The Africa Twin thread

[locorider]

Abat:

Hum hum hum...keep it coming!

Sorry about the accident!

[briv]

This is going to be interesting

[JohanPalm]

Hello people,
How do you compare AT with bmw GS1150 ? Bmw has more power, but it is no use for me, I'm noob rider. These are two bikes that I think are best for ride around the world

[abat]

Originally Posted by JohanPalm

Hello people,
How do you compare AT with bmw GS1150 ? Bmw has more power, but it is no use for me, I'm noob rider. These are two bikes that I think are best for ride around the world

Hi JohanPalm
i've never riden the BMW but what i can tell about the AT is, that it's one of the best motorcycles for beginners.
Less havey, less power, it has carbs, not injected...

[Pulasky]

Check out documentation of our last meeting (Africa Twin Owners Club of Poland) ... lots of vodka and lots of rideing on gravels north eastern Poland
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uB0i...eature=related

[mazinger]

Hello Johann,
My brother had the BMW GS1100, and comparing to the Africa RD07 I owned at that time, it was a Transatlantic vessel, too heavy and suspenssions didn't work as good as conventional ones off road.
Now I own a GS1200 and an Africa 650, and although GS12 was a very good improvement over the previous heavy GSs (1100 and 1150), and it works surprisingly good out of the road, the Africa is still better for off road use.
No doubt on my side:Africa for offroad use.
Hope I helped you
MAZ

[G-Funk]

It's been awhile .......

Gawd I've been F'ing swamped for awhile now ...... anyhow ..... did a little work on the Twin and took some shots, to boot, as well.

I finally went to my fab / welder friend to grind down the washer that Jim welded on to be able to mount the right front turn signal.

We ground it down, repainted it gloss black, and then I finally installed my dash cover. I also swapped bars from the OEM bars that were on it - which were slightly bent .... with some Pro Taper ATV bars ......

Here's just a couple pics .....

The "Gratuitous" shot ......



Shot #1 of the new bars and dash cover ....



Shot #2 ....



I have to say .... with the Pro Tapers on it, I definitely notice better handling with the bike. Call me a n00b but I wouldn't have thought that - granted the OEM bars were slightly bent on the cross bar - but they seemed straight for the sweep, etc ......

Anyhow, the bike is handling much better with the new bars ......

The MRA shield ..... I've been running the bike with this shield for awhile now, and I've done several runs at highway speed ... and I have to say, I really like the shield. This is referring back to a post several months ago - I forget from whom - to report back on the shield. At 75, 80 miles an hour - wonderful. For me, it's just at the right height that it's low enough that it doesn't "obstruct" my vision line, yet with it's height and curvature - there's no buffeting.

The next step is now to add the front cowl guard. Like this;



But it's gonna be a merger between the above ..... and the below.



Cept I won't be doing the bottom containers .....

I like some of the aspects of their setup v.s. the AQ guards.

I'll be hooking up with my fab / welder friend to measure, draw out, and make them. We're also coming up with an idea to re-enforce the top where the guards hook to the turn signal mounts on the front sub-frame. We're thinking about a cross bar between the two sides ......

After that - finally replace the turn signals, which I have, and the old ones are cracking - and add some PIAA 510s - which I have ready and waiting.

Anyhow there it is, and there you have it - and I'll keep ya all posted.

G.

[Jim Rowley]

Bike's looking really good, Greg. Did you do the work yourself? Really???

Jim.

[abat]

Great looking bike.love the protaper and the windshield.

[G-Funk]

Originally Posted by abat

Great looking bike.love the protaper and the windshield.

Thanks I'm really pleased how the bike is coming along since I bought it.
It looked like this when I bought it:

Originally Posted by Jim Rowley

Bike's looking really good, Greg. Did you do the work yourself? Really???

Jim.

Believe it or not Jim, yes. Cept the grinding part. I've continued to learn more mechanical stuff like swapping throttle assemblies (the 990) - swapping out rims and tires, and gas tanks, etc (the DRZ) - and so swapping out bars was just another thing .....

The only thing that got me when swapping the bars was the damn throttle assem. on the twin. On my 990, 620, and DRZ, there's no plastic insert / cable routing thingy. So when I unscrewed it to remove it from the OEM bars, and broke it open, the plastic routing insert just popped out ..... and I didn't have a chance to look it everything beforehand.

Of course I didn't have the manual with me So my friend and I had to look at it and determine how the cables should properly route looking at the wear lines on the plastic insert. That was the most difficult part.

G.

[locorider]

G-F

Long time no hear from you! Been busy eh?

Bile looking good!

[A-Wind]

Originally Posted by G-Funk

The next step is now to add the front cowl guard.

I don't see how this can be done in a simple manner if you want it to be robust. Unless you want it for the looks only and to carry your sleeping bag.

I think in order to do it stronger, you should use an additional subframe like on this Rally Tenere:

[Dazzer]

My AT seem's to attract soom strange People

[G-Funk]

Originally Posted by A-Wind

I don't see how this can be done in a simple manner if you want it to be robust. Unless you want it for the looks only and to carry your sleeping bag.

I think in order to do it stronger, you should use an additional subframe ......

You're not the only one that has mentioned this ......

I will try and photoshop what I'm thinking to reinforce the front, because yes, the front sub frame won't hold up to a get-off that's for sure .....

G.

[Squily]

Originally Posted by G-Funk

I will try and photoshop what I'm thinking to reinforce the front, because yes, the front sub frame won't hold up to a get-off that's for sure .....

G.

When I built my top-crashbars a few years ago, I was told the same thing. Upon pulling the AT apart, I found the original subframe was already severely cracked from normal use (after about 70kkm). I added some bits and pieces to the original subframe to fix and make it stronger. Not the best looking job, but it seems to have worked (now at 130kkm without further repair). On the other hand, only I see it when I service the bike as the subrame is (almost) completely hidden behind the fairings, lights, etc.

Downside to the exercise- the subframe is now much heavier than before, but on a 210kg bike, who notices