How

If you haven’t read it somewhere else, we are travelling around the world on a couple of motorbikes. If you want to know where we’re going, then click here and find out, if you want to know who we are, then click here and find out.

We each have a Suzuki DRZ400S, certainly not the most popular choice for a long distance biker, but that’s something that appeals to us. Linz is a mere 5′ 3″, weak as a baby and stubborn, so the bike choice was limited!

We’ve bolted on a few extras to help them (and us) go the distance…

• Comfortable seats (Made by Motorcycle Seatworks, the guy is a genius)
• Larger fuel tanks
• Kick starts (for emergencies)
• Higher bars (so we can stand up comfortably)
• Hand guards
• Big bash plates (protect the underside of the bike)
• Engine casing covers (to protect Suzuki’s ridiculously weak magnesium alloy)
• Loud horns (for Dan’s own amusement)
• Rim locks (to hold the tyres in places when running at low pressure)
• Ultra heavy duty inner tubes (make tyre fitting miserable, but should hopefully reduce punctures)

We’ve also made some luggage racks (thanks to my Dad for all that welding and general metal work!). The racks take soft panniers and either a rollbag or an aluminium box. I’ll be carrying a rollbag and Linz will carry the box. The racks are pretty lightweight and very sturdy, they look like they’ll outlast the rest of the bike, here’s hoping.

The DRZ headlights cannot normally be switched off, so I’ve rewired them to be switchable using the engine Stop/Run switch on the right handlebar, which we never used anyway. If you want to stop the bike, turn the key!

Of course we’ve done the usual service items, chains, sprockets, plugs, brakes and of course knobbly tyres.

This one is Linz’s….