My tenere has 40000 km on the clock now, and in the next 10 months I'm going to try and double that. Let me explain.
This idea started about 5 weeks ago when my boss at work announced to all the truck drivers that we where going to be fired. At first this was a blow but just a couple of hours later I knew exactly what to do, and it wasn't searching for a new job, that could wait. No, I was going on a well deserved holiday, I thought, and as I already was planning to ride from Cape Town to Antwerp, why not ride to Cape Town first? This would ofcourse take twice the time and money, but once the idea got into my head there was no turning back. I was not too fond of taking the West route down, through some rather unsafe countries, but as I'm taking the East coast going up, and I'm allergic to taking the same route twice, it was pretty much set. Also, for the moment you can't get to Egypt easily anyway.
Because I have some traveling experience, it was no real problem to get ready in just 5 weeks, in fact I'm ready right now, and I'm only leaving saturday.
I would like to show you what I've done to prepare the tenere for this trip, although most of the modifications where already made over the last years:

seat modified with harder foam
front hyperpro spring
excel front rim (original dented and split in Morocco)
acerbis handguards
heated handgrips
battery charging monitor
K&N airfilter
cut off snorkel
Kev mod to the intake air temp. sensor
loud horn
kinetic towcable
scoitoiler chain lubing system
fuel filler hole modification so tank can hold 24 liters
bigger footpegs
opened up the sproket cover for visualy checking the wear
touratech windscreen extension
foldable rear brake lever
extensions welded to the OEM engine crash bar and a rack for a spare chain

touratech luggage rack
sw motech trax cases

I chose to go with hard luggage this time because of the practicality and the security, especially when camping. The most annoying thing with soft luggage for me was getting it all off the bike every evening and dragging it up to the hotel room, and then back down the next morning. Now I have an inner bag with my clothes that I take out my trax case and then I just clip loose my tankbag and I'm ready, result. I am aware of the added weight, but that comes down to just a couple of kilo's and the added risk on the piste with breaking your ankle, but I'm a traveler, not a Paris-Dakar contender, so I will try too keep the risks as low as possible. Most of the offroad accidents I've seen come down to just driving to fast in unknown territory.

As always, you will be able to follow my progress online:
www.tony-roundafrica.blogspot.com

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www.tony-ontheroad.blogspot.com

Good luck!

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I spent a lot of money on travel and racing motorcycles - the rest I just squandered.

XT660Z - Commuter, Adventurer...Racer?

www.dashmoto.net

Other bikes >> MT-03 / CG125BR-J / ER-6F
Departed >> ZXR400L3 / EC300 / DR-Z400E / DR800S / GPZ500S / GS400

Aye, good luck!! I like your crash bar mods.

Have a wee peep here for inspiration and stunning pictures....

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showt...hlight=romania

good luck in chasing your dream

i like your attitude on the jobs front, certainly no doom and gloom

all the best with your adventure!

Yeah , I know Ionut, I've been in contact with from last year, he is on this forum too btw.

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www.tony-ontheroad.blogspot.com