Starting Out
LOADED AND READY TO GO

Three years and two months after arriving home from Australia, the eve of
our big trip had arrived. The bike sat in the garage ready to go. Our
original start date had been delayed so many times for different reasons.
The organisation involved with this trip was more than last time. We had
done 24,000 miles around Australia on a Kawasaki after shipping the bike
there and back. This time our plan was to ride our 750 Africa Twin from the
UK down through France, Italy, Greed, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India,
Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and onto Australia and New Zealand. After
that was a long way off and was not worth organising until nearer the time
as situations and political circumstances could change at any moment.

We had gathered enough equipment and belongings together to fill a Land
Rover let alone a motorcycle! Time and time again we packed, unpacked and
re-packed the luggage, weighing it so the bike would be as balanced as
possible from one side to the other as well as front to back. We packed
what we needed and put the rest in a spares box back home with the idea of
having anything sent out to us if and when we needed it.This was our second Honda Africa Twin and decided a V-twin was needed to
carry, Wendy and I plus all our gear on such a journey. The bike has good
suspension (standard Showa shock)despite a lot of people thinking some
fancy named expensive unit has to be fitted. It has 23 litre fuel tank, an
air box set high up out of the way of water and dirt and high, wide
handlebars, which allow good control. I fitted a K+N filter for ease of
cleaning. We have used Givi luggage for a long time and fitted a Givi
Wingrack 2 for more strength. I had bought and fitted the Touratech rack
and boxes but found it fitted too close to the side panels to remove them
without removing the rack first which seemed pointless so sent them back
and decided to stick with what we knew best. Any individual parts can be
obtained for the Givi boxes/racks which is good to know. I had extra
brackets and a cross brace made for the rack to stop it flexing over bad
ground, which would cause it to crack and break. A friend of mine, Gary,
built these plus racks for two ten litre jerry cans, which were bolted to
either side of the bike on the crash bars. The ten litre jerry cans gave a
total of 43 litres of fuel, if needed, by far a cheaper option than the
large capacity and expensive fuel tank you can buy. The jerry cans cost
10.00GBP and also doubled as supports for removing the front wheel when
needed. The final accessory was a tool box from "Africa Queens" in Germany.
Mounted to the front of the bash plate to keep the weight low, it was
lockable so was secure and held socket set, ring spanners and generally
heavy tools.