Piston Slap, they're not nominees for the Mercury Music Prize nor is it a new makeup range from some D list "sleb", but it does signal the end of the road for the XT I was due to ride my next trip. In a nut shell "piston slap" is a major engine fault and the mechanic who diagnosed it, reckoned it could just be the tip of the iceberg.

The bike had already done a trip from London to Australia a few years ago, so perhaps I was being a little optimistic in planning to use this bike for my trip, which should exceed 20,000 miles. Deep down I think my subconscious had some serious issues too and now that bikes been condemned I feel a much better about the whole trip. The big problem is the cost of getting a new bike, so I have had to bite the bullet and borrow a small amount against my house to pay for a new bike, but I figure it's worth it.

They stopped making XT600e's in 2003, so I was amazed to find someone selling a brand new one, with a single mile on the clock, for £3000, which trust me, is more than a bit of a bargain. I picked the new bike up yesterday from a nice independent bike shop near Southend and rode it back to west London. My bike ships out of Tilbury on the 25th September 2006, which just gives me time to prepare the new bike.

The standard XT is a solid bike and exactly what you need for an overland trip with some off roading, but it does have one draw back, the size of the petrol tank, it's only 14 litres, which can mean winging it between petrol stations if you're in a remote area and lets face it, do you really want to walk 100km with a petrol can. Fortunately when I brought the original XT it came with an additional after market 23 litre petrol tank, a bash plate to protect the engine casing from grounding and lose stones pounding it, plus racks and panniers to store all my gear in. I've already sold the old XT on ebay and kept all the gear and to be honest, I haven't really lost out as I got the first bike at a knock down price.

So all I have to do now is finish painting my house in Hanover, Brighton, store all my gear and furniture that will not be in the house while it's rented out and put in another four weeks at work, then before you know it, the 24th October will come around and I'll be winging my way to Buenos Aires to collect my bike, ready to hit the road, hopefully not literally.