This is a rather embarrassing topic but one that I’d like to see discussed (if anyone can be bothered to answer the ravings of a mad man…) I suspect some of you feel as I do and I know that most of you will baulk at my cynical views.

After reading the “Pointless round the world races” thread started by nick_horley in 2002, I decided to air my view on a similar subject.
A significant part of me wants to tell everyone to get out there on a bike but the price of progress and popularity may be too high. Let me explain…

4X4 Adventuring was not a big thing in my country when I was still a boy. Sure a few people explored the country in dented LandRovers but very few ventured across the border.
Suddenly SUVs, MPVs and all manner of 4-wheel-drive vehicles became the norm.
Soccer moms congest parking lots with their monstrous Land Cruisers and BMW X5s. Every Tom, Dick and Harry has a fuel guzzling monster truck with a high-lift jack, GPS and spray-on mud! South African, European and American holidaymakers have earned a terrible reputation in some African countries for trashing their environment during guided and self-drive tours.
4x4 Vehicles have become something of a joke here. It is so popular that the average owner is now a pot-bellied, loudmouth lard-ass with his prissy wife (make-up and designer safari suit included) and no respect for his neighbour whatsoever.
Gone are the interesting bearded gentlemen and women (un-bearded) who had wise eyes and wonderful stories of the great Congo River. They wore silly colourful clothes, big hats and had earthy smelling objects d’art on their walls and odd seashells picked from distant shores.

I see the same change in the adventure motorcycling fraternity. Adventure riders were once seen as crazy petrol-heads who respected other cultures and wanted to see the world in a unique way. They were resented and admired in equal measure by their own people.
Recently, thanks to aggressive advertising campaigns by certain manufacturers, every imbecile with enough money has begun buying enormous adventure bikes with the sole aim of conquering the ‘outer darkness’. It has become fashionable to appear gnarly and colourful whilst not actually deserving the reputation…

Soon forums such as this one will be overrun by people seeking free advice whilst adding nothing themselves. They will mimic Nick Sanders' adventures. They will have “Long Way Round III” in their DVD collection and mock anyone on a bike smaller than a 1000cc. Organised tours of 10 or 20 bikes will thunder through African villages upsetting the locals. A Great Pan American highway will be constructed to enable thousands of Harleys to do the Anchorage to Terra del Fuego Iron butt rally.
The people that inspired me (Helge Pedersen, Ted Simon, Chris Scott, the Johnsons, etc.) will all be on the ‘Great Road’ with Livingstone, Ericson and Drake while those of us left who remember how it used to be will be unable to stop the machines of mediocrity.

Drama aside. From now on if anyone asks which bike they should buy I will tell them to get a moped and do their bit for the environment.
You do what you want… I’m keeping the riff-raff away from adventure motorcycling

If this posting sounds elitist or amount to hate-speech I apologise. It is only meant as a warning that our passion could be diluted by too much exposure. Aww crap, I’m sure I’ll feel better once I take my pills.

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BMW R1200GS
Suzuki TL1000S
Suzuki GSX750R
Honda MBX50