For the Gearheads-what am I

[Birger]

Nice!!
Do you drive that rig through Washington?

That maxi is pretty cool, but I am thinking I would be rolling down the mountains sideways in it...

You can go fast, I can go anywhere.
Best 4X4XFar

I would not be too far behind you...I would have to be a little more careful through rivers....

My daily run about...

[torbanite]

she's a few horses short of the full hooligan

you really have to translate that one, I googled it, but I have no clue what it means

Sorry, one of my "hobbies" is taking perfectly good idioms and mangling them beyond recognition..

Mats' explanation is pretty much spot on. AFAIK, the formula for power vs altitude is

• P = P0( 1 - 0.03h)

where P0 is power at sea level and h is altitude (in feet/1000).
e.g. a normally aspirated machine with 100 hp at sea level, has 79 hp @ 7K feet.
Go up Mount Evans,CO (14k odd feet) then the same 100 hp machine only has 58 hp.
Humans not acclimated to the altitude will feel decidedly as well.

You can go fast, I can go anywhere.

True! (well for certain definitions of "fast" anyway)

But, if I fit a set of knobbly tires (and practice for a few years!) I might be able to do both, like this nutter..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PBsH4Xry9U

[sidguppy]

you don't need a landrover to go anywhere, us bikers can go for this:


I remember this TV series of Ewan McGregor and a friend doing the whole length of Africa on these bikes......

[L number Banana]

You can go fast, I can go anywhere.
Best 4X4XFar
-Shane

But motorcyclist never care if they get to their destination. My corner store is one kilometer away but it's 11 lefts and 15 rights.

I remember this TV series of Ewan McGregor and a friend doing the whole length of Africa on these bikes......

It's called Long Way Round, Charlie Boorman was the other fellow, brilliant show. They also did Long Way Down starting in Alaska and going down to the tip of SA. Charlie Boorman did one through Canada last year - not available here yet.

But, if I fit a set of knobbly tires (and practice for a few years!) I might be able to do both, like this nutter..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PBsH4Xry9U

Not a nutter at all, I'd do it in a second - with lots more training...
Check out this new BMW. http://www.visordown.com/motorcycle-new ... 20231.html

Going ice racing next winter - not "racing" for me but it looks like a blast. Put metal spikes on old tires and you're good to go. If you do a 'burn-out' with the spikes, it also digs your icefishing hole.

[Shane]

you don't need a landrover to go anywhere, us bikers can go for this:

Fair enough, but how many seines, coolers, dip nets, bags, test kits, dry clothes, etc are you going to carry on that. Let alone food, water, and a dry place to wait for the tropical rains to pass.
-Shane

[torbanite]

But motorcyclist never care if they get to their destination. My corner store is one kilometer away but it's 11 lefts and 15 rights.

That is so true! I regularly take about an hour longer than necessary to get home from work because the route somehow modifies itself to include every road in the area with a few curves on it

But, if I fit a set of knobbly tires (and practice for a few years!) I might be able to do both, like this nutter..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PBsH4Xry9U

Not a nutter at all, I'd do it in a second - with lots more training...
Check out this new BMW. http://www.visordown.com/motorcycle-new ... 20231.html

He's a nutter because he's doing it on a street bike!... & sitting on the handlebars!!
But, I'd try it in an instant as well .. if someone else was paying for my fork seals (& medical bills).

The enduro-street-fighterized-S1000RR thing is bonkers. Just a wee bit OTT perhaps?
It might be just the job for the Pikes Peak International Hill climb. If you've never heard of it you should look for it on youtube. Folks come from all over to hoon up our neighborhood (14,000') mountain in cars, on road bikes, dirt bikes, electric bikes, sidecars, you name it. No guard rails, part paved, part dirt. Absolutely nuts. (I just love living here ).

[sidguppy]

They also did Long Way Down starting in Alaska and going down to the tip of SA

I wonder how they went hrough the Darian Gap .....

i'll bet that they skipped this part, since it would be completely suicidal to go through there on 2 bikes with a bunch of camera guys in tow....
unless they brough a private army with em, complete with Apache helicopters

Fair enough, but how many seines, coolers, dip nets, bags, test kits, dry clothes, etc are you going to carry on that. Let alone food, water, and a dry place to wait for the tropical rains to pass

true, but we were talking just going around on bikes or cars, not "what do we need for a fishing expedition".

if that was the case, i think I'll go for the Toyota landcruiser and fit it with a snorkel.
it sort of combines the possibilities of the Landrover with the quality of Toyota which still makes the best cars in the world. (maintenance wise, that is; they never break down)

I believe they even made a 4x4 version of the tiny 1980's corolla E80 series....
if I EVER can lay my hands on one of those....that would totally kick butt.
a car looking like some grandma's old toaster-mobile going offroad to annoy the big guns in their hummers

the only way to outclass that stunt would be to get the 4x4 version of the Deux Chevaux!

[MatsP]

Right, so Charley Boorman and Ewan McGregor has done two "long way" TV Series:
- The Long Way Round, which starts, I think, in London and travels east all the way to New York.
- The Long Way Down, which starts at the Northern end of Scotland, and travels to the Southern tip of Africa.

Charley Boorman has also done some trips on his own, from Australia to Russia with no charter flights, for example, and the one across Canada most recently.

--
Mats

[sidguppy]

then I wonder out of sheer curiosity who has done the trip from Alaska to Fireland by motorcycle?

[MatsP]

then I wonder out of sheer curiosity who has done the trip from Alaska to Fireland by motorcycle?

Short trip by ferry/fishingboat across Berings sea, and then across Russia and down through the middle east into Egypt or so. It's quite a long way, but that's what "adventure touring" is all about.

