Go Back   Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB > All Miscellaneous questions > Travellers' questions that don't fit anywhere else
Travellers' questions that don't fit anywhere else This is an opportunity to ask any question, and post any notice you wish that doesn't fit into one of the other sections.
Photo by Daniel Rintz, Himba children, Namibia

The only impossible journey
is the one
you never begin

Photo by Daniel Rintz,
Himba children, Namibia



Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 3 Oct 2010
Tubeless's Avatar
Registered Users
New on the HUBB
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Wales
Posts: 7
I need your thoughts! Research into Adventure.

Folks,

I am currently writing a dissertation on motorcycling adventure for a masters degree in Outdoor Education through Trinity College, University of Wales.
I have undertaken an adventure ride or two myself but need further info from our international community for my research.

There are academic studies on biking culture from a marketting perspective or how to sell stuff to us bikers but hardly any research on the Adventure Experience.

I want to know what you think makes motorcycling adventurous, so either an account of your most adventurous moment, your personal take on adventure biking or just what you love about the biking thing would be very useful, especially if you are doing a trip right now and are "in it."

Please give me a few minutes to send me some ideas via my e-mail tubeless-@hotmail.co.uk or respond to this thread and keep it going.

My methodology is based in naturalistic inquiry which means that the thoughts, feelings and philosophy of Adventure Biking participants are valid and any thing you can offer will help me hugely. Any data used will be kept anonymous.

Many thanks for you help.

Tubeless
__________________
Put the key of despair into the lock of apathy. Turn the knob of mediocrity slowly and open the door of despondency - Welcome to a day in the average office....
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 3 Oct 2010
T.REX63's Avatar
Gold Member
Veteran HUBBer
 
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Atlanta, GA / USA
Posts: 295
Well, you picked a heck of a topic for your dissertation. If you find a way to get your university to sponsor a round the world trip to gain first hand experience... I might just go back to school.

Adventure travel: a phrase with meanings as plenty full as people asked to define it. I'll stick to just travel by motorcycle.

What appeals to me:
-being exposed to the elements in the course of travel. A challenge for the senses, i.e. feeling, smelling, seeing, tasting.
- chance interaction with total strangers of the same culture and language as well as different culture and language in a given situation (being lost, having technical problems, needing shelter, drink, food, sharing laughter, listen & learn)
- Lack of predictability from day to day. Yet, preparedness to deal with the unpredictable.

Hope that helps...
__________________
Thomas

"Hey, ...I'm just ridin' shotgun"
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 3 Oct 2010
mustaphapint's Avatar
Gold Member
Veteran HUBBer
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Brittany, France
Posts: 401
I suggest you buy and read some of the excellent books written by Sam Manicom, Ted Simon, Lois Pryce, Ian Mutch, Simon Gandolfi, Dan Walsh, Geoff Hill and Bob Goddard to name just a few. They all contain the thoughts, feelings and philosophy of the writers as they write about their experiences.
__________________
If you think you are too small to make a difference you have never spent the night with a mosquito.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 4 Oct 2010
Nomadic1's Avatar
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
 
Join Date: May 2007
Location: Sheffield, UK
Posts: 103
For me a holiday turns into an adventure when unexpected things happen and you have to be creative to stop it derailing the entire journey.

For instance, defrosting my starter motor in southern germany in spring was an unexpected event, and using a blowtorch to my beloved bmw was not something I'd ever imagine doing. But it worked a treat!
__________________

Visit my space here
See my photos here
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 4 Oct 2010
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Boulder, CO, USA
Posts: 182
For me, the adventure is in the travel...not the motorcycle.

I travel because of the unknown. I travel because of the problems I will encounter and the people I will meet while I solve those problems. I travel so that I can see the world from another person's point of view. I travel so that I may visit locations other people have only seen on TV. I travel because my comfortable daily routine never quite satisfies me.

I could do this just as easily in a car, on a boat, on a bicycle, or on foot. All are equally valid ways to meet this adventure. The motorcycle is simply my preference for how to meet the adventure of travel. I travel by motorcycle because it is exposed enough I don't have a feeling of having a "home" yet fast enough I can easily move from place to place.
__________________
Traveling The World Since: 2011
Blog: The Seductive Life (General Travel)
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 7 Oct 2010
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Oxford UK
Posts: 2,102
Quote:
Originally Posted by othalan View Post
For me, the adventure is in the travel...not the motorcycle.
There is a lot in that but for me the motorcycle element is significant. Over the years I've traveled on foot, by bicycle, motorcycle, car, 4x4 and quite a few others methods and the most pleasure has come from the bike trips.

