Exhausted II

Because we would like to keep our bikes with panniers as narrow as possible, we had to do something about the exhaust. So we made an appointment with Milo Pajic (http://www.pajic-racing.nl), who has a lot of experience with motorcycle exhaust modifications. Today it was time to get some new exhausts on our bikes!
The initial idea was mounting a lowered Laser Produro exhaust. But over at the shop we decided to maintain the original position, but move the slip-on as close to the frame as possible. And we must say Milo did quite a nice job!

Here's some pictures:

Stock exhaust.

Removing the stock exhaust.

Grinding the new Laser ProDuro exhaust.

Fitting it to the bike.

Something's missing!

Welding it in place.

The end result.

Look how tight it is!

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Surprise!

We just loaded our bikes on a trailer, as tomorrow we will be going to a shop to get some custom exhausts fitted to our bikes. With the bikes side by side, we noticed Marianne's bike looks a little lower. A closer inspection revealed the rear wheel tire of her bike has a much lower profile.
Hmmmm, looks like somebody lowered the bike by putting a different tire on it. Also the sprocket looks different. Probably to compensate for the small diameter of the tire.
Hopefully there won't be any problem when we fit a normal tire to the bike. But it is one thing we have to keep in mind, when we bring our bikes to HyperPro for the installation of new shocks.

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Exhausted

The last week has been an exhausting one.
Sunday we had to move Sander's belongings, as he had to leave the building he was living in. Since then we are living together in Marianne's house.
Wednesday from 2pm till 10pm, we still had to guard the property Sander had been living in as a live-in guardian. We used this time to remove some laminated flooring from one of the houses. We are going to use it on the attic of Marianne's house as it currently is lacking any form of floor covering.
Thursday Sander had a party with his new colleagues, which he needed to recover from on Friday. Marianne used the opportunity to visit some friends in Groningen.
Saturday we visited the welder who is going to build us some pannier racks. But as we didn't have much time to prepare ourselves, we only shared some rough ideas. Back at home we used the afternoon to remove some parts from the bike. Unfortunately the exhaust was suffering from corrosion. As Sander tried to remove the exhaust clamp, the spot welded nuts came off. After trying to lube things up with some (penetrating) oil, the bolts had to be removed using an angle grinder.
However the muffler wouldn't separate from the down pipes. So we bolted the clamp back on using some stainless steel nuts and bolts (dipped in Copper grease).
Yesterday morning we had to bring Marianne's couch to Doetinchem, which is about an hour and a half drive from Almere. The afternoon we used to fix the dining table, deliver some of the stuff we have on sale to someone in Almere and tidy up the house.
We're really looking forward to the upcoming holidays!

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X-Mas is early this year

Since last sunday Marianne and I are living together in Almere. The house is still a bit of a mess. But that didn't stop Santa Clause as three packages were delivered today. Two of which contained SW-Motech Trax alu boxes. The same panniers I thrashed on our Norway trip, this year. They we're in Sonderangebot at Polo Motorrad. As well as the OSCO chain oiler, which was in the third box.
Marianne bought herself a center stand, as her Alp didn't come with one. And Sander ordered some Acerbis Rally Pro handguards online.
We're really looking forward for some spare time to install all these nice motorcycle mods.

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We're not alone

As soon as we registered and introduced ourselves on the dutch Transalp club forum, we got a response of two people also planning a worldtrip.
Yesterday we paid a visit to get some more information on the bike modifications they did. A pretty informative and entertaining evening. Before we knew it, it was 22:45 already. Time sure flies, when you're having fun.

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Pivot Pegz

Our first motorcycle modification also arrived today. Well actually Marianne picked them up. But we have ourselves two pairs of Pivot Pegz. Sander already had Pivot Pegz MarkII installed on his R1150GS Adventure and MarkIII on his R100GS. Although the newer ones are providing more comfort while standing, the bigger surface isn't an improvement in all situations. So we decided to order the older MarkII for our Transalps.
Unfortunately the Pivot Pegz for the Transalp come with a dedicated left and right peg. There is no way of swapping the shafts and thus lowering the pegs a little bit, as is possible with the BMW versions.
But still we think these pegs will improve the offroad capabilities of our bikes.

Picture will be added when they are installed on the bikes.

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Gimme shelter

Being a Live-in guardian for Camelot Property, on the brink of being kicked out of my "apartment" I am happy to announce that, the MSR Holler tent we won on eBay, just arrived. And already we are very happy with it, as we didn't have to pay any taxes. So we have ourselves a real bargain. Hopefully the tent won't dissappoint us. But judging on our experience with out MSR Quick 2 pot set, we don't think that is going to happen. Can't wait to try it out in the wild.
All we still need, is a footprint to protect the bottom of the tent and maybe a tarp to increase the living room.

See our tent page for details.

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Comfort seat and heated clothing

This week we spotted a Corbin seat for our Transalps on Marktplaats. Sander has had a Corbin seat on his Yamaha XVS1100, so he knows they are pretty good seats. Besides
on the picture it looked like the seat is a little lower as the original one. Because for Marianne's bike, we would like to get as much lowering from the seat, we decided to give it a try.

So today we went to Rotterdam, which is a more than one hour drive from Almere, to try the seat. As we weren't sure the seat would fit, we took the original seat with us. Both original seats matched perfectly so it was time for Marianne to give the Corbin a try. Unfortunately it didn't seem to improve the way she could reach the ground. So we swapped the Corbin seat with an original one, just to make sure there wasn't much of a difference. Turns out the Corbin is a little wider, and therefore not showing any improvement. Sander also tried the seat, but decided not to buy it.

