The world has changed immeasurably since mcgregor and Boorman did the long way round, but at the time it changed the enduro market for bmw
The Harley and Rivian electric deals may prove to be genius. Really impressed with both businesses. Super savvy. Great products.
For everyone else who might be wondering:
https://www.harley-davidson.com/us/en/current/long-way-up.html
https://youtu.be/_kmK9iTq-FE
Definitely great marketing. Helps to quell range and capability anxiety a bit.
LW Round was inspirational—to me
LW Down was good up until Eve forced herself into the equation
LW UP: I will subscribe to Apple+ to watch this. In the hope it comes back to the original magic. Two guys wrestling with shit as they drive motos…
It’s amazing rally. Bmw dominate / dominated the touring gs market. No one comes close. Long way round was game changing for them. Super impressed with Harley and Rivian 3 episodes in despite their issues
Bmw dominate / dominated the touring gs market. No one comes close.
The BMW GS market niche is similar, but smaller than the Harley niche. You have got your stereotypical Harley riders, and you have your stereotypical BMW GS riders. Then you have motorcyclists.
Whenever I crash riding offroad with my boys, they call me Ewan.
I agree on LWR. In fact there’s an amazing blog on an off road version of it on Adv rider.
LwD - novelty wore off
LwU - mcgregor seems infinitely personable. Charley constantly refraining that ewan is his best friend is old. Clearly that’s not been a 2 way street, but the tech on this is amazing, as is the geography.
The Americas, Africa, Australasia and Eurasia have amazing vistas, space. Harder to find in Western Europe at scale…
I think that will / could change. Pre LWR the GS was nothing like it is today.
BMW were not the bike of choice.
The Rivian are amazing.
so
see you on ADV Rider?
I’m there—but also here. Trout fishing forums for online link ups
The Rivian really does look slick. I watched a documentary on YouTube that toured part of their factory and talked to their designers about the design process… the thought, the optimization, the tradeoffs… really neat stuff.
I think that will / could change. Pre LWR the GS was nothing like it is today.
BMW were not the bike of choice.
The Rivian are amazing.
The GS is an amazing machine. I demoed a GS 1250 a year ago and quickly hit 100 mph on a half-mile straight where they let us go.
I remember that BMW was not the first choice for LWR. Also remember that they had some electronic troubles on one of the trips. But that is no big deal when you have support vehicles and SAT phones with which to call BMW for support. My three motorcycles are much more simple and, in my opinion, reliable, but they have carburetors and don’t have anything like the performance of BMW’s “adv” bikes.
Everyone’s adventure is their own. People have gone from Europe to Pacific solo on Suzuki DR 650s. They’ve gone around the world solo on smaller displacement bikes. Some travel in giant luxury 4x4 motorhomes. To some an adventure is a cruise on a giant ocean liner. Personally, in motorcycles, I prefer smaller, lighter, and simpler. To each his own.