Sandraiders Morocco 2023

[JamesinEdinburgh]

Paid my 2,820 € balance for Sandraiders via Wise for only £10 today :-)

Bank of Scotland had quoted £80 for the international payment :-(

Managed to open my Wise account and get it setup in Goggle Wallet on my phone within 30 minutes!

It's amazing for contactless, chip & pin payments and cash withdrawals abroad, especially if you find the right ATM.

I withdrew 200€ in Rome a few days ago and had no withdrawal or transfer fees to pay at all.

Unfortunately, it's not possible to load Moroccan Dirham onto the card as it is only available in country, so I will have to withdraw MAD from an ATM in Marakkesh's Airport Departures on arrival - Chris Scott of Morocco Overland told me this is one of the cheapest ATM's in Marrakesh.

You can get a fee-free transfer of up to £500 via this link ;-)
https://wise.com/invite/ath/jamesalberts

[DakarXT600]

Hi James I had missed your post as I was only looking in the 3AJ section.

I and 2 friends have entered Sandraiders - there was 4 of us entered in total but my brother-in-law had a fatal heart attack in January so we decided to carry on in his honour.

I am on a 3AJ which is still in bits but will be ready next week or so I am told, My friend Tim is on another 3AJ that he only bought 3 weeks ago as he was going to hire originally. It was fully prepared by Dave Lambeth so should be good to go. Jamie who lives In Kenya and used to this sort of Terrain is on a Honda XL with a 650 dominator engine.

I should have been on a Honda XL600LMF but the guys rebuilding the engine have been at it for 6 months and it will not be ready so in panic bought a cheap 3AJ which i've uprated on the suspension side, brakes, new clutch, cush drive (took out the home made ones which were to thick) rear wheel rim, Moorespeed headers etc etc. After stripping it down we found the frame was slightly bent so had that straightened first before we could do any further work. Its all going to be last minute but at least I rode it before we started stripping it down and apart from the wayward feel which explains the bent frame the engine was strong and sounded fantastic with the Arrow can.

Next up is tyres so interesting to see your selection. I was looking at Mitas tyres but interested in what width you are going for as someone on the Forum said 140 won't really fit unless you move the wheel back which then affects the handling quite dramatically. 130's seem thin on the ground so i'm pretty well left with a 120. I need to get the tyres fitted next week.

Trying to get fit riding push bike every day and general strengthening of my arm muscles for lifting 160 kilos of bike out the sand.

Interesting on the Forma boots as I went for those after Harry Metcalfe recommended them!

Mike

[DakarXT600]

As it started out 3 weeks ago- looked okay!! before we found the bent frame Greek registered but now UK






Hmmm looks a bit different now

[JamesinEdinburgh]

Hi James I had missed your post as I was only looking in the 3AJ section.

I and 2 friends have entered Sandraiders - there was 4 of us entered in total but my brother-in-law had a fatal heart attack in January so we decided to carry on in his honour.

I am on a 3AJ which is still in bits but will be ready next week or so I am told, My friend Tim is on another 3AJ that he only bought 3 weeks ago as he was going to hire originally. It was fully prepared by Dave Lambeth so should be good to go. Jamie who lives In Kenya and used to this sort of Terrain is on a Honda XL with a 650 dominator engine.

I should have been on a Honda XL600LMF but the guys rebuilding the engine have been at it for 6 months and it will not be ready so in panic bought a cheap 3AJ which i've uprated on the suspension side, brakes, new clutch, cush drive (took out the home made ones which were to thick) rear wheel rim, Moorespeed headers etc etc. After stripping it down we found the frame was slightly bent so had that straightened first before we could do any further work. Its all going to be last minute but at least I rode it before we started stripping it down and apart from the wayward feel which explains the bent frame the engine was strong and sounded fantastic with the Arrow can.

Next up is tyres so interesting to see your selection. I was looking at Mitas tyres but interested in what width you are going for as someone on the Forum said 140 won't really fit unless you move the wheel back which then affects the handling quite dramatically. 130's seem thin on the ground so i'm pretty well left with a 120. I need to get the tyres fitted next week.

