Test Run

Day 1: So we thought that 1800 kilometers in 56 hours would give us a good idea about how the bikes would behave (and ourselves riding them...). Of course the bikes would be fully loaded, with extra fuel, water and the rest, so that the simulation would be as real as possible. We also decided to add some dirt roads and a night of camping, just to spice things up a bit.
So Friday late late late in the afternoon we depart for northern Greece (Kavala) amid some really nasty weather, rain, wind, all the typical things one would encounter in the Sahara. I mean, anyway we have been training for the desert in the snow, mud and all those conditions that very closely simulate what the future fore holds, so why not give it another try? 400 kilometers down the road, wet, cold and with the night crawling upon us we start realizing that a single cylinder bike is not exactly the fastest way of transportation on paved highways. 8 cold hours later we reached our destination (12.30 am).

Meeting up with Stefanos

Stefanos crossing a stream

Day 2: Heading up for the forest of Cara dere (black forest in Turkish) close to the Bulgarian border, really close. Along with us is Stefanos, a good friend from Xanthi, and an owner of a KTM Adventure 640 as well.

Of course once we decided to get really close to the Bulgarian border, and away from any civilization my 640 had a "small" breakdown. The rear wheel bearing said goodbye. This was something that was gona be changed prior to the final departure, we just didnt hope it would happen here.

Happy camper

So with my rear wheel wiggling and my morale down a few notches we cruised through some snowy (yep) dirt roads in order to find a campground.

Happy campers

The place was overall breathtaking, huge pine trees, mountaintops, clean air, broken bearing, yeah everything was great!!!! But in the end the fire and cooking and wine got us all going!

Not so happy camper...

Waiting for the hub to cool off

Day 3: Woke up and realized that we have something like 850 kilometers in order to get back to Athens and my bike is broke. So we started riding back to Xanthi, slowly, very sloooowly, as in 30 kilometers per hour, stopping every 20 minutes to let the rear hub cool down and oiling it continuously, hoping it can make it. Honestly, these bikes are made from some tough shit, with all the weight that I was carrying on those nasty roads, and the rear hub gone completely and the wheel doing figure eights, I was surprised it went on! All the while the 690 was doing circles around me, stopping ahead of me for photos and waiting patiently... We did make it to Xanthi some 4 hours later. At that point Stefano's 640 was the solution. Within 10 minutes I removed his rear wheel, as well as mine, put his on and loaded mine on the rack, while leaving his bike freestanding in his parking lot. Millions of thanks for this small sacrifice, it was a miracle solution!

Broken wheel loaded and heading back to base for one last time.

Off we went with Alex, again late late afternoon to head back to Athens (only 750 kilometers to go, and it was already 04.00 pm!!!). We made it back to Athens, late, tired, a bit vibrated, but happy. I mean in 2 days we covered 1/4 of the distance that we are planning to cover next month, so I guess this was good after all. We also noted a few important things about our bikes (such as that going for 140kph for 2 hours nonstop does not work...). We also measured fuel consumptions and were amazed by how little the 690 needs in order to get by. With the new Safari tank on it can easily overpass 500 kilometers without refuelling, wow!!

So this is it, some final tuning is left for the bikes (especially the 640) and we are off....