Charlie Boorman and Ewan McGregor are going to go live with their show about riding from the Southern tip of Argentina to Los Angeles on Harley LiveWire electric motorcycles and Rivian electric trucks. The trailer looks pretty damned good:
I’m told I may get to interview Charlie on a YouTube livestream next week on ADVrider. What questions would you have me ask him?
The trailer looks great - great scenery, great landscapes, "great road surfaces", great people.
Ask them about how the bikes compare in terms of weight, center of gravity, and ride compared to typical GSs. Ask how they performed in the gravel and the dirt, DId they offer traction control settings for dirt, or wet surfaces?
The great torque of electric motors might be good or bad on slick wet surfaces or muddy paths. They didn't seem to be using dual sport tires either in the trailer. But it is hard to be certain from the views in the trailer too.
And specifics about length of ride between charges, and how long charging actually takes. Reliability too.
Total weight carrying capacity.
That's a few to get started. I might think of more later
I look forward to seeing the film September 18 on Apple TV+
I enjoyed their previous riding films Long Way Down (2007) and Long Way Round (2004) on GS's which was my preferred ride back then too.
Maybe ask about any issues encountered with the final drive belts over the varying conditions encountered.
Apple is going to let me watch the series tonight!
DO you regret being in the Phantom Menace?
So Apple has embargoed the press until Monday. I watched the first few episodes last night and will finish over the weekend. It’s a great series with a ton of episodes.
I’m loving it but my motorcycle forum had a strange reaction to to the first two seasons. There seems to be something about celebs with support crews that makes some guys lose their minds. Whatever, the idea of hopping on a motorcycle and exploring the world seems to really grab people. Does me.
The choice of electric bikes and pickups for a venture like that was insane in the best possible way.
I mis-understood - I thought is was a feature film, not a series. A series is probably even better, potentially a larger medium than a single film.
I will look forward to the Sept 18 debut.
Minds are easily lost when we see someone having more fun than we think we are.....It would be great to have support crew and vehicle.
Come to think of it, that's exactly what I had riding a mountain bike over 90 miles of the north Rim of Grand Canyon with REI, many years ago - not a free trip, mind you, but not an expensive one either. Many bicycle tours offer a sag wagon too.
But I didn't have to carry my tent and duffle at least, the pickup support vehicle did that. I did have to wash dishes though.
I'll bet Ewan didn't have to wash dishes, nor empty the nightly throne. 😎
I was surprised to watch Ewan doing the most mundane things — wrestling a couch upstairs through a crazy staircase, for example, with another guy.
So far he has the same reaction to electric motorcycles I have: the quiet becomes addictive.
Gotta say,nice bike
Personally I think the idea of an electric 'adventure' with support crew only reinforces the fact that it's not a real adventure, but a nicely choreographed trip, with a generous safety net. I am beginning to admire golfing..
But seriously, it's all about advertising, it's going to be fun to watch it exactly because of their personalities. I'll just wait until electric bikes also get autopilot and self driving modes.
My 2 cents on why the folks on your MC forum are over the top about these guys and how they travel is that it's not the type of riding they do so they put it down. In my opinion whatever makes a person smile is what is right for them. I like the way I ride which is different than most but I respect and admire the way others ride and what they do on those rides.
Truthfully I didn't think I would ever embrace electric motorcycles but as they move forward I'm becoming more and more interested in them. Having one for local day trips would be fun. I like the idea of how quiet they are.
I love @Chris for what he'd done with ADV, so if he needs the story and electrics to win I'm sorry for being blatantly honest. But here's the rub, ADV started and flourished because of regular, average Joe's, not some Tv stars, were connected, started sharing, and eventually some amazing hidden human passion and beauty of motorcycling that was hidden in the 'dirt' so to speak, surfaced! It's akin to spring flowers. You might step over them if not paying attention. I too like Ewan's acting and respect his moto passion, and truly love Charlie's no nonsense, pure fun personna. But I reserve my right to be impressed when I feel like it's deserved.
So more power to them if some are selling themselves much more than others. Doesn't turn me on. Is the so called 'free' stuff any good? Y'all tell me.
So I watched 10 episodes of Long Way Up, which is all Apple TV is showing me. I thought that would be all of them until I got to the end and realized we're still in Southern Mexico.
There have been a couple other reviews but I notice they only got to watch the first 3 episodes. I get to interview Charlie for an hour tomorrow over Zoom but it won't be live because the show's PR people want to be able to edit it before release. That's probably standard.
I loved the show. The thing is, when you are Obi-Wan Kenobi, you get access to things ordinary travelers like me don't get to do, and I found some of those special things fascinating. I put Jay Leno and Keanu Reeves in that category of famous people who love motorcycles and yet can be quite ordinary, caring, accessible people.
I got to spend 45 minutes with Charlie this morning and had a blast. We'll post the whole interview on Tuesday-ish, I think. I have to edit it some.
Okay, we posted the interview 😁 I spent way too much time on it, but had a lot of fun.
Harley deserves real kudos for preparing the bikes for this adventure.
I see Harley-Davidson lists the Live Wire electric motorcycle on its web page for a mere $27,799 + $390 shipping fee
I haven't priced motorcycles recently, but that does seem a bit steep for a range of 146 miles city or 95 miles highway range. Even with a $2500 federal income tax credit in Oregon, California, or Pennsylvania
549 pounds, charged. 86 Ft-lbs of torque, and 105 HP
Free charging at Electrify America for two years, and free charging at H/D dealers
Pro presentation old bean.
But surely you can get a better look than the Apple Headphones and mic?
Yeah, there were two things I need to fix before the next one, which is coming right up:
#1: Zoom's video is way too compressed and 720p, even though it was recorded locally on my disk. Apparently, using OBS with Zoom is the ticket to mo bettah.
#2. I have a really great mic just above my head that goes through a sound processor, but I get a little echo/feedback from my laptop speakers. Podcasters wear those huge headphones but I'm thinking maybe airpods? Any suggestions?
I loves me some OBS - I even donated.
The trouble with Bluetooth monitoring is the lag. If you can deal with that then they would look more pro.
Why not some studio monitor speakers? They shouldn't fold back if they are far enough from the mic ... should they? I've got some nice Pioneers that work OK for recording interviews over phone on the imac and Zoomin' and a Skypin'.
How many sound engineers does it take to change a light globe?
TWO ... TWO TWO .... TWO ... TWO TWO TWO.
Oh, huh.... I didn't know about lag. Good idea with the speakers. I'll give them a try.
Cant help you there,but have you tried looking it up?
I got fascinated with the third rider in the Long Way series, the Director of Photography Claudio von Planta. So I hunted him down and interviewed him. Oh my God this guy is badass. I was afraid we went too long and deep ended on his war journalism and interviewing Osama Bin Laden, but the YouTube comments are crazy good:
