The new Beast!

The Beast is ready for action and it has already been employed!

After loosing around almost 20 kg the Beast is completely changed.

Before it had a 24 liters front tank with two quantity sensors (orange 8.4 liters, red 4.2 liter).
Keep in mind that, with the original tank, the last 8 liters are underneath the carburators, so the fuel pump is only necessary to pump these liter into the carburators (gravity works otherwise).

Now when the orange fuel sensor light up, the beast is still carrying more than 20 liters of fuel. This is a huge improvement as 20 kg of fuel are underneath the carburattors, which change drastically the center of mass of the Beast. I still have to figure out the best way to use the new tanks as they have a three positions a tap each (Off, On and reserve). Right now the reserve is around 0.6 liters each, which is very low.  I will most likely increase this and have around 3-4 liters of "last hope" before startint pushing.

Right now I have the original side stand orange light as quantity sensor. I will add a huge red one for the last ~8 liters.


Next step is changing the front rim (spokes are on their way) and to start the big maintenance and set up of the bike for the trip, I'll rebuild the clutch, many bearings, etc, etc.

The future is bright!

Camping gear

I have been evaluating what camping gear I should take on the 3 months trip of this Summer and I found out the best solution for my needs.

First of all, I camp only if it is necessary. Necessary means that there is no possibility of having a bed or this possibility is too expensive. Too expensive depends really on the situation, type of trip, etc.
I still have to set up what is too expensive for the next trip.
A big advantace of not camping is that you get more in touch with the local culture, staying in a guesthouse and having a typical breakfast is matchless.

But from what I've been told, in some part of the trip I will have to camp as there will be no other possibility.

Before I've always used a Robens Voyager 2 tent, this brand is really good and their products are really worth the money. If you plan to camp almost every night, then go for a tent like that. As it is not my plan, it is too big: it is very roomy and cosy, all in 2.8 kg packed up in 43 x 16 cm (16 is a diameter).  The tent alone was almost taking up one of my side bags (Amphibious Motobag II, 20 liter each) and in the other I was fitting in the sleeping matress, sleeping bag and other stuff.
This is taking up way too much place for my taste.

Let's make a simple calculation: In the trip to Georgia I was on the orad for 42 days, I've camped 2 days (The too expensive limit for a bed was 20 €, by heart I had an average of 17 € per night).
It means that I took my whole camping gear with me for 15000 km just for camping two days.
The Beast without side bags has a fuel consumption of around 5 liters per 100 km, with saddle bags this goes up to 5.7 liters. So, taking all the camping gear with me costed me the following amount of fuel: (5.7 - 5)*15000/100 liters = 105 liters.
With a very optimistic average fuel cost of 1.2 €, taking the camping gear with me costed 126 €.
I could have slept the two night in hotel and I would have still be in positive.

That's why, for the next trip I don't want to carry the Voyager 2 for all these kilometers.

So I looked for a fancy small tent, I found very good products but they where all very expensive (400 € or more). Then I evaluated  a single person tent, but all not to expensive products (such as Starlight 1 by Robens) weight aound 2 kg and are still quite big.

Then the Snugpak Stratosphere popped in front of me and I thought: this might be it.

I've talked with some people that camp regularly in different condition and they all told me the same: avoid this kind of stuff for simple reasons: I'm a big boy and these products are already claustrophobic for average people, then I won't have any cover for my motorcycle gear.

Then, just by being on the Snugpak website, I found out the Stasha, a 2.44 x 1.63 meters tarp, which weight 370 grams and is packed up very small. I got also a Snugpak bivvy bag for the sleeping bag (300 g) and a mosquito net (80 g, necessary in Siberia). So with  750 g I've got the "tent".

Of course, this is not going to be a very good solution but for the few times I will have to wild camp, it will work fine.
As it is right now, all this gear fits into one of the side bags, so this gives me 20 extra liters for all other stuff.

What is needed on a motorbike trip?

That's a very common questions between bikers and what a biker bring with him on the first trips is always wrong.
I'll just consider the practical part of the motorbike, all other aspects as gear, clothing and "survival" will not be taken into account.
It is not a simple question and before trying answering it, it is necessary to answer other questions:

- Where am I going to ride? What will I be able to find in these places for fixing my bike?

There is a big difference if you are planning to ride on the military roads of Val di Susa or riding the BAM. In the first case, you will find yourself in a road where few vehicles pass per day, there is mostlikely a network for the cell phone and  spare parts can easily be found, it will only be a matter of waiting/looking. Then there are many different insurances, some of them will also bring the rider and his broken motorbike home. Easy and good life.
In second case, riding somewhere in the middle of nowhere, the closest fuel station might be 200 km away and no simple spare parts are available at it, such as a light bulb or a inner tube. You are on your own.

