I swear, if one more person brings up that vapid, support vehicle using twit when I am doing a serious ride I'm going to break their nose.

Chill Mon :freezing:

The "General Public" like to feel part of this sort of thing. Try it with a sidecar. I swore the next person who brought up Wallace and Gromit, The Two Fat Ladies, George and Mildred, On the Busses or pretty much anything featuring sidecars made since Where Eagles Dare and the Great Escape was going to get the benefit of the jack handle. The only "positive" bit of sidecaring on telly will have been about ten minutes of Indiana Jones. OK, they don't get it, so a simple laugh and comment about the support vehicle brings them up to speed. The next person who asked BTW was a seven foot tall copper with various nasty sticks and sprays on him, so the jack handle never got used :rofl:

Andy

Loads of people pay for bike tours with support vehicles but they never get the slagging that these two get. I wouldn't do any kind of tour, or pay anyone to lead me around, but I wonder why E+C get so much stick? My main criticism is that they gave no credit at all to previous overlanders, which implied to the "public" that they were the first to do it.

The polar explorers were usually quite keen on not telling old ladies with money in Edwardian England about how they ate their dogs, (puppies first) and the Himalayan blokes were pretty rough on the Shepas lugging their cocktail cabinets etc. but usually failed to mention it until years later. A bit of "creative presentation" goes with the job, which to me only makes the likes of Ted Simons book and the Mondo Enduro film better. E&C the truthful version would have been a ten minute slot on the holiday channel, but it is what it is and if that's what inspired people to do the real thing they deserve their place on the list. It's like a bit like putting Jules Verne (or given the acting skills Gerry Anderson) on a list of famous rocket scientists IMHO. The same argument puts Spot the Dog, The Big Hungry Caterpillar and Playboy Magazine on the list with Dickens and Darwin.

Andy

I have. A Ural, started in Moscow and then down into Central Asia.

When I got back people said, "Wow you must have been inspired by Ewan Mcgregor!!"

Grrrrrrr.....

It was their personalities that did for me. Boorish, shallow, vapid, narcissistic and extremely chatty.

Another vote for...
 

Joey Dunlop. I met Joey a few times and a more modest man you could not wish to meet.
In fact thinking about it add all of the names of the I.O.M racers because they are not only skilled and courageous but also very courteous to all of their fans.

For me it has to be John Surtees, the only man to ever win the world championship on 2 wheels and 4. He's still around, most unassuming, visits the Goodwood Revival regularly, a living legend!

Qatarider...
 

have to also agree with you as well. Several months ago I was privileged to go to a small photography gallery where he did a presentation on his career.
As you have said he is very self effacing and willing to talk on a one to one basis for hours.
I really cannot see why he has not been knighted and has he says its probably because he has not got enough PR people.

Not true. They credit mondo enduro and ted simon. They even went to the trouble of arranging an inpromptu (sp?) meet with ted simon in a market place somewhere in russia or thereabouts.

So much hatred and ill feeling towards those two fellas. I thought travel was meant to enlighten and bring peace (or some such crap). Leave 'em be. I bet they dont go on a public forum and slag off other bikers.

I'd really back off using the HATE moniker. There is no hate expressed at all in Caminando's post. Read it again please ... I really think you owe an apology.

Laser Jock may have been a bit harsh (read his post too ... as its the one Caminando was commenting about) ... but when you start casting out the Hate lure then you're talking Nut Job extremist Nazi crap or something.
Not a great atmosphere on a Moto travel site, no? And none of that going on here. Why are you turning up the heat?

The words I'd have used would have been: "jealousy and envy" towards these fellows."