It's not always a bad thing having all the gear and no idea...

Having a expensive, kitted out adventure bike and never going on any trips or adventures isn't always folly.

I mean, when the zombie apocalypse or Armageddon finally hits us, the Overland specials will be a real use . Mad Max style.

Sump guards are great for ramming through hoards of the un-dead.

And my 12V sockets will power all types of automatic machine gun triggers etc..

Having uprated suspension means you can throw a beautiful young damsel in distress over your back seat without messing up your handing and crashing into a burning petrol station...


Right ???

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Possibly time to find the remote or other means of getting away from the horror channel/ x factor repeats?

Personally I'd go for the fake classic market. All the design work was done in 1935 and if it leaks you can claim it's authentic. Bonneville and W800 mixed whitworth and unf conversion kit anyone?

Andy

I'm with you there Ted. I've got the bikes prepped and ready - one for each of the family (just got to teach them how to ride!) and the keys to the mountain top eagles nest bunker (?) are within easy reach. 6000ft up should get me above all that nasty radioactive stuff and the zombies will be knackered by the time they've walked up the hill so should be easy to deal with.

That's one of the reasons I'd never buy an off the shelf adventurised bike - ultimately you have to trust in your own abilities and I have a responsibility to make sure the family are safe. My son is of like mind and just this week has been learning advanced anti zombie techniques based on the government training film "World War Z". He's pleased we live where we do as the problem seems much worse on the other side of the atlantic. In a month or two's time we're off to the bunker for a winter escape and evasion course. I just hope there's enough snow for the skis to work.

I can't believe that some people are so irresponsible that they won't take these simple precautions. I think you have a public duty to let us know where you found significant numbers of people who would put lives at risk by paying others to prep their bikes. Name and shame because some of us may need to pay them a visit.

Remember - when the day comes, unless you live somewhere like this, life may well be nasty, brutish and short.

Same old, same old, from a slightly different angle. The vote says it all as per the HUBB demographic. We almost all choose to travel by bike because we enjoy riding bikes just for the sake of it. We often try and justify our preference telling non bikers that you can go places you can't go in other vehicles, cheaper on fuel, cheaper to buy, easy to fix, cheaper to ship etc. but the starting point is just the joy of riding your bike.

I've often thought that the main manufacturers are missing a trick by not making proper ready to go adventure/overland travel bikes but clearly the vote shows that hardly anyone would be prepared to pay the premium on the price. Those fully adventurised models are being bought by someone but I suspect, in the main, by the Starbucks tourer.

The hardened traveler knows what he wants and it's usually things that none of the off the peg bikes offer - better suspension, better protection, the scuffed up panniers that did 50k miles on the last bike and so on. First time traveler imagine that they can design the perfect bike by reading this and other forums but, doubtless, realise the folly of their ways within the first few days of their trip, as well as wondering what happened to all that cash.

The only way you get close to the perfect bike is to develop it over quite a few miles with a view to keeping it for a long time and not worrying about the return on investment - IMO.

I take it you have never been to the small town of mablethorpe then?

Yes, how does the old joke go - "Mummy, where do people go when they die? Is it Devon"?

Why do I know so many people in Devon these days