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Photo by Andy Miller, UK, Taking a rest, Jokulsarlon, Iceland

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Photo by Andy Miller, UK,
Taking a rest,
Jokulsarlon, Iceland



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  #1  
Old 10 Jul 2008
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Suzuki RF900 :-)
OK, looks like the rest of you are using off-road/adventure bikes so this is a bit out of place but just bought a cheap RF900 for a trip to Poland and Ukraine.

Will be taking a little bit of oil, spare brake, clutch and gear levers (in case I drop the bike), usual spare bulbs, fuses, bits of wire, mini toolkit, couple of puncture repair kits etc but wondered if there's anything else I ought to take, something I'd not think of initially ?

I'll service it before I go and it'll have a new battery/tyres. Is it worth taking a spare regulator or anything like that ?

Thanks.
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  #2  
Old 10 Jul 2008
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those rf900 motors are bullet proof! probably one of the most underrated bikes ever made.
make sure yer chain and sprockets are good - and have a great trip!
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  #3  
Old 10 Jul 2008
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I bet quite a few of the bmw gs1200 "adventure bikes" don't even leave the tarmac! Image is what seems to matter (shall i duck now?).

It is whatever suits you. There are pictures of an R1 upto its bobbins in clag somewhere on the forum.
If you plan on a bit of gravelly road, a road bike may be absolutely fine, good robust tyres with plenty of air in them would be useful though.

I leave a pile of spares at work for the c90, clutch, cylinder head etc, then if I needed them, would get them posted..

As has been mentioned, the bigger suzi motors have a good reputation for reliability, although 125bhp might nibble consumables. If you have a spare reg/rec, then carrying it would ensure your old one doesn't break down, but it is very easy to slip in to the trap of carrying tons of stuff you will never need! I would hazard a guess that a suzi dealer in the old eastern bloc would be able to get bits if you need them.
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  #4  
Old 10 Jul 2008
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Thanks, the regulator is the only thing I can think of that might fail, the rest is likely to be OK I suspect. Yep, don't want to carry unnecessary stuff with me, only got soft luggage.

Do you travel on a C90 ? I guess it's got to be about the most reliable bike on the planet
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  #5  
Old 22 Sep 2008
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A good backup is to have a friend/family
with a list and prices of parts of anything that could poss fail
then get them to buy and post them to you if they cannot be sourced
(and any tools if req)

When I binned my RF on ice,
nothing touched but the fairing fins, and mirror scratched an edge
the bar ends touched down but hardly marked 'em

so make sure your bar ends are in gr8 condition (and not the shorty ones)
It's poss the swingarm bobbins helped stop damage on the spill too

GSXR1100/750 RF600 500, 400 share many parts....
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  #6  
Old 22 Sep 2008
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A big chunk of this trip is (was?) through places where there are dealers. I'd leave even the regulator at home unless it's a known issue on your bike.

We see so many glossy catalogue type publications that'll want to sell you a pressed aluminium thingy for carrying your spare con rods on your factory fresh GS or whatever. Aren't these just designed by companies that have a lot of resources tied up in aluminium thingy design and already did can replacements for side stands?

Weirdly Ural never designed the means of carrying a spare bike . This is because the owners would simply copy it and paint it a better match to the bike .

Andy
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  #7  
Old 19 Oct 2008
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i used to have a tatty as hell RF600 for 8 months, did 20k on it just looking around the UK. the only thing that ever stopped it was a rotten connection in one of the multiplugs under the tank. the wire that sends power to the ignition fell out & it just stopped with no electric. lucky i was uphill, rolled about 2miles into town, stopped outside a car shop & got a couple of scotchloks to get it going again.
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  #8  
Old 23 Oct 2008
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Hooli View Post
i used to have a tatty as hell RF600 for 8 months, did 20k on it just looking around the UK. the only thing that ever stopped it was a rotten connection in one of the multiplugs under the tank. the wire that sends power to the ignition fell out & it just stopped with no electric. lucky i was uphill, rolled about 2miles into town, stopped outside a car shop & got a couple of scotchloks to get it going again.

You reminded me, I had the main red terminal pop out on the ignition reg.
Twice actually as the Green flag eejut was a noob,
and told tales of great bike repair heroics and I believed him....

I rode over an empty crate at 70MPH at night and ramped high... only my hand was holding the bike (thumb and forefinger) rest of me was flying like superman
I broke my left thumb on the brake pod.... but saved it and rode home shaken and stirred.... oh well.
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