Donk 2 'The Stukka'

by smiffy14876

The trusty BMtroubleU. What a great machine for tall riders! What a handfull for a shortarse like me! Have now done 30+K and for the most part, the bike has been brilliant. The wife and I have done many miles in Europe, track day'd it at the old Nurburgring, took it in the van to Melilla and toured Morocco.

The brakes are the best feature as they are anti lock and coupled to the Telelever forks, give loads of confidence offroad. The only negative is that when the rear wheel becomes airbourne under braking, the ABS turns the brakes off till the wheels rotate at the same speed again. This only happens on fast bumpy tarmac when solo but its still unnerving.

We did'nt go mad with extras as the standard 'Adventure' is adequate. I fitted Piaa lamps that I use as day runners and they are real life savers, they melt the traffic when white lining. I also adapted my Garmin 276c but didnt have any maps for Africa. It leaves a trail of our path so we can back track should we get 'off route' (an overlanders term for lost)

The standard panniers are aluminimum, minimum weight, maximum strength. Sadly the designers have never ridden off road as the locking mechanism is fixed to the outside and is the first thing to get damaged when you bin it!  Why did'nt they fit them to the rear? The frames are strong and the paintwork durable. If you dont secure your heavy articles they jump about and dent the inside of the lids so beware.

The OE knobblies are great all round tyres and are a must for North African tarmac and trails. We met other couples who only had road tyres so they missed out on places like the Dades Gorge and the desert roads etc.

Obviously the tank range is huge. It's not necessary to keep it filled to the brim all the time as Morocco has fuel everywhere, even if it is blackmarket or from roadside drums.