Charlie Boorman
 

Don't forget. That hard core adventurer (of Ewan and bloody Charlie fame) is back on his bike tonight on channel 5, riding his bike around South Africa. Outback truckers looks good on Quest, also.

long way round got me back into biking and i for one would love to have his job travel around world and get a tv station to pay for it. I for one will be watching

"Long way round" did not get me into biking BUT it completely changed my way of riding bikes. We sold the Harley´s, got GS Adventure bikes and went to Mongolia within a couple of years after seeing "Long way round".... :laugh:

Totally missed that program when it was aired back when they filmed it. Bought the DVD by mistake in -08, saw it, sold the Harley´s and ordered GS Adventure bikes and took a tour round eastern Europe within days after we had gotten the bikes and kitted them.... 20 countries on rather bad roads in 5 weeks. :laugh:

It´s sad to see how many that write bad things about Charley and Ewan on internet. They´ve done great stuff for many bikers and I know plenty of folks that would not have been out riding outside their own countries if it had not been for the "Long way round"/"Long way down" series...... My own life is great more fun now these days when it comes to bikes and traveling. They´ve inspired me and I was 42 when I first saw "Long way round".....

I read somewhere that they´ve decided to do a "Long way up" (or something like that) film. Argentina/South America/Central America/USA/Canada and up to Deadhorse. Would be great fun if they did that.

Hi hellboy
i total agree with you to many people just have a go at charley and ewan for spending 6 million on LWR so what, you only have to read some of the blogs on here to see how many people have been inspired to ride the world because of the show. I am only doing 3 weeks around europe this year but next year riding to nepal.I think charley and ewan where planning a pan america but not sure charley did hint on a tv show here last year.good luck with your future trips bierbier
Happy biking:scooter::scooter:

They had the resources, so they used said resources. I loved the shows, have both on DVD. I laugh at people when they start talking trash about Ewen and Charley for having support trucks and the like because anyone who says they wouldnt use such things...even if they had the resources available...is a lying sack of :9898:

+1 for charlie and ewan.

i was a traveler before seeing the long way down, never thought about riding a moto everywhere. now i have ridden across africa, and am planning a pan america trip.

i don't think i would have done this without seeing those programs.
yes they had a heck of a lot of support. its tv! that's how it is. they have more people filming those stupid gold mining shows and honey boo boo.

great work ewan and charlie. keep it up.

Fantastic post mate. I haven't laughed so much for ages.

A support truck? You seriously think most people secretly want to head off on their trip with a support truck? Driven by your mum no doubt so she can mend your socks and tuck you in at night.:smiliex:

I have to admit the LWR and LWD series got me interested but I just find Charlie annoying on camera. Nothing to do with his support vehicles or massive budget.

I wouldn't exactly class myself as a fan of charlie boreman, but I tried watching this new program the other night because there was f-all else on. However after the first 10 minutes it became really dull, both as entertainment television and as a travel program.


Oh, and seeing as how this appears to be a Ewan+charlie thread, I guess I'm obliged to finish by saying that BMWs are for wankers!

I love LWR + all, but I must be a lying sack of :9898: because I'd never want a support vehicle, even if I had the resources.

Well, it also grinds me when some guys say he is not real.

I have him down for a TOP BLOKE !!!bierjeiger

I have watched almost all his stuff,
Sydney - Tokyo
Extreme frontiers
LWR
LWD

Sure I damn well wish he would send me an email if I want to ride with him, or be part of his support crew. :mchappy:

Amazing guy, really is. bier

Vette

I enjoy Charley´s personality a great deal. They both seem like very friendly lads. And I do know some folks that has used support vehicle´s on trips to Africa, Mongolia etc. We didn´t on our trip to Mongolia this summer and there are two reasons for that.

1. Noone wanted to come with us in a car. :rofl:
2. We could definitely not afford to hire someone....

Would it be nice to have spare tires and stuff in a car instead on the bikes? Yeah. Sure. It´s always more fun to ride on a lighter bike in bad terrain. But since we really had no choice and it works without a support vehicle anyway for us then I don´t think much about it. But Charley and especially Ewan being who he is I would say could not do a film like "Long way round" without a good backup team and a great amount of safety thinking. Having signed contracts to work in future multi million film projects has it´s advantages. I´m in the music business myself and some of the folks that I´ve worked with are not even allowed to ride a motorcycle at all by their record companies. That sucks.

//J

Agreement About Detractors
 

'Zackly!

