Quote:
Originally Posted by
mb4807
It was over 40 when we were down near Zagora and Kem Kem too! Luckily we had a land cruiser following us with water etc. Did you have support? I wouldnt fancy hanging about fixing a flat or working on a dead bike in that heat! We were on rental bikes, but after a day in the sand the air boxes needed a clean and filter swap, so clearly your sealing up did the trick. I was watching that video thinking about how much maintenance you must have had to be doing each night, but maybe your bike prep saved you from it.
It's a great place and as you say, superb people too. Your vids showed me how much more there is to see. I'll be back!
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No support or anything, but 2 of the lads with us are mechanics and some of the others are quite handy with a spanner! I checked the bike most nights (chain, oil, tyres, etc) but to be honest the bikes didn't need much maintenance. I did make sure the bike was well prepared before setting off from the UK though.
It was Ohlins (member on here) that recommended the various pre trip maintenance (there is a post on the site somewhere from last year - an excellent list). Indecently it was Ohlins who led this trip and it was just as awesome as the one he led last year!
The air box sealing worked really well as did the foam filter. The filter was clogged with sand after the desert so I should have really cleaned it but didn't and noticed the engine using a bit more fuel than normal on way back through Spain.
The tenere is a great bike for this sort of trip as was my mates XT660R. Bit heavy in the sand as expected but it eats the miles through spain and on hardpack it is awesome. My other mate was on his KTM 690R and he just floated over the sand whilst I just ploughed through it
Was pretty hot a couple of the days, but we had plenty of water with us and we took our time in the sand so as not to get too tired picking up bikes! We also had tents and camped a few nights in the desert so we weren't on any schedule to get anywhere before night fall. This took a lot of pressure off us as we could just stop and set up camp at any point we fancied. We all had a few days food and water supplies to keep us going.