Why is the difficult bit to explain. All of the stuff about being part of the surroundings on a bike and isolated from it in a car is true but there have been times on many bike trips when I'd have been very happy to be isolated from the surroundings. Nevertheless I usually look at whether it's possible or sensible to use a bike on the next trip.

I do smile slightly when I see the term Adventure Motorcycling. I've been "adventuring" on a bike since long before the term was ever coined but it was just touring to us. AM seems to have been slotted into the marketing spectrum to represent a kind of hardcore "out there on the edge" touring that requires a kind of quasi military approach and serious "rufty- tufty" equipment derived from the MX or enduro world - a kind of two wheeled version of an expedition Land Rover (or TLC !). It's a marketing mindset that wants you to believe that if you're doing a long trip you need serious equipment - and here it is, available to buy. "Touring" is now just a quick trip to the south of France on a Pan Euro or similar that doesn't require much prep.

Having said all that the adventure comes in many forms. A year or so ago I started writing up some of my early (70's) trips on a website (Pisquicktours - see below) A couple of weeks ago I got an email from my ex wife who'd come across the site. I haven't spoken to her since the early 80's. That's the sort of thing I need military grade equipment to deal with!
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 7 Oct 2010
beddhist's Avatar
Contributing Member
Veteran HUBBer
 
Join Date: Sep 2003
Location: Whangarei, NZ
Posts: 2,214
I agree. Adventure biking is a marketing term to sell BMW GS', etc. I travelled half way around the world and sure, I had some adventures. But you can have them in any mode of travel and the longer you travel the more likely you are to have them.

Some of my "adventures" were self-inflicted, like dropping my bike into a ford in Thailand that I didn't even need to cross.
__________________
Cheers,
Peter.

Europe to NZ 2006-10
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 7 Oct 2010
Caminando's Avatar
Moderated Users
Veteran HUBBer
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: DogZone Country
Posts: 1,218
Quote:
Originally Posted by backofbeyond View Post
There is a lot in that but for me the motorcycle element is significant. Over the years I've traveled on foot, by bicycle, motorcycle, car, 4x4 and quite a few others methods and the most pleasure has come from the bike trips.

Why is the difficult bit to explain. All of the stuff about being part of the surroundings on a bike and isolated from it in a car is true but there have been times on many bike trips when I'd have been very happy to be isolated from the surroundings. Nevertheless I usually look at whether it's possible or sensible to use a bike on the next trip.

I do smile slightly when I see the term Adventure Motorcycling. I've been "adventuring" on a bike since long before the term was ever coined but it was just touring to us. AM seems to have been slotted into the marketing spectrum to represent a kind of hardcore "out there on the edge" touring that requires a kind of quasi military approach and serious "rufty- tufty" equipment derived from the MX or enduro world - a kind of two wheeled version of an expedition Land Rover (or TLC !). It's a marketing mindset that wants you to believe that if you're doing a long trip you need serious equipment - and here it is, available to buy. "Touring" is now just a quick trip to the south of France on a Pan Euro or similar that doesn't require much prep.

Having said all that the adventure comes in many forms. A year or so ago I started writing up some of my early (70's) trips on a website (Pisquicktours - see below) A couple of weeks ago I got an email from my ex wife who'd come across the site. I haven't spoken to her since the early 80's. That's the sort of thing I need military grade equipment to deal with!
Hi Backo, your Pisquicktours is a gem and it's great you've done it. You've produced not only some nice reading/pics, but also added to the archives of the history of 60s travel. The B+W pics add flavour so no worries there. Well done. I've lost all my 70s pics of bikes etc so I enjoyed yours.

PS I was near your place in Alpe d'Huez recently, just chilling out with bike and tent on the twisty roads round you. I came over from Auvergne on one of my therapeutic trips with moto and tent.

PPS I know exactly what you mean about normal touring (as something that you always did), now being repackaged etc.....
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 7 Oct 2010
Gold Member
Veteran HUBBer
 
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: N.Yorkshire
Posts: 336
The best/most interesting things that happen, weren't originally part of the plan.
__________________
Harley Davidsons,
The most effective way of turning petrol into noise without the side-effect of horsepower
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 6 Mar 2011
Tubeless's Avatar
Registered Users
New on the HUBB
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Wales
Posts: 7
many thanks!

To you folks who responded many thanks to you all!

I've had a great time exploring what I would suggest is the post modern adventure experience. Can I insist that you travel to the international journal of motorcycle studies? - IJMS - (google it) For many philosophical rambles that make all but Dan 'the man' Walsh come up wanting.

Steve McQueen and Karl Marx in a place that makes it all seem obvious. Foucalt and a fishbowl - OMG!

Dissertation ready for final proof reading! It's been a ball and I still love my bike. very cool.

