Hats of to you both on your epic journey. Let's not forget the other star of the show here, big round of applause to the Triumph. British engineering at its best. Round the world on a Bonnie ! It wouldnt have been the choice of many others, but hasn't it done well.

Thanks for that. On a different note. Are you going to travel through the tatras mountains in north Slovakia? I'm heading that way next year

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2010 XT660Z Blue, Exan can, UFO high front fender, SW Motech baseplate, heated grips, 12v point, Kevs Fuel & O2 mod, DNA Stage 2 Filter and cover, Givi tall screen, Mefo mfe 99s, Kevs throttle mod, TT high seat and 'compass'

No I'm in Turkey at the moment, heading east

Thanks. I do enjoy your blog and I expect the real remote bits will start soon. Good luck and hope you both enjoy it

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2010 XT660Z Blue, Exan can, UFO high front fender, SW Motech baseplate, heated grips, 12v point, Kevs Fuel & O2 mod, DNA Stage 2 Filter and cover, Givi tall screen, Mefo mfe 99s, Kevs throttle mod, TT high seat and 'compass'

Sorry if you took offence to my statements. As you say, you are the man on the ground.

But there is nowhere in my opinion piece where the word 'knob' is used. I have more respect for what you're doing than that. And nowhere did I suggest that you should carry chain and sprocket kits, merely a c/s sprocket and clutch cable. The inference there is that they would be replaced in your kit asap after they're needed.

I stand corrected about worldwide warranty issue. That's pathetic. As is what I said (agreeing with you) that the Yamaha people should be able to cross reference far better than they did. I did not imply that you should be the person doing the cross referencing.

I hope your journey continues to be as satisfactory as at has been so far. It is certainly a major effort, so good on you for doing it.

You wrote: ... is a bit of a knob not to carry some basic spares such as a clutch cable and a countershaft sprocket...

Carrying just a countershaft sprocket doesn't help me much as the rear sprocket is pretty much unique to the XT too. The last Yamaha imported into the USA/Canada using that sprocket was in 1998 and not a sales success...
If you don't suggest I carry a chain then I'll have to go to a bike shop for that anyway, wouldn't it be more logical to get the sprockets there too? It was Yamaha's attitude towards a customer that was/is the problem here.

On a more positive note: I was at a Yamaha dealer in Bucharest recently. We had just been told the quality problems at Yamaha had improved a lot since 2010. His reply was 'Oh, really?'

You're quite right, I shouldn't have written that. I apologise.

I think we might have to agree to disagree re c/s sprocket. I've found that replacing them early helps prolong chain life, so I'll use two or even three to one rear off-road when they start to 'hook'.

Yamaha quality is undoubtedly an issue in some models imo. It needs addressing. As does that warranty issue, but to be fair, only in countries which import the models in question. Again imo.