I don't really understand where your coming from there but if it makes you feel better im a knob.

but really im not elitist i fall more in the newbie as far as adventure motorcycling goes (old hand at motorcycling generally ) if you read the post I asked how someone who had ridden around the world could be described as a wannabe, but you obviously didn't see the humour in the post and instead decided to insult people. Thats ok sometimes the written word on the boards is often misinterpreted.

So I hope you get a new bike soon as it may help you lighten up a little.

No problems Ted - consider my thinking cap on. ......

Ha - I am worse than a wannabe - I'm a dontwannabe - I don't ride a bike or have a massive urge to!!!

If you're not elitist then my comments weren't aimed at you. I think it was pretty clear my comment was aimed at elitist and inverted snobs - I don't believe I specified any particular posters.

I agree that the written word is often misinterpreted.

You clearly did not see the irony in my posts, but please understand that whether or not you consider yourself a knob has no effect one way or the other on how I feel. Neither does owning something, be it car, motorcycle or whatever.

FWIW, I just think some people on this site are a bit callow, that's all. They just come across badly, which is all I was trying to say.

I'll join you part way on that one. Can't be bothered with endless border hassle and I do eventually feel the urge to do something anti-social to trinket salesman and people offering to "guard" my bike. Basically I have no urge what so ever to ride in certain parts of the world having tried a few similar places. Give me Alpine pass or the outback and you'll get a different answer and different again if you rent me the bike (which is a what you'd call a holiday BTW not Extreme Adventure or whatever). I'd score badly on the wanabee/hardcore meter.

I'll hold my hands up the eliteist thing if you mean I have less respect for guys who think owning a certain bit of kit makes them special than guys who've done things or even got plans. When some nutter takes hostages they don't call for a Regiment who owns black balaclavas they send for an elite one. Inverse snob doesn't worry me either, it's a lot more interesting getting a rat of a C90 somewhere than a new R1200GS simply because more happens. If that upsets the shoppers who want congratulating for owning certain bits of kit we should agree to differ simply because we have different insights into similar things.

The label and wanabee/hardcore thing is a bit mad to me. People call me hardcore for camping in the snow. If you do it wrong it's ****, if you do it right it's fun. I don't get why anyone would want to do it the hard way so they can talk about, or just buy the stuff and say they are thinking about doing it.

Andy

You're definately more hardcore than me anyday !! Sod that for a game of soldiers ! I'd rather dodge bullets at African border crossings ! :smartass:

I'm shivering just thinking about it and the pictures of the Crompton mini meeting put ice on my already frosty bits. lol

I wannabee on my bike and not stuck at work today

It'll get like the Monty Python Three Yorkshiremen sketch if we keep this up :rofl:

Changing tack slightly, what actually is "hardcore"? One persons "holiday" is surely another persons "Hardcore Adventure" while something else (Desert on an RT with road tyres/Finland in January with an Argos sleeping bag etc.) is just stupid for stupids sake? Is is possible to pass through hardcore and just be a nutter? The bloke who did RTW in 12 minutes and 9-zillion caffeine pills on a Honda Fireplace springs to mind (but unfortunately not his name).

I'm all for riding rather than yakking. Looks like my days loan of a nice new Scrambler to tempt me out of cash I havn't got is going to be damper than I'd have liked, but heyho, put the waterproofs on and think how hardcore it is :mchappy: :rofl:

Andy

All true...

Whilst I would not have phrased it quite so severely, I do think there is an element of truth in this.

At times, I do get the feeling that some overlanders resent that this is no longer the ultra-niche pursuit it once was, and that the "LWR" crowd are spoiling the party....

Fair point, but isn't looking at a bloke's bike and kit and forming an instant opinion not doing exactly that, only about possessions, rather than typing?




Although I do judge people based on what they ride, I try not to: partly because as I bought and prepped our bike back in '04 for our trip in '06 I must have seemed the architypal wannabe, whereas I was actually a wannago...

As for those that never go, I don't really understand why some people buy shedloads stuff desperately to impress someone they don't even know but I think people like that deserve my pity rather than my derision: they're obviously not massively happy with life...

If they buy it all because they simply like it, then good for them: that's what money's for.

Was you thinking of Nick Sanders on the R1

I was, thank you. Had a picture of that Grilled Bear survival bloke in my head which was creating a serious mental block!

Andy

I guess the term wanabee is determined by what your situation is now?

If you don't have a bike then you are a wanabee who is hopeful to get one.
If you have a bike but don't yet tour then you are a wanabee who wants to.
If you just tour the UK then you are a wanabee hoping to get abroad ...

... and so on until you wanabee the person who can buy a new GS and take off round the world.

I'm 54, bike owner, regular UK and occasional european tourer who is planning a bigger and longer 2011 trip (with another guy on here and hopefully a couple more..). I've made plans to take my pension early at 55 next year and quit my present job (I will get something else when I return). I have already sold my house and am in rented accomodation which I can then vacate and get a new one when I get back, and am learning as much as possible by visiting the HUBB often to get best advice on equipment and paperwork etc. In my eyes that makes me a serious wanabee for a long Europe/Scandinavia tour, maybe in readiness for a much bigger Asia tour in 2012 perhaps?

