You don’t need the latest, greatest gadgets to travel abroad. Just some simple planning, desire and a map.
The Big Trip; maybe it’s on your bucket list, or you’ve just always had a burning desire to see what’s over the next hill – unless you live in Saskatchewan and just hope that one day you’ll see a hill. Either way, we all know that there is no better way to travel than by motorcycle, no better way to experience the temperature changes or smell your environment, and no better way to finally appreciate good waterproof clothing. But what exactly is the Big Trip? And if you really want to do it, where do you start?
At home is generally the best place, and I don’t mean that in any flippant way. I mean you probably have a good-sized kitchen table, a buddy and some beer in the fridge, and there is no better way to start mulling over ideas. Where to go? What to ride? How to prepare it? What about the paperwork? The inoculations? The bandits? The borders? The roads? So many questions need to be answered.
I’d like to put your mind at ease over the next few pages, maybe put things in context and perhaps offer some advice, but I’m going to begin with that kitchen table, because it’s a very good place to start. Crack that first beer, and let’s talk about why you want to go and how much time and money you’ve got to spare.
You may want to set yourself a challenge or use the trip as some kind of catalyst for change, but it must be what you want, not what you think will impress the neighbours or the guys down at the pub, as that is a recipe for disaster. Everything is relative, and if you really hate the idea of riding 600 km every day, searching for a meal and a place to sleep every night, and only ever talking to gas station attendants, then might I suggest you don’t try riding around the world in three months? It’s a long way. Set realistic goals after you’ve established whether you have three weeks, three months or three years.
It is, however, all about compromise. Do you want to take your time on little back roads, get under the skin of a country, really meet the people and understand why the place looks the way it does? Or do you want to experience a huge variety of terrain and just have one hell of a marathon ride, man and machine against the elements?
The North American continent offers so very much right outside your door, but until you cross into Mexico or fly to Japan or Europe, you aren’t going to experience any cultural change, and bizarrely, that can be what makes the best ride. But if you’ve never been away with your machine for more than a week before, it’ll be an amazing trip to ride from Fairbanks to San Diego, or Halifax to Vancouver, and you’ll love every minute of it.
Every trip you’ve never done before is a big one, but because you’ve drunk a couple of beers now and are feeling brave, let’s assume you are leaving North America, determined to see some of this beautiful world and the people within it.
So, you’ve got the maps spread out on the table and you already know how much time you can spare. You’ve traced roads with your fingers, wondered what those gorges really look like and stared for hours at the different colours representing altitude changes. You are fired up to go, but some questions remain. For many people the first one is, do I have to buy a BMW 1200GS?
The Machine
My bet is that there is something in your garage that is more than capable (Doris Maron went global from Edmonton, Alberta on a 750 Honda Magna), but it’s true that some bikes are going to make the journey easier than others.
As a general rule of thumb, smaller is better, with maybe a 650 or 500 being the best, because once you go south, road speeds drop significantly, pot-hole numbers increase, and you’d have to be one heck of a rider to get a Gold Wing up a flight of steps and into a hotel reception. A single or a twin-cylinder keeps the width and quite often the weight down, which will become very important when you add luggage, extra fuel and water. You may also want to ensure that your bike doesn’t look too flashy. By accident of birth you are already more privileged than 90% of the world’s population, so it may be a little unsightly to flaunt your perceived wealth.
Fuel
It may be that you don’t care how much gas costs, but you’ll care when it’s not available, and you’ll care if the highest octane you can find is 76. For that reason alone, you want to ensure you have a range of at least 350 km, and remember, riding in first and second gear through mud or sand will have a serious impact on fuel economy. Sourcing fuel isn’t generally an issue in Central America, as the population concentration guarantees its availability, but it’s a different story in South America, or Russia, or even somewhere you may not consider, like Australia.
I remember riding at 50 km/h when my odometer had crossed 430 km and the punishing outback sun meant the temperature was over 40 degrees. Being forced to ride that slowly on perfect blacktop is almost like living in Ontario, but if I had run out of fuel, no one would have come to save me from the heat. I hadn’t ever stretched that tank range over 460 km before, and I was never happier than when I saw that roadhouse appear in the distance through the rippling haze of the heat.
You can ride most of the way around the world on a sealed surface, so don’t panic about my reference to being stuck in the sand or mud, but remember, even on tarmac, hard luggage – and to a lesser extent soft bags – can have a dramatic effect on fuel use. Luckily, my bike didn’t have a fuel pump, so I was able to use all the fuel in the tank by laying the bike on its side to get the remaining fuel over to the petcock. If you spend any time on dual-sport chat forums, you’ll already know that many people remove in-tank fuel pumps when they can, to increase fuel capacity and to reduce possible electrical failures. You can’t do it on every bike, but do your research, you may be surprised.
Reliability and Simplicity
Which brings me, as an Italian bike owner, to a bit of a sore point. Electrics. Here the rule is “the simpler the better.” This isn’t much help if you are considering buying a new bike for the trip, as so many of them are now weighed down by electrickery, but older-design bikes, like Suzuki’s DR or Kawasaki’s KLR, really score here. The reason is that diagnostic equipment and computer programmers will be hard to find when you have left the comfortable western world.
