Welcome to the West Sahara Project. This is the dream of two adventure motorcyclists, to cross Sahara on two wheels!

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Training for Sahara in the snow!

It seems that around Attica you can find mud, rocky trails, graveled trails, easy trails, hard trails, but no sandy trails (at least in big quantities). Also you can find snow! This Sunday was a training outing for Alex and me, which ended up in us riding through a minor snow storm, and then through some muddy trails. So much for desert preparation... On the other hand our goal is to continuously push the bikes, and ourselves, in order to short out any problems or defects before the start of the trip.

Looks a bit like a jungle here.


 Tough going for both of the bikes!
 However the real problems started once we hit the tarmac. While approaching a curve I suddenly felt the rear tire blocking completely, while the bike screeched at a stop from 60kmh in the middle of the street. I had no idea what happened and my first concern was to get the bike and myself out of harms way. Once setting the 640 on the center stand the damage was obvious. The bolt that holds the front sprocket on the axle had snapped, resulting to the sprocket falling off and jamming itself together with the chain on the slider. That meant the rear wheel was completely immobilized. Lucky I was not going any faster!
 After some time a tow truck arrived to the relief of the 640, while the 690 roamed happily down the curvy roads. None of this "rescue and support" is happening down in Mauritania, so we better be ready!

Saturday, February 19, 2011

More maintanance

ΚΤΜ= Κάθε Τρίτη Μάστορα (και όχι μόνο!). A leaking fork seal from last Sunday had me removing both forks from the 640 during the week in order to get them checked at a service shop. New oil was added and seals were replaced, together with neoprene sleeves in order to avoid more grit from getting where it shouldn't.

The 640 with a limp.

Placing the forks. Note the neoprene sleeves.
Installing the front wheel.


Panos checking online for the proper torque values for the fork clamps.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

The Route!

Ok, so this is the route. We start from Athens, ferry to Venice, Italy, from there ride to Sete, France and ferry to Morocco. From Morocco we ride along the east side of the Atlas mountains heading south to Western Sahara. We cross Western Sahara along the Atlantic coast and enter Mauritania. From there we head east deep into the Sahara desert and the region of Adrar. This leg will follow a rail track which runs among sand dunes. From the city of Atar we head south on a really long and remote desert piste that will eventually get us to the Malian border. We enter Mali and head east towards the legendary caravan town of Timbuktu. From Timbuktu we follow the Niger river west southwest, through the Dogon country to the capital of Mali, Bamako. With some luck and our fingers crossed we load the bikes and ourselves on some cargo plane and head back to Europe, most likely France. From there it is just a short hop back to Greece... An estimated 9,000 kilometers that is!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

 Both bikes were bought used, and the idea was to get something that has all the "desert genes", in order to cope with what Sahara has in store for us. The 640 was a bit too old, so lots of maintanance was required to bring it up to shape. This is the first time I took apart the fairing and tank in order to install a new clutch cable, but also to get a first visual inspection of what "hides beneath".


Our common friend Panos is probably our best source of advice on such matters, an owner of a 640 ADV himself, and a successful Rally rider. Here we are installing a new rear sprocket and chain.

Athens



Dreaming of the sand dunes for a while now. But before we get there, there is numerous things that need to be taken care of. Preping the bikes, gathering all the necessary gear, attaining all the paperwork, getting shots (ouch!), and making sure we are in shape are just a few of the things that we have been dealing with the past couple of months. This blog will follow us throughout our trip (at least to the point that internet exists...) and hopefully you can learn and entertain yourselves through our experieces.