But I'll always be a wanabee as there will always be a trip I'd love to do - when does that ever stop being the case?

Wannabe
 

Hey All,

Reading this makes me think of my times wanting to be hardcore, saving my money and diving into trips for the image and not for the true adventure of seeing the world inside and out. I remember riding to the Arctic circle just to prove to myself and others I could do it and feel smug but actually looked like an arrogant berk.
Since then I've started many things and finished few, so I'll always be a wannabe, I may have slept rough, shat in the open, waited for days at borders, broke down miles from anywhere, travelled thousand of Km's and met many people but have never met anyone yet that has admitted to being 'hardcore' when asked.
If it's the image of 'hardcore' that some people are looking for then good on 'em, the world loves a tryer (and so does Touratech and BMW, LOL) and the people that are generally hardcore would probably love for life to be easier without having to rough it or breaking down in the middle of nowhere, stuck for days at borders, scrimping money and some of the hassles with travelling in foreign countries. All great fireside stories I must admit for those eager to listen and learn, myself included.
So, Wannabes for me........

• People that have just started and are learning, if they continue, great. If they don't, well done for trying.
• People that 'Big up' their acheivements to impress others (a failing that was mine unfortunatley)
• Some that talk about 'it' but never do it.

and Hardcore for me.......

• Having a job, mortgage, career and selling up, leaving the security to go on that lifetime trip.
• Helping other bikers/travellers, time after time without arrogance, bitching or the 'Us and them' mentality.
• Being prepared enough not to expect help but not too proud/arrogant/'hardcore' to refuse it too.
• Pushing your personal boundries yet not taking stupid risks. 'Head for the moon, just make sure you can get back!'

I've learnt to live with the fact that I'll never do everything I want to do, hence I'll always be a wannabe and may not tick all the boxes in the list of adventure biking but I have pushed my envelope and respect anyone else who's done so or is to do the same.

"BARMAN............. SAME AGAIN PLEASE...!"

+1 to what Geoffshing said. :thumbup1:

I agree there'll always be a trip I want to do, but more extreme? , Probably not. Beggers, Borders and Being unable to keep anything down for more than 15 minutes due to the effects of medieval plumbing you can keep unless there is something really worthwhile at the end of it. Same goes for stuff like the Grilled Bear bloke is doing on the telly. I can understand
knowing how to get drinking water out camel droppings might be useful for us to know and something fighter pilots should probably be shown as a practical lesson, but why would you do it for fun? A Bivvy is nice for a few nights in the desert to see the stars, or simply because there isn't a hotel between A&B, but I'm now at the point where if there is a hotel that's better than the campsite, that I can afford and there is no good reason to be outside, I'll be within a dozen steps of a G&T thank you very much.

There are skills that can only be learned by doing, such as getting a good nights sleep at minus twenty by not having half a litre of Schnapps and passing out only half in the sleeping bag :blushing:. I'll do this because standing round a fire and sharing (less) Schnapps in these conditions is fun and the camping actually less hardship than getting back to a hotel to sleep. I can understand people need to find their own skills by pushing their limits. Maybe if some guys are so competitive they need to big themselves up it is better if they just buy the image? We all know about 40 year olds doing the CBT on a Monday, the test on Tuesday, buying the Hayabusa on Wednesday and being on the undertakers slab before the weekend. Maybe the image thing stops the authorities banning solo bike trips on certain pistes etc?

My own learning experience was pre-internet days. We only had Chris Scotts book, which read in isolation does send you down the shopping list route. The learning curve that it's knowledge about how to fix a puncture, not the logo'd titanium lid on your compressor that made for good trips came later. I hope the Hubb makes this easier for the genuine riders who want to do the trips not just the look.

Andy

GeoffShing that was very well written and made me think about a few things great post:thumbup1:

Big Softy
 

Andy,
I agree with you as I spent years in the army 'roughing it' and now work in Baghdad with a gun, minimal comfort, more danger than I could shake a stick at and sleep in a shipping container, to save for my trips. So I've had enough of sleeping under the stars and never want to be too far away from a cold beer when on the road.
I get the 'hardcore' image when I work so would rather have the easy life when I don't. A sergeant said to me years ago when I was a young recruit "If you started today cold, wet and miserable and finished cold, wet and miserable, have you learnt anything? If you finished warm, dry and fed, well done. Any idiot can be cold, wet and miserable!"
If intentionally having a hard time on a trip makes people 'hardcore' Whey-hey! They're welcome to it, I'll be a BIG SOFT WANNABE! LOL!!

P.s, I didn't buy a new BMW GS not because I couldn't afford it but I could get 5 XT's for the same price.

www.horizonsunlimited.com/tstories/geoffshing