TRAINING Last Friday Mikko Oikari from Gävle
went to BMW in Solna and received a thorough instruction on the HP2
from Peter Andersson. Mikko will drive a support car with parts and
some people Ian and Lukas Lundin have invited for a few days in Africa.
Mikko is a good motorcyclist and a good mechanic and it feels good
to have him along. What’s worrying is that neither of us have
any merits as cooks.
There will be another car that takes Ian’s and Lukas’
bikes to Egypt and the driver of that car is Stefan Wikstrom from
Växjö. According to unconfirmed sources (his wife) he is
supposed to be a champ in the kitchen. We have practised valve adjustment,
re-torquing heads and gone through the whole electrical system with
its engine management, the regulator for the charging and the start
lock. It is a bit worrying not to have traditional electrics, but
all modern cars have this system and it seems to work there. We have
also made a list of parts that should be brought along.
A bigger tank was high on the list when we decided on the HP2. I talked
to Klaus Pepperl from HPN who almost promised to have a 23-25 litre
tank finished before Christmas. Three weeks ago he informed me by
mail that it would be impossible. The solution is a boat tank strapped
to the luggage carrier. It holds 12 litres and together with the 13
litres I already have, it will give me a range of about 400kms, which
should be enough. I am looking forward to the adventure and am almost
feverish in anticipation.
