Bali to West Sumbawa March 2018

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tifua

Race Dog
Joined
Oct 17, 2007
Messages
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Location
Johannesburg
Bike
BMW R1200GS Adventure
I am sitting on a ferry somewhere in the middle of the sea between the islands of Lombok and Bali. I am heading back to Bali to catch a flight out this evening after a quick ride from Bali through Lombok to West Sumbuwa and back. Here is the RR, hope you enjoy it.

First things first. The route. I decided to ride from Bali where I have done several trips before and explore new routes. I had not seen the island of Lombok or West Sumbuwa yet and having a few days decided that would be the direction. It would involve 2 ferry crossings (5-6 hours and 2-3 hours) to get to my turn around point, the town of Sumbuwa Besar. I looked at Google Earth and made a route that every local advised me to not to and that would give me the widest coverage and reduce riding same roads twice. For me, the challenge was to find a route with the most curves and hills and as remote as safely possible to be in a very Muslim part of a Muslim country. I am bringing bike tours to Indonesia and in as such I am always looking for new routes and places to explore and bring people. Limited time meant I did not want to get myself stranded and miss my flight out. Map below shows planned route outbound and then next one is route back. As always planned and reality when in the jungle in middle of nowhere are different things.

Next was the weapon of choice. My options are KLX150, KLX250, scooter. I decided on the scooter and my logic is as follows:

1. Scooters have the biggest R&D department in the world. Given the millions on roads around Asia they have figured out how to make them reliable and take a beating as its primary transport for Asians in areas some would be nervous to ride plastic bikes

2. Availability of spares, parts, repairs all over Indonesia

3. Fuel consumption. Light on fuel is not the word. These things sip fuel.

4. I have only spent a day on a scooter before so was new challenge for me

5. Going fast through twisties on a scooter nobody notices. Going fast around on a big bike like a 1200 or similar gets noticed. You blend in on a scooter and its great fun once you get over the ego and lack of power. You also dont p off the locals and blending in with helmet on on a Honda 125 scooter allows you to go more remote places. I also had no idea of terrain and so a small light bike I can step off easily, cheap to replace (worse case scenario) and still carry all my gear the scooter won hands down.

6. With my tours a lot of times people ask how can we enjoy ride on small 150 - 250 cc bikes. Well I want to show people what can be achieved with a scooter and some imagination.

I will be getting off ferry in next 30 min so will pack up for now and carry on with RR this evening. Lots of pics to add
 

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