Scram Africa

[Photos: Götz Göppert]

Want to put your BikeExif-ready Scrambler to the test? No, not on the mean streets of LA or Paris, but the sand and rocks of Morocco!  Scram Africa is organized by Barcelona’s Fuel Bespoke custom shop, as a way to get out and have some fun on cool machinery, regardless its suitability for the terrain.  As Bespoke puts it on their website; it’s ‘more than a trip, it’s an amazing experience about overcoming, adventure and friendship. A trip of more than 2000 km for scramblers to the south of Morocco by roads, trails and dunes. A trip only for nostalgic riders!’

As ‘nostalgic riders’ ourselves (whatever that means), the appeal of taking a converted 30-year of BMW roadster over 1200 miles of rough terrain sounds like tremendous fun, and a lot of hard work.  That matches the description of ace photographer Götz Göppert, who rode along with the traveling Scram circus this year.  Here are his thoughts on the event:

“I’d been to Morocco for work in fashion shoots, and the people are great, very helpful.  Wherever you go they try to help you, sell you things and offer you drinks. On this trip we didn’t get to see a lot of people though, we were always on a bike. We started in Tangier and visited the largest souk (market) in the world, we had half a day off for that. With lots of little villages in the middle of nowhere, when we finally stopped you’re happy to get off the bike and sit by the pool for a while, and in the morning you’re happy to get on your bike and get out of there!

“Karles (Fuel Bespoke) called and asked if I’d shoot this year’s ride; it was exactly the right moment. I called Ducati and got one of their new Scramblers. It’s kind of a city bike, and not really meant to do this sort of ride – I brought it back broken! They didn’t mind. There were 18 bikes, 4 broke down, and there was one serious accident. Almost all the bikes had issues. We had a mechanic with a car who followed us, he repaired the machines when we’d arrive at the end of the day, starting at 5 or 6pm, but some bike didn’t get in till 10pm!

“Some of these bikes were 30 years old, so it was a real adventure, and real work on these street bikes; they were heavy, it was very soft sand, and it was hard work. Some were basically stock BMWs with knobby tires, and the riders had no experience riding off-road like this.   They were heavy bikes, they’d get stuck in the sand, and it took 2 people at least to push them out,  in the middle of the day in the heat! But you meet a lot of great people. We’d all take turns pushing each other.

They’ve been doing the trip 6 or 7 years now. We began on the Barcelona-Tangier ferry, then we crossed the countryside into the desert, where there’s nothing dangerous but the occasional goat.  On the flat areas you could see 100km in front of you, there was so much empty space, and then the mountains in the distance.  If there was a house, we’d stop, have some tea and dates, and go off again! The lowland areas were really soft sand, and the mountain roads were made of big rocks. It was really hot in the desert, 35-38 degrees, while in the mountains it was chilly, like 7 or 8 degrees, so you needed warm clothes and cold clothes.

You can’t go over the sandy parts too fast, as you don’t want to break your bike, and if you break yourself it’s a long way from the hospital. In the Atlas mountains it’s all green, and very pretty; then in the sahara you’re on the sand. I never used the tents, just slept on the sand, on a mattress, and in the morning you shake the scorpions from your boots. You don’t see anything but the stars, there’s nothing else out there. It’s something you can’t forget.”

“The desert was really hot, you ride all day, there’s good food in Morocco – its really nice.”

“In some places it’s all flat, and you go straight for 100km, and there’s nothing.  You see the mountains at the end, and you keep going, and there’s nobody.”

“Some of the riders were on basically stock 30-year old BMWs with knobbies, and no experience off road like this. They were heavy bikes, they’d get stuck in the sand, it took 2 people to push them in the heat! But you meet a lot of great people. We’d all take turns pushing each other.”