Charlie Boorman's African Adventure is going to be another classic, I particularly enjoyed episode 1 and the 15 minutes devoted to fixing a wheel. I bet your thinking broken spokes? Wheel bearings? Charlie on his hands and knees in the scrub getting his hands dirty as the African sun sets behind him?

Not likely, not only was the wheel not a motorcycle wheel, it wasn't even off the bloody 4x4 support truck......it was the wheel from the huge trailer that the 4x4 was towing so said adventurer could load his bike in there in the event of a breakdown. Priceless.

Well. It´s a tv-show you know and you can turn the telly off if you don´t like it. You don´t have to buy the dvd if you don´t like it. Isn´t that great news for you? I´ve not seen the program you are talking about myself but I do know a thing or two about tv productions and I bet that they´re just trying to make stuff alittle more interesting for the average viewer so they have Charley fix things that I´m sure he himself don´t find amusing every once in awhile. And I bet they have sponsors on vehicles and other things and signed agreements that say that they can´t show if that stuff they´ve gotten for loan/for free breaks down since the sponsor don´t want bad publicity. So they film when the rented trailer wheel breaks down instead..... There are often lots of shit behind movie/tv productions that the viewers don´t know about but that won´t prevent them from doing their best to make things alittle more interesting. Would not have been a good show if nothing at all happened.

Charley is top bloke
 

I wasn't going to say much in here about this but just for the record, Charley is a top bloke, I've ridden with him with some other guys in Africa and in Wales. He is the way he comes across on TV.

Yes LWR/LWD was for TV, a lot of it needs to reach out and grab a larger audience, the producers, and Claudio of course would have to plan for what makes entertainment if they could. I'm sure there is lots of footage in the bin but if it is entertaining enough, leave it in.

I was pondering doing something on my bike before the show was released but the LWR series convinced me there was a better life out there for me. Best thing to happen to me in past 10 years.

Only down side is the amount of weirdo's I've come across who buy a 1200GSA and fit loads of touratech bling to mimic LWR and run to the shops at best. Usually have BMW clothes as well I may add, you know the type, you've seen them too :rofl:

Wish I could have the opportunity to ride a few days with him.

I bet he has some cracking stories to tell, ones that dare not be told on TV.

Top bloke.

Vette

So good to see that you confirm that they are nice blocks, including Russ :yes: I didn't mean in reality, but in the series (as a joke).

They are at least 50% acting (guys, please repeat the emotional hugging on arrival, the angle was not good!), so each one has his role, I assume the one they adapt best (so I'm sure Charlie loves joking). Russ had to sort of get the "strict/pain in the ass" role (stop wheeling, Charlie!), so that some controversies arise, to our eyes mainly due to fatigue, since it should look like a very hard trip. :innocent: So Russ assumed the bitterest role, not that he's really like that.

We should all keep in mind that this is intended for a much broader audience, they did not spend millions for a few bunch in HU, but also for your grandma watching TV on a rainy Sunday evening. IMO they reached a good compromise.

My father quotes (don't know whom): "if they accuse you of stealing Notre Dame's bells (the largest weighing a mere 12Tm), just FLEE!" (he might recommend you that here)

[Disclaimer (=fleeing maneuver): I believe in peace and love on Earth and especially among overlanders, so won't engage in any existential discussion in the HUBar]

Weirdo or not but that is is a rather spot on description of me.... :Beach:

Don´t have BMW clothes tho but when we got our bikes we talked to the people at Touratech and fitted the bikes with the stuff we needed for the kind of traveling we do. No problems at all and the Touratech folks here in Sweden are indeed great lads. They´ve done lots of great things for us. Could not be happier with the service they provide. Don´t think that we are trying to "mimic" LWR tho..... ;)

****. It´s all about having fun and experience stuff. How people choose to do it and what they ride and what brand of helmets one has is not important.

