it's not about the destination. what you rushing to, why do you need to do 300-400 kms per day? do less, experience more.

This is why I love this site, we mostly agreed on the idea of 'adventure' travel - we just can't agree how!

By the way, amphibious car has already been done - Ben Carlin in his amphibious jeep "Half-Safe"

Amphibious Jeep Half Safe

At the moment I prefer motorbike over car (mainly since I don't have a car at the moment). But in the back of my head there are all sorts of journeys involving cars, bicycles and - should I win the lottery - boats.

"We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, and charm, and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open" (Nehru)

Just get out there and do it.

baswacky.

You could always try walking like Ibn Battutah in the 14th century - 75,000 miles in 29years

BBC iPlayer - The Man Who Walked Across the World: Wanderlust

Cars are great if you like highways and traffic jams but to get to really remote places often a motorcycle is the only way, see thats the whole 'freedom' thing in my opinion the fact that so few obstacles can get in your way when you're riding a motorbike.

An example:
I live in Scandinavia, and sometimes (like this year) the summer hasnt been too good, in fact its been raining like you wouldnt believe. So lots of people head into the Mediterranean to get even some sunshine before the long, cold winter. Thats easily a 6000-8000km trip, and if you got 3-4 weeks off work, those 300-400 per day will get you there. You can actually do much more on the motorway if you like, so then you will have some time off the bike, too, so it wont be just riding all the time.

You are 100% correct..My post was only about me, and in no way should be considered "Why you should like bikes better" .. Some people find passion about cars, some about bikes.. My father is more into cars, my brother is more into computers, me bikes.. My mum hates them all..My wife has it the most correct.. she like being out there and dont care how.. it is all about what you the individual likes better.. there is no right or wrong as long as you are happy.. (although i suspect the preference to be on a computer then in real life may be wrong.. it is not for me to judge. :()

I like bikes... Gil, you like Landys (FJ with a ragtop..would be my top choice of 4x4 as well btw) as long as we respect each other and have fun and maybe a beer together then all is good. I think the important thing here is not how you travel but that you do it..

Just to be contrary .. marmite is bad.:thumbdown:. vegimite is the good stuff :thumbup1:

100% Xander - Vegimite and FJs, respect and fun!!!

To be honest I have recently been more and more thinking about a bike again:thumbup1:

Gil

It think this says it all, really. I my world, bikes are all that count (besides family & friends, naturally). I'm an addict to bikes. Not so much to the bikes themselves, but to what they bring and represent. Pain in the butt, aching knee, freezing rain and snow, icy roads, close encounters with wildlife and cage drivers, long winding roads, beautiful sunsets to look at when you stop to rest on an evening ride on an otherwise ordinary Tuesday, flowing nirvana-like riding experiences, heart-pounding exhilarating gravel road bombing...

Oh, never mind. I'll never be able to explain it to someone who haven't experienced the same thing. In the same way as only motorcyclists can understand why dogs prefer to stick their head out in the wind when riding in a car.

Motorcycles aren't rational at all where I live, where nearly half the year is snow and winter. You really need to be hard-headed to insist on riding a motorcycle. And still I do it. I could use the car (if I can find it ;-) but hell, how fun is that??

Well said, Warthog. Spot on!

My top 10 thoughts on this bike vs. car thread are:

10. Why stop at comparing bike vs. car, how about car vs. caravans or RV (recreational vehicles in the US)?

9. Driving a car is metal and glass around the flesh -- protection but isolation from the outside world. Riding a motorbike is flesh around the metal -- dangerous exposure but openness to our world.

8. Both demand concentration on the road, but motorbiking requires more because it's more dangerous. Danger pushes us to be more PRESENT along the journey, soaking up everything around us on every mile along the journey, not just at destination.

7. The bigger the vehicle or storage space, the more useless stuff we could find to put into the vehicle.

6. I have always seen drivers envious of bikers, never the other way around. Even when bikers get soaked in the rain, they are 'cooler' than the drivers fumbling their umbrellas.