What did the detractors expect? That they film a large-scope, high quality, unusual international travelogue cinema on their cell phone cameras?

Not for nothing do advice columnists keep saying that denigrating others is an ego-boosting compensation with the motivation of making the speaker elevate himself and feel better about himself by attempting to lower someone else. What's the need of that?

I stopped biking in 1976 when I got married and did all the usual bits for the next 30 years,(inc divorce) retired early for medical reasons and came to live in France. Then one day a couple of year ago a friend of mine turned up on his 1953 Douglas Dragonfly on a trip from Cornwall down to the Med. This inspired me to watch the vids, and 3 weeks later I was the proud owner of an F650GStwin. It was what they did that inspired me to re-read Jupiters Travels and make comparisons. There were now bikes out there built for purpose and I wanted to have a go. You may query the choice of bike, but at 61 and not in the best of health it suits me fine, and thanks to their exploits I'm now travelling and camping all over Europe and regularly clocking up 20,000k's in the year, enjoying every minute of it, feeling much healthier for it and looking forward to Eastern Europe this Autumn.

I'm not a fan of his presentation style, but he's genuine and he just get's on with it.

Same discussion again. Roughly I would split it in 3 groups:

a) 33.3% who deeply dislike them and criticize them, some who are older and used to travel by bike intensively quite before LWD was filmed and especially those who started traveling because of them but do not reckon their influence (the laters sometimes look like "exclusive club wanabee members", those who bitterly repeat "it's a nice place, but there were too many tourists").

b) 33.3% who deeply love them, whose passion for motorcycle traveling was born or greatly boosted by watching LWR (they didn't travel much by bike before). Some are nice chaps, others ride 1200GSA (sorry for the bad joke, don't blame me, pleeeeeease).

c) 33.3% who reckon their "positive" influence, even if being a figurated documentary, in spite of the fact that they were previously motorcycle travellers or not (HUBB members would be at least halved if LWR hadn't been filmed). Some may dislike the casting anyway. BUT I guess many of them do not even bother answering these posts, since we ALL more or less know how much Ewan & Charly influenced motorcycle travelling.

[95% don't like Russ Malkin]

myself
Charley 100% like top biker
Ewan 100% like part time biker and he's an actor
russ malkin 100% just along for the ride
Claudio von planta 100% top bloke didn't ride before LWR saved there arses a few times
I love everybody today

Looks like I opened a can of worms with that comment!! LOL!!

No problem there. I find both of them pretty damned annoying. But I still love the shows. Being a construction worker, who can never seem to get ahead, its awesome for me to watch shows like that along with forums like this. I can live vicariously through of all of your/their travels.

HAHAHA. I personally would not want a support truck tying me down either. But if I had the resources those two had to make things more comfortable...oh hell yes Id use them!! If you can honestly say that if you had the money, you would not use said money, well than youre better than I am. Even if that was just restricted to hiring fixers, hiring people to do paperwork for me, or just being able to stay in nice hotels if I wanted too. The support truck, specifically, I used as an example because that seems to be what everybody picks on the most. At the very least, to film a quality tv show you would NEED a support truck. Look at the Globerider DVD's...while I have several and enjoy them immensely, they are not of the same quality as LWR/LWD/RTD. Especially over on ADV, it seems the majority of naysayers concentrate on the fact that E&C did the trip without having a shoestring budget, so somehow, that means they really didnt have an "adventure".

If I had the money to budget for a trip, like many of you here do, and could realistically do said trip, I would. I dont NEED sponsors and fancy hotels and support trucks. My point is I do not believe ANYONE can honestly say they would not use the resources they have, whether alot or a little.

LOL. Alright, let the flaming continue. :biggrin3:

I haven't met Ewan so I can't really comment about him.

Charley I've met a few times, and each time he's been a top bloke. I think the narration in the latest series is a little over the top but that appears to be the way of most TV products these days. At this rate I'll end up giving up with the goggle box and just have a good read! Or I could turn off the sound!

As for Russ, well I've met up with him a number of times and he's a really good egg. Interesting, can tell a good story when he wants to and is very knowledgeable. A good bloke to join you over a drink or ten.

Regards

Reggie

Aventure.
 

As regards the belief that no-one, if they had access to huge resources, would take backup....You absolutely don't understand what adventure is. Oh how I wish I had loads of money. Then l'd be able to do many things, totally without backup for the absolute hell of it. Have you heard of Reinhold Messner? The Italian mountaineer who climbed many 8,000m mountains alone, unsupported and without oxygen exactly for the emotional experiences and mental rewards of doing it that way. That is exactly what makes a joke of anyone who uses support, they're missing out. Lindsay.

