Thanks to Triple3John's post in the "The Whine Down" thread, I watched the first two episodes of this new 6 part series covering a biking journey from Alaska to Patagonia. It'll be on for the next couple of weeks at 6.00pm Sunday evenings on the National Geographic Channel. Great viewing !

It covers the 5 month adventure of a dozen Brits led by Kevin & Julia Sanders and was a refreshing change from Ewan's family holiday video on BBC2. The pace of these programmes is pretty fast as they've already reached the Mexican border by the end of show2. The only Alaskan guy on the trip suffered a fall in the first few days and was forced to end his trip with a broken leg. All participants are riding their own BMWs which they shipped over from the UK ahead of their flight. It'll be interesting to see if it's worth paying the freight home for these bikes after this mostly Off-road adventure! The star of the show is without doubt "Van-Man" driving the back-up vehicle and providing most of the (humourous) commentary.

Check it out, or catch the repeats which I'm sure will appear soon.

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Chris

it will be repeated next month....jan 2 at 10am

Anyone know if this hit U.S. TV yet?

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Life. Fill 'er up. It's all we got.

http://www.armchaircommando.org/benn...Bash/Home.html
Bennington, VT May 31, June 01 2008

Don't know, but I am eager to see this. In fact, can anyone recommend motorcycling videos/DVDs available. I currently have Long Way 'Round and The World's Fastest Indian, but they get old being seen over and over. Any recommendations?

Watched the programme last night and must admit it was a welcome change to the Charlie and Ewan show ( which after my last Thread THE LONG WHINE DOWN) you'll know im not a great lover of.

Once again BMW breaks down with a broken gearbox but give them there due it was replaced pronto, would Triumph have been so quick out there in Alaska ????

I just don't understand why the herd !!! continue to use BMW. What about the KTM, OR the new Transalp or the old AFRICA TWIN. Either the germans are brainwashing us all or giving a hell of a lot of bikes away !!

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Green is Mean

I really enjoyed the programme.Although I don't think I'd want to ride my own bike on the Alcan Highway.Plus those huge lorries looked a bit dodgy.The scenery was absolutely stunning,but then so are the Pyrenees which are a lot closer to home. Chrisn has a point,after 20,000 miles on those roads the bikes will be scrap.After all they are only BMWs ! I had to smile when the brand new GS Adventurer broke its gearbox and the commentary said it had been used hard - for about 1000 miles.Not by my standards. I've heard plenty of stories of BMW unrelibility,in this months Bike magazine Nick Saunders was asked why he chose Yamaha for his round the world jaunts over the mighty GS. His answer was that he needs a reliable bike !
This trip looks absolutely fantastic and coincidentally I picked up their brochure at the NEC.Price for this trip for a solo rider is £20,000 plus £10,000 for a pillion.And then there is the small matter of 19 weeks off work,100% depreciation of your bike and travel costs and petrol. Clearly deep pockets are needed but if you can afford it then it looks like the ultimate trip. Here's the plan - Get the mortgage paid off and then persuade the missus that you really have to do this trip - it's worth a try at least !!

Originally Posted by clive955

I just don't understand why the herd !!! continue to use BMW. What about the KTM, OR the new Transalp or the old AFRICA TWIN. Either the germans are brainwashing us all or giving a hell of a lot of bikes away !!

After a tour round the NEC show, the bike I would take would be the new Yamaha Tenere. It looked better built and better thought out than either the BMWs or the New (plastic fantastic...NOT!) Transalp. The only thing that let it down was their luggage. Still most people fit the tin stuff anyway.

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H
'02 Tiger955i in black.

If it is the same group my pal and I met this this summer......while doing the same route on our Tigers....(2002 and 2006) we wondered what all the fuss was about.

RE "I really enjoyed the programme.Although I don't think I'd want to ride my own bike on the Alcan Highway."

Took my Tiger on the Alcan/Haul Road and it survived okay. Only problem I had was excessive brake pad and chain wear from the road construction.

I'm not experienced in off road riding yet found the Tiger fine for this journey, part of 11K miles around US/Canada. When I needed parts and service I found the US dealers to be fantastic. You sure don't need to spend the bucks for a GS........

Originally Posted by HospiceRN

....I am eager to see this. In fact, can anyone recommend motorcycling videos/DVDs available?

The DVD of "The Ride" is available here along with a few others.

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Chris