Actually, we wanted to take both motorcycles from one manufacturer, because this would certainly mean advantages during maintenance on the road. However, as a normal tall woman it is difficult to
find a suitable motorcycle. Of course you can lower the height of a motorcycle, but does it make sense when you don´t have no more ground clearance?
Kai had decided very early to buy the Yamaha Ténéré XT 660 ZA. Nici gave a chance to the slightly smaller XT 660 R, but after several test rides, she decided to go for the small BMW GS. But, is
was quite difficult to get a well preserved and not oversized expensive BMW G 650 GS Sertao or F 650 GS Dakar. In the end she decided to take the G 650 GS. From the beginning, Nici felt
comfortable on the small GS and that played a big role having done the drivers license short time ago.
We will see how the small BMW will actually perform on the journey.
The Ténére has already driven around the world several times and has been very well tested. Now we will see how the ABS version will perform in terms of maintenance.
It was much more difficult, to mount the attachments to the Yamaha. Most things are in very small places, so screws got lost, had to be found and picked out again several times. The Yamaha (with
ABS) is also quite impractical: e.g. to reach the battery, the complete petrol tank has to be removed. Not an easy task, with a volume of approx. 23 litres. This is an advantage of the BMW. The
petrol tank is in the back, the battery reachable by unscrewing 10 screws. Despite its small size, the BMW also seems to offer us more space for screwing and we haven't had to invest as much time
as with the Yamaha.
Unfortunately our illusion of plug and play was destroyed quite early. For almost every attachment, we needed not only several hours (especially for the Yamaha), no, we sometimes had to cut
parts, customize it or use other screws. Positive aspect: we got to know our motorcycles better every day...