The bike is pretty much the most important factor of our trip, so it was no easy to decision. Do we buy a brand new bike? Do we buy a second hand bike? In Australia, in LA, or once we get to Mexico? In the end Tom's Dad, Rod gave us the solution that would also make our trip that little bit more special.
Classic British bikes have always been a passion of the Baraonas, and from early on on our planning we entertained the idea of doing our trip on one. But we accepted after a bit of searching that the chance of finding one we liked over this side of the world, in a condition which we could rely on, was very slim and therefore began looking at buying newer second-hand bikes.
On Skype to Rod one day we asked his advice - should we go for the Kawasaki KLR650, or the Suzuki DR-Z650? Both arguably very reliable and more than capable of handling the trip we had planned.
However Rod came back to us with a far more interesting idea - why don't we do it on his 1970 BSA A65 Thunderbolt that he has sitting in the shed, reminisicing lonesomely of its glory days? Why not indeed!
Well firstly because parts for a 46 year old British bike will be very hard to come by where we're going. Secondly because the bike itself is almost 50 years old - engineering during the 70s was not what it is today and there's no saying when those pistons could decide they've had enough.
Thirdly, the bike is not designed for long stretches of touring - You can't simply clip panniers to the side and off you go. Yes you can create a customise luggage solution, but how much will this cost and how much weight could it take?
But obviously we were not going to turn down the opportunity to do such a trip on such a gorgeous bike. Yes it would be a challenge but what is the point in doing a once in a lifetime trip if it isn't a bit of a challenge?