What a good reply from Richyroo,.
A breath of fresh air this thread
A breath of fresh air this thread
BMW G650................ Put off by the non-immobilised security
We did the trip from Devon to Cape Town in 1991/1992 two up on our R100GS. Two up was the big issue and the bike was chosen accordingly. The bike was unmodified and proved ideal for the trip. There are still basically only two routes available - east side via Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya or west side through Morocco etc. I've been back to Kenya since and the roads had really gone downhill so I'm aware that nothing stays the same for long but on our trip we really had to search out the 'off road' as opposed to unpaved roads. Obviously crossing the deserts was challenging on a very heavy bike but the vast majority of the mileage was on perfectly good surfaced or unsurfaced roads where your enduro bike is least happy.
Besides all the mpg and purchase price stuff which is completely spurious, I wouldn't use a KTM 690 enduro just because of the lack of a rear subframe (I own a 690 and it is a good bike but the subframe is the one thing I've come to dislike), the TE 610 is completely unsuitable for all the reasons mentioned. Apart from airhead BMWs which would still be my choice but would be a complete disaster in Snoopy's hands (based on past record) the best bike out there is the Africa Twin, it's relatively low tech, reasonable off road and doesn't need any modification. Any Yamaha XT600/660 would also be suitable.
If you can't find a suitable secondhand or new Husky surely that must tell you something about the spares backup and aftermarket parts availability. Large threads on Adv Rider do not necessarily mean that it's a good bike - have you seen the thread about using the KTM 525 as an adventure bike!
XTZ660Z ... everyone that takes them on adv trips thinks they are crap.
..........KTM 690 is out, I'd heard about the rear sub-frame issue already............