LONG WAY HOME - Preparation MOTORCYCLES: Part 1 Sue’s bike... 2002 BMW F650GS with 49,000 miles on the odometer. Mick’s bike... 2004 BMW F650GS-Dakar (twin spark model) with just12,000 miles.
Mick: My preparation has been just ‘nuts and bolts’ and greasy, broken fingernails, but please have a look at Sue’s preparation ‘bit’ and learn about the paperwork side of things, of time schedules, dealing with foreign embassy’s, and the whole darn bureaucracy of it all! I’ll also let Sue tell you about the injections/inoculations you’ll need! Don’t under estimate the time span required which can be many months before your departure date. Different health clinics and doctors have different ideas, so you’ll need to check with your own. For instance, Sue’s Doctor wouldn’t give her the Japanese Encephalitis inoculation because of the side effects... mine did, and I had all the flu symptoms, severe cough and headaches etc. for five weeks, and even had to pay for the privilege!
I bought the F650GS-Dakar to do this trip on. The 1150 Adventure was too big and cumbersome, we’d had to turn back on one road in Romania last year because if the ‘bike had gone down we’d never have been able to pick it up... the road was just a wet muddy track! Anyway, the general consensus of opinion is that if you’re going on two motorcycles then they should be of the same make and model so that spares are common, and you can swap bits in order to diagnose any problems... well that’s the theory! The words of Julia and Kevin Sanders are still echoing in my ear. "Plan by all means but not too much because it restricts your flexibility, and the problems you envisage are not normally the ones you will encounter. The problems you encounter will be ones you could never have planned for anyway!" This fitted in nicely with my findings after thirty years in the police service!
The ‘bike’s were given a thorough and full service before the trip, new brake pads front and rear, and chain and sprockets fitted. The steering head bearings, swing arm bearings and suspension links were greased, using waterproof grease. Preparation was then just a matter of fitting ‘after market’ goodies supplied by our good friends at Wunderlich. Over the years I have taken many people through their doors during my organised tours to the Eifel, and have spent much money there myself, so as soon as TG realised that Sue and myself were serious about this trip, and not just day dreaming, he volunteered to supply quite a few parts etc. in return for ‘Wunderlich’ decals on the ‘bikes, and updates and photo’s as our trip progressed... "No probs", as they say! Thanks too at this point must go to Rainbow Motorcycles. Over the years they have helped me cover over 250,000 miles on the four valve boxers without any problems worthy of mention. They have rendered help and assistance over those years beyond the call of duty, a superb team indeed.

MOTORCYCLES - Part 2 Parts supplied by Wunderlich.
	‘Power Safe’ none spill able and totally sealed batteries, for both ‘bikes.
	‘Wilbers’ suspension units for the rear, plus front fork springs and oil, for both ‘bikes.
	‘Blue Line’ washable and re-oil able air filters, similar to K & N.
	‘Techlusion’ fuel injection adjustment module for both ‘bikes.
	Hepco & Becker Gobi panniers + frames. Already fitted to the Dakar.
	Extended sump guard protection. Already fitted to the Dakar.
	Extra ‘crash bars’ to protect the fairing and radiator, for both ‘bikes. (BMW original crash bars already fitted)
	Adjustable span levers for Sue’s 650 (standard on my 2004 model)
	Wunderlich’s own tank bag, with side panniers for Sue’s ‘bike.
	Rear brake pedal ‘stop’ for Sue’s ‘bike. Already fitted to mine. This part stops the rear brake binding should the original part get bent... which is quite easy!
	Wunderlich’s own ‘comfort’ seats, firmer but comfier than the original.
	Two pairs of Continental tyres per ‘bike. The Continental ‘Escape’ is an 80/20 Enduro tyre, and their TKC80’s are excellent off road tyres... we’ll see about that then eh!
	Side stand larger ‘footprint’ for both ‘bikes. Makes the side stand more secure on the softer ground, and the ‘bike doesn’t lean over so far. But to be honest, the first left hand bend I came to mine decked out and flew off, narrowly missing RJC, chasing me on an R1200GS!
	Handlebar raisers. Initially Sue had reservations about fitting these, but having tried them found them to be most useful... especially handy when standing on the pegs going over rough terrain. Couldn’t fit them to the Dakar because the standard windscreen was in the way!
	Throttle Rocker, you don’t have to grip the throttle all the time on those long monotonous straight highways, rather use the heel of the palm of your hand to keep the throttle open... lets the fingers do the walking! How I lament the passing of the throttle friction screw that allowed you, with a set throttle opening, to take your hand off the bars!
	Other parts were offered, but not used. Radiator guards and front fork gaiters restrict airflow, according to BMW, to the radiator, and with just over a litre of water in the cooling system, and +40 degrees in Turkey I think we’ll stick with the original design! Taller and larger screen for the standard 650 supplied, but not as aesthetic as the dark coloured BMW fitted... which does a great job anyway

MOTORCYCLES - Part 3 When fitting the extended sump guard protection plate, I removed a few inches off the rear of the original sump guard protector. They overlap, so no problem, and now it’s just a matter of removing two bolts to take off the extended sump guard, and you can get to the sump drain plug without taking off the fiddly (when crash bars are fitted) original part. Both ‘bikes were already fitted with the rear brake master cylinder protection alloy plate as fitted to the 1150’s. Will fit straight on, but just require longer bolts and a couple of small spacers. A Mickey mod!
