Overwatering
 

Yes, I do wonder though, how a forum that started off as motorcycling round the world (I think), but has grown to take in cars and push bikes. I think there has also been other modes of transports too (trucks, walking, tractors) and yet I have never seen one mention of someone wanting to sail round the world. Is there some sort of inverted snobbery? i.e. it is usually middle class middle aged people who do this (from my minimal research).

Is no one considering doing this seriously?

I would like to. When we get to Austrlira, we are seriously considering spending 5 years learning to sail, and continuing our trip that way. Do you think the HUBB will have a sailing category by then?

Getting back to the thread though, I think it is interesting to hear other peoples reasons for doing it. There is certainly no right and no wrong. In fact, for me I would lke to try them all. Not sure time/money/wife will let me, but I don't see this thread is a waste of space. To me, understanding others is a great part of being part fo a community like this.

The answer to this question is quite simple: Adventure is NOT about being safe, comfortable and out of the rain!


Matt :)

Finished a trip Europe --> Australia on a bike a few months ago.

Why a bike is better on such a trip? Here´s one: it is cheaper to transport. We needed to do this from India to Thailand (by air), from Malaysia to Indonesia (by boat) and from there to Australia (by air). And finally from Sydney back to Europe (by boat). Only one of these, from India to Thailand, could theoretically have been possible to do overland, but in reality it wasnt, because of wintertime in the Himalayas, and Burma remaining off-limits.

Would´ve needed a truckload more money to transport any car by airplane, or we probably wouldve done it by ship, if we had a car, but then it wouldve meant a several-week long wait at the receiving end. Plus I hear clearing the vehicle at some of the harbours can be a real pain in the ___. Much easier at airports.

Normally a bike uses less fuel than a car, too. Just 1 liter more per 100kms on the road would´ve meant we would have needed 340 litres more fuel to get to our destination. With fuel prices soaring, thats not an insignificant issue, will be even more so in the near future.

In Iran we actually met, and travelled for a while, with a Czech couple heading towards Vietnam on a 4x4. The man was a full-blown bike-enthusiast, but the wife wasnt so much, so they´d come up with a more comfortable solution. Even though their car was mighty fine, very offroad-capable and had beds for 2, a kitchen, shower, everything, I still think the guy would´ve switched vehicles with us anytime!

There were places in Asia, which are accessible by bike, but not by car, like some small islands on the Mekong river, where you go on small longtail-boats, for example. Not much difference where an offroad-car or an offroad-bike can go if the road gets real bad, depend more on the driver/rider. A car might be easier for a person who is not so experienced off-road.

Im not saying there arent a lot of positives travelling by a car, too. I just think our trip was both cheaper and more memorable done by bike, than it would´ve been by car.

This has been an amazing read for me..

IMHO.. as a rule a bike is not better then a car or vis versa.. They both have ups and downs. So why do I do it on bike... cus I like bikes better. End of story.

Explanation:

4-wheeled vehicles in any shape (to me) are great tools, but I just can find no passion for em, they are better for carrying x to y (especially if x is heavy or big or really breakable), they are better in the wet or extreme heat (if you have AC), they can be more comfortable (but not necessarily), lots of reasons above ,,, but I have never had a smile on my face when i get out of one (and i have driven some cars the have been dubbed "amazing". I dont know why.. i just like dont like em)... So if i am going to use any vehicle to overland (i.e spend a lot of time in / with it).. it mine as well be type I like.

Having said all that.. I consider myself a overland traveller who happens to prefer bikes I am not a bike-only-traveller.. If i could not use a bike, a 4x4 would be my next choice (can get to to almost as many place as the bike), then it would be some kind of "cool" car (like antique just for the extra challenge-not that i know enough about this to do it), then normal car (I like being able to randomly go where i feel, when i feel), then public transport . The idea of any self-propelled (bicycle/foot/rollerblades) just does not work for me. When i cycle i see too little..I am always head down peddling away.. but i have a huge amount of respect for those who can/do. I like flying but i find this is a fast but dull way to travel the journey is not apart of it. It is get there see stuff get back.. and i like the journey.

Here are some other reasons that bikes are "better" to travel on. These in general are not mine (in fact most i think i heard Grant J. say..if not sorry )

Bike in 3rd world countries are a common type of transport.. they may have never seen anything bigger then a 125cc.. but the concept is there.. you are not that (much) different .

you cant read (as a passenger/pillion).. you have to interact with the journey as much as the driver. If you are reading you are not seeing the world pass by you mine as well fly and get there faster.

A big white landcruiser, is the same thing that the military and "aid organisations" use this automatically puts you in a us/them situation, when local people have mostly only seen the above type of people.

Traffic and filtering - nuf said on that one..

My favourite and one of my driving factors..

