Another Year on the 690.

At the start of each riding season especially if you live in a mountain town where the roads are snow, salt grit and ice bound for 4-6 months getting back on the Iron Horse can be a foreign thing. It also comes with questions about the bike. Another year another set of bike launches, the new Africa Twin, the SWM Adventure, another megalithic GS, and the credible CCM450 Adventure and a plethora Triumph Tigers and XC and serve to push you to re-evaluate your machine of choice.

For me I am on my 2014 KTM 690 Enduro R for the 2nd full season.  The only thing that comes close to the mix I wanted is the Husqvarna 701 but hey its 690 in Blue White and Yellow and without the large supply chain making aftermarket bits (this may come). The CCM of course would be ideal but for the 450cc engine.

I suppose you need to be honest about what sort of riding you will do and how and where you want to ride it. 15,000 British GS riders in the last 8 years bought into the rufty tufty round the world dream, complete with matching suits and plenty add-ons to add weight to your monster. Most will never see dirt, let alone a sand storm or a single track. So if you like the image, and your idea of an adventure is a French motorway to a GS meet near Nice, knock yourself out. However if you want rocks, rubble, dust and skinny trails, then The GS or any weighty machine is not for you.

Also be honest, do you need a 300mile range tank, are you really going to travel from Khartoum to Dar-es-Salaam and never pass a fuel station and if you ever do, then a couple Rotopax bolt fuel canisters or a fuel bladder will get you there. Fuel is heavy and unless mounted low seriously affects the handling of the bike.

Most “adventure bikes” are 200kg plus, add some luggage (even you manage to travel light) you will be close to 230kg, some may top 260kg.

Having been pinned under a GS800 with 2x15kg panniers made me rethink what the GS I was doing.

There are not many sub 180kg bikes and none off the peg that really fit the bill of what I wanted.

My criteria are

I need to drive to the trailhead and unlike the USA these distances can be long, often a day or two on the flat top. A small 250-450cc engine would seem just to be under a lot of pressure doing this day in, day out.

I stick to the A and B roads generally but it needs to sit at 110kmph/70mph and still be relatively comfortable and handle. Some wind protection would be nice and it should be able to carry some luggage.

14+ litres offering up to a 350k range means we can ride for two trail days and not panic about finding fuel.

It strikes me as odd that no-one makes a 600cc sub 180kg machine with a reasonable range and good suspension for the trails. But having just ridden 6 days on the best trails in Europe in Sardinia and meet no other riders, whilst on the nearby roads hundreds of BMW’s and Multi Stradas it maybe should be no surprise.

These ubiquitous hard panniers machines piloted by multi pocketed Cyberman, suggests to me what we are doing, whilst is a strong aspirational marketing image that is selling the machines to the masses, is actually pursued by only a few.

So if you want adjustable good suspension, the ability to ride road, some single track and trails, and feel as though you are riding not just surviving then few machines are as capable as the KTM 690 Enduro with its added bits.

x

Morocco - Bike Magazine Sept 14 Travel Competition

A story from Morocco May 2014 in Bike Magazine

Morocco Late Spring 14

 

It's not often you manage to pull together 6 busy bikers and get them to commit to downing tools and heading off to Africa together.  But this spring we managed it. Organised by our local Yamaha dealer Moto74 in Sallanches, France using there linked travel company Anarouz Voyages from Geneva Switzerland, Greg, Will, Brain, Alun, Jon and myself headed to Marrakech in early May  to test our skills on the Yamaha 660 Tenere' that we were using for the trip. 

1300km later most of us had dropped the bikes at least once, and had gone through many moments of sweaty hot amazing riding. The full article will appear in the Sept edition of Bike Magazine in the UK, so I can,t give to much away here suffice to say, although heavy two of us on the trip have bought Yamaha,s and one more has bought a 660 Tenere' on recommendation. For my tastes coming from the F800GS the weight of the bikes was too similar for me to go for one. But once the Yamaha is up to speed it's more balanced, more capable off-road and more fun than the BMW.

On this trip we were followed by a 4x4 with cook, driver, spare machine in a truck and rode with a local bike guide. Hardly out-there in terms of comfort and the 5 hotels we stayed in over the 5 days of riding, all had swimming pools and most had importantly beer. For those wanting to dip into desert riding it was a great introduction and great value. The full article will be in Bike Magazine soon. Once it is published I will copy it here. 

In the mean time if you fancy a Moroccan moto trip which offers you good value without the need to ship your own bike try Anarouz Voyages.

Guid 2 Roues

www.guid2roues.com
64 Avenue de Champel – 1206 Genève	email : contact@guid2roues.com

www.anarouz-voyages.com