? Can you mail me the dimensions of it? I am quite handy and have a friend who can make things in ALU.

-> It's from SW Mo-Tech (www.mo-tech.de). African Queens has the same (i think). Mine is a modified Transalp 600 version but now they have also one for the 650. Dimensions is a bit of a problem because i'm travelling right now and the thing isn't just square but has a few angles. Best thing is probably to measure directly on your bike. Price is 135 EUR.

Hand protectors:
I understand you also have heated grips. Wich two did you combine? I mean on wich heated grips did wich protectors fit?

-> I've got the original Honda heated grips (not cheap but work very good). To fix the handguards (standard Acerbis) you have to cut off the edges of the grips and take the original weights out of the steering bar.

Front Crash bars:
Where are they from? Price? How heavy are they? Mine are so heavy I am considering to buy others.

-> They are from Fehling (www.fehling.de). I tried all different crashbars for the TA650 before we left on the trip and none of them was really good and strong. The Fehling was the best of the semi-optimal
crashbars and fitted with the big tank. But i would not recommend this one because when your front suspension trvels all the way on bad roads the top mount of the crashbar hits the mudguard and will slowly break it. I already changed the crashbar and made it stronger on different places. African Queens now have one for the 650 and it seems to be strong but i don't think it will fit with the big tank. Not sure about the weight but not very heavy. Price was around 140 Euro i think.

Some other questions:
* Did you consider a centerstand? If no, how will you take care of a puncture and lubricate the chain?
* why a lower screen instead of a bigger one? If there is one thing I want to change it is the screen: make it higher.
* Did you do anything with the airfilter? Is it still under the fuel tank and so hard to gain acces to?

-> Yes i also have put a centerstand on the bike since the pictures were taken. I got it from SW Mo-Tech. Good for all kinds of work on the bike.
I'm still "experimenting" with the screen. First i had the standard one. Good protection but quite loud wind noise. Then i slowly cut it smaller and smaller and it got more and more quiet. But undersandably not much protection from wind etc. anymore. Then i bought the original Honda
Touring windscreen and protectuion was very good but the noise was unbelivable loud. My latest "invention" is a spoiler "duck-taped" to the top of the touring windscreen and it's a lot more quiet but it looks a bit ugly. My problem seems to be more the helmet (Schubert Concept flip top helmet). Will try differnt combination when back home.
Yes, i changed the airfilter. Mostly because of the price and the lack of new ones while on the road. I cut out all of the original paper stuff and bought some plain sheets of air filter foam. Then i glued (with silikone) two layers of fine foam with "small holes" in (for the fine dust) and then another layer with foam with "bigger holes" (for the sand and bigger stuff) on top. The foam must be oiled with air filter oil of course. Works fine so far and you can clean it more easily then the paper and if it's really dirty you can cut all out and glue some new stuff in. But still it's under the tank and not too easy to reach (but more easy with the new tank/fairing). K&N have also one for the TA650.

Hope this helps and feel free to contact me if you have some more questions.

Next "project" when back at home (maybe winter 2003) is to totally change the bike to a "lightweight" Transalp suitable for long distance travelling. Because i belive this is a great bike/engine etc. for travelling but sometimes it's a bit heavy !

Ralf

Ralf,


Right on, the bike is just a bit too heavy. Been wondering about that too. Keep us posted how you'll get the weight down. I am more and more considering to buy a new TA instead of AT.

Gonna get myself the Honda touringscreen asap and start experimenting with the spoiler.

Thanks for all the info!


Fireboomer.

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http://users.pandora.be/pieter.maes2/

Pieter,
Are you looking for a new bike already? Your's is the new shape Transalp, have you used her so much she already needs replacing?? (I suppose a bike is like a woman - JOKING! )
Are you going to get another TA or are you going for a AT? If I was going for another bike I would be tempted by the new KTM Adventure - beautiful but I don't know what it would be like for long trips on the road!
Have you been servicing your own bike or do you take her to a bike shop? I have been servicing mine for simple things like oil/air filters, brakes etc but I think she might need a engine service (carb tune, valve clearance etc) and I'm not sure whether I should take her to a shop or get the tools and do it myself. I'm no expert (still learning) but I have the service manual and there's Deti's site of course!!

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