The R90S Beemer Airhead motorcycle was instantly an icon of the 70's when it first came out. Take a look at these safety videos put out originally by BMW and placed on youtube for your viewing pleasure by beemergarage.com.
Check out the guy's riding outfit, I am thinking the color of his leathers was more red than pink in real life and it was just the crude state of color film technology perhaps? Then again, his rain gear is even more flamboyantly pinkish! He rides though like I wish I would ride all the time.
Some of the stuff he's shown doing though, like passing cars while going up a mountain, is not what's done around here. Apparently it's all one way traffic in Germany up the particular mountains that the films were shot in but even it that were the case here, I doubt cagers would take kindly to motorcycles zooming past them while on the way up or down the mountain!
Part 1 of the safety video. Direct link here.
Part 2 of the safety video. Direct link here.
99% of the rider's actions and the narrator's advice holds true today as it did the day the film was shot. I invite Irondad's feedback of course in light of modern day traffic patterns and his experience as a motorcycle safety instructor.
Showing posts with label Movie Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Movie Review. Show all posts
Monday, November 23, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Movie Review: Globerider's Iceland Expedition
I remember a scene in some TV show where guys in the Air Force are threatened with a sudden assignment to Iceland if they don't perform some mission well. After seeing a globeriders.com production of riding motorcycles in Iceland, I am now thinking perhaps it would not have been that bad a punishment.
Helge Pedersen, renowned world rider and author of "Ten Years on Two Wheels" where he rides the world on a BMW GS and Chris who makes a living as a pharmacist are the featured riders of this short DVD movie I got from the public library. His website is here: LINK, there's a video trailer about the Iceland trip here: LINK.
Courtesy of globeriders.com
It's about these two guys on BMW 650GS's with huge panniers along with a third rider acting as camera man. The trip happens during late August through early September. They started their riding from Seattle, WA, across Canada towards the end goal of Iceland which of course they reach via aircraft.
At the beginning of the movie, the roads and dirt trails they showed looked highly doable, though they moved across them much faster than I would have on Brigitta. The terrain becomes more challenging as they ride into the boonies where beautiful vistas, wind and solitude are their only companions.
The Icelandic countryside is filled with lots of waterfalls and a lot of volcanic activity which has allowed for about 86% of homes to be able to use geothermal heating. The predominant colors are the gray/black of lava and very green moss covering the areas where rain and humidity permit it.
The riders sought out 4x4 trails in their travels, even practicing riding on the same terrain where NASA trained astronauts to eventually drive on the moon.
Riding through the highlands, they were able to find and navigate pretty rough roads at last. One thing I liked was how they show the use of lower tire pressures in bad terrain to create a larger footprint for the tires.
The riders ride all day, stopping to camp by the ubiquitous hot springs and pools....enjoying the solitude. If you're seeking some time alone, with just beautiful scenery to keep you company, Iceland may be what you want.
They experienced all types of weather during their time in Iceland. This weather ranged from fog, rain, clear skies and wind. Iceland can provide high winds, don't forget to bring your tent stakes!
There are over 40 small river crossings in the highlands, and the riders crossed quite a few of them, making it look pretty easy at times and not so easy in others. I don't think Brigitta would do as well since her air intakes are lower, not to mention her exhaust pipes would be below water level in some of those crossings! They mentioned tales of other motorcyclists having their mounts swept downstream by the strong currents.
Some of the roughest terrain consisted of boulder fields! Small to large smoothly rounded rocks, embedded into the dirt! Probably the remnants of ancient glaciers.
Some of the scenery they saw and stopped at included Crater Lake, a geothermally heated, water-filled volcanic carter. It kind of reminded me of the big meteor crater in AZ, though not as big.
The local tradition of building houses into the sides of small dirt mounts against the ravages of the weather is shown. They also dine at a restaurant built in such fashion. The menu was pancakes and apple schnapps, which apparently was a quite satisfying change from their regular camp food.
Apparently, its pretty cheap to camp in Iceland with camping costs ranging from $3 in the boonies to $6 in more civilized areas.
One scene showed some of the soft mud that they had to cross. The camera shows Chris digging a furrow in the mud from where his GS had gotten its rear wheel buried.
Some of the varied terrain offered by Iceland included of course iceberg fields and glaciers with over 500 varieties of moss growing on the lava fields giving the Iceland an "Irish" look.
The riders then take a slight detour from riding in the boonies and venture into some tourist locations, to include:
A brief tour of the Capital of Iceland, Reykjavik including singers in the square and city dwellers bathing in yet another geothermal lake. I am thinking hot water is not a rare commodity in these parts. In some locations, the ever present volcanic/geothermal activity made living there kind of like living in Yellowstone National Park. Geyser watching is a popular tourist activity.
