Depending on where you live, motorcycles can be extremely practical—but a lot of times, it takes a certain contrarian streak to take up riding in the first place. Above all, one thing that unites all different kinds of riders is that we do it primarily because we love it. What ‘it’ is (off-road, track days, or whatever) may vary, but the love is absolutely there.
You know all that already, of course—but it’s important context for what YouTuber Marc Travels is currently doing in northern Africa on his Zero SR/F. In fact, it’s part of the entire impetus for his journey. He’s previously done a bit of moto traveling on his old Honda Dominator, a rugged combustion-powered bike—and which he also documented on his YouTube channel. When the global pandemic threw everything into upheaval, he realized that it was now or never—and he started traveling, making videos, and sharing them with the world.
Here in 2023, he’s out to travel around the world on his Zero SR/F, just to prove that doing such a thing is even possible. Will he succeed? Even he doesn’t know that yet, but he’s keen to give it the best try that he possibly can, and that’s at least half the battle. Every journey is accomplished by one unit of your preferred measurement at a time, whether it’s miles or kilometers. Thus, Marc and his girlfriend Maree, who is accompanying him in her trusty Suzuki Jimny with a tent mounted on top for camping occasions, are making their way through Tunisia in March, 2023.
There are some beautiful oases in Tunisia, along with plenty of contrastingly stark beauty in the form of vast swaths of desert. For fans of the Star Wars movies, they’ve visited some of the filming locations already—and there’s a little peek at one in this video, as well. That’s all before the main event, though—which takes place around 12 minutes in. That’s when Marc and Maree do a little bit of off-road desert riding on the Zero and in the Jimny. 4WD mode, engage! (Well, on the Jimny, anyway.)
How did Eve, Marc’s SR/F, do? With the simple additions of a bash plate and appropriate tires, Marc says and shows that she did just fine through the sand, gravel, and rocky terrain. They took it slow and steady, going not so slowly as to lose momentum and balance, but not so quickly as to seriously bottom out the suspension and cause other issues that way. There weren’t any deep water crossings or mud, which would have been a different sort of challenge—but the Zero appeared to handle things pretty well, all things considered.
It’s not clear whether riding through so much sand will have any kind of negative impact on the electronics. The bike came reasonably weather-sealed from the factory, of course—but anyone who’s ever taken a nice camera to a sandy area knows that stuff somehow gets everywhere, and has the potential to cause serious problems when it does.
In any case, Marc and Maree look like they’re having a pretty great time—well, as long as Maree gets enough food. (Relatable content, as I also am not at my best when I’m riding or driving hangry.) The moral of the story appears to be, don’t let anyone tell you what you can’t do. Ride your bike.
