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DT 125 two-stroke for southern africa--advice needed DT 125 two-stroke for southern africa--advice needed
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Yamaha Tech Originally the Yamaha XT600 Tech Forum, due to demand it now includes all Yamaha's technical / mechanical / repair / preparation questions.
Photo by Andy Miller, UK, Taking a rest, Jokulsarlon, Iceland

I haven't been everywhere...
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Photo by Andy Miller, UK,
Taking a rest,
Jokulsarlon, Iceland



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  #1  
Old 5 May 2004
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DT 125 two-stroke for southern africa--advice needed
i'll be taking my bro's yamaha DT 125 from tanzania, thru mozambique, SA, namibia, botswana, zambia, malawi...i need a larger tank (suggestions--buy in europe, tanzania?; brand?; size?), and i'm wondering if this bike (an older two-stroke!) will make it. will fuel be a problem? thanks for any assistance! rob
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Old 8 Dec 2006
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dt
Was never very crazy about those bikes, also I wonder if a bit small, for such a long trip. You may also want to consider the avalibility of parts for that bike in AFRICA. Do your homework, your life depends on it. And good luck I wish I was going too.
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Old 8 Dec 2006
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Breed, Have you been in Africa?
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  #4  
Old 9 Dec 2006
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The DT is still available here (SA, along with the 175) and you see some of them around. As long as you don't thrash the little thing to pieces or load it like a mule you will be fine. Obviously you will take some more time to travel as compared to a R1100 / 1200.

My advice: Take a 10 l jerrycan with you. You can buy them at most car & 4x4 accessory shops. Don't go for a 20l one as it's too heavy and you won't need that much additional fuel.
There is little an old two stroke won't make. Lots of them run as farm bikes here.
Two strokes don't tend to have problems with fuel quality.

Have fun!
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Old 9 Dec 2006
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What age is your DT exactly ?

I just did in november a two weeks tour around europe on a '93 DT125 without any problem at all. All i did is tension the chain and fill lots of 2 stroke oil in there.

I would go anywhere with mine, but the seat is terrible after some days, the tank is quite small and you need all the time 2 stroke oil. But it's a great bike.
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Old 11 Dec 2006
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Never to Africa
No I haven't been to Africa, not really sure what that has to do with the price of tea in china though.
All I was trying to say was that I had one of those little dts and I personaly wasn't very thrilled with it. After racking up plenty of miles in the saddle, on other bikes, I thought that the dt was an odd chouce for such a trip. I am however close to 200 lbs. lol, I don't think that the dt with gear and me would pull very well for such a long trip.
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Old 13 Dec 2006
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I think 125 is too small.
I suggest it is more important in Africa to be able to keep up with the traffic than in Europe, say. If two overloaded buses are passing each other on a potholed road in Mocambique, you don't want to be part of the sandwich! Even in South Africa, it is not much fun on a highway at less than 100k/h - the taxis and 24 wheelers won't go out of their way to give you space.
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Old 19 Dec 2006
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No guts no glory
Hi .

wow... that´s some milage to cover for sutch a little bike(specialy since it´s Africa,hot dusty and far between gas stations)
How many miles do you have on the bike? Chek crankcase,and piston.DT´s sometime suffer from lean mixture,it´s not fun to be stuck out in the bush with a hole in your piston.
If I were you I would consider swaping the DT to a XLR250. It´s a cheap bike here in Tanzania and spare parts are awailable every where, all so the fuel consumtion is much better.
I live in Zanzibar at the moment, here you can get an ok XLR for about 1000-1500usd if you buy it during low season(they rent them out to turists,and during low season you find a lot of bikes for sale)
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Places to be and things to do, see you all out there!!

Cheers.

Tom.
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