Yes, it can be a little pathetic, but really it is no different to some owners of other dual sport bikes, or sportsbikes for that matter (Dynojet stage 3, and Akro full system, but virgin knee-sliders and wide chicken strips... etc). Just shake your head and walk away...

I do think that some travellers are a little offended that pretenders crowd the otherwise exclusive club of overlanding biking, especially if they're then tarred by association as a wannabe themselves.

Personally, I take solace in the knowledge that I have travelled and seen wonderful things and plan to do more and if others are satisfied by buying lots of toys, so be it: one less set of tyres to spoil my own road to adventure!

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

Bloddy hell, lol I would be happy with just a garage. Its crap working on the bike on the patio when its cold and wet and you cant feel your fingers. maybe thats why I put six holes in a new inner tube replacing a soddding slow puncture!!

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www.frothandflames.com
2012 Kawasaki W800
1997 NX 650 Dominator

thank god you did not go on the goldwing forum.. they have vids on how to polish one of them.. Mine only got a wash and polish after it was serviced... so once a year and thats if I can be bothered.. even took it of road on the west highlandway and used all winter... saw lots of shiney bmw gsas...

will be at the scottish 6 day trial nextweek and following on the wing and watching bmw riders walk to the special stages while i ride off road..

As Ted says each to their own.

Oneworld bike

To old to die young. to young to care..

I too find it strange that people (mainly BMW owners) add rugged travel accessories to their already fully loaded "adventure" models based entirely on appearance. Usually these accessories are only deemed good looking enough if several like minded box hill posers have posted their agreement on the forum. Most of these owners, by their own admission, have no intention of doing any kind of overland travel and therefore have plenty of time to polish their panniers and keep everything in tip top condition.

I rarely fit accessories to my bikes and never based on their appearance but usually after weighing up cost to benefit. I also tend to use my bikes rather heavily (although not as heavily as some people I know). Reading the shiny accessory threads makes me realize I'm murdering the resale value of my bikes so I think it's just best to ignore them.

You live in Norway. You get real winters. You need a heated garage for when the bikes parked there, a heated sump for when it isn't and probably heated things we can only imagine! The guys we are talking about live in places like Surrey where the only thing they need to heat to make it work is what passes for there abouts.

The Sunday afternoon ride and polish guys have simply adopted a style of bike that might also fit in here. They can't ride their CBR999RRRRRRRR's like track racers do. The fact their Harleys had forks twenty feet longer than the "MoCo" intented and a 25cc petrol tank did not lead to rebelious behaviour unless you count wearing an orange official HD tie to the office on dress down day. The BM GS and tin boxes are just part of a uniform like the chaps and green one piece plus Shoei combo were. They obviously enjoy their shopping and comparing shopping and cleaning their shopping and do no harm, but the resemblance to some of the people on here is only skin deep.

I have to avoid Triumph Bonneville sites. The endless threads on how to stop your exhaust going blue (mines blue right up to the rusty bit) and what brand of oil to buy (they put letters on to tell you what sort it is you know) and if it's OK to wear an open face helmet (it is if you want to) simply leads to me getting annoyed and saying things I regret afterwards. If I were a GS rider who used the bikes abilities I'd have to come away too.

Andy

Speaking of saying things I regret afterwards.......

....... what really gets me is that the people to whom Magnon refers are full of such pretentious pomp that they actually deign to put themselves above so-called "lesser riders" who have travelled farther than they could ever imagine, in all sorts of inclement, inhospitable and adverse conditions on "lesser bikes".

I love nothing more than rubbing their nose in it by doing more, with less, and more often.

Having said that, I am now very close to purchasing my 1st GS - not for the supposed offroad capabilty, but because of their ability to swing through the nice tight twisty stuff with nary an effort.

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Garry from Oz - powered by Burgman

I find the pretentiousness and inverse snobbery in this thread rather hilarious. Why does anyone care how I ride or farkle my bike? Why should I care what you think about how I ride or farkle my bike? Why would you want to rub my nose in anything? For chrissake, lighten up, would you?

I'll Bite....

Any ex army out there that can rember how to polish alu mess tins? They look just like stainless steel when you have finished.. (to much time in the glass house....oooops)

If they ask me nicely and put a few hundred tokens in my hand I'll show them..........NOT. A sunday adventurer can do the time in colly to learn and a GSA never looks good until its covered in mud and been dropped several times.

As for my Goldwing still not been washed since Oct 09......

More time riding less time washing and polishing.... Nothing against GSA owners but to many at the ssdt... But you should have seen their faces when they saw me at the stages miles off road sat on a dirty wingf ftopic: and they had walked 2-3 miles in their bmw clothing covered in sh....... Maybe I'll wash the wing Tomorrow. But then again tomorrow never comes lol

Oneworld Biker
To old to die young. To young to care.

I don't care how many doodads you put on your bike, or how far you or anybody else rides Motoreiter, until such time as you start to dump on others.

Once I get dumped on (and let's face it there are many more GS snobs than there are inverse snobs) then I certainly feel I have the right to deflate their ego by proving their misconceptions to be exactly that - misconceptions.

In one of the groups I ride with over half ride 1200GSes, but only one has done any serious travel on it. For the rest, they are ridden maybe once a month with one longish (5 day) ride each year. It all started with just one GS rider then all of a sudden the others jumped on the bandwagon and now (sadly) it is becoming a case of ïf you don't ride a GS then you are one of the rest, and the group is splitting in two.

.... as for lightening up Motoreiter, don't forget we are in the "HUBB bar"...

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Garry from Oz - powered by Burgman

I ride my GS to Starbucks...

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Thomas

"Hey, ...I'm just ridin' shotgun"

hi all,

i'm one of those people who had great joy in blinging his 1200gs instead of traveling it was a substitute i guess. converting the dream into bling because i wasn't ready to leave.

i sold the beemer in '08 and went on a 1.5 year trip on a cheap yamaha tt600r. no regrets.

i returned and looked up my friends in the dutch GS scene. and at first was appalled with the bling / gadget culture, but realized i used to be one of them. although the majority never goes anywhere, i got inspired by the few people who actually did go places.

last week i started with a job after exactly two years. you know what? i just bought a GS again. a pretty old 1100, but still...

save travels / happy recovery ;-)

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http://sanderonasingle.blogspot.com/

Ah, Starfux, knew I hated them for a reason... snopes.com: Starbucks Charges 9/11 Rescue Workers $130 for Water

I'd rather drink pi$$.

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'He who laughs last, was too slow to get the joke'
Never confuse the map with the journey.

Hi Tr/Ted

Why should you get wound up if others aren't to your liking? Why bother? Who cares?

To be honest, I really don't care in the slightest !

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Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

It's like walking into a pub called the "Real Ale Rock Pub" and finding it's country and western night sponsored by Fosters. The Sex-in-a-Canoe drinking line dancers won't get why you want a pint of Sheep S***er and Death Rider by Anthrax on the Jukebox and you won't stay long. It is pointless to be annoyed and there is nothing wrong if fake Aussie Sheep **** and the Man In Black is your thing, but it's human nature to get annoyed because the label didn't match the contents (in your opinion).

I view the Bonneville as a nice simple, easy to get along with bike that'll do anything quite well, others want to play James Dean or Steve McQueen. I think they might as well get a dress and play Danny La Rue, they think I should get a video of Ray Mears, the Grilled Bear Bloke or (God Forbid) the actor and his mate and go forth and multiply.

Life would be boring with out these minor differences. The trick IMHO is to laugh and walk away (or better still find common ground with the ones who are prepared to admit that what's right for them doesn't work for you).

Andy