I have a F650GS and would like to head off over Africa. A friend of mine who is a very exprienced biker and has done trans Africa on several occasions says the GS650 is not the best bike for the job. She is The Thing for touring but not Africa.

Reasons mainly being weight (too heavy with enlarged petrol tank, kit and me), fuel injection and computerised bits in the engine (I won't find spares easily en route and certainly no mechanics for the tricky bits I can't do myself + costly) and also safety is better if on a less flash bike. Plus the conversion to a full off road touring bike is going to be costly in the first place.

These are valid arguments but I need some opinions here, please. If I have to buy a Yamaha 600XT or the likes, it's still yet another expense that I hadn't accounted for. I'm not keen on trashing my baby but 1) do I really need to get another bike for Africa? And 2)which one? I keep on hearing about the XT.

I am doing this trip on my own and need to have a reliable machine that I can mostly fix on my own and even better, doesn't break down after a long dirt road thrashing. In addition, I'm on as low a budget as I can do (considering it seems to be going all over the place :-)).

Thanks.
Sandi