Long Way Round, Long Way Down, Long Way to Go
Discussion
I really enjoyed both the TV show and the book for Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman's first bike adventure from London>Magadan>New York.
Just finished watching Long Way Down and was really disappointed with it. They were both f
king miserable for the first half of the drive, probably because of the time pressure they were under (by their own doing). The program also being compressed to 6 episodes didn't help I suppose. And what a fking pain McGregors wife is! 
Bought the book and it seems quite good actually, goes into more detail which was sadly missed out of the TV show.
Anyway, I read that they are planning another trip in summer this year, "Long Way to Go" and it's in South America.
Googled it but there's not much info on t'interweb. Anyone know much about it?
Just finished watching Long Way Down and was really disappointed with it. They were both f
king miserable for the first half of the drive, probably because of the time pressure they were under (by their own doing). The program also being compressed to 6 episodes didn't help I suppose. And what a fking pain McGregors wife is! Bought the book and it seems quite good actually, goes into more detail which was sadly missed out of the TV show.
Anyway, I read that they are planning another trip in summer this year, "Long Way to Go" and it's in South America.
Googled it but there's not much info on t'interweb. Anyone know much about it?
Agree the second one was a real letdown after the first. Boorman's Race to Dakar series was well worth watching as an alternative, Boorman, Simon Pavey + another biker cameraman doing the dakar with the same lot as a support crew. Always thought the Dakar looked like fun until I saw that series.
The extended version of Long Way Round is really good too. It goes into more detail about them preparing for the trip, and the last stage when travelling through Canada and the US.
I was very disappointed by Long Way Down. It seemed to be six episodes of them bhing about how they set too tight a timescale.
I was very disappointed by Long Way Down. It seemed to be six episodes of them b
hing about how they set too tight a timescale.The guy who replaced the rear tyre on my BMW told me that Ewan & Charley had multiple GS bikes to get them through their trip in LWR. You're led to believe that their bikes made it from start to finish which was one in the face for KTM who pulled out (terrible marketing cock up that one!!). Has anyone else heard this or is my tyre man not so knowledgeable after all?
Sym7 said:
The guy who replaced the rear tyre on my BMW told me that Ewan & Charley had multiple GS bikes to get them through their trip in LWR. You're led to believe that their bikes made it from start to finish which was one in the face for KTM who pulled out (terrible marketing cock up that one!!). Has anyone else heard this or is my tyre man not so knowledgeable after all?
sounds like pish to me.The extended 10 episode version of Long Way Down is way better. After Egypt they have a much better time.
Sym7 said:
The guy who replaced the rear tyre on my BMW told me that Ewan & Charley had multiple GS bikes to get them through their trip in LWR. You're led to believe that their bikes made it from start to finish which was one in the face for KTM who pulled out (terrible marketing cock up that one!!). Has anyone else heard this or is my tyre man not so knowledgeable after all?
Sounds like he is talking out of an oriface not designed for speaking. There are many behind the scenes stories that leaked out involving BMW flying people out to fix brakes and the likes, but I've never heard a 'multiple bike' story. There is a very long thread on the AdvRider forum talking about LWR (among all the shouting and fighting).The generally accepted reason for KTM pulling out is that the Long Way Round team decided that they didn't just want bikes and support, they also wanted a large payment for all the free advertising. BMW were more than happy to throw money at it.
I've posted this link before , but if you like reading about epic bike trips and stunning photographs , this has it all. Even more amazing when you take into account they had no support vehicles
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26...
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26...
Sym7 said:
The guy who replaced the rear tyre on my BMW told me that Ewan & Charley had multiple GS bikes to get them through their trip in LWR. You're led to believe that their bikes made it from start to finish which was one in the face for KTM who pulled out (terrible marketing cock up that one!!). Has anyone else heard this or is my tyre man not so knowledgeable after all?
Didn't BMW have the two 20k bikes at a bike show? Broken subframes, awesome spanner + cabletie repairs included? I know a fella who has put a huge mileage on his gs (like 80k miles) and hasnkt had any trouble with it whatsoever. Now, admittedly, he hasn't ridden across siberia on it but he's done a lot of offroad riding on it (he lives near the corrie pass and knows the landowner) and it seems pretty unburstable.
From what I've read (I did a bit of research when choosing between a GS and a KTM) the BMW isn't as unburstable as they like to say it is. Like most things BMW, the old GS built a reputation of being bomb proof but the newer models have suffered from all sorts of pretty nasty failures. There was a period where quite a few people had the main drive system (shaft driven instead of chain driven) break and it was a bit of a nightmare. Not really great if you are in the middle of no-where.
Long way up is now on Apple TV. I don't mind admitting that I'm one of those people that now ride an Adverture bike because of the first two trips they did.
Watched the first episode and other than them ageing it's just made me very happy.
Similar format to LWD and LWR. Some false peril about range anxiety etc but some stunning camera work. Shows how much tech has improved since 2007 and the last trip.
Interesting that they started filming on Zeros then ended up on Harleys.
Annoying it's on Apple TV as it's the only streaming service in didn't have.
Watched the first episode and other than them ageing it's just made me very happy.
Similar format to LWD and LWR. Some false peril about range anxiety etc but some stunning camera work. Shows how much tech has improved since 2007 and the last trip. Interesting that they started filming on Zeros then ended up on Harleys.
Annoying it's on Apple TV as it's the only streaming service in didn't have.
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