And its 2025 – and a new bike…! Alas, and I’m very sad to say, that the mighty Suzuki V-Strom is no more. There are three lugs on the crankcase which holds the hydraulic clutch in place, and when the chain snapped it broke one of the lugs. It would mean taking the engine out to weld the lug back in place. I’m not a welder and need a bike to travel I sold her to a mechanic who thinks he can fix it. Well, if he can fix it he’s certainly get himself a great bike, and one that is well travelled.
So, what bike do I get.,? I wanted something smaller. And something I could pick up easily when I drop it, because I know I will at some stage. I thought about a KTM 690, about Kove 800 and about a BMW twin, but I wanted something that was low maintenance and reliable, and something I could get spares for quite easily. I test rode a V-Strom 650 but as much as I wanted a Vee-twin, it was too low for my long legs. I also rode a Yamaha Tenere, but as nice a bike as it is, we just didn’t get along. I couldn’t get a test ride of the Suzuki 800 in Scotland so I ended up trying the Honda 500X, and again, it just felt too small for me so I tried the XL750 Transalp – and it felt good. A nice riding position, and enough power to overtake trucks on foreign roads – plus it was a Honda…
I bought the Transalp in March and took delivery at the start of April, so I had about three weeks to make all the necessary changes for my travel. It took me a few days to fit all the extra equipment and I am really happy with it all. And in preparation for my next trip, I also went to the Kingdom of Fife to spend a day with RIDEOFFROAD SCOTLAND to spend a day riding the Transalp offroad.
Brilliant. Not only did it teach me a few new skills and raise my confidence offroad, it also put the bike through its paces. I was in a class of eight other riders and my big Trasnsalp certainly kept up with the smaller and lighter KTM’s and CRF’s. Even with its 30/50 tyres. Mind you, it was dry. If it had been wet I suspect it would have been a different story with those tyres.
During the three weeks waiting for my bike, it gave me time to order all the necessary bits I needed to make the Transalp ready for my next journeys. These are the things I’ve done to the Transalp:
ACERBIS FUEL TANK: The stock Honda tank is 16.5L, with a range of about 220 miles. I need more range so I bought the tank off Acerbis and it came from Germany. The Acerbis holds 23L, so it will let me make journeys of at a little over 300 miles on a single fill if I take care with my throttle wrist. The cost was £430, including the lockable fuel cap. Yeah, I know its expensive but for me its worth it.
BUMOT PANNIER RACKS: There was several racks to think about but I chose the BUMOT because they are sturdy, plus they also give me the option to fit their hard panniers if I ever decided to stop using soft panniers. I also fitted one of their lockable tool boxes to the left-hand rack, which fits all my tools and is completely water and dust proof. I bought the racks from the Adventure Bike Shop in the UK. They were so helpful and quick to despatch the racks. The cost was around £352 for the racks and one tool-box.
DOMINATOR SILENCER: For this type of bike I think the stock silencer is too big and should be higher. I’m also paranoid of my pannier melting, so I fitted the Dominator silencer. Based in southern Poland, I received the silencer four days after I ordered it. I am really happy with it. The silencer comes with its own bit of exhaust pipe which allows the silence to sit snugly behind the right panier rack. Unfortunately, the silencer is supplied with a straight-through baffle. I don’t like noisy exhausts so I fitted a decibel killer and it works great. It’s much quieter and the bike now has a nice growl. It also looks good. The cost was around £270 including duties.
NAVIGATION BAR: I bought a Navbar from Ebay but it really wasn’t very good. It was a bit wobbly, so I ended up buying another one from Ebay which was much better. You really have to try these things. I nearly bought the one from SW Motech but before I spent even more money I wanted to try the cheap option. It works, so I’m happy…!
NAVIGATION TABLET: I have stopped using a Garmin for navigation and have started using a Samsung Galaxy Active Tab 3. It’s an 8 inch Tablet and I use the DMD2 app for navigation. Its a FREE app and you can download global maps – for free. I got caught out when I went to Africa with the cost of Garmin maps so wanted to find an alternative. Because the tablet is much bigger than a normal GPS it needs its own mount, so I bought a lockable mount from URSAE Systems. Its great. Totally secure and all I had to do was buy a small clamp off Amazon to mount the Tablet mount onto the Nav Bar. Cost: Around 110eu with postage.
NAVIGATION CONTROLLER: Being able to scroll around a large tablet is essential. Well, it is for me when I’m looking ahead for a turn. There are several to consider but they’re all quite expensive, so I chose the BUTIKK Controller. It was cheaper than many of the others, small, weatherproof, and connects to the Tab via Bluetooth. More importantly, it allows me to have a look ahead just using my thumb while I’m riding. After some trial and error I ended up mounting it next to the left handlebar control. It cost just over 100eu and I’m really glad I bought it.
