Nice report and good info about the equipment, I'm in the last planning stages before my own Africa trip.
How long did the Pirelli MT90 rear tyre last?

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http://tony-ontheroad.blogspot.com/

Great reading! I can live vicariously.

Thanks!

Be interesting to know how much you guy's are spending. Fuel, food, lodging and crossings.

Thanks again! enjoy and stay safe!

All these details are on our website at www.bigbiketrip.net, but I will be producing a chapter on detailed costs (given I am a forensic accountant)

We had no sponsorship whatsoever, but we have met people who have and its eased the burden (tyres, panniers, radios, GPS etc etc..)

But briefly, the expensive things are the deposit for carnet de passages.. which I will get back. (twice value of bikes deposited with the AA of South Africa) The service at KTM Nairobi was ridiculously expensive. KTM cape Town are also more expensive than the UK or USA.

Entry to game parks, seeing gorillas, climbing the mountains etc etc is most expensive cost once you get going and we generally haven't done these things.

Shipping/courier spare tyres is expensive.. best to carry tyres I think. Peace of mind. Also carry a few spares - depends on which bike you use. Our bikes have been awesome... no problems except for starter relay which decided to break in middle of desert... and we replaced with a generic Chinese one found easily in Africa for 3 US dollars.

New KTM 990 R was 135,000 Rand and Fanny's bike 2008 was 88,000 Rand and then we added panniers (too expensive and got ripped off a bit), engine bars and pannier frames. basically KTM cape Town gave little change back from R300,000 for all the bikes, the kit and set up.

Sudan and Egypt are expensive at the customs, but fuel and accommodation is cheap.

The rest of Africa is pretty cheap if you camp... ca,ping about 10 US$ a night for two people for all the facilities and peace of mind... bush camping is definitely possible in most places (animals and shiftas aside)

I think its going to be about 50,000 US$ each

Big Bike Trip on KTM 990 Adventures - YouTube

Amazingly 12,000kms on the rear. I think filling the tyres with nitrogen in Cape Town made a difference and keeping below 140 kph. Speed chews them up. We are on second rear with 8,000kms which we used on all the bad roads, sand and rocks and still has 3-4 k left. We also have heavy tubes and so we had only 1 puncture along whole s x 20,000kms.

We did put an M/T 21 on the thr fronts which wqas awesome for the technical bits, very nice balance, but at 8,000kms the tread is now uneven in parts and we have put back on the original MT90s for the road which still have a decnt amount of tread. The MT 21s are on the back, but just as an emergency and we will change tyres again in Europe.

An interesting thing is that MT21 handled much better tha the MT 90s on the front that cause a wobble at 55 kph ... but only with the luggage and panniers at full weight. The MT 21s did make a humming noise at 90kph +

The tires have been amazing. basically the rears lasted 12,000kms but had nitrogen in them which extended tarmac life by reducing temperature and decay.

The fronts have swapped between Pirelli Rally Cross MT21 and Pirelli Scorpion MT 90 and have 21,000 kms between them and still going strong. All have heavy duty inner tubes and we only had one puncture from a screw as we rode in a risk area in kenya full of rubbish.

More at www.bigbiketrip.net under "Bikes and Equipment chapter" on Diary

Also, a short very amateur video at

Big Bike Trip on KTM 990 Adventures - YouTube

We are now crossing to Europe and will head east to Asia in late spring.

R