Hi

I'm planning a Mondo Enduro type tour but going to Vladivostok instead of Magadan due to the impossibility of transit out of Magadan since 2005, although still very much in the thought stage I intend to leave July 2009 , question is would you take an Africa twin? ... a RD04

In that my concern isn't the reliability, its not the maintenance as I know how to fix it having owned a bike with an identical engine, but the sheer weight of the bike, its said to be 210kilos dry and getting heavier as you read this as crash bars went on , and some more bits will tip the scales a tad more.....and I want to stick at least 30 kilos of equipment on it (mostly spares + tent + sleeping + cooking).

It is a collosal bike I put it next to my CBR and the CBR looks like a toy...

I'm thinking of changing it for a 1990s XT600 , or something based on the DR350/400...

My primary concern isn't dropping it as I have refined my technique to pick up any bike (I used to pick bikes up facing them now I do it with my back to the bike)..... but air shipping it as I need to get somehow from Vladivostok or S Korea to the US continent, and from South America over to South Africa, and kilos = £££££, with DR350s and XT600s being at least 60 kilos less weight than the Africa....

My alternative thought is to ship by ship the bike out to Korea, and ride the Russian bit backwards come back through the Stans , and go down to South Africa by land.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

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