Journey Started
Trip Start
Jan 13, 2009
1
28
31
Trip End
Jun 09, 2009
Landsberg am Lech, Bavaria, Germany
Saturday, August 1, 2009
Actually, the motorcycle was a little outside Munich in a town called Landsberg am Lech. The bike was a 1986 Yamaha XT600z Tenere. This is a serious rally bike with a better pedigree than my Africa Twin. The 600 cc engine is virtually bulletproof. The only thing that may stop you on this thing is the electrics. Everything else is pretty easy to fix, and parts are available globally.
The bike was old and a little beaten up, but it met my requirements, and I liked the owner. So, I bought the bike and booked another night at my hotel. I drove into town, registered the bike, and then headed to Munich to get motorcycle gear. I purchased a helmet before in Hamburg, so I’d have something to wear when I was test-driving bikes. Geared up at Louis.de. I love Germany’s motorcycle gear shops. Soooooo much gear and decent prices.
Drove up to Berlin. Wow, I learned several things from that trip. One, the bike had a top speed of 120km, around Landsberg the roads only went up to 100, and I didn’t bother going much more. Two, this was not a fun bike to drive on the autobahn, because it was to slow to be in a decent lane, but still faster than 90 which is the speed of the big slow truck and trailers. Three, the Autobahn is a boring road - straight, with no scenery. Four, the Tenere, with a full load is still way lighter than my Africa Twin, even when being pushed uphill to a gas station. Five, relying on internet maps doesn’t help when the planned route is closed for construction. I also learned that I had a charging problem and a bit of an oil leak.
I prepped for the trip while staying at my aunt’s place. Got camping gear, tools, and general stuff needed for the trip and most of the repairs I’d have to do along the way. (Or so I thought.)
I needed to sort my Russian transit visa, as it was the only one I’d have to get in advance. Not the most fun activity. Russian bureaucracy is "interesting". They changed some rules on my, so I had to start my transit on a specific day and be out before 5 days. Before, I could get one that would have given a range of dates that I would enter the country and give me 5 days to transit. Unfortunately, this new regulation would put a bit of pressure to get to the Russian border.
When I got the oil changed that I learned of a huge problem: I wasn’t charging enough to drive all the way to Aktau. Did I mention that the only problem that could sink my trip was electrical issues? Well, we searched for a replacement part, but we weren’t sure if it was the stator or the rectifier. I could get them locally for just a little under the price of the bike, or I could order them from Koblenz, and get them delivered for a much more reasonable price. The problem was that delivery couldn’t happen quick enough to get me to Russia for my transit visa dates. Argh.
We came up with a temporary solution… I could use a charger at regular intervals and top up my battery. It was charging enough to drive, but not with lights. I decided to try. I would use the Berlin to Krakow, Poland route as my test run.
I would set out to see how it would go.
