one of the most important changes you can make is to yourself, slow down enjoy yourself. Whatever plan you make something else will go wrong...
Add a cheap g-clamp just wider than the tyre to your levers and you don't have to use the centre stand
ovenpaa
Registered user
If you get a puncture you need to get the tube out, however the tyre is jammed onto the rim by the bead (edge of tyre) so that needs to be 'broken' you can use the weight of the bike using the main stand which can be precarious or use a G Clamp to pull the deflated tyre walls together and break the bead.
santrix
Registered user
Just done 6500 miles round europe and Morocco. You havent said how far your going, but i used Avon Distanzias, TBH could have done it all on one set of TKCs.
+1 on the electric pump, just strip the crap of one of those cheepo ones from the petrol station.
Good idea on the G Clamp if you're on your own.
Take the bike to bits and make up a toolkit.
Be ruthless with what you take, you WILL take too much.
Rally wiser more comfy footpegs are good.
Engine crash bars and maybe some tough handguards. Alternatively dont drop the bike or fall off.
Rear tie down points are rubbish, i got a H&B rear rack and made up a laser cut ally plate with lots of tie holes.
Take an elasticated net, theyre massively useful. Take lots of straps, tie downs.
Take a small bag of big rubber bands.
I used a Puig screen.
Spare bulbs.
Personally i took a couple of cheep standard air filters, unless your riding through sandstorms you wont need any more.
Sparg plugs, i wouldnt bother, just change em before you go.
Check your SHBs.
Check the rear wheel bearings.
Don't go with a crap chain and sprockets, get a new one, much better than having to fix it.
Many use scottoilers, i prefer a small can of spray or even better a small bottle of oil for the chain. Love your chain, it's your friend.
Bar riser i find make the ride much more comfy. Specially standing up.
The dakar seat gives more cushioning than a standard seat.
Practice buttock shifting every 60km or so lol.
GET A PAIR OF CYCLING SHORTS AND WEAR THEM UNDER YOUR GEAR.
Soft luggage over the tank can be expensive but is massively usefull, handy pockets for toll fees etc, protects your legs from wind and the elements and protects the front of the bike in a drop.
Any more i cant think of right now, pm if you like. Oh tubes, although i had 0 punctures the whole trip.
+1 on the electric pump, just strip the crap of one of those cheepo ones from the petrol station.
Good idea on the G Clamp if you're on your own.
Take the bike to bits and make up a toolkit.
Be ruthless with what you take, you WILL take too much.
Rally wiser more comfy footpegs are good.
Engine crash bars and maybe some tough handguards. Alternatively dont drop the bike or fall off.
Rear tie down points are rubbish, i got a H&B rear rack and made up a laser cut ally plate with lots of tie holes.
Take an elasticated net, theyre massively useful. Take lots of straps, tie downs.
Take a small bag of big rubber bands.
I used a Puig screen.
Spare bulbs.
Personally i took a couple of cheep standard air filters, unless your riding through sandstorms you wont need any more.
Sparg plugs, i wouldnt bother, just change em before you go.
Check your SHBs.
Check the rear wheel bearings.
Don't go with a crap chain and sprockets, get a new one, much better than having to fix it.
Many use scottoilers, i prefer a small can of spray or even better a small bottle of oil for the chain. Love your chain, it's your friend.
Bar riser i find make the ride much more comfy. Specially standing up.
The dakar seat gives more cushioning than a standard seat.
Practice buttock shifting every 60km or so lol.
GET A PAIR OF CYCLING SHORTS AND WEAR THEM UNDER YOUR GEAR.
Soft luggage over the tank can be expensive but is massively usefull, handy pockets for toll fees etc, protects your legs from wind and the elements and protects the front of the bike in a drop.
Any more i cant think of right now, pm if you like. Oh tubes, although i had 0 punctures the whole trip.
