When I
started my trip it was all in good running order: The front tire was brand new,
the rear tire had about 80% tread left,, brakes had 80+% pads left, chain had
about 70% wear margin left and sprockets were all in good order (though I don’t
know how many Km they had actually done).
Since
then, Ive put about 8000Km on the bike since I left Cape Town a bit over a
month ago..Of that distance I would estimate that about half of it has been on
dirt roads with some being as good as paved roads and others being quite bad
and me only moving at an average of about 40Kmh for an hour or more at a time.
That’s a
lot more dirt riding than I would have done with my old Suzuki and the reason
is because that bike didn’t handle those conditions nearly as well as this one
does… But there are a couple of other factors that need to be considered too:
Wear on
the Bike:
Ive found
that the dirt riding is MUCH harder on the bike running gear (as expected). Ive
had multiple flats, the rear tire is now down to 50% tread and the front down
to 70%. But the chain now has only about 20% wear margin left and the sprockets
are looking much more worn too… Its not really surprising since Ive had to ride
a lot of the dirt without chain lubrication… the constant dirt and dust mean
that when I lube it up it only lasts a few Km before its all gone anyway.
Again, this is an unavoidable aspect of these types of roads but it means that
I will not get nearly as far on chains and sprockets as I have on previous
trips. Fortunately I did anticipate the increased wear and have brought along
spare chain and sprockets and the tools to change them. Im sure Ill make the
distance to Nairobi with my spares and Ill be able to “resupply” there but I
will definitely need to watch what I do from now on more carefully.
Enjoyment:
After
having tried it out pretty well for the last month or so I can comfortably say
that the increased dirt riding does add value to my tour but its not all
“roses” as they say. I have found that I have a lot more freedom in selecting
the route that I choose to travel and Im able to see a lot more of the
countryside that on the other bike I would not see. But I also find that it’s a
LOT more work and I have to concentrate a lot harder on keeping the bike
upright and me on it (mostly because the fully loaded bike is just so heavy and
a lot of work to keep it tracking to the line I need it on and balanced carefully
…since if you let it lean over just a little too far then “she’s going down”…
Not like a smaller and much lighter dirt bike where you jan just rebalance with
smaller movements of your body weight)… And that actually detracts from my
enjoyment of the countryside… Ive found that the riding becomes the focus and
not the country that Im riding through… and that’s OK if that’s why you are
riding but for the most part that’s not why Im doing it. So even though Im in
some very beautiful country Ive found that Im not able to enjoy it as much as I
want to… and slowing down doesn’t really help, since it tends to make
corrugations worse and just prolongs the difficult and uncomfortable sections
in many cases.
So, while
I do like the possibilities, of the dirt riding I don’t plan to do as much as I
have been doing unless either the road is in pretty good condition (so I can
enjoy the country as I ride through), or if there is a specific goal at the end
of the road that Im trying to get to… Other than that Ill try to stick to
smaller paved roads I think.
p.s. Ive
also found that the new valves in the front forks do a fantastic job of
allowing the suspension to still soak up unexpected large pot-holes in paved
roads too (and Botswana seems to have a few doozies in the pot-hole department…
and Im only expecting that to get worse as I head into Zimbabwe, Malawi and
Mozambique J