I'd take a backup truck, but only to transport a troupe of dancing girls and cerveza. :helpsmilie:

I wish to stress here and now, contrary to what I may or may not have written in the past, that I now 110% idolise Charley-no longer- Boring. I think the sun rises, shines and falls out of his (ample) Arsch. I am now -officially- his biggest fan, evva.

I luv u Charley!:palm:

Love is in the air time to get a room:censored:

Long Way Round Review by an over lander
 

Amigos:

1. My first motorcycle was a 50 cc Japanese bike with pedals traded from a well heeled philatelist shop in Tokyo, Japan for 3 valuable U S postage stamps awarded me for good grades from my Father's collection, sometime in 1958. When I was 12 years old, I became a leather jacketed, white shoed regular at the kimono clad hostess gin bars of occupied Tokyo established for the occupation soldiers after WWII. If discovered, I would have been sacked and sent back to the States.

2. My first exciting and extremely difficult and dangerous international motorcycle journey was ten years later in 1968 from San Jose, Costa Rica to Los Angeles, California on a Honda CD 175cc motorcycle, (the largest bike readily available new in Costa Rica at the time), after a 2 year stint as a teacher with the United States Peace Corps in Puerto Limon, Costa Rica.

3. Since then I have motorcycled 6 South American countries and from Spain to Turkey and back and more.

4. We all have arrived here, January 12, 2013, and not one of us, not one have the right to evaluate the path of others that brought them here.

5. I am in Buenos Aires, Argentina and am more than pleased to meet and greet any over landers, Charley included, who find themselves in Buenos Aires.

Eat, Drink and Be Careful Xfiltrate

:stupid:
Ref your point number 4: Thanks mate, but I and everyone else has the right to evaluate whatever and whoever I/we want, including the paths of others.

How is your point number 1 relevant to this discussion?

Happy to engage
 

What I meant to say which was obviously not understood by you, is that international over landing on motorcycles is good because it encourages peoples of the world to know one another and at whatever level communicate with words instead of bullets and bombs and it is my belief that casting negative interpretations upon peaceful attempts for the peoples of one culture, one nation, one race, etc to venture forth and experience albeit on a motorcycle, other cultures, nations, races etc should not be evaluated negatively as each of those who embark on such a journey do it differently, with the fact remaining that they have done it.

Of course, at a personal level and, I might add here a egocentric level, each of us, you included, have the right to hold personal opinions regarding the ventures of others, but as far as evaluating the ventures of others, you may or may not have a clue as to motivations or intent of those you evaluate.

This is all I am saying.

As for my first point, I was simply trying to establish my credentials as an international over lander that might qualify me for commenting here.

Why you are so antagonistic, I do not know. I am only trying to promote international over landing for the purpose of peoples getting to know one another, a process that might preclude people bombing one another, like you have attempted to bomb me. What are you trying to do?>

xfiltrate

No flaming, just that I find it surprising that you're so adamant about the fact that everyone thinks the same way that you do.

There are experiences and people and foods and situations (some good, mostly bad) that I've found myself in as a result of not having the resources at hand. All of these experiences are the reason for travel in itself.

.
Are you sure your post has any thing at all to do with Charley B.?

I think you have posted this post in the wrong thread.

vette

I see what you want to say here and I totally agree. Well said.

Sincerely//J

Antagonistic? All I was doing was disagreeing with you. Sorry, I won't do it again. You're 100% right all the time.

Why do you need to assert your credential? Kimono clad hostess gin bars?

Bombs?:offtopic:

All that waffle about kimonos and bombs and postage stamps... Well, taking all that into consideration, I've 'evaluated' BMW motorcycles again, and once again found that they're only for wankers!

Just trying to be helpful here!

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.

[QUOTE=ullukk;408061]That's the fella; I just could not place his name. :innocent:

After a further nano-second of consideration, my nano-second thought, mentioned earlier, amounts to --
"when does an actor stop acting?"
In the company of those s/he does not know, I suspect the answer is never.

LWR and LWD etc made it easier to sell long distance 'adventure' trips to doubting other halves, and for that those of us who love riding and our other halves should be thankful. The current stuff is just a travel programme with a dusting of bikes, and none the worse for all that. It worked so well for me that after four fly-ride adventures in southern Africa we're selling our home and business so we can take my bike over there for much longer...:clap:

I spent an evening with Charley and I would just like to let the doubters know that he is a genuine bloke. In fact he is just like most of us on here, just ordinarily people who enjoy doing what we do and enjoy sharing the experience. :thumbup1:

I am not a biker having a Land Rover 130 (The Yak) but Charley gave me, and countless others, a renewed respect and understanding of adventure overland biking.

