DIY adventure motorcycling - thoughts?

[Lois]

Hi guys and gals,

I'm writing an article for Outrider Journal (the rather luvverly new adventure motorcycling mag in the US) about the DIY approach to motorcycle travel, something that seems to be laregly a British/Euro phenonemon (rather than the US).

Obviously, being married to DIY AM hero, Austin Vince (!), I have his take on things but I would be interested to hear anyone elses opinion on the subject. From talking/emailing with various travellers lately I'm getting the feeling that there's a growing movement towards keeping things small and simple - 'less is more', 'back to basics', 'make do and mend' (and any other useful sayings I can think of).

Has anyone else noticed this? Is it significant? What is the driving force behind it? Is it just a reaction to consumerism, is it related to the economic situation, is it a symptom of a wider social movement towards simple living?

Woah... almost got philosophical for a moment there...
Anyway, if you have a moment, do give your beards a stroke and let me know your innermost thoughts...

See you at Lumb Farm I hope!
Lois

[markharf]

Lois, I don't know what the letters "DIY" stand for in this context. "Do It Yourself" in the States refers to accomplishing something without substantial aid from professionals, e.g., a Do It Yourself re-roofing project on the house, a Do It Yourself legal process without paid help from lawyers.....

So what's the adventure motorcycling version? Am I a DIY adventure motorcyclist if I change my own oil? If I don't have sponsors (*gasp*) or a wealthy spouse? Or maybe if I fund my motorcycle journey using the money I saved on my DIY re-roof and divorce?

Thanks for any clarification.

Mark

[tmotten]

I'm not sure if there is a movement like that. To me there are still the same debates about which ali pannier etc. Which laptop and which kermit chair to chuck on the back of a 300kg Adv bike.

[Lois]

Sorry for any confusion.

DIY does technically stand for 'Do It Yourself' but here in the UK it has also come to define a creative ethos - one that came out of the punk era of the mid/late 70s and referred to anything that was grass roots, independently produced, often amateur, self funded, and not reliant on a corporation - ie. photocopied fanzines, home recording, small pressings of records or books etc.

So I guess my query refers to that ethos being applied to motorcycle travel - making your own luggage, keeping things cheap, small, secondhand etc.

Hope that makes sense.
Lois

[*Touring Ted*]

I think theres some truth in what Lois is saying...

My take is that Adventuer biking EXPLODED in popularity over the naughties..With E&C and all the manufacturers jumping on the band wagon with them, there was a lot of new interest.

That led to a lot of newbies all at once (me included).... Just look to how the Riply meeting increased in numbers ???

Well, what do newbies do ?? They buy all the stuff they think they will need. Expensive aluminium boxes, TT electric bum fluff removers, titanium lazer etched soap dishes etc..

All the stuff that any adventurer will SURELY need to survive yeah !!

Well, all these newbies got out there and did some trips (me included) and realised how much money we'd wasted on pointless crap. The vast majority realised that you don't need to spend ££££££££££££ on kit to ride around the world.

I think it's a case of experience now... Where you still get a decent amount of newbies coming in and swallowing up the sales brochures, I don't think there is that explosion of novice adventure bikers with open wallets that there was even five years ago.. People got smart !!!

OF COURSE the global recession is also to blame. There just isn't that spare cash for toys anymore. Many of my riding buddies have downgraded their bikes and put those "Bike bling" toys on indefiate hold. That goes for me too. You can't justify spending £300 on a new GPS when your kids need new shoes for School.

Maybe we can put it down to Education too. With more and more forums full of experienced overland bikers showing people "HOW TO" .

You're always going to get that bling bling side of it who will continue to buy the top end metal boxes and £1000 riding suits. If it keeps them happy and the market alive, ces't la vi...

[Mick O'Malley]

I'm not sure either.

It's still a rarity to see a 'travel bike', and most of the time it'll be a big blingy Beemer blasting by (cool alliteration) along the overtaking lane. It's only at Ripley/Tesch/HU wherever that I've seen machines and riders who travel in a minimalist fashion.

I agree with Ted that it's only once you get on the road that you realise just how little you really need, and how simple and cheap it can be. Perhaps then, with many more people getting out there (C&E effect!), there is a movement in that direction.

At the very beginning of my first trip I met a couple from Oz on Honda CT200 farm bikes, complete with pull starters. At first I thought they were mad but quickly came to realise that they got it exactly right! (Thanks Marty & Jo)

Roll on Ripley (but don't forget to take your plastic to this - NOT).

