The Long way round

Just got the DVD and the Book for my birth, what an excellent series, I would love to do this kind of thing, ride around the world, cool. Anyone else seen this or got it. Not sure if the SV would make it though?
sexysi

Originally Posted by sexysi

Just got the DVD and the Book for my birth, what an excellent series, I would love to do this kind of thing, ride around the world, cool. Anyone else seen this or got it. Not sure if the SV would make it though?
sexysi

Got the book.

Excellent read.

Saw the show on Sky.

Would love to do something similar, maybe not quite such a harsh environment. I would like to do it on tarmac so I didn't need all the backup, spares etc.

i was surprised how badly the bmw's faired - what was it, two cracked frames?!

Yeah its great innit?! The book has a lot more insight and is worth a read if you enjoyed the series. Ewan Macgregor seems a fairly down to earth character and not full of himself like some movie stars.
As much as i hate to admit it, the trip was a great advert for BMW motorcycles! (The cars are still sh**e though! )

Originally Posted by mrbizzy

i was surprised how badly the bmw's faired - what was it, two cracked frames?!

You are joking. Try doing that on an SV or a Honda. And I really hate standing up for BMW. (Cars driven by *****s and all that! )

I love the KTM bit, "owe KTM have pulled out then, cause they think you will fail"
Charley Borman says, " well F**k KTM then we'll show them". Very good advert for KTM, Obviously they don't trust their own bikes.

sexysi

[BillyC]

Sounds good doesn't it Si... now read the book and then ask yourself the same question afterwards

The frames cracked on the bikes because of the rediculous amount of weight they were having to bare. Both Charley and Ewan realise that they've just taken far too much stuff with them, treating each bike as individuals rather than a team and splitting necessary kit between them. Towards the end of the hardest part of the journey they finally decided to sift through it all, and dump what they've not used/didn't need. Given the terrain they were also faced with, it's amazing that the frames didn't give way sooner.

Out of interest... the parts that broke were not BMW parts, they were the Touratech subframes, which are specifically designed for the task they put the bike up to.


All in all, it's a cracking read. I finished it on Friday lunchtime, and then saw Charley Boorman at Ally Pally... I wanted to go and slap him on the back and shake his hand, but restrained myself Really should've brought my copy of the book with me to get it signed... but alas, it was not so!

Originally Posted by mrbizzy

i was surprised how badly the bmw's faired - what was it, two cracked frames?!

Given the abuse these bikes were put through, it's a wonder they survived so well. Silly luggage, stupid terrain and being regularly dropped, bashed and battered.

[northwind]

Originally Posted by BillyC

Both Charley and Ewan realise that they've just taken far too much stuff with them, treating each bike as individuals rather than a team and splitting necessary kit between them. Towards the end of the hardest part of the journey they finally decided to sift through it all .

I loved that they finally worked that out after going about 3/4 of the way around the world "D'oh! Maybe we don't actually need 6 saucepans!"

Originally Posted by BillyC

Out of interest... the parts that broke were not BMW parts, they were the Touratech subframes, which are specifically designed for the task they put the bike up to.

I think one of them suffers an actual frame break under the seat...Ewan's bike IIRC.

I honestly thought they were standard GSAdventure subframes
Do Touratech do replacement subframes?