Trying to get fit riding push bike every day and general strengthening of my arm muscles for lifting 160 kilos of bike out the sand.

Interesting on the Forma boots as I went for those after Harry Metcalfe recommended them!

Mike

Wow! You guys are making fast progress Mike.

Sorry to hear about your brother-in-law, but I guess it's another reason for us to spend our time and money riding bikes in the desert.

Tim should have great peace of mind with his Lambeth machine, not sure about myself! Glad there is going to be a posse of 3AJ's! Hopefully we'll get some great photos of our bikes in the country they were designed for

I've gone for the 140/80 after reading a couple of success stories on this forum. I did measure the gap on my old 120 and there appeared to be enough room.

I'm waiting on rim locks before fitting mousses in the new tyres, so time will tell.

Best way to get fit for riding the pistes of Morocco, is riding off-road in the UK. Luckily, I have a 50 mile off-road route near me that I've used without any grief from gamekeepers. Picking our bikes up will be much harder because they will lie so flat in the ground; but of course, it's all in the legs rather than the arms. We don't want to do our backs in. Unfortunately, I had a sore back when I was riding a Dakar piste in Western Sahara during Ramadan last year and was eating painkillers for breakfast

Forma boots don't offer any real ankle protection other than keeping the rain out. We don't need goretex where we are going...

[JamesinEdinburgh]

Managed to replace one of my old fork springs today and was shocked by the difference in oil colour. The Yamaha lube looks like Irn Bru.

[JamesinEdinburgh]

Was surprised by the old fork spring in my 3AJ. Not sure if they are origional? The short, top spring appeared to be really thin and easy to compress. The new springs cost £99 of eBay and were 0.5mm thicker. Needed help in compressing and screwing the caps in.

[DakarXT600]

James on the 140tyre have you fitted as heard all sorts on the forums of them not going in and having to set the wheel right back on the swingarm making the handling a bit evil. If you do get one on and it handles fine let me know. I will look for the article.

Fitness wise i'm 57 and not too bad but need to get fitter than I at present not got great off road riding round here in Staffordshire too many ramblers but there are some roads upin the peaks but the fact the bikes are being dropped off to Sandraiders in 2 weeks doesn't leave me much time unless I buy the DRZ 400 I have been watching but feel the lightness will spoil me

The best rider out of our bunch is Jamie only in his 40's lives in Kenya rides everywhere on a 990 KTM and a 350 EXC so used to sand. I did however when I was last out there used a XR500 on the red sand which a Cheetah took exception to and decided I looked like a gazelle!! that was an interesting race!!

Be good to ride together -Harry M's on an early XT600 as well.

[DakarXT600]

These are what I am going for as my local guy fits and swears by Dunlop for Enduro and likes the MX range. The EN91 take big bikes such as a KTM 950 at up to 200KG so will easily cope with the weight of a 3AJ



These are what I would have liked but then if I could fit a 140 I wold probably have gone for Michelin



Table shows the type of range the EN91 covers so looks a good choice but we shall see


I have thought about these but not sure if they are aggressive enough for the terrain

[JamesinEdinburgh]

These are what I am going for as my local guy fits and swears by Dunlop for Enduro and likes the MX range. The EN91 take big bikes such as a KTM 950 at up to 200KG so will easily cope with the weight of a 3AJ



These are what I would have liked but then if I could fit a 140 I wold probably have gone for Michelin



Table shows the type of range the EN91 covers so looks a good choice but we shall see


I have thought about these but not sure if they are aggressive enough for the terrain

No experience of the Dunlops but had a faultless outing with the Michelin Anakee Wild (only fitted the front during RallyMoto's Dark Skies last year. My friend Steve Garbett had a good experience with the Wild's on his XT660 in Maroc with Wildcat Tours.

[JamesinEdinburgh]

Trying to fit my new chain & sprocket - can't get front sprocket off the splines!

Ordered a puller...

15 tooth front, 45 tooth on rear - bring on the wheelies.