Regards, Mick

[divelandy]

I consider 2 parts to DIY:
1. bike & equipment
2. trip organisation

For equipment prep, I liked the model someone described on another forum about 4x4 travelling: Have a reliable base vehicle, put your rucksack in the back and your ready. In essence, the reliability is inversely proportional to the number of modifications to the base vehicle and you don't need much to live on the road. There are extremes both ways - from drilling holes in your toothbrush to carrying spare spares just in case.

As for trip organisation i think it comes to personality, some people like the packaged adventure holiday, others prefer a day-by-day plan before they leave and others wake up in the morning and feel like heading west. Your preference usually depends on personality (exposure to unknown), budget and amount of time available for the trip.

Your budget does not stop you doing anything, however a larger budget allows a certain amount of comfort...

[geoffshing]

It used to be for me just looking at what bike was coming around the corner I could sort of tell what rider it was to be for if it was say..... a 80's-90's single (XT/DR) or twin (AT/R80) then that'd be the more likely DIY guy, for if the bike broke then there was a reasonable chance he could repair (or bodge) the bike themself. The sort of guy who'd choose the bike for that very reason.
If it were a brand new BMW 1200GS (an example-not a dig) then the chances of doing DIY repairs are slim as new technology comes about in bikes. Necessating the need for expensive tooling, a stocked up dealership or a big sense of faith the bike will not fail.
So I would think the more mechanically minded and those willing and not too scared to open an engine would be the bigger DIY enthusiasts.

Also, from those whom I have met, I find the really enthusiastic DIY enthusiasts are either skint, bored or making a point. (Dear Austin was at least 2 of them if not 3..! LOL) Remember the BSM driving school advertisement..? "You wouldn't ask your cousin how to split an atom?" Well, I wouldn't fabricate my own pannier racks from 50p's worth of scrap shelving, ammo boxes and dodgy welding, coming out of my garage like Wesley Pegden (Last of summer wine mechanic) wearing a triumphant smile cos I know it'd be shite, no matter how much I'd saved.
When I was in the army, we were issued with bog standard, basic equipment. It was cheaply made and free, costing only a signature, did the job but was crap. Any idiot can be cold, wet and miserable and if you wanted to be warm and dry you went out and bought the right gear for the job. A soldier with good kit was called 'Gucci'! a pisstake but he was dry and smiling. Same with biking. If I'm cold, wet and miserable then I'm not enjoying the ride which the whole point is to enjoy the ride. (Money is a shite insulator)

Personally, I tried to acheive both. My chariot was something I could work on, an '03 XT600e and I purchased the rest off t'internet! Cos they were made by people who knew what they were doing. Is that DIY? I try to be more clued up than 'Blinged up!' nowadays as time and experience has accrued.



I certainly hope Outrider Journal goes well, I can't have done too bad as I made front cover, 1st issue and the story 'Into Africa' an issue I will frame! LOL!

[Matt Cartney]

I think there is a wee bit of a backlash amongst the AT community. I was at Austin's recent passionate talk in Edinburgh about DIY motorcycle touring and while there were a few slightly embarrased looking people who'd clearly bought the shop, most of the people there seemed to agree with his viewpoint that small, cheap and homemade is better than simply bought off t'internet.

I think (and I know this might be contraversial!) that this might in part be due to E&C (much as I'd like it not to be!). There are an awful lot of of 1200GS riders out there in their BMW 'Twat-Suits' (Austin's term, not mine!) who just ride their bike in a perfectly pleasant, ordinary biker sort of way, going to the places ordinary bikers go and having a great time while they do it.

Perhaps the upsurge in popularity for DIY biking is a reaction from those who consider themselves to be 'proper' adventure bikers to mark themselves as different from Johnny Weekender? When you see a chap (or lass) on a GS or a KTM Adv, you think - 'There's someone who's bought an adventure bike'. When you see someone on a ratty old DRZ with his underpants sticking out of his homemade luggage and handguards made out of plastic milk bottles - you think 'Ooh, I wonder where he's been!'

The 'DIY' adventure touring community perhaps seems more 'real' to people because it is so divorced from the E&C, support vehicles, sat phones, sponshorship type riding that the world at large thinks what adventure motorcycling is.

Of course, it could just be because making things is fun.

