Tyre saga III

Cleaning the bike

Lomé is nothing more than a typical dirty, over crowded and crumbling African capital city.  The only thing in it’s favour is the beautiful beaches. But because off all the filth running into them, you cannot swim in the water, and because of the crime you are discouraged from going there after sunset.  What a waste.  I was so disappointed at not being able to swim in the sea.  The good side was that we where able to spend the time searching for tyres.

Hard at work

Lomé has the only proper big bike shop and service point in west Africa.  All thanks to an ex Paris-Dakar KTM rider who opened shop in town.  They where our best bet for finding tyres, but in typical African fashion there was no new tyres.  The new tyres where on their way on a ship, but no-one had any idea when the ship would arrive.  The best we could manage after two days of searching where some second hand tyres about 50% worn.  Only enough for about half way to Cape Town.  Everyone we spoke to knew of someone who might have new tyres and we were sent off on many small wild goose chases.  No result.  Luckily I had a plan Z.  Shipping tyres from the UK.  After my last experience with DHL and customs I wasn’t very keen, but my options where running out fast.  My front wouldn’t make it much further than Abuja, Nigeria.  If I want the tyres to arrive in Nigeria at roughly the same time I do I would have to order them ASAP.  Luckily Morton was in the same predicament, so we decided to bite the bullet and order tyres from the UK. We could share the shipping cost, which would be about double the price of each tyre.  OUCH!  

At least we knew what we would get and they would be good for the whole trek to SA.  The supplier in the UK was extremely helpful and had the tyres away relatively quickly.  Fingers crossed there isn’t a long customs delay in Nigeria.  This is my fourth shipment from the UK, and only one went smoothly.  Wonder what is going to happen this time?

We also spent one whole day giving the bikes a big service.  The KTM dealership had a fantastic workshop that they allowed us to use.  Their mechanic was extremely friendly and helpful.  Both Morton and Dominique needed some major repairs that would have been close to impossible without the workshop facilities.  This was exactly what we where hoping for on the way to Lomé.  This was also the first time I did a major service on my own.  Took a bit of time, but in the end I was very pleased with myself.  Amazing what I have learned since starting to plan this whole trip.  It has been a steep learning curve, especially on the road, but I am happy with everything.

Big repairs

By the time we where finished with all the bike stuff we had enough of Lomé so decided to hit the road and head for Benin.  Most overlanders only use Benin as a quick crossing into Nigeria, but we where warned about Lagos and also the coastal border crossing into Nigeria.  In the end we decided to cruise about halfway up Benin, and then head east to Nigeria.  This would also mean more dirt roads and less tarmac.  Perfect.