The bike itself was more of a mixed bag. An F800GS trophy so I had high expectations of its performance.
The engine was a peach, smooth, tractable and economical with fuel especially below 100 km/h (which speed suited Jim’s 250). The saddle was comfortable for 10 hour days in extreme conditions.
It came with a new chain and a good front tyre, an Anakee Wild.
However the back tyre, a 90/10 style Anakee Adventure, was useless off road and dumped me in the heavy mud in Lesotho.
In addition, from the get go the steering was very wobbly and imprecise which was a nightmare at slow speeds and made me hesitate to take it off road. At first I though it was the new tyre but free 5,000 kms I am pretty sure it’s the head bearings.
Two final points: the gearbox May have had a hard life over its 35,000 kms but it was very difficult to locate neutral.
My final reflection is that the bike is heavy, and top heavy - so for a pension age bloke with a weak back, not the bike to take on African tracks!
This got me into one of those reflections that you (or at least, I) have whilst riding: that I need to return to my project of 5+ years ago and get something like a KTM690 again, or Husqvarna 701 and fettled it appropriately for road trips with pistes/trails involved. This would give me a chance of getting the bike up again and would likely perform better in the sand than the 800GS.
So that’s a project for next year, to find a recent model in good condition. Have been following the related threads on UKGSer with great interest!
Oh and my Alpinestar Toucan boots (also a secondhand acquisition!
) were also great, as usual - I use them for UK greenlaning but they were also comfortable in African conditions.
The bike:
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