Long Way Round

[Thug]

Just finished watching this great DVD from Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman both actors, decided to go around the world on two BMW Gs's. I couldn't stop watching it, well worth a look at. Charlie, who was the more experienced rider of the two (as he had been riding all his life on road and motocross, and Ewan only on the road in fact he had never been on a dirt track until he came to Oz to promote the last Star Wars, they were given two Yamaha 600's I think and went bush for the weekend), really wanted the KTM's but right at the last minute the wads at KTM pulled out because they said they think the guys would fail. Boorman was so incensed he said "**** em we'll take the BMW's and fucking show them, **** KTM" and well they did!

The BMW's held up really well but they did experience frame cracking (which had to be welded several times along the way after many falls) and I think they only received one puncture on that whole trip?

20,000 miles in I think 106 days with stops and rest days. Some of the riding especially in Mongolia was like 15 or 30 miles in a day because the roads were so awful.

Cheers

 

[OrangevaleFJR]

Thanks for the review. I heard about these guys, but didn't know there was a DVD. I'll have to take a look!

 

[vectervp1]

I've heard that the US only gets 7 episodes and the rest of the world gets 10 episodes. I dont know why this is, but I hear you can just order it from Amazon Canada and get all 10 episodes.

I'm planning on ordering it within the next week or so. I just hope they dont say 'eh' and 'hosehead in the movie.

 

[Thug]

Rest assured they don't their both Poms and there is plenty of "****" being thrown around

 

[Bounce]

Within weeks of that huge crew with a "Bravo Team" also filming apart from the "Alpha Team" (with it's free bikes, free SUVs film crew, support crew, medical crew, translators, and sundry hangers-on), there was a group of 3 riders on Honda Nighthawks riding through the same areas (going the other direction). No "Hollywood". No crews. No filming. A no bike failures.

THOSE are the guys that earned respect.

The Hollywood types put on a show with dozens of people just off camera.

 

[OrangevaleFJR]

I've heard that the US only gets 7 episodes and the rest of the wold gets 10 episodes. I dont know why this is, but I hear you can just order it from Amazon Canada and get all 10 episodes.
I'm planning on ordering it within the next week or so. I just hope they dont say 'eh' and 'hosehead in the movie.

Hey, take off man, that's hoser not hosehead!

 

[OrangevaleFJR]

Within weeks of that huge crew with a "Bravo Team" also filming apart from the "Alpha Team" (with it's free bikes, free SUVs film crew, support crew, medical crew, translators, and sundry hangers-on), there was a group of 3 riders on Honda Nighthawks riding through the same areas (going the other direction). No "Hollywood". No crews. No filming. A no bike failures.
THOSE are the guys that earned respect.

The Hollywood types put on a show with dozens of people just off camera.

Nighthawks? As in the 250cc bikes?

 

[Bounce]

Within weeks of that huge crew with a "Bravo Team" also filming apart from the "Alpha Team" (with it's free bikes, free SUVs film crew, support crew, medical crew, translators, and sundry hangers-on), there was a group of 3 riders on Honda Nighthawks riding through the same areas (going the other direction). No "Hollywood". No crews. No filming. A no bike failures.
THOSE are the guys that earned respect.

The Hollywood types put on a show with dozens of people just off camera.

Nighthawks? As in the 250cc bikes?

iirc they were on 750cc hondas.

 

[stryg8r]

Like Bounce said, they were the larger variety Nighthawks. Maybe Warchild will chime in here as he was the one who prepped them for the journey if I recall correctly.

Ewan and Charlie's DVD is a good entertainment piece, but if your talking respect for a tough ride they don't get it. Mike Kneebone, Bob Higdon, Steve Attwood (who by the way rode the route twice!), and John Sartorius did it the hard way. Here are a couple of links of Bob's journals

BMW Forum

Russian Express from IBA website

 

[Jkern1]

Within weeks of that huge crew with a "Bravo Team" also filming apart from the "Alpha Team" (with it's free bikes, free SUVs film crew, support crew, medical crew, translators, and sundry hangers-on), there was a group of 3 riders on Honda Nighthawks riding through the same areas (going the other direction). No "Hollywood". No crews. No filming. A no bike failures.
THOSE are the guys that earned respect.

The Hollywood types put on a show with dozens of people just off camera.

OK i have defended this movie many times and i'm going to do it once again.

I thought the movie was great, Ewan and Charlie set out on adventure and accomplished their goal. Did they have more help then the average rider? Yes. Are the movie stars?Yes. Did they ride their motorcyles across Russia?Kinda, but mostly yes. I alway recoginze when some accomplishes their goal. It was also great that they organized a film crew and the money so i to could share in their adventure. Thank you EWAN and CHARLIE i enjoyed it.

Lots of people have Bashed bmw for their preformance on this trip. Well the bikes where wrecked many times. They where over capacity and that is why the sub-frames broke. Easy fix in the field. The ABS failure was a welding issue not unpluggin the battery. Besides that i think the bikes did pretty damn good.

Kneebone and groups ride was also amazing, i just wish that we could have shared in their journey with more then written words.

In life we should only appluade when people set out on any personal adventure and complete it. If that adventure is your first 100 mile day, orecompleting the IBR, what ever makes you push your own personal limits.

 

[Thug]

Within weeks of that huge crew with a "Bravo Team" also filming apart from the "Alpha Team" (with it's free bikes, free SUVs film crew, support crew, medical crew, translators, and sundry hangers-on), there was a group of 3 riders on Honda Nighthawks riding through the same areas (going the other direction). No "Hollywood". No crews. No filming. A no bike failures.
THOSE are the guys that earned respect.

The Hollywood types put on a show with dozens of people just off camera.

OK i have defended this movie many times and i'm going to do it once again.

