Charlie Boorman/Ewan McGreqor - Long Way Round

boa-constrictor

Charlie Boorman was on the BMW stand at the recent Bike show in the RDS.

What do you guys think of the whole Long Way Round/Race to Dakar thing. There didn't seem to be many bikers hanging around the stand!

Idleater

boa-constrictor wrote:

Charlie Boorman was on the BMW stand at the recent Bike show in the RDS.

What do you guys think of the whole Long Way Round/Race to Dakar thing. There didn't seem to be many bikers hanging around the stand!

I had respect for them, they did a good job and it was no doubt difficult. It was done before though years ago by some dude who wrote a book about it, can't remember the title now.

Then someone posted a YouTube video of some dude that went all around the world on an R1 complete with sports exhaust.

That was impressive

L.

Pigeon Reaper

It was done by Simons who wrote Jupiters Travels about a round the world journey in the 70's. The route Boorman and McGreqor took is supposed to be difficult. I think credit is due to anyone who tries to do this type of journey. The long way round raised the profile of biking to everyone and has inspired many to try their own trips. I think the lack of bikers as due to poor advertising of him being there, also he's been over a few times before. Jealously may also pay some part in the detractors arguments.

John Mason

i have the DVD of the series, i thought, it was brilliant. you could really see the hell they went through but it was so worth it for the people and the countries they meet. i would have to say i have the upmost respect for both of them

MrPudding

Pigeon Reaper wrote:

I The long way round raised the profile of biking to everyone and has inspired many to try their own trips.

That show was the reason I decided to learn how to ride a bike.....I'll get me coat.

Pigeon Reaper wrote:

I think the lack of bikers as due to poor advertising of him being there, also he's been over a few times before. Jealously may also pay some part in the detractors arguments.

He was mobbed at each appearance the day I was at the Bike Show in Birmingham. The gf is a fan and I got her the book and DVD of race to Dakar. I had to queue for about 40 minutes to get it signed. It was for her....I swear.

MrP

art

Watched that show too and thought, of the two of them, McGregor was a bit of a whinge but Boorman obviously had a big passion for bikes, just even the way Boorman really wanted the KTM over the BMW at the start (man did KTM really screw up that PR opportunity :rolleyes: ). But wouldn't really knock either of them, they had a massive adventure and kept going to see it through to the end so fair play to them.

Drax

art wrote:

McGregor was a bit of a whinge

You'd be whinging too if you got petrol in your eyes, fell off your bike numerous times and had to lug it through rivers and other lovely terrain. They both had whingy moments... its to be expected.....
I would love to do what they did - and I have utmost respect for them (even if they did have a support crew)

gsxr1

pity they did not get to use the ktm. would have been a whole lot easier on them and may be they would not have broke down as much. was a bad mistake on ktms part

Hotblack Desiato

Are you kidding me. KTM said they wouldn't make it but what they really meant was 'our bikes wouldn't make it'. There's a huge difference between winning Dakars with professional mechanics servicing the bike every night, and doing a round the world trip with little support (even with the jeeps they had, there wasn't too much room for spares.) I'm no fan of BMWs but they do have dealers in some very odd places, they were able to get their bikes dealer serviced in Mongolia ffs!

gsxr1

ninja900 wrote:

Are you kidding me. KTM said they wouldn't make it but what they really meant was 'our bikes wouldn't make it'. There's a huge difference between winning Dakars with professional mechanics servicing the bike every night, and doing a round the world trip with little support (even with the jeeps they had, there wasn't too much room for spares.) I'm no fan of BMWs but they do have dealers in some very odd places, they were able to get their bikes dealer serviced in Mongolia ffs!

most of the show was the two of them pushing there bikes out of mud. Wrong bike for the job. in my modest opion if i where going to ride around the world , most of which seem to have no roads, i would pick a DR 350. simple bike. hard as nails . light and handles well.
KTM would have made it better. the LC8 engine is light powerful and reliable. not bogged down with silly ABS and the like. WP suspension that can take a hell of a lot more pounding than the standard bmw unit. the bloody frame broke ffs. they did the beemers as a second choise. they did not really want to take them i think.

Hotblack Desiato

gsxr1 wrote:

most of the show was the two of them pushing there bikes out of mud. Wrong bike for the job. in my modest opion if i where going to ride around the world , most of which seem to have no roads, i would pick a DR 350. simple bike. hard as nails . light and handles well.

And a world apart from an expensive and fragile KTM. I know a guy who blew two up in less than 20,000km of road use due to a design fault - engines replaced under warranty.

I agree the GS twins are too big and heavy - a DR or (if you must) an F650 would be much more like it. Plenty of guys on low-budget self-funded RTW trips have used DRs, and usually not new ones either. E.g. http://www.mondoenduro.com/

the bloody frame broke ffs. they did the beemers as a second choise. they did not really want to take them i think.

