+1

1. and don't forget to get a dose of Montezuma's revenge from a dodgy dish
2. add a few days of really bad sleep sharing a room with a mosquito- yes, it only takes one...& don't wash for awhile to enter the discomfort zone.
3. Load the bike with the weight of luggage you are proposing to take with you to get the real feel
4. Go into the 'tough stuff' on hot days...
5. now drop the bike, preferably on your shin causing some pain (but no breaks!)
6. lift the bike back up and then then try using the kick start....
7. repeat a few times....

Then tell me you're happy to travel with a big heavy shaft driven bike and I'll show you a pink porcupine who can play the saxophone :Beach:

Travel is about enjoying the trip- everything you can do to prepare for that is time well spent. Do take on board what suggestions are being offered especially from those who have been there and gained their experience on the ground. They are offering it to you so that you may have a more enjoyable trip with fewer regrets!

Caveat:
I take no responsibility whatsoever for the dangerous and daft advice in the numbered list above-:blushing: Don't do it -however it is 'food for thought'.

People are going on about the weight, but looking at the BMW R80gs paris dakar it seems relatively comparable to some of the bikes posted by mollydog. According to this website its dry weight is 160kg

BMW R80GS Paris Dakar

Plus if I went for this bike I get a kickstart and shaftdrive.

Why not go for R80gs? Do I really want something much smaller as I am a big chap myself at nearly 22 stone!

David, You can go with ANY vehicle- it is your choice.

There is a great deal of collective information centralised on this site from people who have travelled all over the world. Many have learned the hard / costly way too.
I would suggest you take the time to read about other peoples' choices and reasons for these then draw your own conclusions.

Filtering the information on the hubb should help you decide on what equipment/vehicle/etc work best in a particular environment. This knowledge should enable you to make better informed decisions and hopefully save you time or money or grief or all three!
Whatever you choose, have a fabulous trip.

p.s
Ask Tiffany about her R80 GS when she or her girlfriend had to fly back to the UK from Iran I think it was, when her bms'gearbox broke and no parts were to be had.

I looked on Tiffany's site and she describes her bike as:

"The amazing bike which has carried me and various friends around the world. I have complete faith in her to get me through or out of any situation, whether it is the horrendous mud in Ethiopia or being pursued by angry Mafia in Nicaragua"

That's a shame about the gearbox, but seems a bit extreme to have to fly home. Why not keep spare parts in your garage at home in case anything happens, then a friend can pack them for you and send DHL anywhere in the world?

I have knobblies. There is the V7 thread I started here abouts. I never saw the point of changing shocks so can't comment. It does what an airhead would do but isn't 35 years old with a weak subframe and splined shaft. Given the original spec I imagine it has the wrong 35 year old reputation too.

I'm a big fan of just picking a bike and going where you like, but the V7 doesn't meet this crazy spec. No kick start and cable clutch. There is no way you'd start a V7 by kicker, the starter motor is like something off a dump truck and can still need 15 seconds cranking.

The list of Japanese 250's would be my choice. F650's have water pumps designed by sausage eating morons who dont know the difference between bearings and lipseals and leave you stranded 7.9 KM from Erfoud on a Tuesday.

Urals have shaft drive and Kick starters:innocent: :rofl:

Andy

The one thing Bertrand left off the list was taking off the tyre to swap an inner tube when you have a puncture in 40ºC shade temperature, but there's no shade and the sun is relentlessly beating down.

Of all the characteristics I would be looking for in a bike, tubeless tyres would be number one. The fallback, which I've implemented on my Spanish bike, is mousses.

Your insistence on kickstart and shaft drive is getting anal, you clearly aren't listening, so I'm not going to comment any more on this thread. Hope you understand. :)

Hydraulic clutches are overrated imho, but a black bike will not show up the dirt as much either, if you're heading for the rough stuff (something that's very important, I believe). You could get a black Halfords shaker can to cover the white pin-stripe

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...64-BMW-R27.jpg

You'll just push up the prices for those who collect such machines and take them to the local bike shows. :innocent:
But, there are plenty of these on the road nowadays and they tend to be cheaper when purchased from Germany (partly because of the £ - euro exchange rate).


Probably not.

BMW techie section
 

There's even a sticky thread on topic that goes back to 2002 and, at one point, it jumps through 7-8 years between posts.

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...vs-r100gs-7784

Then you want something properly light. In a tight situation it's the only thing that will help you, nothing else is that important. I speak as someone who has suffered on an 1100GS two up and fully loaded...

But how small can I realistically go. I am a bug guy at almost 22 stone, so what would you suggest with my size in mind?

When I say off the beaten track, for instance I would very much like to ride from Nouadhibou to choum following the railway line.

That's a serious and demanding piece of offroading. Over 250 miles of nothing but empty terrain with no support and precious little chance of rescue. I did about 50 miles and then took the train. Even when you get to Choum there's very little there and it's another 100 miles to Atar.

How much desert riding experience do you have? If you're planning to do it solo you really need to be good enough to recognise when you're getting in too deep. Getting it wrong on that piste could well be terminal.

Your weight (and size) is more likely to be an personal issue (fitness etc) than one of big guy = big bike. Many of the bikes on Mollydog's list are physically quite tall with high seat heights so they won't disappear underneath you but for the Choum piste you're really going to need a dirt optimised bike light enough that you can crawl out from underneath it when it falls on you.

If you're serious about riding terrain like this you need to be goal orientated and professional about it - look at the terrain, the difficulties you'll face and the logistical issues involved and make sure your bike, your equipment and your abilities are suitable to cope with it. Doing it the other way round - becoming fixated on certain features for example, might be ok on tarmac roads in Europe or the US but it'll come back to bite you in Africa. DHL are not going to deliver 150 miles down the track to Choum.

This thread feels a bit like pushing water uphill.:(
David re: you say you are a big lad.without getting personal this could be a 50 year old with a paunch or one with a Schwarzenegger physique! The latter would help lifting the bike but still!

Either way:
Any bike will have a Maximum Permissable Weight which is you plus anything you carry.
A friend of mine is 6'4 and built like a brick s*** house and it is almost all muscle at 134 kilos.
He travelled 2 Up with is girlfriend and their luggage on an F650 Dakar similar to mine.
That bikes' MAUW is 380 kilos so well within your needs.

On the sand route you are thinking of doing along the railway..... a really small trail bike would be essential. Alone.... would be VERY unwise.:nono:

May I suggest you reconsider your mindset? If you just want to ride in sand then take the appropriate tool which you can hire in Morocco.

BUT if your objective is to experience Africa then a long haul reliable (aka well prepared ) travelling bike is, IMHO, required.

I can only repeat what has been previously said: please READ UP onother people's experiences on their travels and think hard on what they have said. When the going gets tough, I have never heard nor read of anyone wishing they had a big bike or a kick start or a shaft driven machine.

Time for me to go fishing.

what a contradictory requirements indeed. doh

Well you're a big lad, so yeah, go for an 80GS. Otherwise a KLR650 with a better rear shock- would be like a 250 to you?

BTW, I often wish the ratio of my weight (and height and strength) to my 1100's was more in my favour :-)

Whatever you decide to use, get it reliable and have fun!