i wonder if i could pick the brains of the guys who have

been overlanding in tough terrain
i have 10 weeks to iron out what i need to do and take

so far im pretty well sorted with the obvious stuff

tyres levers chain links ect ect but im fairly new to the bike ... so its kinda tenere tips im looking for

ive looked up the forum and have a spare rectifier which fits neat under the seat above the snorkal .. pre wired with connectors and ive checked and sealed the o/e
as a bit of insurance ..thanks stoic bloke


ive messed with the gearing and got what i like 14.46

id like any suggestions please what to watch out for or prevent
or what you didnt take and wish you had ..kind of thing

other than the three questions you may be able to help me with below



air filter ..
ive read about replacement filters ..bearing in mind im not altering the performance of the bike ..just have a dust free airbox
which one can you suggest to be the best in very dusty conditions on a standard set up

has any one found it neccasary to fit crash bars ??
or damaged anything thart could have been prevented by them
it has a bash plate and pump bars on ..

rear brake pads

mine are nearly shot in 3k miles i reall am not heavy on the brakes at all

is this unusual /usual

best sugestion for replacement /will i need spares

thank you for your feedback ...steve

Steve, three comments I have,

Gearing, we took 4 Teneres into Portugal last May, I ran with the 15T the others ran with the 14T and to be honest it was a pain. The bike was using a litre more fuel per fill up than the others and there was no real benefit . Try out your 15T by all means, but when you compare against othe bikes it's just not worth the effort.

Air Filter - or more to the point the air box seals. Take bothe sides off, grease the seal and replace, if this is left stock you will get sand in your airbox.

I fitted the OTR bash Plate, others had the OE bash plate, (I didn't have crash bars), fell off lots of times and no real damage to the bike, other than some scratches that my Mx boots caused..... However, the bash plate has some pretty deep pot marks in it so worth the effort in my case. Then again we did take some tracks at a stupidly fast pace (Stoic really can crack the whip when he wants to!)...

Bar Risers, I have 20mm and the cables just manage this. Worth considering if you like standing up. And to go with that some wider pegs (ther is a link on the site for cheap ones from eBay, take a while to arrive but do the job really well).

Look at coating your tank with some of that HG clear film, it'll stop lots of the scratches.

Try to avoid 6 inch spikes, they do your tyre no good at all!

Enjoy your trip.......

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ahh right its the sides that are the weak point thanks

and not the filter itself ?

Yipipidyyip.... The seal isn't great. I used some White PTFE grease that I had left over form my MTB days, it just needs to be sticky and fill the crack.

I also smeared some inside the airbox (the clean air side) - just in case!

I have a DNA filter, but it took three cleans to get all the dust/sand out of it. I'm not sure how the guys with paper filters faired (Nick ???). Never needed to clean it during the trip though.

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Hi

Could you explain this in more detail.Thanks

Dazzer

Please

Doing the same trip myself end of May, and also pondering the bash-plate engine bar issue.

Pictures below taken from other forum members show damaged water pump and a metal putty repair to the engine casing.

Protecting the water pump I would consider to be critical.

Not sure what is more likely, damaging the engine due to hitting a rock, or me simply dropping the bike on it's side.

I am considering either the Hepco & Becker engine bars, or the Adventure-Spec engine bar/bash plate combo.

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There has only been one report, I believe (of course I could have missed some) of a damaged water pump. It is off course possible that you could destroy it, but there is no real evidence to support any claim that it is vulnerable. In fact, lay your bike on it's side and look at how far from harm the water pump is.....

Tims problem was just pure bad luck. again this is the only example of this failure in lots of trips people have done.

The whole Bars V's bash plate debate is really down to where you are going. catch a branch in your bars and you are going down, they will brush off a bash plate. Then again, go sliding down the tarmac and the bars will keep some distance between your bike and the ground - horses for courses as they say.

I used to run with engine bars, and I moved to the OTR bashplate, not as big as the TT one but it gives enough protection to the waterpump/engine area from loose rocks. JMo did the HR Dakar with only the OTR bash plate.

Honestly, I wouldn't get too concerned with the water pump protection - bending your radiator is more likely.

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mmm its a quandry for me
i dont think i would get tangled up in the crashbars in the rocky tracks


By minkyhead at 2011-01-21

im leaning towards them ..
i may a well ask if anyone knows if you can retain the o/e bashplate with the different makes ..they are not big on information on the sites ive looked at ...

It depends on how extreme the routes are that you're planning. For many people doing non-technical everyday tracks the OE plastic bash plate is fine.

But on harder stuff you need better protection. Chris Scott also did his sump in. It's not a question of whether parts are vulnerable when the bike is lying down, mine was standing up at the time, but a pointy rock got inbetween the Yamaha bash plate and the Yamaha engine bars (2nd of Nick's pics). The AdventureSpec bash/bar combo (4th of Nick's pics) would have prevented this.

As far as the air filter is concerned, if you are travelling solo you'll find there's hardly a problem with dust ingress.

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