Take a mid-level club rider on a completely manual (no electronics) motorcycle and give them a BMW S1000RR…they will be lapping the top biker in as little as 5 circuits. It’s insane and I wish I had 1/10 of the talent to be able to do it all over again.
You are most welcome, if you are ever in Colorado Springs look me up...
That would be great! I’m down a couple times a week usually.
I can relate, my leathers have been in the top of the closet for a few years, anyway as spring comes around it will be much warmer in my garage, its located close to pueblo,
That's just like the "Moonride" guys. A bunch of them went from Capetown to Cairo. Then later they rode from Canada down to Tierra Del Fuego. They were on KLR650's. I met a guy in Moorefield, WV, USA one time with a little BMW 650 single. He had a sticker on the tank that said HO. I asked him about it...thought he liked Honda but had a BMW. He said it was for Honduras. He rode from WV out to Los Angeles, and met up with the Moonride group and rode as down to Chile with them. Pretty cool!
Very sound advice as like yourself, I have cheated the system in the past a bit. However on this Africa trip I had to promise the world to my wife that I would be extra safe and careful, I wear a helmet, boots, gloves and my WW2 Panzer leather jacket which is like a piece of plywood in thicknessJason, that is a ride of a life time. I’m sure you do. But remember to wear all of your PPE
Gloves, padded jacket ETC.
I wish I could say I always did. I was riding a similar very remote dirt road and taking in the scenery looking 90 degrees to my right. Next thing I know I’m face planted on the gravel. Skidding on the side of my full face helmet. Luckily I was wearing all of my gear. And was just banged up a little. I hit a dog that I did not see. The dog was fine and I was left crawling in the gravel
This picture shows I have not always followed my own advice
Shorts and no helmet
View attachment 584345
Also made every attempt to be off the roads in evening and night. However getting lost in the Namibian bush blew that rule. I have two airtag trackers on the bike and shared the locations with family and close friends, so most of the journey they can track me real time. Kind of fun!
Its such a thrill to be out on the bike in nature, I had some interesting interactions with elephants and other wildlife, some tense moments at gas stations where the bike and myself would be surrounded instantly by hundreds of people. Stuck in deep sand, that literally took hours for me to dig out as I had to completely unload all gear from the bike and then reload. Leaking fuel tank that I had to camp and find someone in the bush who could weld. I also would love to get a KLR here in Colorado and drive up to the artcic circle. Would be a blast to head to South America as well. The hard part is finding other riders to join, everyone claims they want to go but when its time the pull the trigger all fade away,
My KLR was a 2003 I bought new. I'd had it six months, and the "doohickey" failed. I think the technical term for it is "cam chain tensioner link." Stock they are made of pot metal. So I'm going down the road at 60mph and hear this almighty "BANG" and the backwheel locks up. I instantly squeezed the clutch and saved myself from a bad crash. Got it off the road and saw a hole in the side of the engine. So what happened is that tensioner link failed, letting the cam chain fly loose on one end. It acted like a flail, and knocked a hole in the side of the engine block. Poor thing sat there and bled out. Come to find out, that was a common failure on KLR's. I took it back to the dealership and they'd never seen it before. Kawi doesn't keep any extra engines on the shelf, so the dealership had to take it completely apart, figure out what parts were bad, order new parts, and build a new engine from parts at the shop. It took them three trys but they got it (never called me until it was done.) Said it ran great after the first rebuilt, but they heard this feint "tick ticking" sound. Took two more tear downs to figure out what was wrong (I don't even remember...something else got slightly bent when it grenaded...). After reading about the "doohickey," I found a place that made forged ones that fix the problem forever. I bought a kit and had the dealer install it. Also added a braided stainless front brake line, which dramatically improved the braking (stocker is rubber and the line expands and you lose brake power up front). They say Kawi fixed those problems on the newer KLR's...I think post 2008. I really liked the bike, even if it blew up on me. Never had a moment's trouble with it after the fixes except it would vibrate mirrors loose
They're a cheap bike, but you can make something cool out of them. The new ones fixed a lot of that. I've heard nothing but great about the BMW thumpers. My buddy had a big Paris Dakar KTM and had a lot of cooling issues with it. Not sure about the smaller ones. My wife "The Boss" forbid me from having two bikes at the same time, so I basically gave the KLR away on trade to get the Vrod. Adventure bikes are a lot of fun! That being said, I had to get an artificial hip at 48 and have been thinking about giving up bikes and just driving around in my '70 Dodge Charger once I get it done. I really like my bike though! Best of luck and awesome trip! 
I have a GSA with your name on it. Send a PM and we can talk.