Matt

[T.REX63]

I have been riding for 30+ years and got only in 2006 into dual-sport and adventure riding. Here is my take:

Adventure bike travel or let's stick to "DIY" travel has evolved like everything else. Just an example: The skilled motorcyclist/traveler had to come up with solutions for luggage and build his/her own lockable aluminum box. Commercial businesses recognized a need with potential for volume. Before you know it, you could buy lockable aluminum boxes in various designs.

Once it caught on, they were building also little aluminum covers here and little aluminum "dodads" there. ...useful? Probably not. When I look at some commercial motorcycle accessory catalogs, I find now that maybe 10-20% of what they are offering might be useful to me, my kind of travel, covering my kind of needs.

And, don't get me wrong, I am the first one to admit that I fell into that trap as well when I started with my dual-sport/adventure riding "career" in 2006 .

I am now prepping for my first RTW motorcycle trip and realize that my needs have completely changed. First and foremost, I want reliability, simplicity and as little as possible. However, I am willing to spend money on good quality gear for man and machine.

If I had to scrape by to make the trip work out, I would not do it. I have had my share of world travel for business and pleasure over the past 25 years. I would want a certain quality and level of comfort, which in my case is good quality tent, -sleeping mat, -sleeping bag, riding gear etc, ...you'll get the idea.

Also, while I have the skills and tools, I have no interest in building my own aluminum boxes. I rather spend my time with route planing, contacting people ahead of time etc. Again, to achieve a certain comfort while doing the trip. That is what works for me ...

[corto67]

Hi Lois,
great question. I can tell you that for me doing things myself are a way to balance the ready made- throw away lifestyle in which I feel forced to live in. In other words I believe that there is an inner push to keep my brain-manual connections alive. I enjoy figuring things out and then fixing them. I think in a world overloaded with stuff and information readily available at any moment and low cost one might feel less and less useful by subscribing to the trend of mass consumption of cheap and throw away goods. I just like to know I can make things last and more importantly that I know how to figure how to do so.
Anyways, my two cents.
Where is the magazine available, I haven't heard of it!

[MountainMan]

Originally Posted by Lois

From talking/emailing with various travellers lately I'm getting the feeling that there's a growing movement towards keeping things small and simple - 'less is more', 'back to basics', 'make do and mend' (and any other useful sayings I can think of).

Has anyone else noticed this? Is it significant? What is the driving force behind it? Is it just a reaction to consumerism, is it related to the economic situation, is it a symptom of a wider social movement towards simple living?

So I guess my query refers to that ethos being applied to motorcycle travel - making your own luggage, keeping things cheap, small, secondhand etc.

Hi Lois,

In my humble opinion, many hobbies or activities go through these oscillations.

Technology pushes the boundaries, initially making things better but then eventually excess technology takes you away from the essential core of the activity (which is probably what drew you to it in the first place).

This is true in activities ranging from backpacking to climbing to paddling to adventure motorcycling.

However, the pressure from technology is an ongoing issue and will likely never go away as companies have money to make and frankly most consumers like new gadgets.

Within these broad trends, are micro trends where small groups of enthusiasts try to fight the wave and get back to basics.

Usually these folks are older, more experienced, and importantly remember a time when it was more basic.

So I would think that "back to basics" is really just a point in time in the lifecyle of some motorcyclists and travellers. For the vast majority of adventure tourers, they will likely never get to that stage.

At times though, there will be greater awareness and dialogue on the issue, and it seems that now is one of those times. This is a good thing, but if it was really a movement, then we would all be switching to pedal bikes

Happy writing and riding.

[*Touring Ted*]

What happened to the original topic ????

Surely "What is adventure motorcycling" is another topic entirely ??

[T.REX63]

Originally Posted by *Touring Ted*

What happened to the original topic ????

Surely "What is adventure motorcycling" is another topic entirely ??

I agree, the topic got somewhat expanded and morphed ...

[Serge LeMay]

I think there will always be DIY'ers, like in the ''old days'' they made everything; or when something, whatever it might be (tools,equipment,trip...) is not THE one for you, you just try to make your own.

I bought my bike used, made my panniers, do my maintenance and plan my trip by myself/with my riding buddies.

I do sometimes buy, 'cause I can't make it (like a stove, can make a fire though ;-))....

I don't mind that some folks want to pay for whatever they want...it's a personnal thing. Just like an adventure, personnal thing.

PS: Thank you Lois for ''kickstarting'' my wife into ''adventure'' motorcycling