I thought the movie was great, Ewan and Charlie set out on adventure and accomplished their goal. Did they have more help then the average rider? Yes. Are the movie stars?Yes. Did they ride their motorcyles across Russia?Kinda, but mostly yes. I alway recoginze when some accomplishes their goal. It was also great that they organized a film crew and the money so i to could share in their adventure. Thank you EWAN and CHARLIE i enjoyed it.

Lots of people have Bashed bmw for their preformance on this trip. Well the bikes where wrecked many times. They where over capacity and that is why the sub-frames broke. Easy fix in the field. The ABS failure was a welding issue not unpluggin the battery. Besides that i think the bikes did pretty damn good.

Kneebone and groups ride was also amazing, i just wish that we could have shared in their journey with more then written words.

In life we should only appluade when people set out on any personal adventure and complete it. If that adventure is your first 100 mile day, orecompleting the IBR, what ever makes you push your own personal limits.

+ 1

Some people just don't get it!

 

[etz]

anybody ever see the SJAAK THE WORLD video? Good stuff. I can't find a larger version at the moment though. Oh wait, you can right click the vid and choose full screen, but it's still pretty crappy quality.

 

[PLCGuy]

I've heard that the US only gets 7 episodes and the rest of the world gets 10 episodes. I dont know why this is, but I hear you can just order it from Amazon Canada and get all 10 episodes.

Yea, I only got seven. let me know if it's worth paying for it twice, to see the other 3.

 

[FJRME]

I also loved the series. I saw it when it was shown in serial form on Discovery I think.

The two main things I did not understand:

If they wanted the KTMs that bad, why didn't they just buy them? When you're Ewan Mcgregor, whats 30k for two bikes?

With all that support, why did they carry those huge boxes on the bikes? There was no illusion of "do it yourself" anyway. They were very upfront about the support crew being there. Why drag all that shit around when you could haul it in the truck? It sure would have made Mongolia easier to push through.

For me, the admiration was inspired by envying a life where I could take three months off work to go ride a motorcycle the Long Way Round.

Way to go gents!

 

[etz]

I saw it when it was shown in serial form on Discovery I think. The two main things I did not understand:

If they wanted the KTMs that bad, why didn't they just buy them? When you're Ewan Mcgregor, whats 30k for two bikes?

It was on BRAVO https://www.bravotv.com/Long_Way_Round/. And I thought the very same thing about buying the KTMs.

 

[skyway]

I watched this DVD over the holidays and the GS was just too big of a bike for either of the riders over that terrain. They spent more time picking them up than riding them, all this just to say they did it on a BMW GS?

Too much shit loaded on them as well. I thought it was cool that they did it, but I was getting tired of all the whining along the way. STFU and ride guys, pulease!

Even though they didn't show it, I would still like to know how much cash they used for all the bribes payed along the way.

3 out of 5 from Skyway the movie critic, 1 of these points just because it has M/C's involved. :boss:

If you want to read about a 'real' adventure ride on a much more suitable bike clicky here

I met a friend of these folks one time with my SO in Yosemite, while this ride was in motion.

 

[turbodave_98]

I just finished the 7 episodes. Agree the bikes were too heavy and oversized for the riders. What struck me is how much time it must have take to stage the filming of each of the scenes. Also, I wondered how they never talked about getting sick other than Charlies damaged shoulder.

It was one great adventure and I enjoyed it. It proves that desire can overcome knowledge to tackle an adventure. Also, a lot of good luck was required to complete it. IMHO

 

[TestPilot]

About a year before The Long Way Round was released I had read 'Riding the Edge' by Dave Barr (https://www.angelfire.com/ca2/davebarr/). After reading that book, anything two actors could do was just 'plastic' - not really authentic. I reckon you guys in the 'states are lucky to get the abridged version. For those who nothing about Dave, here is the intro from his fairly non-professional amatuer website:

"Dave Barr is a native Californian who rode his 1972 Harley-Davidson around the world. His journey carried him across six continents and took a grueling three and a half years (September 1990 - May 1994) and 83,000 ridden miles to complete. To date, only eighty-nine others have successfully toured the world on motorcycle, but Dave is the only one to do it on a Harley. If this wasn't enough of a distinction, he's also the only disabled person to have accomplished such a feat. Dave is a double amputee, who lost both of his legs to a land mine explosion in Angola in 1981. Dave has written and published "Riding The Edge", a five hundred page book which documents his journey around the world and has also produced a video by the same name."

You know the test: If you could invite 5 people to dinner, who would they be? For me, Dave Barr is right up there on the list, and the two actors just don't rate.

 

[afterburn]

Jesus Christ, the arrogance here in this thread re these actors is amazing. Most here wouldn't be able to do the trip even with a full support crew trailing right on your ass. These guys had support vehicles as a safety net, not to help em out whenever they didn't feel like doing something. For most part, they didn't even travel the same route. Shit, unlike normal people, they probably couldn't even get insured for such a trip without support vehicles.

Just because there are other people who find it fullfilling to do it really hardcore with little to no money, handicaps and/or bikes that aren't suited for the job doesn't mean any less of an achievement for these guys.

Unless you actually did 20k miles around the world, you should STFU and be glad they actually lived their dream trip and made a docu on it for others to enjoy and possibly inspire to do the same thing. Unless you actually been there, none of us knows what it feels to be more than a 1000 miles away from the closest population, completely desolate, with no one to help if there is an accident. Shit, you can step of a rock, trip and die of injuries because of total absence of hospitals regardless of having a support crew with a doctor within 200 miles of your vecinity.

If you don't like the DVD, fine move on. But don't put down their achievement cause they're famous and had some support. Try it yourself first so you know what you are talking about before you open your mouth.