I can only give some ideas on the financing part, as I'm yet to go on any trip of my own (although planning my first ever trip: Lagos - Abuja in a couple of months).

Based on my experience, what will help you is to get an expat job. You'll get loads of offers these days if you are qualified or experienced in Oil & Gas, but there's something for almost anyone if you look hard and have valuable experience.

Expat jobs are IMHO summed up as follows:

a) You are either working on a decent place and not getting much money but you're still saving some due to lower rent, cheaper food, etc.

b) You are in a tougher place (at least as per HR people's standards), getting much more money, saving almost all your income, with at least 2 months off/year and paid return tickets to your home base. And your consumerism instincts are dimished by lack of options.

Option b)sounds like a good option to finance travelling, as the advantages are:

- "Career expats" typically hop from contract to contract (12 - 36 months). This means you can take 6 or 12 months off and then go back home and hunt for a new contract when you run out of cash. And you will not be a "misfit" job candidate for taking 1 year off.

- Just riding your bike where you are could be an adventure, even if you travel 500 km on a weekend.

- Your adventure riding could be an asset when applying for a position on a place you've been to before, or just to state that you are better suited to tough places and conditions.

If anyone is interested, just try expat on any search engine and you'll find loads of sites. Most job offerings are shown on "suscribers only" basis, although you can see some being offered on newspapers back at home.

Check: http://www.expatnetwork.com/
You can browse job descriptions / offers for free (without contact details for which you'll need to pay). It can help you start assessing whether you would find offers that suit you.

Hope it helps.