By Dale Bartlett

Chris has been asking for a blog entry from me to especially address the motorcycle. I have tried to explain that there are very few Moto Guzzi Quota aficionados left, if indeed there were any to start with. There’s me, and I heard there was one other guy who runs a bed and breakfast near Cape Town. And, oh yes, Zupi from Slovenia. That about pulls it up, so for the rest of you, I’d suggest putting on some pyjamas, ingesting some mind-numbing substances, and I’ll see you on the other side of sleepy-town.

Rumour has it that the Quota was designed in response to a request for a desert-capable motorcycle for Gaddafi’s Libyan Army. The design brief was for a robust vehicle, capable of 20 years’ service on rough to non-existing roads with a 100 mile per hour top speed. Certainly the Guzzi is tough enough, and there is a lot of steel to weld stuff to, but it would take a much better rider than me to take it across the Sahara. Especially two up. Especially fully loaded with a year’s travel accessories.

Our Guzzi is a 1998 model, so is now 20 years old. Market value is about $3000. The engine, gearbox and drive-train are little changed and inter-changeable with models back to 1972. The engine still has a blanked off place to fit a distributer should we need to go back to old-school points ignition. To me, these are strong points, however they manifest as a bike that is over-weight, under-powered, and out-dated. That being said, it has been as reliable as a rock, twice as comfortable, and somewhat of a conversation starter. The fact that it is twenty years old has helped balance the perception that all expat travellers are wealthy owners of the latest $25,000+ BMWs (ie rolling ATMs). Additionally, the good condition of the bike has been met with surprise as, in Africa, “aged” typically means “only just hanging together by duct tape and a prayer”. Hopefully it inspired some young chap to take extra care of his tuk-tuk. 

Fuel consumption -
This is not something I have ever paid much mind, given that in Australia fuel stations are everywhere, and generally motorcycles are cheap to run. That is, unless any readers remember the Kawasaki 750 H2 (aka The Widow Maker) from the ‘70s that used to return 17mpg (same as a thirsty V8 from the era). For this trip however, fuel consumption has been critical, and has highlighted the undersize 19 litre fuel tank. Under almost all conditions we are returning 14.5km/lt (40mpg) giving a range of 270km. However, in one case we had a 200km straight run through northern Namibia, maintained a very steady throttle at 90km/hr, and returned 16.7km/lt (47mpg – 317km). For peace of mind I have strapped a 4 litre ex-vinegar bottle of fuel on the back. Problem solved… 

Modifications -
Improvements to the bike are too many to list and make no financial sense. Truth is that it has been a project which I have enjoyed greatly. The bracketry, dash, sub-frame, sump-guard, etc were all designed in AutoCAD and then laser-cut from aluminium or stainless steel. Original pristine bodywork was swapped for eBay-sourced second-hand parts. Panniers were from Vern (UK) and converted from BMW. The most substantial change was to replace the rear shock absorber with a custom made item from HyperPro in the Netherlands. Along with uprated progressive springs for the front, this has been essential to cope with our (weighbridge measured) 540kg riding weight. The downside to this is that the reduced suspension sag has made an already notoriously tall bike even taller. The old saying: “the third time you fall over is where you make camp”, doesn’t really work when you are at a fuel station. Many is the time I have pictured the headline: OVERLOADED AFRICAN DEATH GUZZI PLUNGE. Miraculously, we managed to keep the rubber side down and the shiny side up. Except for getting blown over outside Cape Town…

Accessories -
We stretched the budget for a couple of new-to-us, high-tech items: helmet to helmet intercom, and a dedicated motorcycle GPS. Both of these, if not exactly essential, certainly made life a heck of a lot easier. Putting aside the price shock, we would now not travel without them. Our research was thorough but not necessarily exhaustive. There are plenty of good products on the market, but we settled on a Garmin Zumo 595 GPS and Sena SMH5 communication system.  Chris managed the route planning via the Garmin Basecamp software on the computer, which was then uploaded to the GPS. The Zumo was positioned on the handlebars such that we could both read the display, with Bluetooth turn-by-turn instructions going to a headset. It took us a little while to become familiar with the devices and develop a process, but in the end it was all reasonably straightforward. If we had one complaint, it would be a preference for having the turn-by-turn instructions broadcast to both helmets (two heads, right?). As it is, only a single intercom unit can be connected to the GPS which then interrupts any conversation. The second helmet can chat away for ages before realising. The only other accessory that we found invaluable was a bike cover made from a couple of old ground-sheets. We called it our Cloak of Invisibility. No matter that we were in the main street of town, once covered, the audience simply lost interest.  And let’s not forget the rubber snake on the dash to keep the baboons away…

Statistics -
We have deliberately not kept a diary of every fuel stop, meal or bed. Be warned, Africa is not a cheap destination, but the experiences have been worth every penny. Through a combination of good planning, and good luck, we had a fantastic trip. Early on we realised that our original vision of remote wild camping was not going to be possible, as loose rough roads were beyond the bike/rider/load combination. We had ourselves a little pity-party, then adjusted our plans, and never looked back. That flexibility to stay or quit as the mood took us, and to see the best, or at least the funny side, of every situation was essential. Here is a snapshot of the major items for which we did keep a tally:
Corrupt demands - 0
Blow-overs - 1
Fall-overs - 0
Owwies (ie injuries) - Sprained wrist, refer Blow-overs
Punctures - 0
Sick (days) - 0
Cold/flu (days) - 0
Thefts - 0
Repairs - 1 x Fork seal

Summary -
There is an old Italian saying that goes:
“Una Moto Guzzi a 3500 giri è come il battito del cuore di un amante”
It translates to something like:
“A Moto Guzzi at 3500 rpm is like a lover's heartbeat”
I couldn’t have said it better. 
Although, Anonymous also summed it up on Wednesday, 28 June 2017:
“My quota has run already 90,000 miles and is still in mint condition... one of the greatest bikes ever”.