riding south
 

does anybody know where i can i can find a copy of "riding south" by gregory frazier?or canyou supply relevant ISBN no cheers Richie Finney

Have a look at Greg's website, right here on Horizons Unlimited at http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/gregfrazier/ and look for Catalog.


[This message has been edited by Grant Johnson (edited 08 October 2001).]

It's a very good book for helping you plan a trip through South America. I highly recommend it.

If you are having trouble finding a copy of Riding South I recommend you try Whitehorse Press. http://www.WhitehorsePress.com
They have a fast and reliable internet/mail order service and have all of Greg Frazier's books. In fact they seem to have just about every m/cycle book and video on the planet.

I bought "Riding South" because it was referenced from Horizons Unlimited and recommended a couple of times in the bulletin board. The amount of information you will find there is quite limited and very much diluted into tons of fluff. Half the book consists of photocopies of visas and official forms, and uninspiring grainy black-and-white pictures of road signs, hotels, gas stations and motorcycles (all of a printing quality that hardly matches a daily newspaper). Another quarter of the book is taken by the emails Mr Frazier exchanged with his friends during the trip, with an emphasis on digestive problems, traffic accidents and mechanical breakdowns. The text and pictures from this book are definitely an antipode to the wonderful "10 Years on 2 Wheels". I'll keep it as proof of my admiration for the ordeals that Mr Frazier went through and as my contribution to the interesting lifestyle he has chosen. It can only be recommended to those who already know that they are going to leave. Other people might just be put off after reading it.

While browsing Greg Frazier's catalog on the same page I noticed and ordered at the same time the new "BMW GSing Around the World". This one is a real rip-off and I'll send it back. It is 170 pages long (instead of 200 as advertised) and 30 of these are just advertising for partner companies or for the other books from the same author. Remain 30 pages of text (one third of it for the "Big Dog" ride alone) and around 100 pages of pictures of an even lower quality and interest than those in "Riding South". Half of these show Mr Frazier's motorcycle in front of a road sign or at a mechanical workshop. The other ones show the motorcycles of Mr Frazier's encounters on his trips along with their owners in uptight poses. Unfortunately nothing is said about these very interesting people (hey, it could have been me!) except for their citizenship and the model year of their faithful GS. At $25, "BMW GSing Around the World" is not only a rip-off but a show of disrespect for other long distance riders.

In fact instead of sending it back right away, I'll wait a few days and ship it free of charge to any regular contributor of Horizons Unlimited who was considering buying it, or who would be interested in giving a second opinion to the benefit of the community. Please contact me by email, mentioning your HU user name, if you would like to do a review.

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Pierre
http://www.geocities.com/skypie999/bikes/

I have to second those toughts on "Riding South". We ended up giving the book away. It's definately a book you shouldn't read beforehand, cause it might scare you off your plans.

Also, the information in there is getting more and more outdated and you can find most of the same info here on HU and in other places on the net.

It's a pity really, because there are so few who put an effort into making motorcycle guide books, which also is the only real argument for buying it - it's more or less alone in its cathegory.

For our trip trough North and South America, the book added very little of value.

Just my 2c


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Dag
http://RocinantesTravels.com

Hai,

First of all: Pierre, thanks!

Well, I received the book (GSing around the world) and I totaly agree with Pierre.
I am really found of books with picture's of motorcycle-travel. I can dream away with them and think "that will be me next year". But.... not with this book. The quality of the (all b&w) photograph's was astonishingly bad. Like an old stencil-machine. An average newspaper-photograph is a lot better.
The only nice thing is the cover witch has a few color photographs.
It had only one short article I found remotely intresting: The uphill race. For the rest it was boring and offered no info at all.
If the photograph would be of good quallity, and some more info about what is in the picture, it could be a nice book!

Like I told Pierre, I'll send it to the next HUBB-contributar who want's it. Just drop a line with your adres.

Maarten

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- www.maartensworld.tmfweb.nl -

I must say I agree with Pierre's observations on Riding South, it's a pretty awful looking book but it IS the only one claiming to be a guidebook on riding in South America.
I know that a Werner Bausenhart wrote a travelogue called Americas - Figure of Eight of something. It may be useful. I just read his Africa one.

In the end of course, this forum is a good backup to any guidebook which soon gets out of date. I should know ;-)

Chris S

Both Werner Bausenhart's books are available for $20.00 each from Whitehorse Press (who, it should be noted, don't give us any commission on their sales http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/tongue.gif

See the link below for a description and link to Whitehorse Press's site:
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/books/books.shtml


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Susan Johnson

"It matters not what goal you seek
Its secret here reposes:
You've got to dig from week to week
To get Results or Roses."
Edgar Guest

'One world, two wheels'
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

It's nice to be a famous author http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/ubb/smile.gif. In my book (8 Around the Americas on a Motorcycle), I travelled from Ottawa (Canada) up to Prudhoe Bay and down to Tierra del Fuego (1997/98). At Christmas eve in Ushuaia I had dinner with Greg Frazier, and the illustrious parents of this web site, Grant and Susan Johnson. Sorry that Whitehorse Press doesn't give them a discount. I'm also pleased to note that Mr. Adventure Biking Himself, Chris Scott, likes my latest adventure, my Africa book. You can drop me a line at: mail link above.

email address removed by Grant - use link. See the faq for why.

[This message has been edited by Grant Johnson (edited 27 July 2003).]

Couldn't agree more with the dissatisfaction of Greg Fraziers book. There are several occassions of repeated paragraphs that the most basic editing should have caught. Much better is Odyssey to Ushaiua and the Handbook by Chris Scott. And of course the info on this website.

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www.bikerswithoutborders.org

I liked Werner's book and Odyssey. Both were helpful and enjoyable reads. Frazier's book sucks, no info whatsoever. Werner actually sent me the book before receiving payment. Nice guy. The best thing is this site though.