Here's what I did to mine
But as said, straight out of the box they'll go anywhere Did Mongolia, Gobi desert and all the Stans... returning the Long Way Home 
Loved it, great bike... sold it to Snoopy
www.adventure.gs
But as said, straight out of the box they'll go anywhere
Did Mongolia, Gobi desert and all the Stans... returning the Long Way Home Loved it, great bike... sold it to Snoopy
www.adventure.gs
Hi,
I rode one of these to Australia last year. Great bike. You'll find a lot of information on my website: www.planitearth.co.uk
Look in the following places:
1) At the what to take presentation that I made at a Horizons Unlimited meeting (on the home page)
2) At 'the bike' tab a the top. Then click on the red dots on the picture
3) At the 'planning' tab at the top. Read about tools.
Should cover most things!
Charles
I rode one of these to Australia last year. Great bike. You'll find a lot of information on my website: www.planitearth.co.uk
Look in the following places:
1) At the what to take presentation that I made at a Horizons Unlimited meeting (on the home page)
2) At 'the bike' tab a the top. Then click on the red dots on the picture
3) At the 'planning' tab at the top. Read about tools.
Should cover most things!
Charles
Yahoo
Guest
niiice thanks guys! just need the bike now. I'm worse than a kid in a sweet shop at christmas who's just found out his pet goat has had goatlings(?).
Very excited IOW.
Very excited IOW.
AxeGrinder
Registered user
Bomb proof apart from when the water cooling fails as I found out.
Bomb proof apart from riding through so much rain the air box fills with water and syphons into crankcase via breather...bike is still at BMW Saarbruchen with blown bottom end, awaiting RAC to repatriate in a couple of weeks.
Before the engine failure, I rode 2500 miles to San Marino via anywhere that took my fancy and almost back, with no screen, a standard seat fully loaded and able to cruise comfortably at 80mph, in any weather and didn't suffer at all.
New Twinduros barely show any wear and have several thousand miles left on them. Not the best tire in the wet, but surprisingly grippy on dry roads, and fab off road.
Install a good chain...I got one from someone on this site, cheap, and it suffered.
A light summer sleeping bag with the addition of a silk liner which packs to the half the size of my fist will keep you warm at night. I was going to take a very small one man tent, untill the poles fell out of the bag while loading it on the bike...I decided to take a much larger tent (who's storage bag is not open at the end) and did not find this to be a problem...in fact I was very happy with the extra space when stopping somewhere for more than a single night. 2m x 4m tent took 15mins to erect/pack way.
I found a microfiber towel, which also packs away about the size of the silk liner...about 1/20 the size of a normal towel. It's only about 30inches x 20inches, but was perfectly adequate to dry entire body after a shower, and very quick drying...I just strapped it flat over my tent and wet bag to dry...remarkable!
A single 21" inner tube will do for both front and rear.
Lots of cable ties!
Never heard of this before. Had you modified the breather for extra air flow at all? I've ridden mine for 1000's of miles in all sorts of weather and not had a problem. Perhaps, was the breather thing not slotted into its location hole by the headlight?
lol. This prompted images of someone wearing cycling shorts ON TOP of their riding gear. A good suggestion, though. Makes a huge difference, just make sure that they don't have too much lycra in them as they will slip around on the seat.
AxeGrinder
Registered user
In the 450/650 thread, there is a bunch of stuff about my airbox/breather from before the trip.
http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=155511
http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=155596
http://www.ukgser.com/forums/showthread.php?t=156068
Before I bought the bike, som geniuos had modded the airbox/breather to increase airbox pressure. This was giving me problems, so I put the breather right...as it should be. What I didn't know, was they also plugged the drain pipe from the airbox...hence flooding of crankcase breather...
I reckon that if I'd not fixed the breather pipe, then the bike would just have run out of air as the airbox filled...but it turned out to be a major issue!
The German BMW techs say there's a noise from the bottom end and the head may be "torn", I assume they mean cracked. I didn't notice any knock, and the bike actually ran without any problems, other than getting hot...I don't want to pay 96Euros an hour to have it sorted, so waiting for RAC to send it home.
