...LOOKING FOR ADVENTURE...

Jalfrezi, this is an excellent report! Your photographs are superb, and the commentary is marvellous. No more though, because I really really want to go back!
 
For those of you who have a 950 or 990 Adventure, the general feeling was that l hadn't vented the forks often enough, allowing the pressure to build up and blowing the seals. So l have now fitted small valves in place of the venting screw on top of the forks which are a lot quicker to use by just pushing the rubber bulb on top.
But the advice l am now receiving is that dust and grit had got past the dust seal damaging the oil seal's. The only way to stop this is by fitting neoprene socks which cover the exposed dust seal housing and part of the fork slider therefore stopping the dust and grit more effectively so l am told.

Don't blame yourself for that Nick- we went from sea level to a smidgin under 10,000 feet on that trip, and although there's a fair drop in pressure over those sort of vertical distances, we've had fork seals go on the 950's and 990's on the second or third day before we've hit altitude as well....I think the dust ingress is a sound theory, but the fact is that the KTM fork seals don't appear to be very effective and do blow frequently , possibly compounded by some highish altitude pressure changes.

We carry a set of seals with us now anyway, so the lesson has been learnt from the 2 out of 3 KTM's we've had with blown seals this year on trips .

Fantastic photos from this trip as well.....some of the best yet I think :thumb2

Keep it coming :clap:clap:beerjug:
 
Jalfrezi, this is an excellent report! Your photographs are superb, and the commentary is marvellous. No more though, because I really really want to go back!

Thanks David, but what l will acknowledge at the end of the thread, is my appreciation to all the others on the ride that agreed to share their photo's otherwise this would not have been possible.
You are right, the photographs are superb.
 
Back at the hotel and time for a beer, can there be a nicer place to spend the evening.

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DAY 8, MONDAY 1ST DECEMBER
ZAGORA TO FOUM-ZGUID
After 2 days without my KTM l was really looking forward to todays ride across the plains with fast graded piste's and rock and gravel strewn piste's.

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But first the compulsory photo shoot by the wall.

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We were all riding faster and more confidently now, with the feeling that the bike was part of you and all you had to do was look ahead at what was coming and let the bike take care of itself. Completely relaxed as the front and rear of the bike was moving about in different directions on the soft surfaces.
A few days ago the this would have felt completely different with clenched cheeks and gripping the bars for dear life thinking l was going to die

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This was becoming the best day of the trip, standing on the pegs at 80mph on the graded piste's was brilliant. For years l had watched the Dakar on television as the riders were racing across the plains at over 120mph with the plumes of dust kicked up behind them hoping one day l could do the same.

Then came soft sand and l was back to Day 1.

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We stayed here for a while practicing, the advice was to accelerate through it and don't back off. Which was the opposite of what my brain was telling me, but it worked, perhaps not straight away though.

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I think that Gary was the first to tumble, but this is Dave.
Always nice when you have spectators.

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Um, this was Dave again.
This is a bit unfair as we all had our moments but not with a camera around to record it.

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This was Gary who took a nasty tumble at around 50mph or so.
I think this winded him a bit as he decided the best thing would be to put the Kalahari on the trailer and travel with Bill.

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Although Wayne may appear to have a fine arse, l am surprised that Bill has decided to bite it.
Looks like Gary might now be a bit concerned about travelling on his own with Bill in the Landcruiser, best turn the heated seats down.

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Where is Gary's head!!!!

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Great fun.

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Um, this was Dave again.
This is a bit unfair as we all had our moments but not with a camera around to record it.

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LOL. Actually that photo looks more dramatic than it really was. I was just stepping off it as it had come to rest on it's cylinder head and was going no further over from that point.

Also - I knew I shouldn't have lent Bill my camera!!!
 
This was Gary who took a nasty tumble at around 50mph or so.
I think this winded him a bit as he decided the best thing would be to put the Kalahari on the trailer and travel with Bill.