Tubeless x
__________________
Put the key of despair into the lock of apathy. Turn the knob of mediocrity slowly and open the door of despondency - Welcome to a day in the average office....
Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 Registered Users and/or Members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Electronic Deer Alert Research vmanusmvmcin Other Bikes Tech 21 8 Nov 2013 20:14
A bit of market research - hope no-one minds. Alexlebrit Travellers' questions that don't fit anywhere else 6 8 Apr 2009 19:13
12GSA, 650 Dakar, AT/TA & Other options to research? sockpuppet Which Bike? 26 30 Mar 2009 08:23
research on Dirkou WLR North Africa 0 24 Sep 2004 19:20

 
 

Announcements

Thinking about traveling? Not sure about the whole thing? Watch the HU Achievable Dream Video Trailers and then get ALL the information you need to get inspired and learn how to travel anywhere in the world!

Have YOU ever wondered who has ridden around the world? We did too - and now here's the list of Circumnavigators!
Check it out now
, and add your information if we didn't find you.

Next HU Eventscalendar

HU Event and other updates on the HUBB Forum "Traveller's Advisories" thread.
ALL Dates subject to change.

2024:

Add yourself to the Updates List for each event!

Questions about an event? Ask here

HUBBUK: info

See all event details

 
World's most listened to Adventure Motorbike Show!
Check the RAW segments; Grant, your HU host is on every month!
Episodes below to listen to while you, err, pretend to do something or other...

2020 Edition of Chris Scott's Adventure Motorcycling Handbook.

2020 Edition of Chris Scott's Adventure Motorcycling Handbook.

"Ultimate global guide for red-blooded bikers planning overseas exploration. Covers choice & preparation of best bike, shipping overseas, baggage design, riding techniques, travel health, visas, documentation, safety and useful addresses." Recommended. (Grant)



Ripcord Rescue Travel Insurance.

Ripcord Rescue Travel Insurance™ combines into a single integrated program the best evacuation and rescue with the premier travel insurance coverages designed for adventurers.

Led by special operations veterans, Stanford Medicine affiliated physicians, paramedics and other travel experts, Ripcord is perfect for adventure seekers, climbers, skiers, sports enthusiasts, hunters, international travelers, humanitarian efforts, expeditions and more.

Ripcord travel protection is now available for ALL nationalities, and travel is covered on motorcycles of all sizes!


 

What others say about HU...

"This site is the BIBLE for international bike travelers." Greg, Australia

"Thank you! The web site, The travels, The insight, The inspiration, Everything, just thanks." Colin, UK

"My friend and I are planning a trip from Singapore to England... We found (the HU) site invaluable as an aid to planning and have based a lot of our purchases (bikes, riding gear, etc.) on what we have learned from this site." Phil, Australia

"I for one always had an adventurous spirit, but you and Susan lit the fire for my trip and I'll be forever grateful for what you two do to inspire others to just do it." Brent, USA

"Your website is a mecca of valuable information and the (video) series is informative, entertaining, and inspiring!" Jennifer, Canada

"Your worldwide organisation and events are the Go To places to for all serious touring and aspiring touring bikers." Trevor, South Africa

"This is the answer to all my questions." Haydn, Australia

"Keep going the excellent work you are doing for Horizons Unlimited - I love it!" Thomas, Germany

Lots more comments here!



Five books by Graham Field!

Diaries of a compulsive traveller
by Graham Field
Book, eBook, Audiobook

"A compelling, honest, inspiring and entertaining writing style with a built-in feel-good factor" Get them NOW from the authors' website and Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.uk.



Back Road Map Books and Backroad GPS Maps for all of Canada - a must have!

New to Horizons Unlimited?

New to motorcycle travelling? New to the HU site? Confused? Too many options? It's really very simple - just 4 easy steps!

Horizons Unlimited was founded in 1997 by Grant and Susan Johnson following their journey around the world on a BMW R80G/S.

Susan and Grant Johnson Read more about Grant & Susan's story

Membership - help keep us going!

Horizons Unlimited is not a big multi-national company, just two people who love motorcycle travel and have grown what started as a hobby in 1997 into a full time job (usually 8-10 hours per day and 7 days a week) and a labour of love. To keep it going and a roof over our heads, we run events all over the world with the help of volunteers; we sell inspirational and informative DVDs; we have a few selected advertisers; and we make a small amount from memberships.

You don't have to be a Member to come to an HU meeting, access the website, or ask questions on the HUBB. What you get for your membership contribution is our sincere gratitude, good karma and knowing that you're helping to keep the motorcycle travel dream alive. Contributing Members and Gold Members do get additional features on the HUBB. Here's a list of all the Member benefits on the HUBB.




All times are GMT +1. The time now is 20:27.