I left the burial zone of Che Guevara in Valle Grande (Bolivia) in the morning. As the sun was setting two kids began their mountain descent, each with a bag of potatos for their respective families. They had a good ten kms to go. One of them was lucky enough to hitch a ride.

Selection

What bike to choose…there are so many out there on the market. If money and resources weren’t an issue, we would build one from scratch. But unfortunately there are bills to pay and mouth’s to feed, so this option may have to wait a few years…like maybe ten years.The first part of bike preparation was choosing which bike. This may sound strange, but it took Lost on Earth 14 months to decide on their bike. Once this was done, three bikes were purchased in two weeks (Thanks to Peter Stevens Motorcycles and Online Motorcycles.)

Things considered when purchasing a bike (most are fairly obvious) were:
Reliability – one of the most important for good reasons
Reputation – is it a good make Cost – we have a pretty tight budget
Weight – the lighter the better
Ease of maintenance
Power and available torque
Design of bike – what was it built for
Mechanical simplicity
Fun factor – can we thrash it
Availability of parts
Ease of modification
Running on low grade fuel – we want to go to Africa
Looks – is it prone to theft
Plastic fantastic – will it easily break
After all these things were taken into account, the Honda NX 650 Dominator was selected, for its reputation, simplistic build, bottom end power, ability to do wheelies and availability of parts.

Modifications

23 Litre tank for greater range (400kms+, after a few months in the heat it has now expanded to 26 litres)
Fully tapered PHS Evolution handlebars were some of the best we could find. Steve flipped his bike on a particularly enticing dirt run. The bike landed perfectly upside down on the bars with no problems. However the front side of his bike did cave in.
Tomma has had various accidents, involving his bike flying many metres in the air, and damaging various parts of his bike, especially his now mongy looking crash-bars but never his handlebars!
Extra strong Acerbis Rally Pro Handguards for hand and bike protection (wider front giving greater protection from a cold wind – The new Rally II handguards are awesome)
Rally Pro Spoilers which attach to the top end of your handguards for extra protection from wind, rain and mud.

The Chain Gang
Heavy duty steel, laser cut front and rear sprocket (530 pitch conversion – normal 520). Used in Australian Safari races.

RK Chains
Heavy duty top of line gxw 530 chain. This way you don’t need to carry a spare. Can last almost 100,000kms if you look after it.

Scottoiler
Automatic chain oiler – Scottoiler is by far the best product on the market that we could find)

Whipps
Bash plate for the underside of your bike. Protects your engine from damage when riding over trees, gutters, locals, dogs and the like. We used a modified Honda XR650 bash plate.

Progrip
Motocross grips -recommend cross-dual grips, good all-rounder. After 25,000kms still hanging in there.

Pelicase
Top box for easy access. One of the strongest plastic boxes on the market. Waterproof, dustproof and airtight. Nothing can get in) We use them to house all electronic equipment. Recommend that you do not use pick and pluck foam to house your gear. After six months it starts to fall apart if you use it regularly. Try to work on an appropriate design layout then cut out of one solid piece of foam -longer lasting.

Bernard Tesch
German made Tesch-Travel-Tasche 4 Aluminium 49 litre panniers Awesome boxes. We´ve had many stacks and bent the shit out of our boxes. Every time we wacked them back into shape with a hammer in a few minutes. They are narrower than our handlebars, which assists with handling and they fit everything we need for a three year journey. They are lower than usual so be careful when grinding (sparks flying) your rear foot pegs on good tar roads. Some of the toughest fully waterproof boxes on the market, which act as guards if you have an accident A bit of silicone around the lid edge and lock helps for really heavy weather.

Mr Eckert (now retired legendary German ex-racing mechanical maestro)
Pannier rack system to attach panniers and top box (this system is home made, utilising some of the best overland travel knowledge lent by Eckert at Rennsport) Crash bars for greater protection. They can be used to attach jerry cans at the front for better weight distribution.

Chivo´s
Reconditioned rear shock – worked for extra heavy duty loads.

Other
High plastic screen to improve aerodynamics and battering from wind and elements.

Handlebar risers are well worthwhile if you are over 5″10. This includes all of us. We are currently getting some aluminium custom risers made in Bolivia. Can’t wait. Sick of riding like a hunchback over sand.

New paint scheme (original colours are lame) we definitely need to give the bikes a refurb this makes the bikes distinct and easier to track if they may happen to go missing… which they won’t)

Electrical socket to recharge batteries and power various appliances Improved seat (extra padding for the bum will definitely come in handy) I wish I had done this earlier. My arse is now specifically shaped for Dominator seats. I often wonder if I will ever have a normal arse again.

All moving parts are kept standard. All these modifications are on the outside, making our ride just a little bit more comfortable.

Do not kid yourself that this can be done quickly. The most time consuming process was the selection of the bike. Deciphering which pieces could work with the bike, and how to create the best ‘battle bike’ for our trip. Finding the parts was often difficult. Deciding on how to enhance the bike took many months of research. Then we needed to ‘get to know the bike’. Sleeping with it, nurturing it, talking about it in your sleep (Bogga). We gave ourselves six months to fiddle with the bike, ride the bike in all available conditions, and nurture the bike into what it is today.

Rebuilding the bike will also play its part. While this has not yet been done, we expect at least 60,000 kilometres before we do any work. (Steve scored his piston after 32,000kms. His oil overheated and dried up on a particularly treacherous run. An Oil temperature gauge can come in very handy.) We expect the cam chain to be the first to go, but when this happens we are likely to do a full top end rebuild (Steve’s cam chain was rooted when he cracked open the engine to check the status of his piston and rings, also got a new one at 32,000kms). Then on to the next 60,000 km’s….. And be ready for just about anything to go wrong (cause I bet you, it usually does)!

***Four months into the trip Steve removed his front side panels. Annoying pieces of plastic with no purpose. After many off-road battles they had cracked many times. Lends itself a Mad-Max stylin’look.