- What am I able to fix on my bike?

Ask yourself this question give a true answer to it. A lie might cause problems to the trip later. There are many tutorials on YouTube, they help a lot but you have to get your hands dirty in order to be sure if you are able to do something.

Once these question have been ansewered , you will be able to set up everything you need.
In my case it is simple: I will be in the middle of nowhere so I will have to do everything by myself.
So here it comes the first real questions: What is everything?

I consider everything , all works that are included in the normal maintenance schedule of the veichle  plus all things that could break and be easily replaced on the road (Like a puncture in the tyre or a broken clutch cable).

Maintenance schedule of the XRV650 according to the manual.

The Maintenance schedule is very helpful as it allows to organize the maintenance in a long trip, so that it is possible to organize where the engine oil will be changed, etc. By doing this nowadays you can check online if the engine oil and oil filter are available where you plan to change it, etc.
So in my case I'm planning to do big maintenance in Oš, where a fully working workshop is available.
I still have to evaluate everything, for example I don't know yet if I will bring tyres down to Central Asia, if I will organize some or find anything down there.

After this small excursus, let's see which spare parts I will bring along with me:
- 2 front inner tubes
- 1 rear inner tube (In worst case the front inner tube can be fit into the rear wheel, but not viceversa)
- A tube repair kit
- 1 tension rectifier
- 1 ignition coil
- 1 CDI
- 4 spark plugs (For a big Maintenance in Magadan)
- 1 clutch lever, 1 brake lever, 1 gear lever
- 2 joints for the final drive chain
- Set of fuses of the bike
- 1 clutch cable, 1  carbs On/off cables
- 1 spare fuel pump (I'm looking if a repair kit is available)
-  All bearings of the wheels
- Smaller jetting for the carbs
- 4 rear spokes + nipples
- 4 front spokes + nipples


Then in Maybe following parts:
- Brake pads (I have to check availability)
- Oil filters (I have to check availability)
- Engine oil (For swamps on the BAM road in case water into the engine)


Also some consumables:
- Motorex offroad chain spray
- Cleaner and Oil for K&N air filter
- Radiator seal
- Iron wire
- Duct tape
- Various cable ties
- Electrical wire

All the mentionet spare parts are useless without the right tools:
- Air pump by KTM, with electric pressure gauge (it is also very practical for the pressure in the forks)
- 3 Levers for tyres (By Buzzetti)
- Right hand side stand, for dismounting tyres
- Swiss army knife
- The original tools of the bike (They are heavy duty) plus some add ons for ISO screws (Like a 13 mm wrench). With the original set plus a set screw, the original bike can be dismountled for reaching the vavles of the engine. I will check all tools late this year when I will do the maintenance.


It is very important to work on the motorbike with the same tools that will be on the road with you, otherwise you might find yourself in troubles (For example you won't be able to remove a wheel from the bike if it  had been tightened with a bigger tool).

A lot of stuff. It is very important to organize in advance for a trip like this!
Then by knowing the bike, screws can be replaced in order to make it even more easy for the maintenance: the less tools the better!

Summer 2018

Sometimes it happens: I can't sleep.
It's very rare but it's normal when too many things go through your mind.

The best in these occasions is to start using the time and so I've started working on next Summer. Right now is Winter and thinking of next Summer and maybe riding through Turkey, a place I haven't seen yet pops up in my mind: Ölüdeniz. I had planned to go there 2 years ago on the way back from Georgia but I didn't. Why?
I can't exactly say why I skipped the whole part in South East Turkey, the Beast was ready for it but the Knight wasn't. Moreover he threw manure on itself so it was not the really right time for that trip. But flowers don't come from diamonds, they come from manure!

So here we go, I still have the tracks of the Georgia trip, which were based on the ones a Russian Rider shared with me. By looking a little bit at Wikiloc I've decided myself: I will reach Central Asia by riding through Turkey and Iran. So I've downloaded something like 40 tracks and the puzzle is starting.

Betwee Ölüdeniz and Iran there is already a lot and there is a lot more to discover, like Taşkale, just found it on the pictures of google map.

I haven't started planning the BAM and Central Asia part of the trip that the Turkey is already making it Epic!

