TV2 The Long Way Round

[Ixion]

I reckon if I had to do something like that I'd choose a geared down BSA Bantam. Slow as, but almost totally indestructable, virtually nothing to go wrong, if something does break it can almost certainly be fixed by a village blacksmith, they'll run on anything including kerosene, and I never found any terrain that they couldn't get through.(They used to be quite popular in trials)

Simplicity lightness and robust crudity are what's needed me thinks. And the lack of power would force you to cut your load to a bare minimum.

I don't think any modern bike could match the Bantam for sheer survival factor. Always breaking down, unlike modern bikes, but , unlike modern bikes , when it does break down it doesn't need more than the simplest of tools to fix (plus a good kick or two) . And an off never does any damage to a Bantam (or, at any rate, after a bit you can't distinguish new damage from old damage, and they still keep on going anyway). The other advantage is that if you use tyre with stiff sidewalls they can run reasonably happily with no air pressure.

[Wolf]

Riding around NZ is not a tour, thats a ride. The difference between the two is that a ride can be done simply by putting your credit card in your pocket, a tour requires you take most of your own food and camping equipment tools and other equipment (the idea being you avoid civilisation).

You can choose to do either anywhere. In NZ it is quite possible to set off with a motorbike, your camping gear and your own food and elect to stay off the beaten track (well at least we can up here in the North Island) and OTOH (as VISA is accepted world wide and there are a lot of "good" roads around the world) you can go for a "ride" through parts of Africa.

The great thing about touring is you can choose your route to suit you. If you don't want too much hardship you can see a fair bit of Europe, Australia, Botswana, South Africa and the USA without once leaving hardtop. There are some places in the world where you can't avoid rough goat tracks - but you don't have to go there.

Conversely, if you're feeling adventuresome you can take "the scenic route" and stay off the major roads altogether.

You can choose any bike from a single speed Raleigh to a Goldwing and carry any amount of provisions and equipment from just a credit card to full camping gear and a portable workshop.

Or are you trying to say NZ is too tame or that buying local provisions is "cheating"?

You could spend at least a week touring NZ by motorbike - unless you're pathologically incapable of travelling at under 140kph, like Madboy ( ) - ideal for trying out equipment and refining things. There's any number of camping grounds around the place and you don't have to use the power socket if there is one.

[TwoSeven]

On a motorcycle in NZ I dont think you could count it as a tour, a long ride many, but not a tour. Ditto for the UK as well, its just too small. Best you could say is its a camping trip.

Doing it on a push bike or on foot, perhaps, but when I did my last ride here, I still thought of it as a ride, or a really really short tour (it was only 5k - so a bit wimpy, more of a warm up ride)

Its a little bit difficult to explain the difference as effort, difficult and hardship are more of a factor than distance - I suspect those who have done long distance tours will be able to explain more.

[bugjuice]

on now peeps..

[Motu]

They found God on their trip - Ted Simon in some bloody market!

[parsley]

Awww. I cried when his bike broke.

[Wolf]

Frigging beautiful scenery. At least they're having a decent adventure. Was good to see Ted Simon - his first book is on my bedside table.

[Krayy]

Awww. I cried when his bike broke.

Not a great advertisement for BMW having 2 bikes spines break in half.

[Postie]

Not a great advertisement for BMW having 2 bikes spines break in half.

thats one way to look at it, or you could realise that the bikes are not designed to travel round the world with that sort of weight on them. you could even say that its a great advertisment since they have managed to get to Russia, overloaded and lasted till then before breaking.

[Hitcher]

Isn't it interesting to see how others live. Quite happily too with no cell phones or internet...

[vifferman]

I watched the episode the other night and all they were doing was bitching about how tough it was because they suddenly discovered they werent fit enough to ride off road. All they have been doing is driving thru a bit of mud so far and whine about how they have to sit on the bikes for more than a few hours. Be interesting to see what happens when it rains/snows and they dont have any food.

Glenn Heggstadt (SP?) who is riding around the world on a BMW F650 has had to contend with kidney stones, and with riding with plastic tubes (stents?) in his kidneys. Yet despite all that, his accounts show little evidence of feeling sorry for himself, even though the hardships and privations he's faced are WAY worse than these chaspses have had to put up with.

[bugjuice]

I missed it last week - why is the camera dude on that old thing..? Did his beemer break too? Was it from that shot near the beginning where his bike is down that embankment? Didn't sound too good when it started again. But didn't explain that tht broke his bike... Sucks his gear got stolen aswell. In the middle of nowhere, and his stuff gets taken

And that roll over was nasty for the support crew.
And love Charlie's comments on why he wants his own tent.. at least he's honest about it!
Still loving the series

[forty two]

I missed it last week - why is the camera dude on that old thing..? Did his beemer break too? Was it from that shot near the beginning where his bike is down that embankment? Didn't sound too good when it started again. But didn't explain that tht broke his bike

He broke his beemer also, cracked frame. He did admit though that he was looking at the scenery and not in front of him and ran into a rather large boulder! Proberbly cant blame BMW for that one!! I thought the bike was being transported to a nearby town for repair but not sure now. Personally I believe BMW are getting great exposure even with the cracking frames, the guys admit quite freely that they have overloaded the bikes with all their crap.
Briliant series.

[nudemetalz]

Next weeks one looks great...with the river crossing and mud-bogging.
Looks like the Beemers will have been really put to the test.

[bugjuice]

He broke his beemer also, cracked frame. He did admit though that he was looking at the scenery and not in front of him and ran into a rather large boulder! Proberbly cant blame BMW for that one!! I thought the bike was being transported to a nearby town for repair but not sure now. Personally I believe BMW are getting great exposure even with the cracking frames, the guys admit quite freely that they have overloaded the bikes with all their crap.
Briliant series.

thoroughly agree. They do have excessive weight, and you can see that as they started off.. So far, with all the crap they've thrown at the bikes, they've done well.
If the bikes were designed to carry such weight, they would have put more than 4 tubes for the rear subframe on the bike.. I am surprised they didn't load anything up the front of the bike tho, to even out the weight distribution