CRASH BARS & ENGINE GUARD: There were to choose from, but I wanted something that was solid and easy to fit so I decided upon the SW Motech Crash-bars and Engine-guard. I was tempted to fit the lighter (and cheaper) engine guard from Acerbis, but to be honest, I’m glad I got the one for SW as its taken a battering already. The SW Motech Crash-bars were £260 and the SW Motech Engine-guard was £260. Yes, expensive but they have a serious job to do. It’s not about looks…
HONDA COMFOR SEAT: The stock seat for the Transalp is about as comfortable as sitting on a brick. So, looking online I found a few options, which all involved sending my seat off to somewhere in Italy or Greece, so I opted for buying the Honda Comfort Seat. Its not perfect in any way, but much more comfortable than the stock seat. My biggest niggle is that because of the dip, I always tend to end up sitting right at the front of the seat, squashing my meat and two veg… But, I do have a gel-pad which straps to the seat and it’s made it even more comfortable. So far so good. I bought the seat from a Honda dealer and it cost £120.
SCREEN ADJUSTER: Looking on Ali Express I saw a screen adjuster, so as it was cheap, about £8, I decided to give it a go – and its great. When I’m on motorways I can raise my screen and when I’m wandering – I can lower the screen.
USB SOCKET AND TEMERATURE GAUGE: One thing that really bugs me is that the Transalp doesn’t have a USB connection on the console and that the main display doesn’t display the ambient temperature. What the hell, Honda…! Most bikers need to plus in their phone, and for me I usually run a cable into my tank-bag to charge a power bank. Also, and this just me being me, I also like to know what the ambient temperature is. It’s just a ‘me’ thing, so buying a USB socket and a temperature gauge off Ebay for around £9 each, I easily removed the dashboard and fitted the socket and gauge. All I needed was a auxiliary power supply splitter (Ebay for £14) plus drill-bit to make the 28mm holes (£5 from my local hardware shop) and then wire up the two devices. Perfect..!
DAYTIME RUNNING LIGHTS: I looked and looked, and ended up buying a set from Ali-express. I had the same set on my V-Strom and they were great. Unobtrusive and reliable. They cost about £40 and I’m really happy with them. I fitted them while I was fitting the Acerbis tank and I fitted the On/Off switch to the dashboard, next to the speedo.
MAIN STAND: Right, I know that some adventure riders will laugh when I say I bought a main stand. Yes, it does add extra weight, but, and I know this from experience, when I DO have a puncture or when I need to do some MAINTENANCE I can put the Transalp on the main stand and not have to worry about the bike falling over. I bought one from MOTEA and it is solid. Attaching the two springs was a heck of a job but in the end I would hook one end of the spring onto the frame, tie a length of string to the other end of the spring then wrap the other end of the string around the rear hub. Gently rotating the wheel would apply enough tension to let me get the spring over the eye/catcher on the stand. The stand cost £135 and I’m happy with it.
KICKSTAND FOOT: I really cant understand why manufacturers sell adventure bikes with kick-stands that have a small foot. I really cant. So, spending a tenner with Ali-Express provided a nice big foot which was easy to fit and does the job.
REAR MIRROR EXTENDERS: Another thing I cannot understand with manufacturers is why you always get a perfect view of your elbows. So, spending another tenner on Ebay brought me two mirror extenders and now I can actually see behind me. I was going to buy some of those adventure mirrors, but by this time I was running out of money so decided to stick with the Honda mirrors for the time being.
HAND PROTECTORS: The Honda protectors are sadly – purely for decoration. Wanting some that were sturdy I bought a pair of BarkBuster handguards. I could have bought Acerbis, as they do exactly the same job and look the same, but I got a good deal on Ebay and ended up with a set that cost around £120.
CHAIN OILER: Looking after your chain is important. Twice I’ve had a chain snap on me and both times it was with the V-Strom. I had a manual handlebar mounted oiler on my V-Strom which worked great, but I fitted a Scottoiler for my Africa trip. Yes, Sottoilers do work fine but they can easily loose their vacuum and when I was in Africa I had several problem with my Scottoiler. I put the blame firmly on the Scottoiler for my second chain-break as I assumed it was working, but it wasn’t. Anyway, I was determined to use a different oiler for the Transalp so I fitted the small oiler which has the reservoir on the handlebars. You manually pump the oil and its easy to get into a routine of doing a half or full-turn depending how you are riding. I bought it from Ali-express for around £25 and I am happy with it.
