We wondered for a long time whether to take our wonderful Teneres XTZ 660 on this longest journey (12-15 thousand km in the first stage) or decide to change bikes?
Our Teneres has never let us down. They traveled the Balkans with us several times, they took us and our luggage to the farthest reaches, coping with the same vigor as on the highway. They are ultra-comfortable and unbreakable. They forgave the mistakes of rider’s fatigue and even if something undesirable “happened” on the road – they could be easily repaired in any country.
We rode exactly the same models in order to take one set of parts with us and, if necessary, have “diagnostic parts” from the other motorcycle. Great idea, however there was never a need for it.
Due to the lack of time, our routes included fast paved roads, scenic minor side roads and only a small extent dirt mountain roads. Teneres without abs, extensive displays, and with high suspension and allterain tires are an excellent motorcycles for such a journey.
And now? Now we are actually going without clearly drawn routes. The journey will be many times longer and more spontaneous, and the countries will be more and more exotic. We decided to adopt a much more off-road concept and select motorcycles in such a way as to distribute the forces also in proportion to the strength of the riders and their experience.
For me, Tenere’s problem is weight. While on asphalt and good paved roads it does not matter too much, on more difficult terrain the weight and height of the saddle become difficult to manage. In addition, I know light motorcycles from previous journeys and I know that it is much easier for me to maneuver them. Therefore, after a short review of the available models, I was very happy to discover that the Honda CRF300 Rally model is now available in Poland.
I had the opportunity to travel with Honda CRF250 in Vietnam and I know that it is an excellent choice for poor roads and barely-visible roads, and the Rally is presented as its travel equivalent.
Jacek actually did not want to change the motorcycle, but I persuaded him to test drive the new Tenere – T7. He had some fun with it, you can check it out here…. In the end, he was convinced by a slightly more powerful, flexible engine, good suspension and excellent Japanese geometry.
It has not been 2 weeks since the idea for this change and 2 additional horses have appeared in our stable. So now we have 4 of them!