Frame broke because they overloaded the bikes by a lot. They admitted (in the book) they took waay too much stuff they didn't need. That was down to lack of experience and lack of time to plan it properly. They wouldn't have made it out of Europe on the KTMs pulling that load.

art

Thought that they clearly took too much even from just watching the show, they'd all kinds of crap with them initially, so wouldn't blame the bikes for the frame break. Would agree that I doubt any cross country bike would survive more than a few miles across bumpy tracks with that kind of load. Given they had backup vehicles, it sort of was surprising that they insisted on still loading up the bikes so much. But what really surprised me was the way the Beemer was completely undriveable once the abs went. Though I know nothing about abs so maybe that's just the way it is ... however, seems bad to have such a tricky bit of technology on an "adventure" bike like that?

faceman

boa-constrictor wrote:

Charlie Boorman was on the BMW stand at the recent Bike show in the RDS.

What do you guys think of the whole Long Way Round/Race to Dakar thing. There didn't seem to be many bikers hanging around the stand!

i was there on the friday and charlie was mobbed. I couldnt get near him!

That series was a major boost to BMW sales.

Pigeon Reaper

Some of the BMW GS don't have ABS you can choose. They made the mistake of getting it. Anyopne I know going on trips like that don't get ABS. They do prefer Transalps or the older BMW GS from before 95. However they all go for twins incase on piston goes. Check out www.tokyotolondon.com for another way of doing this type of trip.

MrPudding

The ABS is an optional extra and can also be turned off if you are doing off road stuff.

I am trying to remember, did the frame not snap due to some bad welding of a non frame component?

Obviously I am slightly biased but i think they are great bikes. They have a max running weight of almost half a metric tonne, if you need to carry a lot of stuff (whether you need it or not) they are just the job.

MrP

Hotblack Desiato

art wrote:

But what really surprised me was the way the Beemer was completely undriveable once the abs went.

Ordinary ABS is no problem, if it fails you still have your brakes.
There are quite a few reports though of BMW's new servo braking system failing, and when it goes you're left with practically nothing - on both brakes!!!
Happened to a friend of mine on a nearly new K1200S - luckily didn't lead to an accident. Happened on a GS to one of the 'Hairy Bikers' in Turkey on their TV show. Happened (admittedly due to welding) on the Long Way Round.

Linked brakes are bad enough at the best of times, but for it to be possible to have the ABS/servo system fail in such a way as to leave you with almost no brakes is very bad design.

Also if the engine isn't running you have very little braking. The rear brake on the K1200S won't hold the bike on a slope if the engine isn't running. Easy for the bike to get away from you when pushing it in your drive, etc. Bad bad bad.

MrPudding

ninja900 wrote:

Ordinary ABS is no problem, if it fails you still have your brakes.
There are quite a few reports though of BMW's new servo braking system failing, and when it goes you're left with practically nothing - on both brakes!!!
Happened to a friend of mine on a nearly new K1200S - luckily didn't lead to an accident. Happened on a GS to one of the 'Hairy Bikers' in Turkey on their TV show. Happened (admittedly due to welding) on the Long Way Round.

Linked brakes are bad enough at the best of times, but for it to be possible to have the ABS/servo system fail in such a way as to leave you with almost no brakes is very bad design.

Also if the engine isn't running you have very little braking. The rear brake on the K1200S won't hold the bike on a slope if the engine isn't running. Easy for the bike to get away from you when pushing it in your drive, etc. Bad bad bad.

Yeah, apparently the residual braking is very poor indeed. The servos have been removed form the all 2007 models. I ordered the ABS for mine, there is no servo but the brakes are fierce. The ABS can be switched off very easily, though they do remain linked.

MrP

art

The time I bought my Tiger I could have afforded the GS but decided not to mostly on account of all the fairly hair-raising stories about the brakes on beemers (and secondly because I just thought the Tiger was much better value anyway overall). I also knew someone who experienced the abs failure whilst approaching a junction and fortunately sailed through it without meeting cross traffic but there was no way at the time I was going to risk it. (edit: they lost almost all braking power when the abs went and basically had to let it coast to a stop - can't remember whether that would have been on a 04 or 05 model). I would certainly hope the reliability has now improved.

Hadn't heard of the fact that you've essentially no brakes with the engine off though! :eek:

MrPudding

art wrote:

T I also knew someone who experienced the abs failure whilst approaching a junction and fortunately sailed through it without meeting cross traffic but there was no way at the time I was going to risk it. (edit: they lost almost all braking power when the abs went and basically had to let it coast to a stop - can't remember whether that would have been on a 04 or 05 model). I would certainly hope the reliability has now improved.