And then, back to the boonies:
Their first real mishap involved wet hard clay....they said it felt like being on ice and both the camera man and Chris went down, damaging the panniers and a few dents on the motorcycles. No injuries to the riders fortunately. A great McGyver type moment was when the film shows Helge Pedersen demonstrating how to unbend a bad 90 degree bend on the right handlebar....pretty smart. This accident Only delayed them a couple of hours.
More riding, lots of views of horses and the reaching of the Herring capital of the world according to Helge finish out the film They cover about 3000 miles of riding in their adventures and the film ends with Helge stashing their used knobbies in an abandoned structure. The GPS coordinates are shown on the screen so if you happen to be riding in Iceland, you may want to go and see if the tires are still there!
Helge Pedersen, renowned world rider and author of "Ten Years on Two Wheels" where he rides the world on a BMW GS and Chris who makes a living as a pharmacist are the featured riders of this short DVD movie I got from the public library. His website is here: LINK, there's a video trailer about the Iceland trip here: LINK.
Courtesy of globeriders.comAt the beginning of the movie, the roads and dirt trails they showed looked highly doable, though they moved across them much faster than I would have on Brigitta. The terrain becomes more challenging as they ride into the boonies where beautiful vistas, wind and solitude are their only companions.
The Icelandic countryside is filled with lots of waterfalls and a lot of volcanic activity which has allowed for about 86% of homes to be able to use geothermal heating. The predominant colors are the gray/black of lava and very green moss covering the areas where rain and humidity permit it.
The riders sought out 4x4 trails in their travels, even practicing riding on the same terrain where NASA trained astronauts to eventually drive on the moon.
Riding through the highlands, they were able to find and navigate pretty rough roads at last. One thing I liked was how they show the use of lower tire pressures in bad terrain to create a larger footprint for the tires.
The riders ride all day, stopping to camp by the ubiquitous hot springs and pools....enjoying the solitude. If you're seeking some time alone, with just beautiful scenery to keep you company, Iceland may be what you want.
They experienced all types of weather during their time in Iceland. This weather ranged from fog, rain, clear skies and wind. Iceland can provide high winds, don't forget to bring your tent stakes!
There are over 40 small river crossings in the highlands, and the riders crossed quite a few of them, making it look pretty easy at times and not so easy in others. I don't think Brigitta would do as well since her air intakes are lower, not to mention her exhaust pipes would be below water level in some of those crossings! They mentioned tales of other motorcyclists having their mounts swept downstream by the strong currents.
Some of the roughest terrain consisted of boulder fields! Small to large smoothly rounded rocks, embedded into the dirt! Probably the remnants of ancient glaciers.
Some of the scenery they saw and stopped at included Crater Lake, a geothermally heated, water-filled volcanic carter. It kind of reminded me of the big meteor crater in AZ, though not as big.
The local tradition of building houses into the sides of small dirt mounts against the ravages of the weather is shown. They also dine at a restaurant built in such fashion. The menu was pancakes and apple schnapps, which apparently was a quite satisfying change from their regular camp food.
Apparently, its pretty cheap to camp in Iceland with camping costs ranging from $3 in the boonies to $6 in more civilized areas.
One scene showed some of the soft mud that they had to cross. The camera shows Chris digging a furrow in the mud from where his GS had gotten its rear wheel buried.
Some of the varied terrain offered by Iceland included of course iceberg fields and glaciers with over 500 varieties of moss growing on the lava fields giving the Iceland an "Irish" look.
The riders then take a slight detour from riding in the boonies and venture into some tourist locations, to include:
A brief tour of the Capital of Iceland, Reykjavik including singers in the square and city dwellers bathing in yet another geothermal lake. I am thinking hot water is not a rare commodity in these parts. In some locations, the ever present volcanic/geothermal activity made living there kind of like living in Yellowstone National Park. Geyser watching is a popular tourist activity.
And then, back to the boonies:
Their first real mishap involved wet hard clay....they said it felt like being on ice and both the camera man and Chris went down, damaging the panniers and a few dents on the motorcycles. No injuries to the riders fortunately. A great McGyver type moment was when the film shows Helge Pedersen demonstrating how to unbend a bad 90 degree bend on the right handlebar....pretty smart. This accident Only delayed them a couple of hours.
More riding, lots of views of horses and the reaching of the Herring capital of the world according to Helge finish out the film They cover about 3000 miles of riding in their adventures and the film ends with Helge stashing their used knobbies in an abandoned structure. The GPS coordinates are shown on the screen so if you happen to be riding in Iceland, you may want to go and see if the tires are still there!
Friday, August 1, 2008
Movie Review: The Long Way Down - Director's Cut
Yesterday evening, I and about 100 or so sat at the local mall's theater to watch the director's cut of the film "The Long Way Down". See link to prior posting describing the film: LINK
The film had its amusing/comedic moments, mainly driven by the spoken commentary between Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman as they motored along Africa's sometimes quite bad "roads", more like trails sometimes.
