It's the evening before I leave Chile for Bolivia and I'm showing Dan, an Englishman at the hostel I'm staying at in San Pedro de Atacama, over my moto:
"Well, the suspension wants twice as much travel to absorb the undulations I expect on the ripio, and the front wheel wants to be four inches bigger to get over the rocky sections."
Good start?
"The ground clearance is not at all suitable for any of the terrain, but usefully the frame and exhaust are both below the sump, which has no guard, so they might save it given half a chance - but all of them make getting stuck in the sandy parts pretty likely."
Not all bad...
"The huge, goofy pegs and pedals are the dangerous bit though - not only potentially ankle-breaking in a crash without motocross boots, but liable to be left broken and unuseable after a crash in anything but deep sand, potentially stranding me out there."
There has to be some more positives?
"It's kick-start only, so if the extreme cold wrecks the battery I should be able to start her up."
Phew.
"Well, if the engine runs at all at that altitude."
Ah.
I didn't go into the low-slung exhaust being potentially disastrous for the water-crossings I knew were waiting for me, or the low handlebars making standing for the technical parts awkward, or - Well, you get the idea...
This was a square-peg-for-a-round-hole situation. And I was the hammer.
"Well, the suspension wants twice as much travel to absorb the undulations I expect on the ripio, and the front wheel wants to be four inches bigger to get over the rocky sections."
Good start?
"The ground clearance is not at all suitable for any of the terrain, but usefully the frame and exhaust are both below the sump, which has no guard, so they might save it given half a chance - but all of them make getting stuck in the sandy parts pretty likely."
Not all bad...
"The huge, goofy pegs and pedals are the dangerous bit though - not only potentially ankle-breaking in a crash without motocross boots, but liable to be left broken and unuseable after a crash in anything but deep sand, potentially stranding me out there."
There has to be some more positives?
"It's kick-start only, so if the extreme cold wrecks the battery I should be able to start her up."
Phew.
"Well, if the engine runs at all at that altitude."
Ah.
I didn't go into the low-slung exhaust being potentially disastrous for the water-crossings I knew were waiting for me, or the low handlebars making standing for the technical parts awkward, or - Well, you get the idea...
This was a square-peg-for-a-round-hole situation. And I was the hammer.
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