motorcycle hero who is it
 

just making idle chat bored waiting for the next trip so who is your bike hero? mine would be foggy sheene lois austin and anyone who has done more than 10 years (light hearted banter) surtees ummm there are so many.....

Not Heroes, Legends
 

I admire and wonder about many motorcyclists that came before and many who are with us still that I've not met. I've ridden with and known a few listed here and read the words of others.

But the ones passed on can never know how we feel about them or how much we honor them, but the living legends are still here and deserve everyone's admiration and love ... NOW ... while still with us.

Just a few favorites:

Those passed on :
Steve McQueen (American, actor, MC racer)
Keenan Winn (American, actor, lifelong MC devotee)
Danny Liska (American, MC traveling pioneer, BS artist, writer)
Robert Fulton (American, early MC explorer, writer)
Joey Dunlap (Irish, best there ever was at IOM)
Lee Marvin (American, Actor, life long MC lover/rider)
Dennis Hopper (American, Artist, Actor, Patron of the arts, rider)

Those still with us:
Dick Mann (American, Racer, builder, legend)
Kenny Roberts (American, GP Champion, team owner, legend)
Ted Simon (British, Writer of best ever MC travel book,World MC traveler)
Gregory Frasier, (American, Writer, Professional world traveler, Sexologist)
Dan Walsh (British, Best MC Journalist ever, novelist, world traveler)

Mine is this http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/davebarr/

Gerald Vince...Austins big brother! & Ted Simon

What a guy !!! :thumbup1:

Theresa Wallach

:thumbup1:add mine to Dave Barr....:thumbup1: Now i know I can do anything. and he did it on a Harley. He should be Number 1 he deserves it..

Oneworld Biker

To old to die young. To young to care.

RTW on a Goldwing and a prayer

P.s Now going to order the 2 books and learn something new...

Tell us about Gerald Vince. Was he the ring leader behind Mondo Enduro?
What is his background? He is virtually unknown in the USA.

Anyone ever read Dave Barr's books? Either of them? Anyone ever heard him speak? Anyone know why he was in Angola? :innocent: And who's army he was in?

Gerald Vince....watch Mondo Enduro & Terra Circa & all will be revealed,he is the eldest member.

I agree with all of the above, all cool dudes, just to throw two more in there ERNESTO 'CHE' GUEVARA. (very dead) and ALBERTO GRANADO (alive in the usa i believe).
round south America on a 500 Norton 'La Poderosa' two up in 1952, crazy guys.

I'll give Ted simon my vote, Jupiter's travels got me into this, it may have happened anyway but I am not sure it would have.
An honourable mention also goes to Glynn Roberts who I met in the US in 1990 and taught me a lot of the in and out of overland motorcycle travel.
He also does a lot of hard work in putting Ripley together.

Malcolm Smith: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm..._(motorcyclist)

once I had seen Evel Knievel
doing those Jump's my brother and I just had to get a bike.
paper round and washing car's for a year and we bought a second hand one of these off a mate's dad....

http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...zerrtw/C90.jpg

summer holiday's of 1973 were spent in the field building ramps from old door's and jumping them and trying to get both wheel's off the ground at the same time :mchappy: dreaming of Jumping like our Hero Evel Knievel :thumbup1:


http://i151.photobucket.com/albums/s...el_Knievel.jpg

Without doubt for me, Joey Dunlop

My motorcycling heroes
 

Has to be Ted Simon - Jupiter's Travels is an awesome read and he really was one of the first to get out there and show that motorcycling is a viable means of exploring the world.

Also, Lois Pryce - when I read Red Tape and White Knuckles, that was the first inkling I had that women could have adventures on bikes as well! It's sitting on my coffee table right now and is fuelling my own plans for doing a trip across Africa just as soon as I've got the hang of this whole biking thing!

One more mention - Burt Munro, the New Zealand guy that was the subject of the World's Fastest Indian movie. Love his determination and grit to get out on his bike in spite of everyone telling him not to, and achieving such an amazing feat.

All very different, but all truly inspiring!!

Jeanie:mchappy:

"Don't follow leaders, watch your parking meters".

Plus On On Dylan!
 

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_pXs6Z_85Tj8/TG...500_AA300_.jpg

http://lh6.ggpht.com/_pXs6Z_85Tj8/TG...ummer_64_b.jpg

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_pXs6Z_85Tj8/TG...motorcycle.jpg

Hey thanks for the pics of Dylan on a bike - I didnt know they existed. It was his secret hidden time wasnt it, when he fell off his bike and hid for a while.....

:thumbup1:

Yep
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/l...9/DSCF0040.jpg
http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/l...9/DSCF0039.jpg

+ 1 for Joey Dunlop - a legend

Know where you are coming from Dazzer a mix of Evel Knieival and Barry Sheene and an FS1E got me into biking !

Chizz

+1 for Malcolm Smith...

If you haven't seen "On Any Sunday"...its worth a watch...
On Any Sunday - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Joey Dunlop,Ago,Hailwood,Rossi,
Hubert Auriol,Patsy Quick,
Fonda,Hopper

and.......about half-way through the film "Woodstock" there's a guy riding an orange/cream Bonneville (just like my old bike) through the crowd in a sea of mud. One cool dude. Whoever you are/were, you inspired me to get biking. Thanks.

Word is the accident was pretty serious (remember, no helmets worn back then) scared the shit out of himself ... he never rode again, far as I know.

Heroes You Know And Ride With?

What about current "Heros", guys you know or used to know or met? Or guys/gals you ride with now or are at least local to your community? Travelers? Racers? Whatever. Who are you're "real" heroes among your friends and ... why?

I have a good friend who is really a local legend in his own time ... and no one here has ever heard his name. But in Northern California he is legend ... and still riding. In fact, that is about all he does. More on this later ....

Valentino Rossi, a hero and legend. Tenacious, passionate, entertaining and a great character :mchappy:

Probably blasphemy but ...
 

For me it was both Ted Simon and (I can't believe I'm going to type this here) Ewan and Charlie.

I know there's been lots said about there being no comparison between RTW travels for normal folks and the LWR and LWD trips. But watching LWR is what inspired my wife and I to go on a trip from Calgary to Montreal in '08.

While I readily admit that an all highway trip any where in N.America probably doesn't rate high on the adventure scale, it was pretty heady stuff for us back then.

I hope that at some point in the future there's going to be trips to Alaska and thru S.America - but it all leads back to watching Ewan and Charlie in LWR.

Let the flames begin ....

Ian

Ted Simon is a legend, should be Sir Ted Simon.

Only in the movie but not in the book or in real life. I don't believe the bike made it past Day 2.

If it worked for you why not.

Can't add anything to the biking hero's but in terms of exploring hero's I could list a bloke who killed his mates by not listening to advice (Scott) a bloke who funded his trips by various dodgy means (Shackleton), a guy who could start an argument alone and a thousand miles from anywhere (Mawson) and two that didn't have the sense to quit/egged each other on until they were killed (Mallory and Irvine). These guys are never perfect and you can always find flaws along with the brilliant bits.

You can't argue with Ewan and Charlies presentation of what they wanted to do, even if the content was shall we say a little light.

Andy

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."