What you see below is why we chose the Honda CRF300 Rally in the first place and which changes we made. If you want to know how they performed on our trip from Berlin to Southern Africa, click here.
HONDA CRF300 Rally
Lesson learned in Mongolian sand: Every kilo counts. The lighter the bike, the better you’ll do offroad. Unless you’re Chris Birch or Dirk von Zitzewitz maybe. So for this trip, we went for something lighter than the super reliable KTM 1290 Adventure R and KTM 1090 Adventure R we took on our trip to Tokyo. This time, we both chose the same bike.
Yes, it only has 300 ccm and 20,1 kw. But YES, it only weighs 153 kg! Fully fueled. It won’t be great on a highway. Good thing that highways are not high on our list.
When we look at others’ blogs we’re always interested in which parts they changed on their bikes, which equipment they use. So here’s our list. Product links are not affiliate links or advertisement. We can’t even recommend them… We’ll find out if they’re worth the money along the way.
Bashplate
Our bashplates by Outback Motortek make a very rugged (and heavy) impression.
PANNIER RACK AND REAR RACK
We both have the luggage rack by Outback Motortek but are using different backplates. Thies has the matching one by Outback Motortek. Momme has the Minimalist Rear Cargo Rack by Camel ADV.
Handguards
To protect our hands and our bikes’ levers, we went for Barkbusters with their VPS plastics.
Navigation
We both kept our Tomtom Rider 550 devices and navigation and attached it to the top bar using a holder by Hermann Mechatronik. Fits nicely. While it would be nice to be able to use OSM files on these devices, we’ll use our smartphones for that. To keep them juiced we’re using basic double USB sockets.
Suspension
Changing the rear shock is the first thing most CRF300 riders do. So did we. We’re running the Wilbers 640 Road and hope it’ll make the road less bumpy.
Mirrors
Thies kept the stock mirrors, Momme has the fancy very practical Doubletake Adventure Mirrors.
And that’s it (apart from a little part here and there that we forgot, sorry).