I would travel with him and buy him a pint anytime. bier

Cheers,
Bob Hyde.

No he isn't; his father is a wealthy Holywood film director, he has starred in a few feature films as a child actor, and his best mate is a multi-millionaire Holywood actor, he also manages to sell thousands of books and DVD's, BMW sponsors him for wiping his own arse, his travels are not subjected to a restricting budget, Channel 5 pays him money to indulge in gap year antics, and he is annoying and boring.

Austin Vince and his crew, plus the likes of Ed March etc. make Boorman look like a right *****. Even the blog section on the hubb enlightens one more to the travels on two wheels then the Ewan/Boorman phenomenon.

Well, that fits a few around here too.

Woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning or is this your true nasty self?

Charley Boorman: 'I spent 10 years as a painter and decorator' - Telegraph

Read that. Might be a lesson in there for you.

//J

Charley must be doing something right as there are enough also trying to sell books and DVD's etc trying to emulate him.:oops2:

Aww c'mon man, it's just a bit of banter, nothing nasty!

I'll not apologise for thinking that the sun does not shine out of Boormans arse. I enjoyed LWR/LWD as much as the next bloke and watched both series again last year, and will no doubt watch again in the future. However, I think what CB has done afterwards is disappointing at best, I would have liked to have seen him progress adventure biking and focus on the 'trip' like the other series, but alas, he has become a victim of the style over substance culture.

CB has moved the focus almost entirely away from biking and has turned the focus on to himself as a self-styled 'adventurer'. With such a title, you would expect CB to take you on an exciting journey through distant lands with an informed narrative, but watching his programs, it becomes clear that he has very little knowledge about the people's and cultures in which he is immersed (either that or he thinks you and I don't care)....so that's the substance out of the window.

So what's left? Style. In order to compensate for the lack of substance, the narrative has taken on a bizarre style, everything has become AMAZZzzing, unbeLIEVABLE, the most dangerous in the woRRRRRld. Such narrative accompanies fairly standard gap year activities, such as absailing, feeding sharks from a cage (thus re-inforcing the link between humans and food), looking at some lions behind a fence etc.

What concerned me most though was CB egging on a local driver to drive him to the top of a mountain pass, it was more stupid than adventurous and when the 4x4 almost fell over the edge, a poor local goat herder was going to put himself between the 4x4 and the edge just to save the big fat white man. We ride bikes, we put ourselves at risk, that's our choice. Acting like arseholes and putting the lives of other people at risk is not my bag at all, I don't like it one bit, I found it grotesque to be honest.

I'm not being 'nasty', I just know a crock when I see it.

Yes you are being nasty and prejudiced. You think you know him since his father is a rather well known film maker. It´s totally ok if you don´t like his work but your arguments seems personal and you write like a bully. I´m fed up with that kind of shit when people write nasty stuff behind anonymous user names on the internet. Read the bloody interview. He is a regular bloke just like yourself. I´ve worked with some well known people in my life and the kind of shit some of them have to take from people like yourself on the internet is just sad. Most of them are very decent folks.

Sure he has not done only bike stuff lately. What the **** is wrong with that? He´ll probably be back on the bike soon. And you have no idea how they do things when they film a program like these. What you see is not always exactly what actually happened.

I'm not being nasty, prejudiced or personal, I just reckon that in his shows he comes across as a bit of a knobba.

Is that okay with you, Helboy?


:funmeteryes:

Eh? Are you for real mate? I'm talking about a celebrity tv presenter and a series of tv shows, why do you insist on taking it so personally? I haven't made a negative comment about you and I would not do so, maybe you should accept that some people don't like the same things as you and are in turn, fully entitled to express such opinions in a public motorcycle forum. Why not offer some feedback about your thoughts on the program like an adult instead of making childish accusations about me?

Ps,
Hellboy fancies Charlie Boorman!! :wub::icon16: :tt1::wub:


Does your wife know about your unhealthy obsession with Boorman??! :rofl:

But that is what people (like the ones on the HUBB, unless you work in the film industry) see and hear! We can only judge the "fiction" the "actors"/"directors"/"producers" choose to feed us.

