Yamaha XT660R?? for africa trip??

[maxwell123455]

After sometime trying i have finally been able to post of this forum . At the moment i and my brother Ashmax are both students at uni. He has just got into bikes i have been into bike for around 3years. We have never really had time to tour with each other as both are always working or studying, but i have toured with my Mum and Dad on the bikes around a few countries.

My brother out of the blue said he wanted to go touring on the bikes when he gets a bigger one, and always said he had the plan of going through africa to cape town (still not sure on this plan):confused1: . We worked it out that the earliest we could both go would be in 2 years time when i start my year out and he has just graduated for one year.

After some looking around we have sort of decided on the yamaha XT660R, and after looking at some of the mods that we need to do are looking at a steep budget. But some of this is not really needed but would help (ie tall screens, heated grips, gel/air hauk seats etc)

The XT660 forum has helped us alot but at the moment still dont really know if the XT660 is really the bike to do this type of trip. It would also need to be able to coupe with at least a year daily commute, touring, off roading and all this while still being able for a student to afford it.

So what bike would you suggest?