Panamerican - My bike

My bike for the trip is a DR 800 Suzuki single cylinder dirt bike. This type of bike was very successfull on several rallys all over the world - specially on the Paris - Dakar. The whole construction is very durable and easy to handle.
I bought this motorcycle in 2005 with 12.000 km on the speedometer. The bike was built in 1998 and like new. For the trip i added racks for Aluminum - Boxes and roll bars around the gas tank (not mounted on the pic below). On the pic i use the bike in spain fully loaded on a dirt track. Two month ago i had a off road training with a versed offroad instructor to learn driving on muddy or sandy tracks. This was very helpful to know how your bike reacts on slippery onderground. For the trip i bought some spare parts and tools to solve little defects. The heavyest parts are the tools which are located in a new tool box in front of the engine rock guard. It`s a ugly tube (not mounted on the pics) - but it does his job perfect.....

Update:
I installed a new stronger spring in the rear suspenstion. The old one has lost it hardness over the years. For the Panamericana i had changed the front springs half a year ago too.

My Tour on the Panamericana

As a child of about 8 years i found a travelling book of my parents in their living room cabinet. The title was "Dream roads of the world". There was one article about the Panamerica with incredible pictures of the landscape along the road. Dark wet forests in Central America and wonderfull mountains in Argentina and Chile. Pics of Bears in Canada in front of a lake.... Since this time these pictures are fixed in my brain i planned to travel along this road any time in my life. It takes around 35 years to change over my plans. After having an own child and a family - i have now time to realise this personal dream.
Because of the long distance and the given timeframe of 4,5 months in the company i work for the tour is splitted in two sections. Only with the split i have enough time to see as much as possible from the countrys and the people. This first section starts in September 2009 and ends in February 2010 from LA to Tierra del Fuego. The second section will be planned in a few years together with my girlfriend.