The new Beast

I've had time to mount and almost finish the new Beast, here a recap of the things that have been removed or replaced:
Front fairings with high screen: -1940 g, replaced with Boano's rally fairing: 2360 g  (+420 g)
Original meters&co: ~1700 g, replaced with Koso Db-03r and two lights for fuel indicatiors ~300g (- 1400g)
I've had time to mount and almost finish the new Beast, here a recap of the things that have been removed or replaced:
Front frame plus light: 2720 g, replaced with Boano's front frame and light 1050 g   (-1670 g)
Motobatt: -5500 g, replaced with lithium battery BCB9-FP-WI 730 g   (-4770 g)
Blinkers: -900 g, replaced with One arrow blinkers 160 g (-740 g)
Handlebar: -1400 g, replaced with alluminium one with same measures by Boano 900 g, (-500 g)
Shortened seat: -500 g
Bashplate reinforced with fiberglass: 3060 g, boano kevlar carbon bashplate with pockets 2360 g (-700 g)
Muffler: -6400 g, replaced with original Arrow Paris Dakar 2180 g (-4220 g)
Top carrier: -1100 g, replaced with one made by GPMucci ~200 g (-900 g)
Rear Subframe (Complete with light): -2800 g, replaced with CRF450 mudguard plus plate holder 500 g (-2300 g)
Both rear side covers: -1600 g, replaced with tanks made by GPMucci ~5000 g (+3400 g)
Plastics on the swingarm: -350 g
Front forks plastics: -450 g
Side stand sensor: -200 g
Engine plastic grid: -150 g
Passenger steps: - 1200 g
Original fuel pump plus relay: 900 g, Mikuni fuel pump 250 g (-650 g)

A grand total of 16880 grams have been removed from the Beast, that's a great achievement!

A new Beast is born, completely different and more fun for off-pavement tracks. Right now it is near Bologna by GPMucci: he is building the new side tanks with support for the luggages and other small stuff.

The future of the Beast

After almost 50000 km the Beast had its break-in.

It is time to think big: the future of the Beast is bright!

POV of my proposal.

Lifting and weight loss, this is the plan. First of all the front part, in total it has a weight around 7 kg (complete fairing, headlight, meters, subframe, blinkers and other stuff). R

ally light fairing by Boano and a Koso DB-03, around 3 kg can be loss on almost the highest part of the bike, this is a very nice improvment.

Then by using the Boano's carbon-kevlar bashplate with side pockets, some weight can be saved and tools and some spare parts can be hold as low as possible in the bike. The original bashplate is 2,9 kg, The Carbon-Kevlar one with pockets should be around 2 kg.

More fuel is needed, two extra tanks will be mounted for around extra 12 liters of fuel. I will ask Gian Paolo Mucci to realize them for me ( http://www.gpmucci.it/ ).

 Rear side tanks for the RD03/04 made by GP Mucci.

The extra fuel is needed for riding the BAM as an autonomy of 400 km while riding offroad.

The weight of both tanks should be around the weight of the parts that won't be necessary anymore. (Rear bag support, side panniers, rear subframe, side covers and various plastics).

A big advantage of these tanks is that they will allow the fuel to stay more lower, so I will almost never fill the original tank top the top, this will help a lot while riding offroad.

The original triple clamp weights 2,7 kg: I will see if it is worth to build a new one out of alluminium.

I will cut the useless part of the original seat (It is made for two persons), around 1 kg will be saved.

Battery: The standard battery of the bike is around 4 kg, a lithium battery with same specs weight slightly less than 1 kg, that's a very good improvement.

Another nice improvement will be the use of a Supersprox rear sprocket (Steel teeth, alluminium body), around half a kilo of a rotating mass can be saved.

The Arrow Silencer I have right now is less than 3 kg but there are nice carbon fibers silencers that weight 1,8 kg, so it is also a next step.

Then other small stuffs will be removed: the sprocket cover, rear disk cover, the chain guard.

Money, time and a lot of work. The Beast will be fit as never for the next season!

UPDATE 29.08.2017.