It is true that motorcycle reliability is improving all the time, but components break and accidents can still happen, so stuff still needs to be fixed on the road. The “rest of the world” contains some incredible mechanics and welders, because poverty means things can’t be replaced, so they must be fixed and usually are – somehow. Remember that lightweight alloy frames are not the friend of the overlander, especially when you may be carrying 50 kg of luggage. Steel can always be repaired – I know of a guy whose DR350 was broken in half by a rhinoceros, but his frame was fixed on the side of an African road, which meant he could ride it back to the United Kingdom.
Roads and Preparing for Them
As I say, you can get most of the way around the world today without leaving blacktop (though it may not be in the condition you’d hope for), but you’ll see so much more of the world if you are prepared to hit the dirt. Don’t, however, expect the well-graded gravel roads you find in Manitoba or B.C. You may find yourself where the boulders you are driving over are hitting the sump, or washouts leave you wedged with the rear wheel off the ground, as dramatic seasonal weather variations have a significant impact on road infrastructure. Because of this, you just may want to consider sump guards, mudflaps and crashbars (you will drop the bike at some point). Fitting barkbusters or something similar will protect your hands and keep them warm, but will also protect the brake and clutch levers when the bike falls. As an aside, if you don’t tighten the lever clamps too much, the levers will swivel rather than break in the case of an accident, and if you cut the end off your gear lever, you can weld on the folding end of one from any old 125 dirt bike, which ensures you’ll never be caught short in the middle of nowhere, unable to shift gears.
As for tires, you’ll be amazed what can be achieved when you and your bike have to face less than ideal conditions, no matter what tires you’ve got. There are always ideals, but you’ll soon be happy just to find ones that are round and black.
Luggage and Supplies
Both hard and soft bags have their advantages. Hard is more secure, but invites the question “what is inside?” Soft is cheaper but can be knifed. I only know of one person who had their luggage attacked; that was a set of hard bags, and it happened in the United States. My friend Lois Pryce used soft bags while riding the length of Africa on her 225 Yamaha and didn’t have a single thing stolen throughout her trip. Perhaps the biggest advantage of soft bags is that when you are “paddling” to assist the bike through deep sand, there is no threat of trapping your feet under the bags. Similarly, if you have a bit of an unscheduled dismount, the soft bags won’t trap your leg, but then they won’t protect the bike either . . . it’s all compromise.
I know I’ve mentioned falling off quite a lot. Don’t panic. Just imagine losing your footing, or stepping off the bike at 10 km/h. It will happen, so refer back to the initial choice of bike. It needs to be light enough so you can keep picking it up, and tough enough to take it.
The main rule of luggage should be, once you have packed everything you really need, chuck half of it away and start again. Why would you need more than three T-shirts or four pairs of socks or jocks? Wash them and when they’ve worn out, buy new ones – they’ll be cheaper than what you usually pay and you’ll have a great souvenir. Buy a T-shirt that says something you can’t read and make other people smile when they see you wearing it.
As for keeping warm, consider a heated jacket and a corresponding power outlet. You will traverse a wide variety of altitudes and experience various temperatures, so quality clothing, as opposed to quantity, will make all the difference. Why carry loads of clothes for the few occasions when heated clothing works, plugged in or not?
Many modern technical undergarments pack down small and light, and you must start thinking about small size and multi-function at every opportunity.
Central to the art of overlanding is that everything is dual purpose, so even when you choose a cooking stove, make sure it is happy to run on motorcycle gas.
For footwear, I choose to ride in old military boots, which are robust enough for riding, very comfortable to hike in and with simple PVC overboots, suitably waterproof. It means that I only carry light sandals for all other uses. Simple.
Spare Parts
Things like spare cables are useful, and if you just zip-tie them alongside the originals, they don’t take up valuable space in your luggage and you’ll hardly be inconvenienced when you need to change them. You should carry a small container with a few nuts and bolts, maybe some electrical connectors, zip ties and a couple of bulbs, and wrap some cloth tape round the outside of the container – there’s no point taking a roll with you. It, like most things, will be available wherever you are, in some form or another, so you only need a little bit of everything – just enough to get you out of trouble.
Always bring a workshop manual, either paper or on disc, because if you can’t read it, there will always be someone who can. If something big has broken, like a shock absorber or a water pump, just think of it as a great opportunity to meet people. You are going to be stranded for a few days, so relax, explore your surroundings – you may even fall in love. I did when I was in Belize, but of course, she didn’t notice.
There is no black art to preparing a motorcycle for a big overland trip, because where you are going and what you will ride on is up to you. However, Chris Scott’s Adventure Motorcycle Handbook is a great place to start, and so is browsing in a shop like A Vicious Cycle, where you can get custom seats (you’ll be sitting down a lot), and protective equipment. I could talk about this stuff for hours, and so can anyone you know who’s ever done it, which is why the kitchen table is so important.
Are you getting excited? Have you spilt some beer on the maps yet? It’s fun already, and you haven’t even started to buy stuff for your bike yet. Infinite possibilities are spread out in front of you, possibilities that a GPS can never reproduce, but you’ll have to sober up before we talk about the paperwork. It’s serious.
Next month I’ll touch on protecting yourself from officialdom, disease and crime, and how you actually go about moving your motorcycle around the world. Happy dreams!
