Salam Aleikum Habibis

I left Fes on the 1. October 2019 for Ifrane, which they call the Switzerland of Morocco. Apparently it gets some snow and skiing in the winter. Thankfully all I got to see was a beautiful sunset and a pleasant campsite.

I rode on the next day to Marrakech. The last time I was in this city back in 2016, my brother Dani and I had had some bad experiences with a bunch of hustlers. I decided to face my fears however (;-) and had an absolutely great time thanks to Mohammed and the guys from Ourika Camp Marrakech. I ended up spending two nights there: doing some motorbike stuff (changing the battery, oil, chain and sprockets), reading and hanging out with Mohamed. Thank you kindly man and see you next time!

I headed South early in the morning on the 4. October 2019. I noticed that when switching up to the highest gear, my chain started to choke (if that’s the technically correct term?) a bit as if the force of the engine wasn’t being delivered properly to the sprockets via the chain. I stopped at Hassan’s mechanic shop, which was right on the roadside and his analysis was that my sprockets weren’t the right size for King Kong. I had left my old sprockets with the mechanic in town and decided (maybe a bit to optimistically) not to go back the 10 km to Marrakech but to head onwards. Hassan thought I could continue if I didn’t abuse the bike. Due to my ongoing rocker arm problems, I’m not reving the engine highly anyways, so I thought it would be ok. Plus I wrote down the specs of my sprockets before leaving Switzerland – so I more or less know what I’m in need of (13 edges for the front sprocket at ca. 13 cm diameter and 47 edges for the back sprocket at ca. 19 cm diameter).

I spent a very enjoyable day riding from Fes to Agadir, via Taroudannt through the middle Atlas. It’s absolutely lovely with curvy roads, red rock and spectacular views.

I decided to only pass through Taroudannt and head on to Agadir. I wanted to show my bike to a mechanic and get the sprocket (and maybe also the rocker arm) problem fixed. I thought my chances were better in the big port city of Agadir.

I still haven’t done any sauvage camping in Morocco yet and the big city is not the place for it. I found a campsite downtown close to the beach, which is cheap enough (CHF 6.00) per night, albeit a bit dirty and not super pleasant. I am looking forward to some sauvage camping further South where there will be less people. For now I’m glad to be close to the amenities of the city though. 

I started looking for a mechanic on Saturday and after some trial and error found Cyclos Agadir. I spent all of Saturday hanging around the shop, with different mechanics taking a look at my bike, tweaking some things and test riding King Kong. Salim was nice enough to do some translating for me (thank you Salim). The analysis here seems to be that the choking and of the chain is related to my rocker arm problem and that the sprockets would be fine, if we could fix the rocker arm problem and the engine were to work properly. In the afternoon I met Abdulatif and Yassine. They approached me while I was standing out on the street (apparently looking all worried at King Kong :). Abdulatif invited me out to his village near Tiznit for some off roading the next day. By the end of Saturday the game plan was to leave King Kong at the shop and come back on Monday when the mechanic would try to find some rocker arms off of an old bike to reuse on King Kong. He said he thought the chances were 60% that he could find some. Combined with Abdulatif’s invitation the odds seemed favorable enough for me and we headed out. 

I initially made the choice for King Kong, because I thought an old, straightforward bike with no fancy stuff would be easier to fix in Africa. So far I have to say that this hasn’t been the case. Spare parts are hard to come by for a 1979 bike and I’ve made more mechanical stops so far than planned. On the other hand I have to say the experiences caused by bike problems have been very good. All the motorcyclists love King Kong and the involuntary stops have provided me with many new friends :)

Abdulatif, Yassine and I met up with Ismail and Ayoub to head out to the desert on two 50cc Dokker scooters (that go faster than my fully loaded King Kong!), a Yamaha XT 660 and a KTM 350 EXC F. I feel very fortunate to have met them. We stopped at Abdualtif’s relative’s house to say hello and have some food. Abdulatif’s dad’s name is Sala and he is a very pleasant man. If you’re ever in the area and need a tour to the desert, here is his Moroccan number: 0670741416.

Once at Abdulatif’s house, he prepared some very nice dinner for us and gifted me with some traditional clothing (thank you kindly!). It was perfect for sleeping and I think I’ve found my new go to pajamas :).

On Sunday we headed out to the sand and I got to try some offroading on the KTM. These guys are real cross riders and you can tell that they know the sand and the desert. Don't worry mom, that's not me in the picture :).

They’re going to start their own motocross youtube channel and I was there for the first filming. I will post the link to the channel in a future blog entry, once the channel is up and running. We spent a great day out in the desert under the Argane trees, with some woodfire Tajine for lunch, a dromedar ride and a swim in the nearby Oasis. The day went by much too quickly. These guys are working men with families and it was Sunday night – so we headed back to the city.

I feel very fortunate to have met this really cool group of friends. Thank you kindly for your hospitality, the good food, the interesting conversations and taking me along for a fun day when I was in a bodged situation. I hope to see you again soon!

It’s Monday now in Agadir and I’m waiting for the verdict on that 60% chance regarding semi new rocker arms for King Kong. A good time for some coffee and blogging. It would be nice to have the peace of mind and continue further South on my journey. Let’s hope for the best.

Take care

Chris

P.S. Sorry about the format regarding pictures and the limited amount of video. I haven't been able to find very good internet today :)