Herbert Schwarz Rides Through Central Africa – Part 2

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Although Touratech Executive Director Herbert Schwarz has already ridden a total of more than 150 000 kilometres during 18 previous trips to Africa, he is still drawn back to this amazing continent time and time again. His most recent trip to the Great Rift Valley was taken with his new wife Ramona - herself an established round-the-world motorcyclist with more than 40 000 kilometres ridden on African soil. There were several reasons for the latest adventure. Herbert and Ramona Schwarz with the F800 GSAs well as the requirement of testing various bike accessories under extreme conditions, the couple were also taking pictures for a travel supplement to go in the forthcoming Touratech catalogue, and additionally filming their journey for an adventure travel DVD. However, what was equally important to Herbert and Ramona was to see exactly what had changed in Africa since they had last travelled there. It had been 15 years since Herbert was there, and five years since Ramona passed through 17 African countries in 10 months during her six-year RTW trip. An added bonus was that Herbert had managed to secure a pre-production version of the bike that everyone is now talking about - the eagerly awaited F 800 GS - as he has been involved in the development of various parts for BMW Motorrad's exciting new travel enduro. Suffice to say that Herbert was massively impressed with the new addition to the GS family. "The F800 GS is amazing and the engine is fantastic. With 85 hp available it feels similar to the R 1200 GS and has great low-down torque. However, it's about 25-30 kg lighter. The 21-inch front wheel is much more suited to off-road conditions and the suspension travel is excellent. What's also interesting is that the engine feels completely different from the one that's in the road-going F 800 S and ST machines. As a travel enduro the new F800 GS fits neatly between the existing bikes in the range. In off-road conditions it's not unlike the old F650 GS, but it does have a lot more power and higher comfort levels. The engine actually sounds similar to a twin-cylinder Boxer engine, which is good because it's not an aggressive noise, so you won't be scaring any wild animals on your travels!" Naturally, the engineers at BMW were nervous about letting Herbert take a pre-production machine to Africa, but as part of his development cooperation with the company, he needs time with bikes such as the F800 GS in order to test and modify parts and components he is developing in partnership with BMW. When it comes to testing parts in extreme conditions, they don’t get much more extreme than thisDemand is expected to be extremely high for this machine when it is launched next year, but equally high will be the demand for various accessories and parts for those riders who want to be among the first to take this new travel enduro 'on safari'. "As you can imagine, the people at BMW were rather nervous about letting us have this bike," laughs Herbert. "They joked that if we saw any photographers, we would either have to shoot them or confiscate the cameras! As it turned out, we managed to complete the entire trip without anyone realising. Right from the beginning the bike wasn't 'disguised' in any way and we took it from Munich to the airport in the back of a truck. Even though everyone seems to have cameras on their mobile phones - even in Africa - we still managed to get away with it!" Interestingly, in contrast to Herbert's earlier travels on machines like the R100 GS, taking modern BMWs into the wilderness doesn't mean that you need an extensive list of spare parts. Now all he takes is a ring antenna for the key, a fuel pump and a tyre repair kit. However, things can go wrong and if they do, then it helps if you're a master of improvisation, as Ramona explains. "We'd changed the rear shock on the G 650 Xchallenge I was riding to make it a bit lower so I could get both feet on the ground for filming and taking pictures. However, this broke and when we called Germany and spoke to the Touratech mechanic who had fitted it, we discovered that it was in fact a 'mock-up' shock that was only meant for a photo shoot! However, two Africans helped us cut a branch off a tree with a machete and we constructed a support for the shock by carving two holes in the branch and using ratchet straps to secure the parts together. This allowed me to ride again - although only at 15 km/h! Fortunately, we were able to get the spare parts we needed on a plane leaving for Mombassa the next day, so Herbert and I rode the 400 km back there on the F800 GS and therefore we didn't lose too much time on the trip." Wherever they stopped, a crowd would soon gatherAs someone who has ridden all of BMW Motorrad's enduro bikes ever since the original R80 G/S, Herbert believes that the newest addition to the GS family will have a very wide reaching appeal: "This bike should appeal to almost anyone," he says. "People who want to travel by motorcycle, but who perhaps don't have the money for the R1200 GS or GS Adventure will be attracted to it. There are also those who aren't fans of the Boxer engine, and who will be more comfortable with a parallel twin. I think it will bring many new customers to the brand, as there are increasing numbers of younger riders who are interested in BMW now. The bike looks great and is very compatible with a bike such as the G650 Xchallenge. This is an important factor if you are travelling with someone. Furthermore, it is incredibly fuel-efficient. Even on the roads and terrain we were riding on it still used less than 4.5 litres per 100 km, which is amazing. This long-distance capability will make big trips possible on the F800 GS." Both Herbert and Ramona agree on the most memorable and moving parts of their trip, which were visiting the mountain gorillas in Ruhengeri in Rwanda, and seeing the memorial sites in Murandi that were among the areas mostly affected by the genocide in 1994. Another part of the reason for their journey was to see just how much Africa had changed in recent years and as Herbert confirms, the old continent has moved on considerably - and the changes are all positive. "The changes to Africa were amazing for me. There have been new presidents and new governments, and lots of positive changes. Some years ago you would usually be asked for bribes at border crossings but now they have signs up saying 'Stop Corruption'. We were even asked to fill in questionnaires to say if we were happy with our experience at the customs points and if there was any area in which the service could be improved! Visiting the mountain gorillas in Rwanda"The best part of the trip for me though was talking to the people, who I have so much admiration for. Generally, they have so little in terms of actual possessions, but they want to talk to you, touch you, and feel the shiny bikes. There's absolutely no privacy in Africa and when you experience this for the first time, it's a bit of a shock because there are people everywhere - all of the time! Sometimes when you are camping you open up the zip of your tent in the morning and there they all are, ready to talk to you! Most of the times, we knocked on people's doors and asked if we could pitch our tent in their backyard and the hospitality we received was tremendous. That's the real Africa and I'd advise anyone to go there and discover it for themselves.

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