Spot on, totally agree.

The question then is where they go next. The Jeremy Clarkson approach is to do the same wheel spins with a different Ferrari and blow up a bus instead of the caravan. The public will be entertained and will be happy that the programme is what they expected.

The alternative is to do a ME style trip and hope their filming and a good editor can produce what the TV company wants.

A TV producer would pick a repeat peformance, so you would have to fund it yourself if you went the ME route. ME made it to TV, but on one of the documentary channels. Even the likes of National Geographic havn't done anything with Lois Pryce, our mate Grant etc. The only alternative to E+C has been Nick Sanders, another one who I'd call a showman on a bike.

I guess that's where we find out if E+C are bikers on TV or TV stars on bikes.

Andy

Flew back from KL to Melbourne last night on Malaysian Airlines. The May inflight magazine has an interview with EM where he mentions that yes, South and North America are the logical continents for his next ride.

Garry from Oz.

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Garry from Oz - powered by Burgman

i do laugh at Charlie and Ewans adventures sometimes but they have helped to inspire me and let my wife understand bike touring better. Since Long Way Round i have toured Bulgaria twice and Sri Lanka. Next month a 2 month trip round the Black Sea so thanks Charlie and Ewan and of course the Mondo Enduro / Terra Circa boys. Andy

i really enjoyed the movies R more than D but then i'm also not one to so quickly judge people. in reality they are two guys just like anyone else on the planet sure they are gonna refer to things as tough and hardcore wouldnt you when talking with your friends everyone wants to live in the moment and joke and kid. and i can understand some of the complaining about time and stuff, its like anything else you have this grand plan and dream and it doesnt work out the way you want it to. as much as some would like to say oh dont complain you had free bikes and a support crew..... its still a dream to do and all of us would want to fulfil that dream to the top. i think that many of us who travel in a non-tv way have a much better experience and they seem like good guys so i hope they get to go on a trip with out all the extra baggage. but how many would turn down the opportunity for sponsorship and to have a film to watch when your old and gray and your back is shot so you cant ride anymore i know i would
cheers
josh

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"imagine all the people sharing all the world"

Chris 1200 - couldn't agree more with what you say!

Hotspur

Hallefeckinlujah!!!!!
I knew I wasn't crazy. I knew there would be someone brave enough to agree with my direct and honest opinion, someone who would tell it as it is.

Thanks H

Chris

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"Life is too short to drink cheap wine!"

C+ E great entertaiment if you dont take them too seriously. We all know who the real Enduro guys are, but I think that Charlie and Ewan have inspired a lot of people to get on their bikes and go that little bit further .
Maybe they have been the catalyst for the next generation of younger motorcyclists to get off the 'race track' and experience a more fullfilling and controlled way of riding a bike. Just another opinion. Love this forum, love my bike [Wee strom], love my wife. Not in that order tho.

Chef

As tools of encouragement C and E may indeed have some value and I think that is a very valid point indeed. I strongly agree with you.
In my opinion (and it isn't necessarily right just because it's mine) I feel that if non-bikers, born-again bikers or part-time bikers (like me) were to look at other people's experiences they would gain a greater insight into the whole concept of riding bikes on seriously long journeys. Sure, we would all love to have the options that C&E had regarding bikes, sponsorship etc. but the reality is that we don't. However I have no doubt that their trips still presented huge challenges.
This a debate that could go on forever and everyone's opinion will have it's own rights and wrongs. Like everyone else I am often wrong in life.

Chris

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"Life is too short to drink cheap wine!"

And living in the US of A too, maybe he got fed up with Charely's talking arse and that's why Boorman's off on his own BAM2-ing.

Now what I'd really like to see is all the bits of E&C's journeys that have ended up on the cutting room floor. That and a long -fuelled chat with Claudio, now I reckon he would tell the full story.

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Went to a presentation on Wednesday by Russ Malkin, the Director of the LWR, LWD etc. Nice genuine guy & he was asked about the chance of "Long Way Up" & he said that Ewan has now moved to the USA & Charlie had just set off on a another "By any Means" & he didn't think that another "Long Way" would happen in the near future but said "you never know"

Lots of interesting stories from the trips, including that it took Claudio 3 attempts to pass his Bike test & he has set up a new website: Home - Big Earth

Two things I don't really understand.

