The bikes

The bikes on this tour have been a challenge and pretty disappointing.

There are about 5 BMW F800GS which are Compass owned and have been shipped in from Australia for this season of tours. The rest come from a local bike supplier and they are a pretty clapped out set. 

I am on a KTM 690 which was a ‘free upgrade’ because the bike I had booked was totally clapped. Given the condition of the 690 - the Suzuki must have been shocking. Mine rattles and shakes but gets along pretty well and is great in the dirt.

There were 3 KTM 400 which are great in the dirt but must be hard work on the bitumen. None of the KTM have indicators and a few are missing headlights. One was retired when Eric ran into the back of a car.

Roger is on a Yamaha Tenere and there is a spare Tenere in the truck, which has been used a few times.

The failure rate has been very disappointing, with multiple break downs almost every day, including: Coil failure on a KTM 400, electrical and possibly fuel problems on 2 BMW, 3 (!) thrown front sprockets on the KTMs, and now one KTM is dripping oil. 

The only saviour is the ability of the support guys to solve pretty much anything. There has been some cringing about their methods, but so far they have kept the show rolling and are always there at each stop to help. They carry a great kit of spares: