barneydinosaur
Registered user
I’ve recently got back from a 12 day bike trip to Morocco having rented two bikes for 10 days in total.
Some post trip thoughts:
The Bikes and rental
We rented two XR250 Tornados from Loc 2 Roues (L2R) http://www.loc2roues.com/ in Marrakech at a price of 5K Dhirams per bike for the 10 days.
L2R appear in Tim’s knowledgebase and were absolutely fine to deal with. They are a French outfit and, although they do speak a bit of English, they do generally prefer to use French. I contacted them by email initially in English but they responded in French and so most of our correspondence was in French.
I reserved the bikes some months in advance by paying a 30% (3K Dh) deposit by bank transfer in Euros (300) to a French bank. The easiest way to do this is simply to phone your bank and ask them do this for you using the details in the RIB (French bank detail sheet) that L2R send.
We paid the balance by card at the counter when we arrived (Moroccan banks seem to charge 5% for these transactions which can be avoided by paying cash).
The bikes were waiting for us when we arrived: un-fueled but otherwise in mechanically good shape. They were obviously well used and had been dropped many, many times to the extent that the hand guards on my bike had given up and had been trimmed short. On the other bike they had been fairly heavily repaired. On the whole this was a good thing as we weren’t worried about dropping them further.
The sidestand on my bike had obviously been repaired and was slightly short which lead me to drop mine as it toppled over as the suspension unloaded while I got off for the first time. Without effective hand guards the clutch lever simply shattered irreparably.
These levers on the XR seem to be of a very brittle material and are somewhat delicate. On the other hand a bit of asking around in the streets and bike repair shops of Marrakech rapidly produced a serviceable replacement (the pivot bore needed a bit of enlarging before it would fit but this was an easy job with a file tang from a local workshop).
The bikes had Rockrider front tyres which are reasonably knobbly and had loads of life. The back tyres were getting to the end of their lives but still serviceable. I’ve forgotten which tyre they were but they weren’t Rockriders and whilst they were had a fairly open and chunky tread they were not what I would describe as knobbly. This tyre combination was absolutely fine for all of the road and piste riding that we did although the rear tyres did struggle on sand. The chain on my bike was also getting to the end of its life and needed some adjustment after it had been used for a few days. Otherwise we had no mechanical niggles to speak of.
We asked for tools in an email before we left the UK and L2R provided basic spanners for taking the wheels off and chain adjustment along with a spare clutch lever (which also needed it’s pivot bore enlarging), a spare clutch cable (untested),a spare sparkplug (untested), tyre levers and a pair of brand new front inner tubes. I don’t know if they do this as standard so it may be worth asking if you want them.
The L2R office and garage is on Ave Mohammed V in the Elite building which is a couple of minutes walk (much less by bike/taxi obviously) north west of Place 16 Novembre. http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=31....31.63442,-8.011351&spn=0.006568,0.009602&z=17
They were happy enough to store my large hold luggage bag (we flew out with rather bulky helmets, boots and jackets) in the office while we strapped smaller bags to the backs of the bike. They do lend hemets if you don’t mind sharing sweat but they, and I, recommend you bring your own.
I used a simple roll-top drybag and bungees which worked well although it was a bit harsh on some of the more delicate contents. My mate used a pair of cheap Oxford 1st time panniers which fitted the XR well.
We felt that on balance that the XR250s were perfect for what we wanted to do. We’re not experienced piste riders and wanted something light, easy to manage and to pick up. Whilst they were a bit wheezy on the bigger straighter roads on many of the more bendy surfaced roads they were perfectly adequate and these bikes were really good on the pistes that we did. We managed at least one washed out oued crossing that I would not have even attempted on a bigger bike and we had a go in the sand on the approaches to Erg Chebbi. I would definitely not have wanted anything bigger for that either.
As these are smaller trail bikes the seat is quite narrow and not particularly comfortable leading to some wriggling after an hour or two on the road legs but we started with no intention of doing big miles per day and only usually did about 200kms per day so this was not a real problem. Mileage merchants might want a bigger seat.
Accommodation
We took a tent and sleeping bags/mats as we initially thought we might have a night out. We didn’t use them at all as we tended to finish the day rather hot and sweaty. Accommodation turned out to be very easy to find even in some quite remote places although I didn’t fancy everything I saw. We ended up paying 400-450 Dh a night for the two of us half board. Accommodation generally at this rate was adequate but not perfect.
The desk staff will generally readily show you the rooms before you book in and it is worth having a look. Plumbing can be particularly dodgy so it’s worth just checking that the basin and shower taps work, there’s hot water, the shower head does the business without falling off or squirting water too randomly, the bog flushes (or isn’t a squat type if that worries you) and that there is aircon (if that’s what you want) and that it works and has a controller before you take on the room. Other night time hazards are next door’s chickens, cockerels, especially.
Water, Food and Laundry
You will rapidly get fed-up with tajine and bread if you take the half board option. We had no real problems with the food beyond a slightly dicky tum each for a few days.
Just about every cupboard-like shop sells bottled water and so it’s not hard to come by. We both used hydration packs which were much better than constantly having to get out water bottles. I greatly appreciated having a couple of packets of orange flavoured sports rehydration drink tablets for use in bottles rather than the hydration packs as they did make it a bit easier – well a different sort of horrible - to drink warm water in the middle of the day.
We were travelling as lightly as possible and so I made a lot of use of my folding bucket (£4 Tesco) to wash my smalls and shirt every night. Sink plugs are seemingly extinct and some handbasins are not suitable for laundry – hence the bucket. Laundry powder is available in handy little sachets in many of the same shops that sell water so no need to bring more than a couple of day’s worth from home.