A bike is different enough that people have the excuse they want/need to talk to you..The bike is an automatic ice breaker.. this is true no matter where you are. (if they ride even more so).. How often have strangers talked to you at the petrol station when on your bike? how about your Car..
-- for me: the answers are on my bike.. to many to count. in the car it has only happened when they want to abuse me for some reason.
-- I have had people roll down their window at the traffic lights to talk to me when on the bike.. hot day --"You must be hot in all that gear".. or When it is raining "Nice day for it?", stop for direction from an old man-- "i had a bike once it was a Honda something and Oh I used to have some fun on that..20 minutes later... I remember once we went to...." sound familiar? more out of the way places it is the same..


my last word.. I would also love to sail the world with a 250cc bike on the back of the boat.. BUT MRS.X. gets seasick even talking about it.. so that wont happen..

Why judge a bike by it's looks? Isn't that falling for the industries marketing? Why not use one for a skiing trip? No space for a sleeping and bivvy bag so you can sleep where you like?

Everything is compromise and you only learn by how much by trying it. OK, with your son on a solo BM you'd need to rent the ski's when you got there and might be happier with something lighter on snow. To carry the ski's your son would have to stay at home or you need a sidecar. But, is this a ski trip or a bike trip? We could equally argue that queueing up in the jams into the ski resorts in an estate car is a waste of time and anyway riding on snow is just as much fun as the actual skiing.

It's whatever you want it to be, there is no right answer. If you like the HPN for it's looks and ride it 200 miles a year to your local cafe and are happy with that, go for it. If you want to go RTW in a 4x4 that's cool. The thing is, don't listen to people who say it isn't possible or isn't a good idea. If you really think you can't hop on a bike and go skiing for any reason except you tried it and it didn't work out, I've only got two suggestions. Either try it or get a job as a motoring journalist :oops2:

Andy

I went on a snowboard trip to the alps last year on my bike. It was bl**dy freezing but fantastic fun and much more memorable than if I had I driven over or, even more sensibly, flown.

In the end a friend took my board for me but not before I had succesfully made and trialed a snowboard rack for my bike. The only limit is your imagination, as they say (in an irritating sanctimonious manner! :) )

Matt :)

You mean you can't have an adventure in a car? Isn't an adventure anything that takes you out of your home/work routine and lets you experience another lifestyle? I've had many 'adventures' in a hire car before.
Its not what you use its how you use it.
I like bikes but I also like cars and I'd rather be in an air conditioned car in 95 degrees than sweating and uncomfortable on a bike.
Horses for courses - didn't someone once have an 'adventure' riding their lawnmower across the USA once?

Yin/Yan
 

I am trying the YIN/YAN approach with Mrs Deity. Our next but one trip can be cycling or sailing. She can make the choice.

She is going for sailing, funnily enough, at the moment.

Most probably she is much wiser than me, and in reality I am actually just doing what she want's me to, but my head hurts to much when I think like that .........

NO! I didn't mean that at all! :)

What I meant was that being safe, comfy and out of the rain are not the defining characteristics of adventure, so this is not how you should choose your vehicle. I am totally with you on the 'horses for courses' thing. I've had what I would call adventures on motorbikes, bicycles, skis, canoes, on foot and yes...even in cars!

Choosing the vehicle for your dream trip should never be about practicality, but about what fires your imagination!

Matt :)

To each, their own. As the Prussians say.

Thanks for the tip on "what this site is all about". :innocent:

The Straight Story, great film.

bicycling is to motorbiking what motorbiking is to car driving.

I would only like to add that the car Vs bike feeling where people get passionate about bikes but not cars can also work the other way! I have owned two road bikes in Europe that I took all over the EU on my holidays from working in Africa. Liked them both, but not as much as the two cars I owned after the bikes. Had three trail bikes in Ghana and liked them both, but not as much as the cars that came after.

Why do I get passionate about cars but not so much about bikes? To be honest I don't know, but I do know I never built a Lego motorbike, but Landrovers and FJ Landcruisers I must have built hundreds! And to be honest I have found in Africa the bike or car will both generate pretty similar levels of excitement. And yes people sometimes do ask at Petrol Stations: once at an Italian Petrol Station (on the Autostrada) a complete stranger (guy behind the till) actually followed me to the car, stopped other cars from leaving and then insisted that I bounce the car off the rev limiter and side step the clutch... Imagine the cashier at the Knutsford Services on the M6 doing that to some couple in a car/bike?

So I think my point is that it IS possible to be passionate about cars. Like marmite it is just a preference.
Gil

Nope: tend to avoid them, on the whole.

Used to be on UKGSer a lot, but it all got a bit repetitive and after my GS got mashed, there was even less common ground: I prefer it here as there is much less "book by the cover", "mine's got more lights than yours" type attitudes...

In any case, I've seen your posts enough to have an inkling about your attitudes about people and travel, hence why I was a bit surprised by some apparent pigeon-holing... hence my remark.

MC vs Car
 

Here is my perspective. When you are in a car you view the world through a frame, i.e the frame of the windshield. On a bike you are in the picture.

As sailboats are to motorboat, bikes are to cars.

On a sailboat or bike you are much involved, tune-in and have a very set of experiences.

Right, except you cannot easily cover 300-400kms per day, or 10.000kms a month on a bicycle. So if you dont have unlimited time, and still want to go far, a motorcycle gets you there more easily.