"--------but you have to ask yourself why this time E&C have gone with Belstaff and not BMW suits I mean they are both free in the end, if you know the answer to that one then post it here! ------------ "




Belstaff are now Italian owned and into the fashion scene in a big way .

The "lovies" and the beautiful people can relate to Ewan and Charley and their choice of clothes .That is unless BMW start selling their gear in the fashion shops .Hence more sponsorship dollars [ or lira ] from Belstaff .

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Blessed are the cracked, for they let in the light. - Spike Milligan
"When you come to a fork in the road ,take it ! When you come to a spoon in the road ,take that also ."

Why not have a go at Michael Palin for misrepresenting himself as one slighly odd ex-Python travelling all alone on a train or tramp steamer, instead of half a dozen people with maybe half a ton of luggage?

This all smacks of sour grapes: 'If you don't do it my way you shouldn't do it at all'. What then, of people who pay to let Kevin & Julia organise their trips with Globebusters? Should they also be castigated for not doing it all themelves?

Hi All,

From what I can gather from watching their great movie Kevin and Julia basically help you with the paperwork and shipping they don't do it all for you, and then just kind of guide you like parents do not hand hold you 24/7, and for them to have the truck following is because there are so many of them on the road 4 * the number of bikes, 4 * the number of failures, 4 * times the accident rate.
In the films we saw accidents, hospitalisations, and that twatty bloke that liked to wheelie kill his bike. LMAO

So you can't really compare their trips to E&C and Claudio a close knit 3 man team working together to get things fixed and sharing knowledge (on their 2nd mission together) which is how it SHOULD BE but instead we get.
Russ and the rest of the Muppets trailing along, no wonder Ewan wanted to take his missies I mean EVERYONE else was going?
But I have to draw the line at office staff completing ALL of their paperwork, get your FAT LAZY American arse over to the Embassy yourself if you want to visit the country don't get some poor office girls to go, if I was at the embassy I'd say NO just because they didn't go in person.

And then a Fixer for EACH country WTF that takes the fun out of border crossings, how many sites that we visit have pictures of our riders holding Rifles at borders and pictures of the guards on their bikes? Nearly all of them you don't say..... it's part of the adventure.

Then I was looking at what Ewan was taking on his bike and then looking at my own heavy little Dakar sitting outside the internet cafe and thinking yes because all your stuff is on the trucks, even your food. So again they are not getting the Experience because everytime I see them fall now I know their bikes are half the weight that we thing they are.


I don't mean to rant but it's the little things that get me, it's hard bloody work or else I wouldn't be out here doing it, I admit I'm lost half the time but I'm learning, and I'm meeting all sorts of really lovely honest people.
If my trip wasn't so Personal to me I'd take a camera and film it, but it's MY trip that I worked 18/7 to pay for, my trip that I've had to sacrifice for, and sell my home so I can be away for the next 2 years.

That's the difference.

Lets no mix private trip to opportunity, I myself finance most of my trip around the world and even sometime sweat to do it , I carry my own crap and do all the border,mecanic and others by myself, but lets say that an opportunity present itself to me or even you ,would you refuse it ???.I will not , they are doing a TV show which may bring other people on the road and also help traveller to explain the beauty of riding the world.Lets not judge others because of thier luck or we risk to look like the one who think that riding a motorcycle is similar to suicide( and I don't talk about fear of foreign countries...).Enjoy the show or don't watch it.By the way if KTM,Kawaski,yamaha...want to do one and are looking for volunter I am sure most of us will be ready to do the sacrifice.

Aw hey! Self catering or package holiday? Both parties can enjoy the same country - just in different ways.

I'm sorry you seem to find nothing to enjoy about their television programs. I just don't understand why you feel that what they choose to do belittles your own efforts. To me, they're just direct and up front about doing things for themselves, for charitable reasons and, yes, as a comercial entertainment production. For the latter two reasons, they are willing and able to throw other people's time & resources at problems to ensure quick resolutions.

That doesn't mean I don't also have anything other than absolute admiration for the people responsible for going it alone. For Mondo Enduro, Terra Circa, Lois on the Loose, Jupiters Travels, Into Africa, the AMH or any other personal adventure you care to name, from canoeing the Atlantic to walking unsupported across Antarctica to the first climbing of Everest.