On our way back home we decided to pay Motoport Almere a visit. They called us to let us know the Gerbing heated clothing had arrived. In the Achievable Dream DVD series, heated clothing is highly recommended and as Marianne is always cold we decided we might need it. However we were not sure if the smallest possible size (XS) would fit her. Turns out the jacket actually fits pretty well. Much better than the XL jacket and XXL vest would fit Sander. If the weather allows it, next week we will be making a short test run with the Gerbing heated clothing.

To be continued...

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¿Habla español?

Doing a round the world trip on motorbikes involves more than just prepping bikes and plotting the road to follow. We both think it is a good icebreaker to be able to communicate with people in their native language. Being Dutch we get lessons in English, German and French at secondary school. Speaking English and German for the both of us is not a problem. French is a little pain in the ass, but we will manage.

So we looked up on the internet what the most spoken languages in the world are. It turns out to be the following:

1. Chinese
2. English
3. Spanish
4. Arabic
5. Bengal

We think learning is Chinese nearly impossible, especially for those like us who aren’t too good with languages. Besides it’s only spoken in a very specific part of the world and chances are very slim we will be driving through China as rules and regulations for crossing the country unfortunately are very strict.
More or less the same obstructions apply for Arabic and Bengal. Above all Arabic writing doesn’t make any sense to us. We just hope most of the people we are going to meet, know one of the languages we master.

Marianne always wanted to learn Spanish. There also are many different countries around the world where they speak Spanish (mainly central en southern America). In some countries (like Cuba) you’ll really have a hard time, if you aren’t able to speak any Spanish. Besides, it might enable us to more or less understand Portuguese (though it is a totally different language) speaking people, as well.

So Spanish it is! We searched the internet and found a school in Almere where we can take evening courses. For us this probably is far better than just ordering some tapes/CDs or doing some internet course. Maybe we ‘habla español’ in no time!

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Going English

Due to the international nature of our endeavour, we have decided to report in English from now on. All older pages will be translated to English, during the next couple of days.
To read our blog in your native language, click the following link

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New tent

Tonight at 4.00am CET an eBay auction of a MSR Holler tent was ending. We have already been looking for this tent for quite some time now. But its price, 400 euro (showroom model at the Wit in Schijndel) was a bit too steep for us.

At the time we first noticed the auction the price was $225 (about 167 euro). As we went to bed it still only was $225. So we gave it a shot and offered a maximum of $250.

Against all expectations, the next morning we received an email that we did win the auction for only $237.50, which comes down to approximately 175 euro.
Fingers crossed it won’t be noticed by customs, in which case we really got ourselves a bargain. If it gets noticed and we have to pay taxes, it still is 100 euro cheaper compared to our local stores.
For more information go to: Our tent.

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Preparing the bikes for the winter

Today we intended to go to Horn (Pharaobike), to investigate what parts we need for a full service of our motorbikes. But unfortunately, some roads have already been covered with brine. And we really would like to keep our bikes in the best possible condition before the start of our journey. It’s not too bad though to have nothing to do for a change, as we have been very busy last couple of weeks.

We couldn’t resist doing something on our bikes. The last time we saw them was the day we picked up Marianne’s motorbike. We thought it would be a good idea to remove the battery from the bikes and connect them to a battery charger, as father winter is approaching.
Just let’s start by removing the seat (on the BMW and the Bandit that’s the first thing to do to remove the battery). The dealer of my motorbike (van der Heijden) told Marianne, she had to hit the saddle to get it off. So we put the key in the only lock we could find on the back of the bike, turn it and hit saddle. But, whatever we tried, the seat wouldn’t budge. So we called Ton of Pharaobike. It turned out the saddle is screwed to the frame, behind the side panels. That doesn’t give very much confidence in the knowledge and skills of a dealer, does it?

Unlike the BMW R1150GSA, the removal of the battery on the Transalp is a piece of cake. Just unscrew a few bolts and you’re able to remove it. I really hope the Japanese made the rest of the bike just as accessible.
Both bikes are equipped with regular batteries. DISAPPOINTED! Yet one more thing to check and maintain. We decide to leave them for now but before we are going on our trip, we will have to replace them for some maintenance free ones.

Both batteries are now stored in the attic. One attached to the charger as we only have one of them. We went to Motoport to buy a second one. But apparently all motor bikers of Almere had the same idea. All chargers are sold out. Next stop Hein Gericke… DARN, it’s closed!

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Marianne's motorbike

Today we went to Arie Molenaar to pick up Marianne’s motorbike. The swap of the motorbikes was a bit of a tense moment, because we discovered a screw in the rear tire of Marianne’s Bandit before we left. It probably had been the reason why we needed to inflate the tire a few times lately.

From IJsselstein back to Almere we mainly took secondary roads, to let Marianne get accustomed to the Alp. Marianne said she can reach the ground much better compared to my R100GS (which I intended to use for our trip in the first place). However it doesn’t change the fact that her Alp needs to be lowered anyway.

There they are, both in the backyard. Spot the 10 differences :P

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First blogpost

Today we have created our blog site to report about our round the world trip and all the preparations it involves. As you might know, we already have been busy with the preparations for quite some time. Marianne did put her house on sale and we finally decided on the motorbikes to use on our trip. The bike of our choice is the Honda XL600V Transalp.

I picked up my new motorbike Tuesday and Marianne will pick up hers next Saturday from Arie Molenaar. Both motorbikes are built in 1999 and have been running for less than 25.000 km. We compared the frame numbers and what turns out? They were built right after each other! Only the last digit of the frame number is different (I have 3026 and Marianne has 3025). Unfortunately this also means they both suffer the same problems. For instance the left indicator is responding very slowly. I suppose the guy who was responsible for them, didn’t have his day when our bikes were produced. :P

As soon as we have both motorbikes and the weather allows riding (no brine on the roads) we will go to Ton of Pharaobike to prepare our motorbikes and give them a full service to gain some knowledge about them.

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