Can't say I disagree... Watching all three of these "Adventures" now I still struggle with the same thing I hate about all reality TV - the formulaic plot lines - "everything is amazing", then "cue huge let down", "cue Rocky theme song for the "build em back up again" segment, rinse and repeat. As soon as I saw them bust out the diesel gennie's on day #1 I said "that demands a "diary cam" moment later tonight with Ewan and Charlie babbling on about how hard it's going to be and how they may have made a mistake going electric. Yup, a few minutes later the grainy dark bedroom cam was on and it was all "woe is me, what have we done"? I feel for poor Claudio the camera guy - he has to ride an HD 1200 Sportster or something down all these gravel roads all loaded down with drones and camera gear. Ride ahead, set up, pack up, catch up, repeat - yikes.
Seems like there were better choices in electric bikes than the Harley. Maybe Harley's paying them big bucks to ride them ?
Most definitely. The even chose the porky BMW over the preferred KTM in Long Way Round for financial reasons. It's obvious they are looking for sponsors when doing this type of gig.
I'm a lot more impressed with the Rivian's than the HD's at this point. I just don't think the tech is there yet for bikes in the middle of nowhere.
No kidding! They should have stuck to gas for the bikes, and used the Rivians as a chase. Didn't McGregor have some advertisement recently with the new motoguzi adv bike? Should have used that. That big ol diesel generator probably burned more gas in one night of charging than the bikes would use in a week.
Hysqvarna has a kids e-bike. run time is less than an hour. you need 220V for charging -means big genny. takes 4h to charge.
I've considered buying my kid one. Not for the "clean" aspect of it. But because it's better/easier to ride and less work to maintain than a regular 50.
You're crossing KTM e-bikes. The SX-E 5 and it's blue clad brother have a 900w charger that will run on 110v or 220v. 45mins gets you to 80% charge, 70 mins to full charge from dead. Batteries are easy to swap, a second battery is around $750 so you can have one charging while the bike is in use. The KTM Freeride-E is their 'fullsize' ebike built off 85 SX components, the charge time and need for 220v you posted is accurate for that bike.
thanks for the clarification. i just had those 4 h in mind and compared that to a 20 sec gas refill. my kid's stacyc came with 2 batteries and by the time the second one is half empty his hands are toast. i enjoy seeing him on it and will have a hard time deciding for his next bigger / real bike.
Negative ghost rider. KTM dropped them cuz they didn’t think they’d actually complete the trip. BMW had faith.
Not really feeling this journey. Its more about the batteries and the Rivians than anything else. They aren't camping because they can't charge overnight, obviously, yet they have tailbags and saddlebags packed with bubble wrap, I guess. Loved the other 2 journeys, but not this one. Hoping for some inspiration to do this trip myself someday.
They camped in someone’s driveway/yard. The entire trip so far has been nothing but massive range anxiety. If they’re trying to prove electric bikes work for seeing the outdoors, they’re failing miserably. “Oh man we’re running out of juice, we’re gonna have to turn around and go back and spend the night there cuz they had electricity...” *facepalm
It’s losing momentum for me as well. This most recent episode had every bit of manufactured drama that I hate in reality tv, plus it was over the top with the cookie cutter human interest side with all the UNICEF school stuff. I don’t necessarily have anything against the philanthropist kind of stuff, it just didn’t feel like the show executed it well. There were moments where Ewan and Charlie are talking to the locals and it seemed so forced and painful, like their faces and their demeanor was very “what the f*** am I doing here talking to you and what the f*** are you talking about.”