//J

Hellboy huh! What have you been up to Jan apart from being the president of CB's fan club? :thumbup1:

Watched the programme last night and enjoyed it for what it was. A trip round some amazing sights with some beautiful photography in South Africa that I'll probably never see. The bike could be viewed as a gimmick. Charlie didn't need it to get where he got to but we, well me anyway, associate Charlie with bikes so what's the harm in having one in the prog if only for Charlie to practice his wheelies on.

As for the Touratech fans, good on 'em I say. Got a Touratech bash plate for my little Yam which has saved me the cost of a new engine on more than one occasion:clap:

Cheers,

Dicky

Is Dicky another name for David? beer ;)

Yes 'tis me the Turklish bloke:D

DickyB's Turkish Delights

Well, like Charley and Ewan or not, they did raise the profile of 'adventure' biking in both the biking and non biking population. Which can't be such a bad thing, can it? All seemed pretty positive to me, unlike the usual anti bike stuff that normally gets on to TV.
Personally, I prefer not to travel with back up, and I usually set off alone ... though back up would have been handy on more than one occasion.
But I have been on such organised trips (Enduro Himalaya for one), which was fun ... and the back up was necessary to collect the snapped Enfields along the route! But, I would be happy to do it again, alone (well, in pairs, preferably).

So, each to his/her own I say...and whatever style/ make/ type/ clothing... they think suits 'em. Don't make 'em a bad person, whatever their taste.

Ride safe/enjoy...MM

Ha!! Howdy mate! :taz: :clap:

I bought a 1200GS and matching t*@t suit about six months before LWR came out. Those six months were of beautiful freedom and fun.

Then along come comments like those above. Loathing of anything with the beemer roundel. I have been driven to ride only in my shed since then. 6'x6', 126,000 miles so far.

Damn them both!!!

(;) bearded weirdo)

C Boor(ing)man Esq was interviewed on one of the UK radio channels just a few days ago, about this very same TV programme; by which I mean he got some self-publicity for the fact that it is a series (6 weeks maybe?) to cover the long, cold, wet winter nights here in the UK.
The interviewer was that very pleasant Irish-brogue-accented guy whose name escapes me entirely, but he is very well known on TV and the radio - you know who I mean, but I still can't remember his name (used to compere the malarky about singing for Europe or some such nonsense).

Anyway,he (Mr CB) basically said that he is a big adventurer and he will be showing off all his skills in abseiling, deep sea diving, paracending, fighting great white sharks and similar jolly japes, all on the basis that he is a (minor) celebrity associated with world wide adventures riding motorcycles.

In the course of the discussion we were reminded that CB used to be an actor by reference to the "Emerald Forest", directed by his Dad, Mr JB, back in year whatever. He was aged 17 at the time.
This did make me wonder, for a nano-second or so, if CB remains an actor to this day.

I just thought you might want to know this.

Praise the Messiah

CB's mum: He's not the Messiah. He's a Very Naughty Boy

CB: I'm not the Messiah! Will you please listen? I am not the Messiah, do you understand? Honestly!

Horizonsunlimited: Only the true Messiah denies His divinity.

CB: What? Well, what sort of chance does that give me? All right! I am the Messiah!

Horizonsunlimited: He is! He is the Messiah!

CB: Now, fcuk off!

[silence]

Horizonsunlimited: How shall we fcuk off, O Lord?



jeigerRight, I'm effing off to a Kimono bar for a G and T :balloon:

[QUOTE=Walkabout;407966]
The interviewer was that very pleasant Irish-brogue-accented guy whose name escapes me entirely, but he is very well known on TV and the radio - you know who I mean, but I still can't remember his name (used to compere the malarky about singing for Europe or some such nonsense).

Terry Wogan, Radio 2, Sunday morning, Good show.
Must admit i dont mind Charley Boorman but Ewan Mcgregor just got on my nerves since the LWR series, (thought he was great in trainspotting mind), Claudio was the main man for me.

P.s. I have never met them personally and its only my opinion, I'm sure if i met them away from television duties they are great blokes and good company.