How many get on a bike and do it.
 

There are many out there who dream of doing a trip on a bike or car, mostly 40 something dreamers like myself!
I started wondering how many actually do it out of every 100 dreamers? I suspect its quite a low %
Counting friends & people I know that have said they would like to do something I am the only one that has (so far ) some have bikes with all the "gear" too. Some are "starbucks warriors" :innocent:

Based on my list it comes to 7.5% is this likely to be an accurate estimate? ?c?
Any reasonable trip counts, not just RTW / ATW ( but not to the shops .........or starbucks)

A lot more than you think....

But way less than the bikes and equipment out there suggest...

If that makes sense doh

just an opinion ....
 

A lot depends on values, goals, education and background experiences growing up. It may help if the "hook" is set early on. The 7% figure seems close enough for discussion. Most dream ... and get no further. But that's OK. Starbucks has WiFi so your can read Ride Tales on HUBB while enjoying your Mocha! :smartass: Inspiration has to start somewhere. But mostly ... life gets in the way of travel ... and goal oriented ambition to "succeed".

Most don't see "a future" in travel ... especially Moto Travel. Doesn't pay much. :helpsmilie:

FACT: Very few will be able to make a living peddling books, DVD's or doing the Rally circuit or doing product endorsements. I'm sure Grant and Susan could comment here. I doubt they started off with the intention to never stop traveling or to found HU. Dream job? ... I'm betting it's hard work. (Real work ... but satisfying?)

A few, like Ted Simon, Grant and Susan, Austin Vince, Greg Frasier, have achieved minor celebrity status. Even renegades like Striking Viking have horned in and had success and ridden the wave.

But, IMO, average rider/travelers don't seek that out celebrity and monetary gain. But the uber successful serve as mentor and guide to us all ... (or dream instigators?) Through flowing words and magical images they inspire us all ... where that leads varies widely ... but for most it leads to Starbuck's and more dreaming while looking the part.

Most riders who DO travel do a quick continent or RTW and are done. They collect as many passport stamps and pannier stickers as possible ... and are back to business as usual, endorsing typical trappings of western life within a year or two.

In my region, travelers seem to whizz past Mexico and Cent. America like it wasn't there. Few ever really know ANY of the countries or the people they pass by at 60 mph. They have a "goal" and "time limit". All this puts restrictions on travel and perceptions. But they ALL get that Ushuaia photo!

But the moto travel adventure landscape has changed. Ever since the first "Long Way Round" we've see an increase in commercial interests. Main stream moto media and commerce has jumped on the ADV term ... even run of the mill Tour Companies are now "Adventure Travel specialists". The manufacturers too are on board. Think about how these commercial interests and merchants have changed things ... and driven the cost of 3rd world travel up sharply.

But fads fade and most will go back to what they did before "ADV" became so prominent. And the 7% will find a way ... and the rest will dream on. bier

Hi Tim,

Like Ted says these days a lot more than you think. Five years ago not as many and 10 years ago even fewer still. Long way round not only made motorcycle touring socially acceptable but like Noel says rekindled those dreams of youth.

Before that not many at all and pioneers like Ted Simon and our hosts Grant and Susan were rare and thought of as a bit wacky to want to do such things.

Before we started our first trip in 2008 from Singapore to the UK my mate reckoned we were 1 percenter’s (of all the people who rode bikes and wanted to do a RTW trip only 1% did) and maybe then he was right, but that’s going up.

Back in 1979 I made my first big trip from the UK to the South of France with four others as you can see from the photo some things were different some haven't changed. You would have thought we were going round the world then and to us it was so far away, and a huge adventure. We also didn't have all the fancy luggage to choose from back then. But we made it, and had a ball doing it.

35 years later, it’s like an incurable disease, Russia, Mongolia, Siberia 2014. Here we come.

Plans and life interferes
 

A youngster leaves school and wonders what they will do with their life. Some already know, others haven't got a clue. Some get a job, some go to uni, some get an apprenticeship, some meet their life partner, some do nothing much, some travel.
Some make travel plans, but wait till after their vocational training, meet their loved one, get married, get a mortgage, have kids, get promoted. Before they know it they are in their fifties, hair is falling out along with their teeth. Hey, that's me.
But lucky for me, 6 months before being booted out the door at work, I had a brain flash: I can ride my old bike around the world. Just like that it happened, I even remember the spot where it happened: I was walking across the intersection outside work one lunch break.
I was 58 years old, finished work in November, got my visas for Indonesia, India and Pakistan, and in February with cries of "Mark, come back", "Mark don't do it", "Mark, the taliban will get you", "Mark, you won't even get to Darwin" ringing in my ears, I headed off.
And since then, every winter I head off on another adventure. Life is good.
But the people I admire most are the ones that are doing it differently to me, especially youngsters and couples with children.
Cheers,
Mark.

I'm not denying there is a lot who do get on and go and sure it is a shed load more than 10 or 15 years ago.....without doubt increasing dramatically following Longway Round/Down etc. There simply is much more awareness of motorcycle travel and it follows much more desire to do it.

Of those who "desire it" how many do it, do you think it is more nowadays as a percentage of the vastly increased numbers or about the same as 10 15 years. It's a bit like or the horrible things we hear on the news, is there more of it about now, or do we just hear about more of it than 10 years ago? Who knows....

Yes Ted I fully get what you mean about bikes and equipment, the gear has nothing to do with it really its about the person after all you can travel on anything, as most on hear know. I guess that's what makes it hard to qualify an answer to my question, you can't base it on how many GSA's have been sold(others are available) & ( most are parked at starbucks :innocent: ) Or how many HUBB members have posted ride tales/reports or blogs, because some just don't do that. Some just do it and nobody knows, because nothing is said, unless someone asks...... that understands "WHY" :thumbup1:

Also apparently not all are members of the HUBB ! :eek3:


I'm sure the percentage would go up if more people knew that you don't have to have the latest biggest most powerful adventure offering with intergalactic gizmo's and internet connection to go from Uk to Calais, France. ( I'm sure that's been posted here many times.)

"doing a trip"? It's all in the eye of the beholder.
What you may consider to be a walk in the park, others may gulp at.
"any reasonable trip" - would a short weekend from London to Calais count or does it involve several hundred / thousand of miles?

However, I believe you're correct - the majority go nowhere. That's OK though - I prefer to have the road less travelled to myself :)