Bikes
Snoopy, it's an interesting thread and each to his own. "There's only one way of life, and that's your own, that's your ooowwn etc" The Levellers circa 1992. Happy crusty days
Anyway there is a big industry built up for overlanders now and you can get yourself and your bike blinged up the eyeballs, but as someone who rode Uk to Cape Town in 1995, I can assure you, that nearly all of it is bollocks.
Now there is tons of fun to be had with gadgets, and a cool looking bike. For some people it's more than half the fun and I have no arguement with them.
But if I were you, I'd buy an XT600 with sub 10k miles on it, put a 23 litre Acerbis tank on it, service it, change the clutch thingies plus the chain and sprockets, put a 120 quid rack on the back, some soft panniers and then go.
No GPS no nothing, you just don't need it. You know you want to head south to get to Cape Town, point the Compass south and follow the arrow. Thats what we did and we got to Cape Town okay. Save the money for when you are on the road. 99% of people only do UK Cape Town once and few of them reminiss (??) about the extra thick, supadupa heavy duty spokes that they used. More likely it will be talkabout being bombed out of your head on Moonshine somewhere in a Central African Republic nightclub.
All this talk of what spares are available for what bike is bollocks because apart from Morocco and South Africa, there isn't a single bike that is sold in Africa that is sold in the UK (although there are KTM dealers in Nairobi and Togo)
We didn't take a single spare on our trip, we thought if we needed something, my Mom would DHL it out to us. And she did a couple of times, so we didn't waste 300 quid on rectifiers or shite that we didn't actually use.
Take 2 T shirts, 1 pair of jeans, and a pair of flip flops plus your Doc Martin riding boots + a spare pair of skiddies and socks. Thats all. You can buy T shirts and shirts and jeans in Ethiopia. The locals will be delighted to sell you a shirt that an aid agency has given them. People have this idea that Africa is a bleak place, but I bet that if someone in Sudan wants an Apple Ipad, someone somewhere will be able to get hold of one. Its just that sort of place.
More than anything, you need a light, simple bike that can be lifted onto boats, trains, pickups and picked up in the sand. You need a bike that doesn't mind running on 50% petrol, 25% water and 25% sand and a shitty old XT600 will love that combination rather more than a 1 year old Husky or KTM. And if you've got half a brain, you will never ride faster than 50mph the whole trip - less wear and tear on the bike, see more, better MPG, safer.
Save the bike porn for the UK where it is appreciated
I could go on like an old fart for ever but I don't want to bore you. Amongst the tons of boring advice I could give you, 1 thing would be this - don't make the bike the most interesting thing about the trip. Africa is a sensational place and I would give almost anything to have the time to do another trip. Don't put so much thought and money into a blinged up money thing to the detriment of more time and more experiences on the road. You get the same Africa dust under your finger nails whatever bike you are on.
Have fun, I'm mightily jealous, despite (or probably because of) all my memories