I think what these guys are doing is a joke and an insult to the real adventure traveller

Noel

I didn't know we could find a definition for "real adventure traveller", they are actors having fun been sponsor for a trip/TV show, they are not Man VS Wild and are not claiming to be " real adventure traveller ".Its just a show and if we start putting sticker on people what we consider Off road with a large bike is a "joke " for MX rider and I am talking about adventure if you use a GPS , satellite phone...

It's just a show.

No offense

True! Its not easy to define what is "adventure travelling".

But its easy to define what is not adventure travelling

Noel

I enjoy the shows don't get me wrong, but they show you ALL the wrong things, hands up how many people know that in some countries that the pumps only give out fuel in whole litres? I didn't until I was discussing the subject with Mick.

Or that petrol in barrels give rust and water vapor into your fuel? You know what how many people on this site say my bike isn't runny right and I just filled it up, quite a few. Right and these ARE the countries that were shown on the Long way round, all we got was Ewans eye full of Gas if I remeber correctly.

When I watch this sort of program I understand the Entertainment value to the man at home, but where's the sage advice. Ray Mears great show woudn't miss it and I learn from it, I know how to make a solar still, or cut out an ice shelf to get my cold body off the ground because it's knowledge, hopefully I will never have to use it but it's there now if I do.

What I don't want to see is Charley BOREMAN repeating Oh Sh*t a million times, aw man aw it's hard. I want to see what's out there that I might want to see, or how other people are living. That's why I'm doing my trip
to see what's out there.

Yes I would love more Sponsorship as could like everyone else, I do with the money, it means I can go further longer and see more, but there comes a point where Sponsorship gets in the way just check out their site and you will see what I mean.
Plus how do the Sponsors of all of the bits that Ewan threw out of his panniers feel about them now?

For those guys it's like a very well paid holiday, not even self catering because they have everyone doing that stuff for them, there was even a Joke about Ewan's butler joining them wasn't there.

There's a huge difference between what they are doing and what the rest of US, not just me are doing.

You see I don't get what people are griping about, they're being up front about what is happening by and large, they're not pretending they're going it alone while we all wonder who took the long shots, we know what's happening who's doing it and how. And yes it's still an adventure doing it. Why? Because they've still got to ride the damn bikes and drive the damn cars there, they're not airfreighting in for the photoshoot and then airfreighting back out.

So who cares if they blagged freebies, who in the world wouldn't if they had the chance? And fixersand office staff? Well there's a small difference between them and us, they're filming and making a TV series and that means they need permits to film as well as visas and carnets and all the rest.

And finally it's entertainment, it's not education, so it's designed to appeal to the masses, the arm-chair travellers, the people who quite frankly would be bored to ddeath if we had a ten minute exposé on how to change a head gasket.

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One thing which I find unbelievable is that a lot of people are prepared to buy a motorbike just because an actor rode one. I refer to the leap in sales for BMW. Fine bikes as they are, what a useless reason to buy one.

I mean how f****ing vacant can some one get? There must be loads of folk without a gram of individuality who just behave like sheep.

Noel, I think you are wrong there mate. It IS and adventure for them just the same as it is for the people that do the Peking-Frankfurt organised trip or the people that just get on there bikes and ride off with NO preparation.

Jesus, just going to work can be an adventure some days

They ARE having fun. They ARE making shed loads of money for their chosen charity. They ARE keeping a team of people employed (off and on) and they ARE getting the rest of us noticed.

Stop being a snob!

John

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Nostradamus Ate My Hamster

So no one buys Yamahas because Rossi rides one Or a Ducati because Stoner is doing well at the moment.

Consider that a lot of folk's bought sports bikes (in the UK) because they were cool. Never mind the practicalities or competence of the pilots. Now its cool to have a big "adventure" bike. So what?

In Germany, the 1150 GS was was the biggest selling bike for 3 or 4 consecutive years when it came out and C & E had not been heard of! How did that happen. Simple. Its a more "ridable" bike for a lot of people.

John

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Nostradamus Ate My Hamster

I am guessing the answer to my question is "no one knows if it will be on TV in the U.S." ?

I read somewhere that it will be on discovery channel