Having an opinion opposite to yours doesn't make somebody nasty and prejudiced. Many people on this forum have the same opinion to Benny (including me), they just choose to no longer submit it, because the "I love Charley Brigade" get very excitable.

From experience of this forum, there's nothing more emotive than either saying BMW GSs are sh!te or Ewen and Thingy are overrated prats.

IMHO, Calm down, you're in the Bar. Buy the man a pint and move on.

Oiiiiii Hellboy, leave my fella alone. He's mine, all mine.:taz::blushing:

Mine's a G and T.:offtopic:

heated discussion WOW
 

Sitting here in the chilly Essex countryside in my office ( aka shed ) It was quite nice to read a few posts. This thread is "a touch heated" which is great ! Saved me trying to get out and buy a bigger fan heater :thumbup1:

I wondered how most people cope when not on a "trip" evidently not too well, come on chaps chill, I'm f****** freezing here.

Haha, thanks for saying what I was thinking Nath....I was trying to be as diplomatic as possible. An alternative view could be that Hellboy is actually Charley Boorman trying to sling around a bit of beef. No doubt fat Russ will be along soon to add his considerable and expanding 'weight' to the argument.

I think I've probably been issued with my first Charley Boorman Fan Club fatwa.:helpsmilie:

Hello
I'm bored and since on this trip I don't have the money to go partying, I have just read this thread and got entertained for free.
So here my two cent.

When I started my trip in North America, quite often people asked me if I knew Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman "they did the same thing you do and made a movie about it".
"Yes I know Ewan McGregor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi Master, able to control the mind of the weak by using the Force."

All the anger that LWD, LWR triggers comes from confusion.
Nowadays, thanks to Reality-TV, many people can't distinguish betweeen reality and fiction.

Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman are starring in a documentary style movie that looks more like a "making of" version of this movie.

Did they ride the whole thing?
Yes, of course, that was their job, so did the drivers of the support crew.
But, are there any discussions in overlander forums if those drivers were heros or not?
I don't think so, that was their job in the production.
Was there a script, was there a mechanic, were some scenes "faked"?
Yes,Yes,and Yes.
IT WAS A BIG TV PRODUKTION.

I have to say I never watched it comletly, only parts on Youtube.

Is it good? Yes it's a well made expensiv TV production with an internatonal superstar and a guy I don't know.
Does it inspiere other Biker to go travelling? I hope so.
Are people allowed to by those BMWs and fit them with Touratech stuff? Of course, James Bond helped selling a lot of cars.

Shoulden't we discuss about the acting performance of the actors rather than how real it was?
Yes, after the star wars movie everybody discussed the performence of Ewan McGregor as Obi-Wan Kenobi, only some retarded people discussed if the light-saber can cut through metall and if the Force really can control the mind of the weak.

So lets enjoy entertainmend for what it is and go out there riding the road where no man has gone before.
(which will be hard to find)

good night
sushi

Overrated prats? I'm just tired of exagerations and shit. Not nice to slander people. I would never say that other bikes than the one I happen to ride at the moment are shit. Peoples taste and preferences are not the same. We are different. Why judge someone that one have never met because his dad is a well known film maker? I don't have time with this now. There has been a water flooding over the recording studio I run earlier today and water has come down inside the studio. Nightmare.

Slander? You're having a laugh :rofl:. Everybody has opinions on all sorts of topics and people. Because mine is different to yours, doesn't make it shit, thanks a lot.

Suggestion: Go and sort the roof on your recording studio (I appreciate the situation must be very stressful), and when you're more compus mentis, come back and have a normal discussion. Have you watched the TV episodes that the OP mentioned? Do you have any input on this topic?

PS. I've just given the game away, haven't I, on the 2 most emotive HUBB-topics, that are GS & E/T. So, just like Lance A, in a face saving load of BS I will stress again, The GS is a WONDERful engineering masterpiece and Thingy is my biggest evvva role model. My ultimate porno-image is Thingy on a GS, pulling a wheelie, shortly before crashing into his cameraman.

I hope the water didn't damage your life sized poster of Charlie Boorman!! :tt1: :wub:

Classic mate, proper burst out laughing when I read this.

Dear Hellboy,

I don't wish to be pedantic, but I think you actually mean libel and not slander. For your information, Libel is the written word and slander is the spoken word. Btw, I bet you ride a BMW Touratw@t equiped GS1200, don't you?

Best regards

baluchiman

It's quite alright to slander me though isn't it hellboy? 'Peoples tastes and preferences are different? We are different? why judge someone that you have never met' Maybe you should listen to your own advice and wind your neck in? Clean your studio out, have a good bang on the drum kit, chug back a beer and sort your head out.