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That was a scary moment. I spotted the soft patch that Chris had gone through and, discretion being the better part of valour (and knowing my own ability) came to a stop before deciding what path to take. Gary, I think, decided to go for it and all I heard was an odd skidding noise followed by the kalahari going past my right side, bucking and weaving, before it dug in on it's side and threw Gary about 5 metres forward. I saw him hit the deck and do an odd sort of forward role (9/10 for style!) ending up a considerable way away from the bike :eek:
 
That was a scary moment. I spotted the soft patch that Chris had gone through and, discretion being the better part of valour (and knowing my own ability) came to a stop before deciding what path to take. Gary, I think, decided to go for it and all I heard was an odd skidding noise followed by the kalahari going past my right side, bucking and weaving, before it dug in on it's side and threw Gary about 5 metres forward. I saw him hit the deck and do an odd sort of forward role (9/10 for style!) ending up a considerable way away from the bike :eek:

He did fly rather well didn't he!:D

The advice on attacking sand was heard, but rather than 'slow down on approach, sit back, let the bars do their thing and steer with the weight on the pegs while keeping the power on or the front will dig in' it somehow became 'crank it up to full speed and attack the sand':blast

This was his front wheel track into that patch :cool:
Oh Gary :blast

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great report

hi guys,

bringing back lots of good memories of a fantastic trip with great people.............

keep it coming....

Wayne

i do have a nice arse:beerjug:
 
soz

just realised ya all notice by my piccy that i swopped the strom for something else....................................:comfort
 
Does this look like a picture from Reservior Dogs?
No your right, it doesn't.
High Plains Drifter, no.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, no.

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Please note that little pile of rocks denotes road closed. Not a plastic cone in sight.

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Tim followed by Chris, as usual.

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Me sitting down, what is all that standing up about?

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Gary in his role as sweeper.

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As you will have seen earlier, Bill had strayed from the tarmac to join us on the piste's today in case we needed help.
Nothing to do with having a big petrol engined 4x4 and power sliding then?
After a while we noticed that Bill wasn't behind us.... No that's absolute cobblers, we were having so much fun that we couldn't be bothered to look behind us.
When we did eventually stop, Tim turned round and rode back, about 10minute's later, nothing heard so Wayne rode off.
After about half an hour we were thinking the worse, yes another day without lunch.

After another half an hour under the relentless sun, we began to think that this was becoming serious and so we crouched down in the shadows of our bikes.
Protecting our camelbaks, not sure how much water we have left in them, trying to stay awake so that no one would ....
Sorry about that, l was forced to watch 'Ice Cold In Alex' as a child.

Anyway they turned up in the end and looks like Bill had a bit of a blow out.

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Tim on the KTM, l think he rather enjoyed that.

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Due to unexpected delays we had during today's route were unable to reach our prefered town and the decision was made to stop at Foum-Zguid. Although the hotel rooms were not up to the standard of those we had been used to, the beds were clean, they made us dinner at very short notice and breakfast the following morning.

DAY 9, TUESDAY 2ND DECEMBER
FOUM-ZGUD TO TAFRAOUTE
With Bills spare tyre causing problems the decision was made for him to drive direct toTafroute a larger town where the tyre could be mended or replaced, leaving us a more picturesque route.


This time there are two piles of stones (must be very serious) denoting road closed.

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Makes you think, the times we rode after dark, we would never had seen this coming on otherwise decent tarmac.
That would have buggered up my forks again.

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I cannot remember the name of this town we stopped at but look closely at the luggage compartment.
Yes, they are sheep.
Hope no one left their Dior cases in there.

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Scenery as spectacular as always.

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Wayne's the raised muguard modification

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Never fails to take my breath away.

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DAY 10, WEDNESDAY 3RD DECEMBER
TAFRAOUTE
Had arrived after dark, riding through a busy street market to get to the hotel. We were all gasping for a beer but as on other occasions the hotel was soft drinks only, all was not lost for there was a restaurant a short walk away where beer could be bought. So off we went eventually finding the place about 10 minutes later and walked in and asked for beers.
At this point we were ushered to the back of the restaurant and down darkened stairs into a smoke filled basement where there was a bar. Most of the tables were empty with only a few men drinking(not a place for women) and once they had looked over to see who we were they went back to their conversation.
I'm sure we have all been in pubs like this before, not the most comfortable of situations and anyway after a couple of beers you feel hungry so it's back to the hotel for dinner then bed.

This was the early morning view from the bedroom window with the market being set up for a new day.

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After breakfast it was back to the room to get packed then downstairs with the bags to give to Bill for loading. Bill hadn't been able to get his tyre sorted out so it was back to pumping it up.
Looks like Bill is giving that rear tyre an awfull lot of thought

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Looks like Bill hasn't quite finished his breakfast.

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This morning the plan is to head off to the blue rocks followed riding out on the local piste's and back to the hotel for a second night.

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A great place to ride round.

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The surface was generally firm sand mixed in with plenty of soft sand to keep you on your toes.

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All in all a very interesting landscape, though l'm not sure if the colour blue adds to it.