The diet of the Beast:

Front fairings (original) : -1800 g (Rally fairing: +2415 g)
Meters&co: -1500 g ( Koso Db-03 + support: +450 g)
Front frame + headlight (single one, Swiss edition): 2720 g (Rally front frame plus light: +1050 g)
Battery (Motobatt): -5500 g (litium battery: +730 g)
Blinkers: -900 g ( Light ones...maybe: +140 g)
Rear sprocket: -1300 g (Supersprox: +830 g)
Handlebar: -1400 g (Alluminum handlebar: +900g)
Seat: -500 g (shortened)
Bashplate: -3060g (With the fiberglass reinforcements I've made) (C/k bashplate w. pockets: +2360 g)
Muffler: -6000 g (Arrow PD: 2030)
Top carrier: -1100 g
Rear Subframe (complete with light): - 2800 CRF450 rear mudguard plus plate holder: +500 g
Side covers: - 1600 g New side tanks 10 liters in total: (less than 5000 g)
Swingarm plastics: -350 g
Front forks plastics: -450 g
Side stand sensor: -200 g
Engine plastic grid: -150 g
Passenger steps: -1200g
Batanga racks: -3500 g
Left hand side cover: -950 g
Right hand side cover: -640 g
Rear mudguard middle palstic: -100

Grand total of 27650 g taken away from the Beast, on the other hand some pieces will be changed, not completely taken away, so there is a plus of 11165 g, so the bike should lose around 16,5 kg. This is very optimistic, I don't know if the weights I've found around forums and website are correct, but anyway loosing 10 kg is feasible.

This won't mean that the bike will be 10 kg or more lighter than the original one: I've put other stuff on it, like the crashbars (Around +6000 g).

Then other stuff will be removed/added, but I haven't found any weight for them.

Rough calculations, then end result will be a big improvement anyway!

UPDATE 18.09.2017

today I had some time and I've started working. The battery of the bike (Motobatt) is 5.5 kg, so more than 4 kg will be saved by changing it.
The arrow Paris Dakar silencer is 2,28 kg, so I won't change it.
The shorter seat allows to save 0.5 kg and to move luggage more to the front and in a lowered position.
Luggage racks are 3,5 kg (Made by Batanga), the rear subframe (with stop light, plastics and plateholder is 2,8 kg, left side cover is 0.95 kg and the right one is 0.68 kg. Including the standard top rack and the passenger pegs, around 10 kg have been removed.

Last week I saw some picture of rear side tanks for KTM 990 made by GPMucci: both have a weight of araund 5 kg and a total fuel capacity of 10 liters. By estimating 2 kg for the rear fender, plater holder and led stop light, more than 4 kg will be saved and the center of mass will be lowered. This will completely change the bike.

Nex step will be installing the new rally fairing, new bash plate and the new meter. Money is needed for this, so I will have to wait a little bit.

In the end the Arrow PD silencer will come more to the back, so that there will be enough space for the tank.

SSS Raid: Šopska Salata i Šljivovica Raid!

Very short and intense trip through the Balkans, 10 days, 4500 km in total, around 1200 sad kilometers of motorway for passing through the Pianura Padana. The Beast dealt very well with all this.

The objective of the trip was to push the Beast to its limit and it worked. A couple of stuffs failed but I was able to repair them so now I really know what are the next steps for improving the Beast.

Leaving home, the first idea was to change the tyres in Bihac or Sarajevo, in the end I've changed them in Skopje.

I've been riding a lot of kilometers per day if you consider that I've been in Skopje for 3 days without riding.

I will let the pictures talk, for more detailed reports you can have a look at the facebook page.

 Zeljava Airbase, old hangar.

 I've shared an apartment in bihac with those people from Oman, it has been lovely having breakfast with them.

 Sarajevo, the old bob slope of the Winter Olympic games.

 A road in Bosnia on an old railway.

 At some point there was a fallen bridge. I had to change plan.

 Somewhere in Servia, I will have to visit it more in the future.

 Few kilometers away from Skopje, wrong tube was fit in. Now that I'm home I've realized that even the rotation direction is wrong. 

 Ohrid lake, albanian side.

 Somewhere in Albania.

 SH75

Somewhere near the SH75

 Somewhere near Golëm.

  Somewhere near Golëm.

 Somewhere near Progonat.

 Somwehere near Progonat.

 No idea where, the road was going along a river that should have been dry.

 Somwehere North East of Elbasan.

 TET part in Albania, near Tirana.

 TET part in Albania, near Tirana.

 TET part in Albania, near Tirana.

 TET part in Albania, near Tirana.

 TET part in Albania, near Tirana.

 TET part in Albania, near Tirana.

 TET part in Albania, near Tirana.

 TET part in Albania, near Tirana.

 P16 in Montenegro.

 The view over Kotor.

 The broken support of the fron frame.

 Fixed with fine engineering.

 On the road to Mostar for welding the support.

 The Beast could feel free near Prisoje in Bosnia.

 Croatia, near the Mali Alan pass (This is not the road of the pass).

Croatia, near the Mali Alan.

That's it. A short and intense trip. Amazing as always. Now it is time to get improve the Beast more, in order to have the almost perfect machine for travelling.