Hi Pledians, welcome to the forum.
I understand you are wishing to leave late summer and return in early spring, are you meaning northern summer/spring or southern hemisphere season?

If you are meaning northern hemisphere, then I take it you are keen to tour about during the winter months in and around Russia, is that correct?

When you get a chance, tell us a bit more detail about the places you wish to travel through, and what sort of bike you would travel with to do such a trip.

Ah, good to hear another keen photographer with a appreciation for the arts. A tiny laptop is good too, just enough to do the things you need, camera backups and connecting into camp ground WiFi for more detailed trip planning and weather and so on. I have a smartphone and it works well in complimenting a laptop. Just not sure about using my smartphone as a GPS, I find it's not as good as a purpose built gps, but having your iPhone and some maps makes for a great adventure.

I have two Garmin GPS's one is a small Nuvi 310 which I can put in my pocket and simply listen to the directions as they come, so no visual distractions. I found this works well and I can really continue to enjoy the ride, especially when I need to pass through bigger cities. The other one is a purpose built motorcycle GPS, a Zumo 550 and mount, and it is great for finding camp grounds and other specific motorcycle places.

Wow, I just mean wow, you mean to say your tiger has a 65kW water cooled alternator, I guess you must need a trailer to cart that about. Man, do go about selling bulk power to local villages or something?
Shame really, as the bike you have looks to be a really nice bike, I mean, really nice.

I'm not sure what size my alternator is on my TDM 850, but I will check it out, I have the manual somewhere for it. But it should not be a problem as what I am wanting to do is to supply only a few amps for charging.
I also have in mind to take one of those fold up solar panels, I have got one here, and they are great for camping in areas away from power sources, unless Paddy comes along of course



Paul

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Hi Paul your bike should be 56kw or 60kw depending on model tdm850 (3dv) 91 to 95 or tdm850 ( 4tx) 96 to 01 oh man i am sounding like geek
but i think you should be fine with that you've got a good bike there
the solar panel is a good idea looking at that one myself. if i supply the power your doing the cooking
Paddy
Happy biking

Hi Paddy
Yes, I just checked, I have a 2001 model TDM850, almost the last one of that model before they went to 900cc.
So, the engine power is as you say, 60kW.

No, you don't sound like a geek at all, and even if you thought so, I would say that is good.
I can be very geeky sometimes, (read all the time).

Ok, I am happy to do the cooking, love cooking, rather cook than go out to eat. For me cooking, whether at home or on a trip like this is a lot of fun, so long as there is a bottle of nice wine to help the process.


I'm curious though Paddy.
Why do you talk about engine power in terms of having enough electrical energy?

That is why when you mentioned
I had bit of a humourous stab at you as it sounded like you meant you had a very large alternator which I had visions you would need a large trailer to cart it about. 65kW is 65000 Watts, which is huge!

But I see you have since modified to say
That I can now understand, 645 Watt alternator.
That is a good size alternator for sure.
I checked on my TDM, and I thought it was doing ok at 330 Watts.
It puts out 23.5 Amps at 14 Volts.
When you think about that, that is still a lot of energy, and which is partly taken up by the bike electrical system, such as ignition and lights.

I guess what is important is what extra capacity is available for other devices, such as for charging laptops and so on without stressing out the alternator?

I will need to look into that I think.

If or when I have the opportunity to look at another bike either for Australia or for Europe, I quite like what you have Paddy, the Triumph Tiger XC800.

Right then, you better all get your wish-lists in for cooking, and who's doing the dishes?


Paul

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Hey guys! Best intentions meant by saying this, but if possible please take further posts unrelated to the original topic into a PM. Just trying to keep the thread relevant to "Travellers Seeking Travellers".
Cheers very much
Happy riding.

Hi nicola
good point
i think we should start another one just for information and link it to this one
Paddy
happy biking