Sorry to hear that, hope the situation is recoverable without huge difficulty.

Maybe I'll bring a nerdy angle to this 'hot topic'.

I've never had strong opinions about EM or CB. Until I read that CB was to drive a Routemaster bus at the Ace Cafe!
What!!!!!!
The hate welled up inside. I had to go and see this. Maybe with rotten tomatoes.

As long as I can remember I've wanted a London Routemaster bus. I got within a whisker's when LT sold off a batch for £2000 each to pre-approved buyers. But the annual cost of permanent indoor storage within sensible reach of my home put it out of bounds.
And now, at the Ace, here was CB within easy tomato-throwing distance climbing up into the cab. How could this be??

Sitting right there behind a Routemaster steering wheel!! Just because ..... well, just because....

While the cameras whirred Charley engaged the pre-selector. Then smiling at all the right lenses, and wrestling the wheel with a flourish, he made a pretty good fist of driving the majestic double-decker out of the car park to neatly join the traffic on the North Circular Road. So all was right with the world again. He's an ok guy after all!

Any bus anoraks here, get yourself onto a (new) No. 38 Routemaster from Victoria, upstairs right at the front.
Like being on a grand ocean liner. Huge wrap-around windows floor to ceiling. Comfy seats. Silence as the bus pulls away. S-m-o-o-t-h, even on the beat-up London bus lanes.
Maybe these'll be pensioned off one day....

English is my third language so I do screw up every once in awhile.

I used to ride this for quite many years....

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8365/8...5b85a773_z.jpg

My first bike actually. It had a car tire on the back. :D And then I had a Panhead from -48. And then I had a side valve from -47. And then I had a Knucklehead with a side car from -36. And then I had a Fatboy from -01. And now I have the Beemer. Want to get a Ural with a side car just for fun.

What do you ride?

Well what if CB actually is a member of this community? Is it ok for you to write about him the way you do? I won´t fall into the "well you slander me back" trap.

Thank you. Very kind. I will know on wednesday how things are. Or perhaps tomorrow if I´m lucky. Hectic day. Total nightmare with water floodings. Among many other things there is a SSL sound console, a Steinway grand and lots of other very expensive stuff in the studio. It might be that the water only ended up on top of the studio roof. The studio itself is built like a separate building inside a large room. Abit hard to explain but the whole structure is totally separated from the building that surrounds it to minimize vibrations. Best case scenario is that I only have to replace 5 or 6 plasterboards but the worst scenario is to more or less take down the whole bloody studio. There are fans and dehumidifiers up there now to dry everything up. But I will know more tomorrow. Bloody nightmare.

Yeah those buses are cool. You should check if this one is still up for sale.....

The London Sale: Original 1966 Routemaster expected to fetch £30,000 at Christie's auction | Mail Online

Could make a fine 4 room apartment..... ;)

:offtopic: but what the hell......

On 3rd September last, that bus went for £67,250. Fat lot of good their 20,000 - 30,000 estimate was!
The £2000 deal years and years ago had a whole load of conditions attached, to stop exactly the sort of thing you mentioned. People turning them into cafes and homes. Or exporting them.

Apart from the cost of storage, I had another problem.
Of course, owning one of these would only be any fun if you can park it outside your house and drive it to the shops.
Well, I live in a dead-end road, the only access being under a low bridge. :eek3:
So it's a non-starter really!
And single-deckers? (as friends suggested) - well, they just don't have it somehow!

.... and definitely much more interesting than reading a lot of the drivel (including mine :blushing:) written in this thread. Bring on some OK weather so that people can get out on their bikes, rather than spouting bollox on here.

I've been thinking about buying a double decker but I'm unsure if it will get to all the places I want to go.

How off roadable are they?
Can I add more lights?
What tyres?
Or should I just get a single decker so I can definitely do all those pistes but still blend in with the locals?

ps I'm planning a weekend trip in the summer to Birmingham (Stockholm is now out due to reports of angry mobs), so any advice greatly appreciated.

:D:eek3::D

New adventure show
 

My new TV series is premiering on friday.

Its about me and my buddys journey from Mongolia-Sweden on ATV;s

Check out the trailer

YouTube


and the website Home

I'm sure those following this thread will have no interest in your trip UNLESS your using an extensive and expensive back up crew, handlers, fixers, go betweens and corporate sponsors in which case we will devote and additional 20 pages or so taking the pi$$ out of your adventure LOL