I thought as most people are looking for advice on what bike to take. It would also be useful if we look at bikes that should steer clear off. I dont know if this has been done before but here goes;

CCM 604e 1998 - This is by far the worst Bike I ever owned. When I bought it new I loved the power, the noise, the torque hell it even looked the dogs. Sadly it was all short lived the electrics were crap even the motor (Rotax) let me down.

I purchased the bike because I was proud to buy British and Fly the Flag. CCM even entered them in the Dakar.

My local dealer was a complete waste of time and fair play to the Factory they stopped dealing with that dealer after all my problems.

In the first 8 months of ownership the bike spent 5 months off the road being fixed.

The factory thought it was normal to blow rear light bulbs (12 in a fortnight just takes the piss)

After all my problems they did take the bike back and do some work on it. My dreams off a desert tour were just that because I no longer trusted the Bike. I did take the Bike over to Portugal it blew headlight bulbs alot. When I hit the Picos Europa in Spain (lovely place) it blew up and I had to trailer it to the Ferry and push the Bike back into the UK.

I learnt my lesson and lost a fair bit of money. Lucky for me my next bike was a Yamaha TTR 250 1994 what a difference its such a great bike and still going strong. So be aware go for something well known and perhaps a little tatty looking it will get the job done and keep you smilling. Plus by having a less expensive bike you got more cash so you can escape for longer.