--
Mats

[RickE]

then I wonder out of sheer curiosity who has done the trip from Alaska to Fireland by motorcycle?

Short trip by ferry/fishingboat across Berings sea, and then across Russia and down through the middle east into Egypt or so. It's quite a long way, but that's what "adventure touring" is all about.

--
Mats

I think if you reached Egypt on your way from Alaska to South America you really would be adventuresome. Or lost.

[sidguppy]

I think Mats kinda forgot where "Fireland" actually is

[MatsP]

I think Mats kinda forgot where "Fireland" actually is

Sorry, yes, I sort of confused it with the REAL "Long way down" that goes to the south of South Africa (also abbreviated SA at times).

From Alaska to southern tip of Chile wouldn't be too difficult, I think there are some reasonable roads almost all the way (assuming you pick the right time of year).

Google maps "stumbles" at the Panama Canal or thereabouts, when I tried to route it through to South America from Fairbanks, Alaska. In fact, after some more "trying", it seems pretty rubbish at finding routes in Colombia/Peru in general. You can get a route for the Quito, Ecuador to Rio Galleagos, Argentina, which isn't [in global terms] that far off, but you still have to find a way through Venezuela/Colombia into Ecuador. I haven't tried very hard tho'.

--
Mats

[Shane]

From Alaska to southern tip of Chile wouldn't be too difficult, I think there are some reasonable roads almost all the way (assuming you pick the right time of year).

The stopping point would be the Darien (Panama/Colombia border).
-Shane

"Roadbuilding through this area is expensive, and the environmental toll is steep. Political consensus in favor of road construction has not emerged. Consequently there is no road connection through the Darién Gap connecting North/Central America with South America and it is the missing link of the Pan-American Highway."
"The first vehicular crossing of the Gap was by the Land Rover La Cucaracha Cariñosa (The Affectionate Cockroach) and a Jeep of the Trans-Darién Expedition of 1959–60, crewed by Amado Araúz (Panama), his wife Reina Torres de Araúz, former Special Air Service man Richard E. Bevir (UK), and engineer Terence John Whitfield (Australia).[4] They left Chepo, Panama, on 2 February 1960 and reached Quibdó, Colombia, on 17 June 1960, averaging 201 m (220 yd) per hour over 136 days." (My emphasis).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dari%C3%A9n_Gap

[L number Banana]

Oops, my bad. Yes you're right Mats, the Long Way Down was the South Africa trip. Charlie's next trip is the tip of South America to Alaska - Long Way Up.

Danny Liska did it the other way on a BMW, Alaska to Chile, lack of roads and interesting lack of passport officials, was quite a funny book. It's also been done by a woman on a smaller Yamaha but I can't remember her name - no crew, she did it solo.
Currently waiting for this book: http://paddytyson.com/book/ The man is completely nuts and witty as hell, not a book to read on public transportation.

[L number Banana]

I wonder how they went through the Darian Gap .....

Google Darien Gap and motorcycle..wow. Lots of riders have done it but nooo thank you.

That is so true! I regularly take about an hour longer than necessary to get home from work because the route somehow modifies itself to include every road in the area with a few curves on it

It's funny how forgetting something on the grocery list becomes a wonderful thing.

He's a nutter because he's doing it on a street bike!... & sitting on the handlebars!!
But, I'd try it in an instant as well .. if someone else was paying for my fork seals (& medical bills).

Yeah, don't care for the stunting bit but I would like to try it - on a second bike, not my 'good' bike.

The enduro-street-fighterized-S1000RR thing is bonkers. Just a wee bit OTT perhaps?

Yes it is and I want one! I sat on a regular 1000rr at the big bike show and it's so light and fit's me like a dream. Just the insurance alone would cost more than I paid for my bike new..

Another plus to fishkeeping and motorcycles. The cost: It costs me $22 to fill my tank, 18 litres lasted me approx 300kms. (new bike, inexperienced rider..)Insurance is $600. So, I saved so much money not owning a car that I can rent a truck to go to the fish store if I want.
How that?
I don't get to exotic fish places like Shane. Madtom streams are pretty much beside the main highway. Not too adventurous!

It might be just the job for the Pikes Peak International Hill climb. If you've never heard of it you should look for it on youtube. Folks come from all over to hoon up our neighborhood (14,000') mountain in cars, on road bikes, dirt bikes, electric bikes, sidecars, you name it. No guard rails, part paved, part dirt. Absolutely nuts. (I just love living here ).

I saw a documentary about that. Yikes. Have you tried it when no one was looking? heehee. Found the link: ducati, mmmmmm.
http://ducati.com/news/ducati_returns_t ... 1/index.do

[torbanite]

Darien

Darien, as in "dumbest place in the universe to try and establish a colony"..?
So, of course, that's what exactly we Scots tried to do!
Cue bankruptcy, shotgun wedding with our southern neighbor, and funny red bits in our national flag.

Have you tried it when no one was looking?

I've been up there (at a very sedate pace), but I've never felt brave/stupid/talented enough to try it on two wheels!

[sidguppy]

Google Darien Gap and motorcycle..wow. Lots of riders have done it but nooo thank you.

I wouldn't say 'lots".
most links are different versions of the same story or lead to nothing or failed attempts.

I'd say a handful acvtually tried it, few made it through on the bike
and not an unsignificant number were kidnapped by terrorists (FARC or similar groups) or harassed by corrupt police or (para)military.

I like adventure as much as the next guy, but going through Darian for fun on a bike would be like going through for fun through Taliban territory, exzcept it's more moist
maybe a little less dangerous than Afghanistan, but you'll get the idea.

dunno about extended holidays, but spending 14 years in the jungle involuntary with your AK47 toting coke snorting terrorist buddies wouldn't be the bike trip of a life time for me.

one must be quite insane just to attempt it