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We all had to do this and just like an earlier photo of riding through water there were at least 4 camera's watching every move

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Told you so.

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Looks like Tony has been enjoying himself this morning.

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Tim on a charge, very much enjoying himself.

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Wayne taking a rest from the rigours of the day.

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At last a picture of Chris having a problem

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We left the blue rocks behind us and continued on a piste over the mountain and down a winding road (tarmac unfortunately it did use to be a nice piste a year or so earlier) through this beautiful palmary where we stopped for photo's.

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We then continued out on to a stoney piste stopping for something to eat, drink and smoke by the side of a dry river bed.

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One can only imagine what this dry river bed must be like after heavy rain.

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Dave taking his afternoon nap

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This had been another great days ride, but in the back of my mind is the sad fact that this great adventure is nearly over.
Back at the hotel we park up the bikes behind the shutters, pick up the room keys, have a shower and down stairs for well deserved dinner.

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DAY 11, THURSDAY 4TH DECEMBER
TAFRAOUTE - OULAD BERHIL
For the first time now we were heading north which would eventually return us to Marrakech tomorrow night. It was about this point that if someone had said to me, forget north lets continue south, l would have been first in the queue no question about it. With what l had learnt by riding on all these different surfaces over the preceeding days, the people l had met and the excitement of continuing to explore a new country on the bike every day, was that this had become very addictive and l just did not want it to end.

Another early start with time to check the bike over before leaving. Thankfully the forks were ok with no sign of a leak, but the rear tyre looked decidedly flat, calling in to the local garage with an air line, on the way out solved that problem.

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After this scenery every day, Essex is never going to be the same again.

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Nice fast twisty tarmac and no cars.

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Tony with tailender Wayne.

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No need to rush, just stand and savour that view.

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Unfortunately for the life of me l cannot remember the name of the town where we stopped for lunch.
It was quite a large bustling town and looking at the map it could be Taroudant on the N10 but l'm not sure, so if anyone recognises it please let me know.

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Wayne catching up on a bit of sunbathing, probably don't get a lot of that oop north.

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We rode in to Olad Berhill to stay at the Pasha's Palace on the Thursday night and from what Bill had said this was to be best hotel on the trip and he wasn't wrong. Having turned off the main road we were riding down side streets that you would think would not lead you to anything special, but as l have learned you cannot judge a book by it's cover. We arrived at what looked like the outer wall's to a castle with a pair of closed heavy doors on one side. They opened the doors to let us park in a paved courtyard area which presented us with a fantastic view of the gardens.

And they sold beer in the bar, what more can you ask for.

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This was the ceiling in the restaurant, the craftsmanship was superb.

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Definitely Taroudant Nick:thumb2

It's like Marrakech was 20 years ago, and the centre of the surprisingly small Moroccan silver trade :)
 
DAY 12, FRIDAY 5TH DECEMBER
OULAD BERHIL - MARAKECH

I wasn't looking forward to today's ride to Marakech, even less when l found my rear tyre was flat again. So we rode of with me doing about 20mph hoping that l would not damage the deflated rear tyre before we reached a garage.

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Wayne kept me company till we got to the garage where l could pump the tyre up and fill the tank with fuel.

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We continued out of town on the N10 turning on to the 203 to Marakech, not realising at this stage what a cracking road to ride the next 80km of mountain road was was going to be.
The little used mountain road was generally made up with a poorly maintained tarmac strip in the centre with gravel on either side cut into the mountain face.
With what we had learned over the last two weeks these surfaces were no problem and after a while we were powering up the mountainside hitting the brakes hard just before a bend, flicking the bike in and powering out again.
I no, l no, its not big and its not clever(and l didn't my baffles in) but it was bloody good fun and had a very high grin factor.

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We stopped at a cafe with the most spectacular views.

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In the picture you can see the road below that we took to get here.

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Before we left we were told by people in the cafe, that the road on the other side of the mountain was covered black ice. Wonder what that's like with Tkc's on?

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We continued up and stopped at Tizi-n-Test for photo's

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We continued over to the other side of the mountain and still being in the sun meant that we had not yet found the dreaded black ice.
Around every bend is a photo opportunity.

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Looking over to the right we could see that there was a length of road still in shadow. No doubt that if the ice is anyware it will be there.

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This was probably the the most uncomfortable part of the trip, riding on black ice on knobbly tyres.

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There is nothing like emptying your bladder and looking at the view at the same time, not so easy at home.

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