Thus far all my bike journeys have been on roads, rough ones admittedly and the odd dirt one. However this next chapter is to take place on predominantly dirt or off road trails.
We will be starting in Virginia Beach as my old mate Marc lives there and it will alow us to be on the beech both side of the country. We will join the trail in Jeriko Tennessee and end on the west coast of America, we will be covering approx. 4,500 miles of back road America that follows the old wagon train route to out west. The other bike change to my usual style is that I will be riding with a partner, Simon Collis. Simon and I have known each other for approx. 20 years, having met when I was selling bikes at Eddy Grimstead`s, yes he was one of my customers and he still speaks to me!
The hardest part so far has been finding a shipping company that would deal with the bikes via sea freight and not trying to pull our pants down on the price. This market does seem to have its fair share of people who try to treat you like you are stupid or are in themselves stupid. It has been a very frustrating processes , which fingers crossed is all now done, as the bikes are at the port simply awaiting customs clearance. With two days to go before departure, its close but should all be good.
We will be starting in Virginia Beach as my old mate Marc lives there and it will alow us to be on the beech both side of the country. We will join the trail in Jeriko Tennessee and end on the west coast of America, we will be covering approx. 4,500 miles of back road America that follows the old wagon train route to out west. The other bike change to my usual style is that I will be riding with a partner, Simon Collis. Simon and I have known each other for approx. 20 years, having met when I was selling bikes at Eddy Grimstead`s, yes he was one of my customers and he still speaks to me!
The weapon of choose has had to be changed as well, as much as I love the old BMW, its just too fat and heavy to even consider using on some of the trails that we will be attempting, especially in Colorado and Utah. So I have opted for a Yamaha WR450F, which is ideal for the terrain, if not the comfort of my buttocks. Simon on the other hand has opted for a CCM GP450, lets just say the jury is still out on that choose!
Fortunately the bikes being purpose built off road bikes , have not required much in the way of modification, except a little down gearing on mine to make road use a little easier and the addition of GPS mounts on both bikes.
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