Some post trip thoughts:
The Bikes and rental
We rented two XR250 Tornados from Loc 2 Roues (L2R) http://www.loc2roues.com/ in Marrakech at a price of 5K Dhirams per bike for the 10 days.
L2R appear in Tim’s knowledgebase and were absolutely fine to deal with. They are a French outfit and, although they do speak a bit of English, they do generally prefer to use French. I contacted them by email initially in English but they responded in French and so most of our correspondence was in French.
I reserved the bikes some months in advance by paying a 30% (3K Dh) deposit by bank transfer in Euros (300) to a French bank. The easiest way to do this is simply to phone your bank and ask them do this for you using the details in the RIB (French bank detail sheet) that L2R send.
We paid the balance by card at the counter when we arrived (Moroccan banks seem to charge 5% for these transactions which can be avoided by paying cash).
The bikes were waiting for us when we arrived: un-fueled but otherwise in mechanically good shape. They were obviously well used and had been dropped many, many times to the extent that the hand guards on my bike had given up and had been trimmed short. On the other bike they had been fairly heavily repaired. On the whole this was a good thing as we weren’t worried about dropping them further.
The sidestand on my bike had obviously been repaired and was slightly short which lead me to drop mine as it toppled over as the suspension unloaded while I got off for the first time. Without effective hand guards the clutch lever simply shattered irreparably.
These levers on the XR seem to be of a very brittle material and are somewhat delicate. On the other hand a bit of asking around in the streets and bike repair shops of Marrakech rapidly produced a serviceable replacement (the pivot bore needed a bit of enlarging before it would fit but this was an easy job with a file tang from a local workshop).
The bikes had Rockrider front tyres which are reasonably knobbly and had loads of life. The back tyres were getting to the end of their lives but still serviceable. I’ve forgotten which tyre they were but they weren’t Rockriders and whilst they were had a fairly open and chunky tread they were not what I would describe as knobbly. This tyre combination was absolutely fine for all of the road and piste riding that we did although the rear tyres did struggle on sand. The chain on my bike was also getting to the end of its life and needed some adjustment after it had been used for a few days. Otherwise we had no mechanical niggles to speak of.
We asked for tools in an email before we left the UK and L2R provided basic spanners for taking the wheels off and chain adjustment along with a spare clutch lever (which also needed it’s pivot bore enlarging), a spare clutch cable (untested),a spare sparkplug (untested), tyre levers and a pair of brand new front inner tubes. I don’t know if they do this as standard so it may be worth asking if you want them.
The L2R office and garage is on Ave Mohammed V in the Elite building which is a couple of minutes walk (much less by bike/taxi obviously) north west of Place 16 Novembre. http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=31....31.63442,-8.011351&spn=0.006568,0.009602&z=17
They were happy enough to store my large hold luggage bag (we flew out with rather bulky helmets, boots and jackets) in the office while we strapped smaller bags to the backs of the bike. They do lend hemets if you don’t mind sharing sweat but they, and I, recommend you bring your own.
I used a simple roll-top drybag and bungees which worked well although it was a bit harsh on some of the more delicate contents. My mate used a pair of cheap Oxford 1st time panniers which fitted the XR well.
We felt that on balance that the XR250s were perfect for what we wanted to do. We’re not experienced piste riders and wanted something light, easy to manage and to pick up. Whilst they were a bit wheezy on the bigger straighter roads on many of the more bendy surfaced roads they were perfectly adequate and these bikes were really good on the pistes that we did. We managed at least one washed out oued crossing that I would not have even attempted on a bigger bike and we had a go in the sand on the approaches to Erg Chebbi. I would definitely not have wanted anything bigger for that either.
As these are smaller trail bikes the seat is quite narrow and not particularly comfortable leading to some wriggling after an hour or two on the road legs but we started with no intention of doing big miles per day and only usually did about 200kms per day so this was not a real problem. Mileage merchants might want a bigger seat.
Accommodation
We took a tent and sleeping bags/mats as we initially thought we might have a night out. We didn’t use them at all as we tended to finish the day rather hot and sweaty. Accommodation turned out to be very easy to find even in some quite remote places although I didn’t fancy everything I saw. We ended up paying 400-450 Dh a night for the two of us half board. Accommodation generally at this rate was adequate but not perfect.
The desk staff will generally readily show you the rooms before you book in and it is worth having a look. Plumbing can be particularly dodgy so it’s worth just checking that the basin and shower taps work, there’s hot water, the shower head does the business without falling off or squirting water too randomly, the bog flushes (or isn’t a squat type if that worries you) and that there is aircon (if that’s what you want) and that it works and has a controller before you take on the room. Other night time hazards are next door’s chickens, cockerels, especially.
Water, Food and Laundry
You will rapidly get fed-up with tajine and bread if you take the half board option. We had no real problems with the food beyond a slightly dicky tum each for a few days.
Just about every cupboard-like shop sells bottled water and so it’s not hard to come by. We both used hydration packs which were much better than constantly having to get out water bottles. I greatly appreciated having a couple of packets of orange flavoured sports rehydration drink tablets for use in bottles rather than the hydration packs as they did make it a bit easier – well a different sort of horrible - to drink warm water in the middle of the day.
We were travelling as lightly as possible and so I made a lot of use of my folding bucket (£4 Tesco) to wash my smalls and shirt every night. Sink plugs are seemingly extinct and some handbasins are not suitable for laundry – hence the bucket. Laundry powder is available in handy little sachets in many of the same shops that sell water so no need to bring more than a couple of day’s worth from home.
