Wobble avoidance

Hi again. Well its now less than 2 weeks before the off. The bike is down at Triple-D Motosport in Kendal having a service. I normally service my own bikes, but before a motorcycle trip a few years ago I got into a pre-trip maintenance flap and it all went wrong. I thought I'd recount the tale here for fun:

It was December 2000 and it was 2 am. I was lying in bed thinking about the next day's departure for a bike ride from the Scottish Borders to Dakar with a friend. It was our first 'independent' bike adventure and I was worried. The bikes were going to break down in the middle of nowhere and that would be that - I'd have to eat my friend. As the night wore on I pondered the exact mechanism of my future-demise and somehow came to the conclusion that my clutch would burn out. There was no rational reason for this as the bike was an XR600R with a tough clutch and, anyway, it was pretty new.

As if by some sort of malign autosuggestion, I remembered that I had a new set of spare clutch plates in my 'spare parts pile'. Quick as a flash I was out of bed and heading for the garage in my boxers and dressing gown. By now it was about 3 am and I only had 4 hours to change the clutch, have breakfast and hit the road. The good news was that we were getting a lift down to Portsmouth in a van to save our knobbly tyres on the roads a bit. So, the clutch was changed in record time and my dressing gown was ruined but I was at peace with the world...

Two days later, we were riding off the ferry in Bilbao. I'd like to say that the sun was shining, but it wasn't. I didn't care though, I was off to Africa. By this time, I'd only ridden about 500 metres from the van to the ferry in the UK - but I just knew that all was well with the bike - it felt goooood. I rode down the ramp with my riding buddy and a bunch of new biker friends we'd made on the ferry and we hit the road.

The air was cold that morning - except on my leg where it was a bit warm as a stream of hot oil wept from the clutch cover and was being blown all over my boots and trousers. By this time, I was being flashed by the bike behind me which was also getting covered in oil. I pulled over. I'd broken down after less than 10km - all as a result of unwittingly tearing the clutch cover gasket during my midnight service-frenzy. To this day, I can't describe what a turkey I felt.

So, as you grow older you need to learn from your mistakes. Sadly, I didn't as I managed another early breakdown caused by over-zealous preparation (to be followed by a few other technical problems) on the 2003 Desert Riders Project with Jon Escombe and Chris Scott. This time, I have learned. The bike stays at Triple-D. Cheers for now Andy :-)

Welcome to the Valley...

Welcome to my Blog. I'm Andy Bell and this is the diary of my solo motorcycle ride from the UK to South Africa via the West coast of Africa. I'll be leaving the Breamish Valley in Northumberland, UK on 4th March and hope to arrive in the Breede Valley in Western Cape, South Africa in mid-June.

My planned route takes me through Spain, Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo, DRC, Angola and Namibia. Of course, I'll probably get lost and end up in Russia.

I'll be riding my 2004 KTM 640 Adventure, which is called 'Naartjie'. It's a really garish orange colour, so you'll be able to follow our progress on Google Earth.

At the moment, the pre-departure preparations continue apace. I'll write just before I set off with news of how they all went! Andy :-)