Before the 1150 Adventure went into the showroom at Rainbow, I took off my beloved Touratech (oops!) additional lights. The fog light I run as a ‘daylighter’ light... ideal when filtering, makes the myopic car drivers see you, plus it lights the edges of the road up at night. The Xenon headlight is just fantastic in the dark. I had to make up new mounting brackets for the 650, and the placing of the transformer box for the Xenon took some working out, but well worth the effort in the long run. The Dakar looks like a helicopter gun ship now! The Techlusion is a small module that is very simple to wire in... and works! Unplug the wire into the fuel injector, one wire from the Techlusion goes into the fuel injector, the other into the connector that you’ve just pulled off, one wire to earth, and that’s it, apart from now disconnecting the oxygen sensor. In essence, the Techlusion is an adjustable ‘chip’. It’s fail safe, and settings are shown with the instructions for different models and states of tune. I noticed an immediate difference, the ‘bike being much smoother, cleaner and quicker on the pick up. I fitted Sue’s to her ‘bike and sent her out to test for ten minutes... she came back half an hour later grinning like a Cheshire cat!
Wunderlich also supplied 4 x two litre jerry cans and so I made brackets up to hold them to the front edge of the Hepco & Becker Gobi panniers... they look like real rufty tufty over landing ‘bike’s now! Touratech additional blades were already fitted to the BMW standard hand guards on both machines. A boon in the cold or rain... lets the heated grips do a better job still!
MOTORCYCLES: Part 4 The Wilbers suspension is now fitted to both ‘bikes, also the Continental ‘Escape’ tyres, chains and sprockets etc. and a full and total service completed. The suspension is superb... irons out the bumps, the ‘bike just gliding along without a care as to what the road is doing below it. Certainly faster on the back roads than the 1150 Adventure with Öhlins fitted. I understand the Wilbers heritage stems from the suspension guru’s at WP. First impressions of the Continental tyres are also most favourable. I’ve always rated the Metzeler Tourance tyres, having had a mistrust of Continental tyres dating back to the 80’s when riding the police BMW 600’s fitted with them. But then that’s over twenty years since, and the Escape’s seem great. Good feed back... and I like the look of them! We’ll report back on the tyres and suspension during the trip... "The Wilbers suspension were returned to Germany for close examination etc. and to see how they have faired over this trip. The good news is that they were put on the test rig and performed as if new. They were then stripped, with the seals being replaced as a matter of course (though there was absolutely nothing wrong with them as both units were as new) and then rebuilt. The better news is that they're on their way back to us".
GPS Never leave home without it. Sue has the Garmin 3+ and I have the BMW Motorrad 1. People will tell you that for the money you can buy a lot of maps... well maybe you can, but they’re missing the point, and probably have never tried the GPS! Find hard to find addresses, discover superb motorcycling roads. Running out of petrol on the motorway, stay on or come off? Looking for a hotel? (My mate was! ‘Phoned up a hotel shown on the GPS, yes, the numbers in there, they gave him a price... "No thanks, I’ve another five to ‘phone up yet!" They immediately halved the price!) I could go on, but please trust me... It will be money well spent! We’ll be working with the Garmin World Map once out of Europe. All the major roads are shown, but not always up to date. However, we’ve found in the past that the actual towns are accurately plotted, so that while we won’t be able to use auto routing we can use the GPS compass and world map to find our way about.
Spare parts Working on ‘Sod’s Law’ which basically says that the one part that you require will be the one part that you don’t have, and the old Confucius saying... "All things can be sorted!" (I don’t know that he actually said it, but it sounds good and relates to my sentiment on the matter, so I’m happy to believe that he could have said it!) The only parts we’ll be taking are spare handlebar levers, a throttle cable, two oil filters, and a set of rear brake pads. I envisage servicing the ‘bikes in Ulan Bator, Mongolia, and then again in Turkey, where we have contacts. Apart from the usual tools I’ll be taking a pen sized gas soldering iron, circuit tester, and bits of wire, spare nuts and bolts etc. For full list of items taken please see separate page.
Photography I’ll be taking my Canon G3 and Ixus 400. Both are 4 mega pixel digital cameras using the Compact Flash memory cards. Sue will take her Kodak digital which uses the SD card. I’ll be taking an Apacer CD writer so that I can write the photographs on the SD and CF cards direct to a CD. I’ll do three copies, one for Sue to carry, one for me, and will post the third copy CD’s to my brother David on Fairisle, who will be updating the website www.adventure.gs as and when he receives e-mails and pictures from us, and then forwarding relevant pictures to Wunderlich.
I’d thought about an ‘on board camera’ several years ago for my advanced motorcycle training courses, but like a lot of ideas, it went onto the backburner, and was never realized. It was mentioned for this trip, and I thought it would be a good idea, especially having seen ‘The Long Way Round’ by Charlie Boorman and Ewan McGregor. The seeds were sown! More so after eldest son Peter taped his camcorder on to the beak of his brother Martyn’s 1100GS (woolly hat and plastic tape!) and made a video us all going round der Nürburgring! So when I got news that my 1150 Adventure had been sold, well, the writing was on the wall. I bought a Sony DCRHC40E camcorder, bullet cam, LANC switch etc. and I was hooked!