There was an issue where rumble strips tricked the ABS into thinking the wheels were locked and so cut the breaks. Not good. I think that is resolved now, I certainly have not had any issues.

art wrote:

Hadn't heard of the fact that you've essentially no brakes with the engine off though! :eek:

The same a a car with power assited breaks

MrP

art

MrPudding wrote:

The same a a car with power assited breaks
MrP

Aye, but how many bikes come with a Hand Brake too?

MrPudding

art wrote:

Aye, but how many bikes come with a Hand Brake too?

Your point is a good one...:D

But you can always out your feet down flintstone style.

MrP

gsxr1

i heard somewhere that some knacker stole his helmet from the rds show... i wonder if there was any truth in the rumour.

Paparazzo

Didn't the frame break on the cameramans bike when he hit a massive rock because he wasn't looking where he was going? Also, as mentioned before, ABS is an optional extra, not recommended for off-roading, not sure why they had it considering about half their trip was off road.
The KTM guys were too negative, met them and it was all "they'll never make it, they're too inexperienced, that route through russia is too tough", etc. As soon as they asked the beemer guys they said yes, thought it was a great idea, gave them off road lessons and helped them organise visas and were more than helpful! Most people reckon that KTM pulled out because they were afraid of seeing their bikes not make it, while the GS is pretty much proven.
What I don't understand is, if they wanted the KTM so much, why didn't they just go out and buy 2 of them themselves? It's not like they don't have the money

gsxr1

Paparazzo wrote:

Didn't the frame break on the cameramans bike when he hit a massive rock because he wasn't looking where he was going? Also, as mentioned before, ABS is an optional extra, not recommended for off-roading, not sure why they had it considering about half their trip was off road.
The KTM guys were too negative, met them and it was all "they'll never make it, they're too inexperienced, that route through russia is too tough", etc. As soon as they asked the beemer guys they said yes, thought it was a great idea, gave them off road lessons and helped them organise visas and were more than helpful! Most people reckon that KTM pulled out because they were afraid of seeing their bikes not make it, while the GS is pretty much proven.
What I don't understand is, if they wanted the KTM so much, why didn't they just go out and buy 2 of them themselves? It's not like they don't have the money

2 brand new ktms are not cheap. one had lots of money, the other no one heard of till he did the show.
i know every one here seems to disagree with me. but i have been on the two bikes. the ktm would eat the beemer of road. leave it for dust. its a proper off road bike. i guess i don't know how it would handle the extra weight or how easy road side service would be, but it designed to handle well in the dirt. I know that statement pisses bwm riders off. buts it 100% correct. sorry.
also they very nearly did not make it. bmw could afford to take a knock like that. ktm are a very small bike builder in comparison. falure in front of the world like that would put them out of buisness.
If i could afford it right now the gixer would be gone and the new 950 Supermoto would be outside the gaff. I think ktms are great bikes.

Paparazzo

Come on, McGregor was in 3 starwars movies, I think he could afford to get his mate a bike! And it's not as if Charlie had no cash, his dad was Michael Boorman.
The make great bikes, but I'd still rather the GS if i was doing their trip.

gsxr1

Paparazzo wrote:

Come on, McGregor was in 3 starwars movies, I think he could afford to get his mate a bike! And it's not as if Charlie had no cash, his dad was Michael Boorman.
The make great bikes, but I'd still rather the GS if i was doing their trip.

ahhhh more bmw riders. im being surrounded. the gs police are out side the door.:D

MrPudding

gsxr1 wrote:

ahhhh more bmw riders. im being surrounded. the gs police are out side the door.:D

Move along, nothing to see here....

MrP

The Doktor

I dont have a BMW (and never did), and I have to say, if i was going around the world on a bike, with off road bits, Id like to do it on an GS.
If i did a bit of off road riding at the weekends, then Id like a KTM

Pigeon Reaper

Personally I think it has more to do with the rider than the bike. Once you're using duel purpose types of bike I don't see there being much difference once you look after the thing. Some will need more work than others but the most likely thing to wreck a bike is the rider.


If I were to do this type of journey I'd pick a nice simple bike without too many frills. Carbs, drive shaft, and no abs would be nice as less can go wrong and if it does you can fix it with relative ease.

tq

this is the guy who did it on an r1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5iU7twPOio

gsxr1

tq wrote:

this is the guy who did it on an r1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5iU7twPOio

thats mad.
seen his bike in germany. nutter.
makes the long way around look like a walk in the park.

Idleater

gsxr1 wrote:

makes the long way around look like a walk in the park.

Indeed. Nice one TQ for finding that link.

I especially like the sports exhaust.

Any f'in idiot can go off road on a BMW - which is designed to do that type thing. A much better advert for the R1, and the rider, in my opinion.

L.