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27 May 2009
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Join Date: Jun 2008
Location: Now Alberta, Canada! (originally the Netherlands)
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Africa Twins or not......
Hello All,
I'm quite new to the HUBB, but already a difficult question.
Last weekend we've visited a HU-meeting in Germany, which was the last push we needed to decide to really go on a world trip.
We already have two Africa Twins (RD07 '93 /RD07a '96), with crash bars, panniers, etc. Also the spare fuelpumps and voltage regulators we have ;-)
At the meeting some people advised to to really go for a lighter bike, like the DR-Z400.
I am about 1.83 cm tall, weighing around 70kgs. My girlfriends specs are sort of the same ;-).
We would really like to ride with those bikes, but it is hard to determine "the problem".
Although it is quite heavy, it is comfortable though on roads and gravel tracks.
Who has experience with AT's going round the world, without extreme-offroad-driving-skills? I understood from some 1100GS-drivers that the road into CopperCanyon is a nice challenge with a big bike, but without having experience there I cannot decide whether this would be a problem for us.
We want to leave around December 2010 the latest, so there is some time left to improve our driving skills!
I'll try to drive a DR-Z400 this weekend; perhaps I really like it! But it seems way to much a motocross-bike to me!
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27 May 2009
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Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: Tallinn, Estonia
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I have never owned an @.
However, people who have seem to think them very capable bikes on road and off.
Meanwhile there is one thing worth remembering that seems regularly forgotten. When these threads come up about RTW on a boxer GS or other big bikes everyone says go lighter: better off road etc. But who does RTW off road every KM of the way? Not many.
A bigger bike with a bigger engine and a larger chassis, seat, tank etc will make your road miles more comfortable. When you use it off road you'll wish it was smaller.
A smaller 400 single enduro bike will make the off-road sections a far easier experience for you, but you'll dream of a bigger bike on the long open stretches of tarmac.
You can RTW on anything: it's just a question of what sort of riding will you be doing most of the time.
If it's dirt all the way, go small, but if it's a lot or roads and some off-road, you can't do much better than an Africa Twin, so perhaps think on that before you ditch two great bikes that are well up to the challenge and already equipped to go at the drop of a hat.....
My view....
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Adventure: it's an experience, not a style!
(so ride what you like, but ride it somewhere new!)
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27 May 2009
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Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: GOC
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IMHO: Go with the bike(s) you've got. The AT is one of the best bikes for the job.
10 years ago, I sold a RD04 to buy a different brand for my RTW. One of the biggest mistakes of my life. I bought a 1995 RD07 2 weeks ago as a sign of atonement for this error. 
cheers
Chris
PS. You can take a streetbike into the Copper Canyon with a minimum of fuss
Last edited by chris; 27 May 2009 at 22:47.
Reason: can't spell
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27 May 2009
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Join Date: Nov 2006
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Hey DS,
As the previous posters have mentioned, the bikes are very well suited for a RTW ride, pretty hard to find something much better.
The question remaining is are you both well suited for the bikes. You mentioned that you likely have until the end of 2010 to practice your riding, don't know if that means that you are both new to riding, one of you is, or are just new to these bikes. Either way, just make sure that you are both comfortable, together and individually, riding through some mixed terrain fully loaded and falling off and picking up your bikes if you have to.
It's not rocket science, but once you get comfortable then that would remove any niggling need to look at a smaller bike. If your partner has less kms under her belt and maybe struggles a bit too much with a fully loaded bike at slow speeds (they can get a tad heavy for all of us at times), then you may want to at least entertain the idea of something lighter or smaller that is easier to flat foot. Otherwise just out on as many kms on the bikes you have and you'll be good to go. Enjoy the ride
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27 May 2009
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Dreaming of travelling and riding bikes in general..
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This is the same feeling that everyone suffers when planning an RTW from scratch (ie without a pre-existing love affair with a bike). Mountain man has some good advice. I went to CapeTown with my buddy Dan on Africa Twins. Not my first choice and much heavier than anything I'd ever ridden but there was no doubt that it would be comfortable on road and I had thousands of miles to get used to it before we reached Africa. Fully loaded I doubted I could ride it off tarmac at all. Then came the gravel, then came the sand, then came the ridiculous mud and all of the above and at each stage I just rolledup my sleeves and got on with it. No regrets.
Going RTW is not a 9-tenths endeavour like Everest or MotoGP. Obsessions with optimising kit and routes go out the window as soon as you set off. It is something that you take at your own pace, building gradually and satisfyingly towards an end goal with plenty of opportunities to fail and still try again.
In many ways, AT and DRZ's are just different ends of the same stick
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28 May 2009
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Hi,
I owned an AT and did a 6 months trip in SE europe/asia with it and I loved the bike. But fully loaded with boxes and spare tyres (don't know why I took them) it was quite a heavy beast off road. I have similar specs like you 180cm/70kg. I sold the Africa and bought a DRZ400E a couple of weeks ago and its really fun off road and I'm planning a longer trip with it in Australia. Lots of dirt and gravel road riding.
So, both bikes a really good for travaling around the world. If your focus is off-road riding go for the DRZ, on-road with some gravel roads keep the Africas.
Have fun.
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