5. Bikes deal much better with parking and traffic, and get to places where 4x4 overlander would hesitate if not impossible.

4. If broken down, it's easier to find someone to transport a bike than a 4x4 overlander.

3. Gas prices!

2. Adventure is about leaving our comfort zone, and treasuring every little thing the trip brings to us, not what we bring to the trip.

1. It's about whom we travel with, and what type of transportation the group as a whole would be happy with. "Happiness is only real when it's shared." Christopher McCandless from the true story Into the Wild

email just in from:

Boye De Mente
Paradise Valley, Az, USA


You said:

I just ran across a reference to the globe-circling jeep HALF-SAFE on your website...
And thought whoever wrote the article might be interested in knowning that I was Ben Carlin's partner on the longest and most dangerous port of the trip, from Japan to Alaska, and chronicled my encounter with Carlin and Half-Safe in a book entitled ONCE A FOOL - From Tokyo to Alaska by Amphibious Jeep. It's on amazon.com.
Most cordially,
Boye Lafayette De Mente
www.cultural-guide-books-on-china-japan-korea-mexico.com.

Imagine this...you just got done 200km of awful piste and finally arrive at the posh campement in Ulaan Baatar...

You are dirty, smelly, haven't showered in 3-4 weeks and your toothbrush is hanging out of your inside jacket pocket. You ask the lady at the front desk if they've got room and she says no. All the time, three cute girls behind giggle and get your attention. You offer to pitch your tent and she agrees...

After you pitch your tent the girls pay a visit...a conversation starts, beers flow...and you get laid in your tent by a hot German nurse.

Thats why I travel by bike and not car...

Sorry can't resist
 

To me that says more about your ability with the opposite sex than cars vs m/c - if that's what it takes for you to get laid .... well , must be a lot of lonely nights ...

Sorry couldn't resist.

It's the fun factor that does it for me.

I don't currently own a car. But I've had several over the years. I just cant remember when I ever took my car for a pleasure drive, just because the wheather was great. I do that often on my bike. Very few people will take a pleasure drive in their car. Ok, if you've just bought a brand new one, you may want to take it out for a spin without any particular goal in mind. But after that, it's just a means of transport. A bike is both fun and a means of transportation.

Having said that, I agree that there are many things on an overland trip that are so much easier in a car. I mean, just being able to lock it while you go into a market or borderpost, gives the car the advantage over the bike.

I guess "fun factor" is the closest I'll get to answering the original posters question.

Small Is Safe
 

Of course the obvious first answer is cost - and not just gas and spares. You can't load a car onto a yacht or canoe to bipass the Darien Gap.
But, to me, most important was the contact riding out in the open induces with local people. I believe that this is particularly true of a small bike. Big bikes, people want to discuss the bike. Ride a bike that the locals ride and you are into a different conversation.
And there is the security angle. Why would bandits bother with an old man on a small bike? Tell them there's a rich gringo an hour back on a big Harley.
Nighttime security, my Honda 125 never slep outdoors south of the Rio Grande and has slept in some great hotels! Right the way thru the Americas hotel staff would either lift or find a plank and wheel the bike into the lobby - or, in many cases, 16th or 17th Century patio!
Yeah, I know. Treat a bike that good and it gets ideas above its station. Mine complained at having to stay outside in the parking lots of motels when we finally reached the US.
One last advantage - again of a small bike: Those who've read my BLOG know that three trucks ran me down in Tierra del Fuego (one truck with two truck tractors on it trailer). I got smashed up the rear. Javier at Dakar Motos in BA rebuilt the bike while I crutched and bussed and boated round the fjords of Chile. Javier asked me to keep the cost of the rebuild secret ( most of his clients ride BMWs). I am a mean old man traveling on a small pension. The bill Javier produced came as a delightful shock...

Mexico to Tierra del Fuego then north to New York at cover
:oops2: