need for an armchair forum?

[DougieB]

A few years ago this forum was a different place. it was pure motorbike travel talk, mainly facts but with occasional banter. these days there's lots of pish posted about this and that, a lot unrelated to the actual act of getting your bike/4x4/cycle across the land. I guess it's an inevitable result of fashion.

'Pish' is obviously a relative term, one mans pish is another mans nectar (so to speak...)

When out and about travelling, having to search through pish to get to the meat of the content is sometimes a costly experience. A slow link, and 5 pages of recent posts about "chuckie and ewan", or "does my bum look big in this" (always male!), or "will a GXYZ1500 make it along the Kings Road, or do I need knobblies", is a costly and frustrating thing.

is it time for a 'social' or 'armchair' forum that doesn't show up in the 'do=getdaily&hours=24'?

[Martynbiker]

Judging by some of the 'Old Farts' that post on here we should have a Forum!

Can you believe I heard of one person having their bike 'shipped' while they flew by air so they could meet up with the Dakar! Hardly an adventure....... and there was NO way they could say it was CHEAPER, so they did it as a cost saving excercise! I am beginning to wonder if anyone ever rides their bikes these days?

Martyn

[DougieB]

I'm not taking the pish. some people like to talk about it, without the inclination/cash/time/etc to go anywhere. that's cool.

but this site, by design or not, serves a purpose for the people out there on the sharp end. and if you're not out there on a crap link you might not realise that all the image posting and endless debate over the latest colours of an XYZ640GPF, really slows things down.

anyway, time for hogmanay....

[Dodger]

It's a draw so far :
Ayes - 1
Nays - 1

How come there's not a "don't know" category ?

But really ,if you are looking for serious info ,would you even look in a Charley and Ewan thread ?

[Hustler]

Yes, probably, but what would be top of my new year wish list would be that people do a search before posting.
But hey I'm being nitpicky here, an excellent forum and happy new year to everyone.

[palace15]

Originally Posted by Martynbiker

Judging by some of the 'Old Farts' that post on here we should have a Forum!

Can you believe I heard of one person having their bike 'shipped' while they flew by air so they could meet up with the Dakar! Hardly an adventure....... and there was NO way they could say it was CHEAPER, so they did it as a cost saving excercise! I am beginning to wonder if anyone ever rides their bikes these days?

Martyn

I followed the 06 Dakar all the way and rode to and from the UK and have never been so cold in all my life on a bike, and that includes the 1981 Elefant treffen.
I met up in Lisbon with 2 Dutch riders and in Ceuta with a Belgian guy and all of them shipped bikes by truck to Lisbon and flew in, one Dutch guy said it was because ot time but the Belgian said he was not prepared to ride in the cold.

A number of Brit riders are doing at least some of the Dakar for 08 and I believe they are riding the lot! must be something about the Brits with rain and the cold.

[DLbiten]

Yes I dont much traveling. I love to do it but I do have other things I need to. But as far as getting on your bike and traveling that realy depends on what your implying. Chuckie and Ewan are traveling burning millions doing it but there traveling so why not talk about it.
Not riding to Dakar? Well I cant people on this side of the "pond" cant people in OZ cant and dont they puss out and take a ferry across? Its only what 4,000 to 6,000miles hell IBC rally is 11,000 is it traveling? No its a silly rich boy race grate fun but not traveling.
As far as what bike to take and road conditions and the need for knobblies that is what you say you want facts about and area and motorbike travel.

Your load times and connection speed is client side (you) If your in an internet cafe you may want to try downloading and running a tuneup utility on there machine there are going to be loggers and data miners on the drive eating away at the internet speed. (save it to flash drive that ways its safe and easy to use) They may not like you to do it, the longer your on the more $ they make off you. You can get a laptop and use free WiFi. not cheap I know.

And a this may hurt but you dont need a web page to tell you about "pure motorbike travel talk" your doing it. People have don it long before the internet and lots of people do it with out the internet. You think you have it bad try running a blog Uplading pics from the road. Hear its hell with the connections in Africa and South America.
You may have it bad But Im going back to work tomorrow I will be told Im too slow and stupid working on parts for 10 to 12Hr. And the next day I will do it agen. A thankless boring job 40 to 60 a week for rich asshats saving all I can so one day I can do what your doing right now. Its not so bad I get 4 weeks off. Some are even payed! (I have a job so im happy).

[Cie]

Hey Dougie,

vBulletin (which this forum uses) has a great search capability, whereby you can exclude areas of the forum in your search.

It should work like:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hubb/search.php?do=getnew&exclude=34,22,12,47

..where 34,22,12,47 are the numbers of the sub forums you don't want to search. Unfortunately, it would appear that HU have changed the configuration so that this doesn't work, as the sub forums don't have numbers, just names. Shame that eh.

[Martynbiker]

Originally Posted by DLbiten

Yes I dont much traveling. I love to do it but I do have other things I need to. But as far as getting on your bike and traveling that realy depends on what your implying.
As far as what bike to take and road conditions and the need for knobblies that is what you say you want facts about and area and motorbike travel.

Your load times and connection speed is client side (you) If your in an internet cafe you may want to try downloading and running a tuneup utility on there machine there are going to be loggers and data miners on the drive eating away at the internet speed. (save it to flash drive that ways its safe and easy to use) They may not like you to do it, the longer your on the more $ they make off you. You can get a laptop and use free WiFi. not cheap I know.

And a this may hurt but you dont need a web page to tell you about "pure motorbike travel talk" your doing it

You may have it bad But Im going back to work tomorrow I will be told Im too slow and stupid working on parts for 10 to 12Hr. And the next day I will do it agen. A thankless boring job 40 to 60 a week for rich asshats saving all I can so one day I can do what your doing right now. Its not so bad I get 4 weeks off. Some are even payed! (I have a job so im happy).

Well said Fella! I would love a job like yours, unfortunately I am Unemployed & probably now Unemployable! ( I am 'too old' at 44 and with health issues.)

Many people have it too easy, without seeing the real 'underlying reason' some of us spend a lot of time on the net. it is Escapism. Travel for the MIND. Voyeuristic it may be, but if we can't afford to travel, and have the addiction, we have to get our fix somehow!

I spend my time between here and ADVrider, if it wasn't for the Travel reports and some of the fantastic Blogs on HUBB and ADVrider I think I would have shriveled up inside long ago.

Martyn

[Tim Cullis]

Originally Posted by Martynbiker

Can you believe I heard of one person having their bike 'shipped' while they flew by air so they could meet up with the Dakar! Hardly an adventure....... and there was NO way they could say it was CHEAPER, so they did it as a cost saving excercise!

I've riden through Spain in the middle of winter the last two years on the way to watch the Dakar in Morocco and it's not my ideal of adventure.

BikeTruck picked my bike up last night in a massive truck with about a dozen bikes in total and I shall fly into Málaga on 5 Jan to collect it. A second truck left several days earlier taking all the UK Dakar competitor bikes directly to Lisbon. For me the decision was easy, it would cost £380 for the ferry to Bilbao and then ride the 700 miles through Spain, or I could lay out a total of £390 for Biketruck plus the flight and start from Málaga.

I'm carrying on to Senegal where my wife is flying out to join me for a couple of weeks in the sun, so I suppose that's not an adventure either???

[MarkE]

Originally Posted by Martynbiker

Many people have it too easy, without seeing the real 'underlying reason' some of us spend a lot of time on the net. it is Escapism. Travel for the MIND. Voyeuristic it may be, but if we can't afford to travel, and have the addiction, we have to get our fix somehow!

I spend my time between here and ADVrider, if it wasn't for the Travel reports and some of the fantastic Blogs on HUBB and ADVrider I think I would have shriveled up inside long ago.

Martyn

Couldn't agree more. I can't travel at the moment, for reasons others may find too weak, but they are enough to stop me for a couple of years. HU provides me with some material to fuel my dreams, and I can even pretend I'm planning my next trip! At least I can commute on the bike occasionally.

It also gives me the chance to get out of the office (metephorically) and mix with like minded people. In my current contract I have a colleague who has never left the village shewas born in and can see no reason to do so! I am totally alian to her experiance, and our opportunities for conversation are therefore somewhat limited.

[jkrijt]

Personaly, I don't give a "#$%#$" if you consider me a real traveler or not. I like to travel and I do it my way and that may be different from your way. So what !

I don't care if you fly your bike somewhere, hire a bike or ride around the world on your own bike. Even if you use a car or bicycle instead of a bike. No problem. We all travel the way we like it and "adventure" has a different meaning for everyone.
But no matter how you travel, it is nice if you keep an interesting website about it with nice pictures for me to look at :-)

A "general" or "armchair" section about other things then traveling could be usefull.
If you come to the HUBB to forget the office for a moment, it is nice to "chat" with other travelers about all kind of things and if you are looking for "real" travel information, ignore the "armchair" threads.

[Bill Holland]

There is a thread running for this
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...ght=chat+forum



now, what was that about searching before posting.......?

[Grant Johnson]

That's somewhat different - the request there was for a chatroom - which isn't the same as for a chat forum, which is why I responded to the question and posted the poll.

I note it's still 50-50 too!

Grant

Originally Posted by Bill Holland

There is a thread running for this
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...ght=chat+forum



now, what was that about searching before posting.......?

[Martynbiker]

Originally Posted by Tim Cullis

I've riden through Spain in the middle of winter the last two years on the way to watch the Dakar in Morocco and it's not my ideal of adventure.

BikeTruck picked my bike up last night in a massive truck with about a dozen bikes in total and I shall fly into Málaga on 5 Jan to collect it. A second truck left several days earlier taking all the UK Dakar competitor bikes directly to Lisbon. For me the decision was easy, it would cost £380 for the ferry to Bilbao and then ride the 700 miles through Spain, or I could lay out a total of £390 for Biketruck plus the flight and start from Málaga.

I'm carrying on to Senegal where my wife is flying out to join me for a couple of weeks in the sun, so I suppose that's not an adventure either???

12 bikes @ 390 quid each is 4,680 quid, a good profit being made by BikeTruck. A house move to spain is only about 2.400.......
so you and 12 others are also too chicken to ride in the cold!

Tim, each to their own, DON'T TAKE OFFENCE AT MY COMMENTS, PLEASE, I rode 365 days a Year in the UK,without heated vests and only 'discovered' heated grips the last year I was in the UK.
Riding in the Cold, it isn't for everyone I know,but you are missing out on some great scenery.... thought I will admit, the 'Picos de Europa' would be a little nippy about now!

Come back to Spain on a your Honda when the weather is good ( leave the Lardy BMW 1200 behind, although im sure you can pick it up unaided, cant you?) and you will be able have some of the BEST off road riding in europe.( pyrenees excepted of course)

Martyn