<center>A month behind schedule and I haven't even started!</center>
I suppose these things can happen - especially when you are planning such a trip on a Bullet!! I'm not exactly sure why I chose the Enfield - I think it was more a question of it chose me! There was a choice of the 600 Tenere and the BMW GS PD but the Enfield was sitting there, as an ornament in the Conservatory, and kept on looking at me as if to say "what's wrong with me"? It definitely didn't suite my style in life of getting from A to B as quickly as possible - but then maybe thats what I needed - a slow bike that couldn't be ridden hard and fast - the more I thought about it the more I warmed to the idea and in the end it won!
Cape Town as a destination, down the west coast of Africa, was one of those dreams that I always wanted to accomplish and the intentions were to go when our 4 young children were all in senior school, but a couple of years early and here I go. The plan is to ride down the West Coast of France, cross over the Pyrenees to the East coast of Spain down to Algeciras where I would cross the Med into Ceuta, Morocco and follow the coast down through Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal and into Gambia. From there on who knows what the route will be, things can change by the day in African Countries, so we will wait and see.
The bike is not what would be typical of overland trips so I will be spending a little time on each entry explaining how its been running and what repairs have been done (and I'm prepared for many!)
I purchased the brand new 350 bullet from a well known auction site back in 2004 for £1000 and it sat in the conservatory as an ornament until the beginning of the year. Its an Indian 'home market' bike so the build quality was not quite up to the UK versions. Knowing the unreliability of the bikes I decided to do a few modifications, the major things to include the following:
Replace 4 speed for 5 speed gearbox
New rear Hagon shock absorbers
Electronic ignition
Power Box to replace Rectifier and Regulator
Sports Coil
'O' ring chain
new single seat
Larger 18 ltr fuel tank
Replace original Carb with Amal Concentric
Replace all cables with better quality Japanese ones (thanks Fred!)
New tyres and inner tubes
Custom made rear rack that will not break! (thanks again Fred!)
18bhp 350cc engine
New custom made rack with 'Ammo' top box!
If you're interested in my progress why not add your email address above 'sign me up' on the top right of the screen and you will automatically be notified of future entries.
I will be leaving on the 3rd November for Dover.
Just a quick thanks to everyone who has helped me with preparation and support but particular thanks goes to my wife and 4 children for letting me go :-)
Rob