Is it just me or....

Nuff respect to them for riding those tanks in sand. I spent 6 weeks riding round Argentina this year on a Transalp with my girlfriend. The toughest day by far was riding a sand road into a wetland reserve. I think that their Panzers weigh about the same as the Transalp with two of us on board and I found just one day was bloody hard.
Still no respect for actually choosing the big beemers when they could have had any bike they wanted. Bonkers.

Originally Posted by drefraser

Still no respect for actually choosing the big beemers when they could have had any bike they wanted. Bonkers.

Uh... So you're telling us you wouldn't go with tried and tested?...

Originally Posted by Ping

Uh... So you're telling us you wouldn't go with tried and tested?...

Hell no. Read a few posts on horizonsunlimited the overland bikers forum. BMWs are way too big and are not as reliable as they would like you to believe. In Long Way Round they broke down repeatedly and in Long Way Down 2 bikes destroyed their shocks (as in oil leaking down the road with a total loss of damping) within 7000 miles. If I'd paid ten grand I'd have been unhappy.
A friend of mine had his R80GS gearbox eat itself in Siberia. It's a common problem on them and a nightmare to fix.
I'd go much smaller and japanese.

The adventure forums are amusing; they're always going wrong, have ****ty dealer backup and are bloody expensive to do anything on!

i wouldn't choose a BMW for similar reasons - weight, unreliability and the fact that the extra cost could fund several more months of a trip! besides which i kinda like more of scruffy beast, and the beemers are too refined looking - you'd worry about dropping the thing and scraping all the expensive bits

that said those converted Ducatis do look lurvely though!

Well with my new job I think I might get a third SV in the summer...

Originally Posted by Swiss

As a whole I have found this series to be a bit of a let down

I completely disagree!

Having only done a Coastal Tour of Britain this year, it was brilliant as I could relate to how they would be feeling for nearly all of it - including riding through a stream/river that comes up to your feet!!!

And although most of you say they had a lot of back-up, on our tour we found it hard enough to find a bike shop ANYWHERE in very North Scotland, so I dread to think how hard it would be to get parts in Africa of all places.

[Spiderman]

Originally Posted by Steve_God

I completely disagree!

Having only done a Coastal Tour of Britain this year, it was brilliant as I could relate to how they would be feeling for nearly all of it - including riding through a stream/river that comes up to your feet!!!

And although most of you say they had a lot of back-up, on our tour we found it hard enough to find a bike shop ANYWHERE in very North Scotland, so I dread to think how hard it would be to get parts in Africa of all places.

Ah but isnt that part of the adventure? The risk factor i mean?

And i personaly found it dissapointing in comparison to the earlier Long Way Round trip.

[Lissa]

I was disappointed too. I think they could have made the series twice as long and shown a lot more of the countries they passed through and the people they met.

I got bored with endless shots of dusty roads, although Charlie's wheelies were always entertaining

Watched the last one last night - Respect to Eva - apart from coming across a bit miserable she seemed quite enthusiastic about her bike. Given the rest of the series I don't think her turning up detracted from it. (not sure that's a compliment)

Thought the other one was much better (watched that the other week).