Classic singles and long way round

[johnnyboxer]

Very interesting everyone that's a beauty Johnny.

Had them for 15 - 20 years

[Scott_rider]

I've always wanted an XR400R...never had one...but maybe one day...

[Brenhden]

I've always wanted an XR400R...never had one...but maybe one day...

I have a few bike I think I'd like to own one day, alas the longer I wait the fewer good ones will be left. Except for the DR650 as they still make it. However this is a little steep for my taste...

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/185745381418 ... R8ibxe_CYQ

[Tonibe63]

A bike is just a tool for the job that you have in mind and the time available to do the trip. Nobody would buy a GS to ride to Scotland to compete in the Six Day trials event before riding to the Middle East to ride the Dakar on their way around the World but, like Lyndon Poskitt, you may choose a KTM450 to cope with the broad spectrum of riding. Long Way Round was the first mainstream TV programme and they needed a bike suited to the job, hence they chose BMW after being rebuffed by KTM.
For myself I choose my Himalayan alongside my Wife's bike in our van if doing North Scotland because often we don't have the spare time to meander up there at a slower pace but choose the GS for a pure bike trip carrying all our luggage.
For me time is the first thing that dictates what bike I take and what sort of trip we intend to do before deciding on accommodation and luggage .... the tank badge isn't important.

[qcnr]

Although relatively recent, the KTM 640 Adventure, should have been at the forefront of todays market.
Shame team orange don't produce anything similar anymore.

[garyboy]

I suppose this is about the history and possible future of motorcycles.
I remember the British motorcycle industry, as usual for me, In a vague way.
Must have been the sixties.
The British seemed to rule the world.
It was BSAs, Nortons, Triumphs .. single cylinder and twins, I think. Not multiple cylinders (I need to read the book lol).

Then I remember the Japanese small bikes coming on the UK market.

I Guess this story is all about CHANGE .. mostly brought about by outside sources.

The influences of the Japanese on motorcycling .. two stroke. small capacity motorcycles.
they were 2 T .. you generally added the oil to the petrol as a mix that fired on Every piston stroke.
Its easy to underestimate the significance of this, in our modern world.
The jap tyres were utter crap, and the british bikes had `british tyres`, better road holding, bigger engines and looked great (Triton?)
Later (the Honda cb750) came in and changed big bike britain forever.

The takeover was relentless and devastating to the British bike industry which had slipped into stagnation anyway.
Today the japanese bike industry is still top but is chased at the heels by the Chinese, and even the Indian with an old British design.
Beating us at our own game, all these outsiders.

So there was the impetus of ..*foreign manufacturers, and of ..different *types of petrol engine.
Though later the 4T became dominant, I think.


But the next great external interferer of british motorcycling was the EU ...
yes .. with all their interfering rules and regulations and directives ..
they dictated to us, in the name of climate, air quality and `good for us` legislation.
what vehicle EMISSIONS emissions should and Must be.
.. so fuckin up the efficiency and weight and even looks of our babies lol
Never mind "brexit/ brexiteer" calling, you know its true!!
all in the name of cleanliness applied to the most efficient and clean ICE engines the world had ever known
((compare the local council buses at that time belching out black diesel fumes )}.

Then came LWR (or wotever series it waz) and according to google, the GS800 was the start of the 1980 trend for adventure bikes.
to be fair, bikers had already experienced the rough alpine roads of the continent and wanted a bike that could `go anywhere`.
So the style, form and function of the `british` motorcycle changed again, to the adventure bikes .. mostly ..
though foreign multies were still very popular.

Then .. Ewan and Charlie `set` another trend, which was already happening ..
the change to EVs.

Again, the `climate` scam was driving government policy ..
I mean, come on, how polluting are the relatively small numbers of relatively small engined motorcycles, to the globe?

So yes .. its now electric vehicles... and we are to be given no choice.. for new vehicles.

climate goals .... net zero .. green agenda .. carbon footprints ... Please !!! ... for motorcycles?.... fuck me ... give peace a chance !!!

{{There seems to be a sort of `kick back` to government agendas though .. dual sport bikes using old design engines}}


the future? ..... that will be dictated by governments at their g6 g7 g20 global meetings and agendas, by the business and monitary agences, banks and big business .. its scary .. but will be accepted as `inevitable` and `for the best` and whatever, by the future travellers, of whatever mode.

[Magnusson]

Do you know what happened to the BMWs Ewan and Charlie rode in The Long Way Round? Are they in a BMW museum? Scrapped?

[garyboy]

Do you know what happened to the BMWs Ewan and Charlie rode in The Long Way Round? Are they in a BMW museum? Scrapped?

Mr Google knows

[mark vb]

Nice thread. For me, it's the XT500, probably as it won the first Paris-Dakar just as I was starting out biking in the mid/late 70's - it's a bit of an icon to me. Never owned one, the closest I got was a SR500, its road-going sibling which I bought new for £750 from Elite Motors of Tooting.
Would I buy an XT500 now? Probably not at the sort of prices they go for, being around £7k - £8k for a reasonable example. Mind you, compared to an FS1E, that's probably not too bad value.

[Magnusson]

Do you know what happened to the BMWs Ewan and Charlie rode in The Long Way Round? Are they in a BMW museum? Scrapped?

Mr Google knows

I asked weird uncle Google first. I went through three pages of of results. No answer. Gone are the good days when the best kept secret in the world was on page two of Google results, because no one ever looked there. Now it taylors search results to your profile, and promotes primarily content from whoever pays the most. Maybe I should ask on Reddit.