Firstly, is why this is in Travellers seeking Travellers and not the HU Bar and, secondly, is why some are so vehemently opposed to C&E (at the risk of letting myself be dragged into an old debate)?

So they did a trip and carped on about how hard it was, when others have done something harder.
So they got free bikes and this and that when others have to buy theirs. What is the big deal?

Anyone who goes to buy a bike will try to use all their options to get as good a deal as possble. It just so happens that EM has a degree of clout that makes his options a lot better than other peoples. Good for him if he managed to get a free bike out of it. Anyone else on here would have done the same if possible.

I liked LWR, LWD, ME and TC.
ME and TC are more realistic and closer to my style of travel. Meanwhile, regrettably, LWD looked too much like a programme about a bike trip whilst its prequel, LWR, seemed to me a bike trip that they then decided to film.
If it was not, it was very well done.

I have to say that the negativity shown to C&E, for me, smacks of resentment. I think we motorcycle overlanders quite like being a member of "the fortunate and dedicated few" and a fair number seem to feel that C&Es little ride outs somehow dilute this, opening the doors of our "members only club of motorcycle travellers" to all and sundry. It's as if C&E have somehow diluted peoples acheivements, by association.

At times I am as guilty.
We rode a R1150GS two up around South America, and when people said "oh, what like C&E?", I'd feel compelled to deny this and point out that our plan had been hatched long before LWR even if our finances only allowed for it after LWR.
But this is my problem, not some fault in how C&E decided to pursue their dreams....

Some seem to think that C&E didn't do overlanding "properly".

Similarly, some have pointed a finger at me suggesting that, because I did a trip on a BMW GS, and because I had Ally panniers and a GPS mount, I am somehow not real traveller but a rich wannabee (I wish I were rich!). 'Fraid not, I just saved like crazy for a very long time...

I think its worth remembering there is no rulebook for how to do trips other than respecting the cultures, people and environments you visit....
After that, each to their own...

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Adventure: it's an experience, not a style!
(so ride what you like, but ride it somewhere new!)

I think its ba good point abot sponsership and equipment. These are options un-available to the average rider. I can't afford (or at BMW's expense) to get a new (top of the range/popular) 1200 everytime I want to start a new journey. That and all the Garmin/Nokia/Touratech stuff thrown in free.

But im not a movie star. When reading a article by Claudio in Bike he mentioned that he wanted to shoot the picture in a way that showed what heppens between two friends on a long journey. I too would like to see the bits missed out, the show seems to 'cover up' the fact that the two guys had beef with each other. Although LWD makes up for that. The guys tried to have a similar experience that people on here want to have/have had, but becasue of personality profile this couldnt work.

The show is a bit of an advert for BMW/Touratech/Nokia/Belstaff, and boy, did it work!!

As to the E+C saying there "so hardcore", Im sure some of the time it was used sarcastically.

Warthog, it's in Travellers Seeking Travellers cos of the OP, who wondered if perhaps they were on the road at the same time as E&C, and we thus, seeking them.

And, one things just occured to me, something to ask ourselves as we have a snipe at the celebs. If there's no more E&C on TV, will you miss them? Cos one things for sure, no matter whether they got stuff free or not, they got biking on TV.

Maybe there's an opening for someone to jump in though, Poor Way Up, perhaps?

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Ahh, so it was a case of mildly wandering off topic....

As for missing them if they did not reappear on TV? Depnds on whether the next installment has the feel of LWR which I liked, or LWD which felt more contrived...

Perhaps my point of view was unclear: I have nothing against what they did or how they did it, except to say that its not how I would choose to do it, but I still enjoy watching it all....

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Adventure: it's an experience, not a style!
(so ride what you like, but ride it somewhere new!)

I can't see them doing another trip for a while, Ewan's just done two films he needs to publicise and probably has a couple more in the pipeline...not sure his wife seemed that happy about him swanning off either. I found the first trip entertaining, the image of them sinking in the mud on those 1 ton Beemers was amusing :-) They should interview Claudio, I bet he could write a book!