For instance: They chanced to meet a bicyclist who's going around the world on pedal power alone, using a bike obviously when on land but using a pedal boat for Christ's sake when crossing intervening large water barriers. Now that's a serious bicyclist. Anyways, as the man departed, Ewan is sitting on his R1200GS loaded to the gills with gear, he turns to Charlie and says: "So, how much of a pussy do you feel like now, Charlie?" The whole crowd of us burst out laughing.
There were many shots of their GS's going down in the extremely poor road conditions they had to endure, mostly it was Ewan's bike doing the crashing as Charlie had his Dakar experience to help him along but even he dropped it on occasion I think.
Some really beautiful scenery served as backdrops and side shots of the trip, much footage of the people they met along the way and the truly primitive conditions they live under, and a couple of instances of recounting of massacres that happened under that poor continent's continuing tribal warfare.
Ewans wife, Eve joins them for a small part of the ride, on a 650GS I believe. She was quite the trooper, only recently having learned how to ride a motorcycle! There was footage of some of her crashes, which did not discourage her as it would have me, she always got up and rode on.
Throughout the film there was the "trip diary" entries of each rider's impressions of events, their thoughts on stuff, all mostly in HD which was a bit disconcerting since they sometimes tended to hold the cameras real close to their faces!
To me it was amusing to see Charlie's reactions when he was asked to not do wheelies by the guys in the support crew in order to decrease risks. He does fine for a while but then apparently something lets loose and there's footage of him doing it repeatedly. : )
This film was only two hours so I only saw bits and pieces of the series that starts 02AUG I believe on Fox Reality Channel, it's worth a look on your part.
The film had its amusing/comedic moments, mainly driven by the spoken commentary between Ewan McGregor and Charlie Boorman as they motored along Africa's sometimes quite bad "roads", more like trails sometimes.
For instance: They chanced to meet a bicyclist who's going around the world on pedal power alone, using a bike obviously when on land but using a pedal boat for Christ's sake when crossing intervening large water barriers. Now that's a serious bicyclist. Anyways, as the man departed, Ewan is sitting on his R1200GS loaded to the gills with gear, he turns to Charlie and says: "So, how much of a pussy do you feel like now, Charlie?" The whole crowd of us burst out laughing.
There were many shots of their GS's going down in the extremely poor road conditions they had to endure, mostly it was Ewan's bike doing the crashing as Charlie had his Dakar experience to help him along but even he dropped it on occasion I think.
Some really beautiful scenery served as backdrops and side shots of the trip, much footage of the people they met along the way and the truly primitive conditions they live under, and a couple of instances of recounting of massacres that happened under that poor continent's continuing tribal warfare.
Ewans wife, Eve joins them for a small part of the ride, on a 650GS I believe. She was quite the trooper, only recently having learned how to ride a motorcycle! There was footage of some of her crashes, which did not discourage her as it would have me, she always got up and rode on.
Throughout the film there was the "trip diary" entries of each rider's impressions of events, their thoughts on stuff, all mostly in HD which was a bit disconcerting since they sometimes tended to hold the cameras real close to their faces!
To me it was amusing to see Charlie's reactions when he was asked to not do wheelies by the guys in the support crew in order to decrease risks. He does fine for a while but then apparently something lets loose and there's footage of him doing it repeatedly. : )
This film was only two hours so I only saw bits and pieces of the series that starts 02AUG I believe on Fox Reality Channel, it's worth a look on your part.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Film Review: Twice Upon a Caravan
Today I received from the Denver Library system a DVD containing the film created by Robert E. Fulton Jr when he rode around the world during 1932-33 by himself on a six horsepower motorcycle.
Mr Fulton on his trusty steed
It's 53 minutes of black/white movies that were a great complement to my recent reading of the book by Fulton: A One Man Caravan.
While the book did an excellent job of describing the many varied views and people that Fulton saw as he rode; the film films in some of the blanks for the viewer. The book remains a must-read before the film, then let the film finish the job of bringing you along this man's great adventure at the tender age of 22. Wow.
The film starts with Robert Fulton, now 92, sitting on his trusty motorcycle which he still has in his possession, it's his voice that narrates throughout the film and he mentions portions of the book as examples. Having recently read the book, I found the repetition of these book portions to be great aids to the film and to my enjoyment of the films.
Watching the film, you'll get a small idea of what kind of rough terrain he had to negotiate during the early thirties and you'll wonder how he ever managed at times. After all, it's not like he had a support crew and chase vehicles, a mate to ride alongside him, powerful BMW dual-sport motorcycles etc. The man did it on his own and not a single whine did I detect.
A scene caused some wishful thinking on my part. Fulton shoots some footage of himself and his bike, they're next to a stone marker marking the Equator in Sumatra. He eats a sandwich, while straddling the Equator....that's cool! Maybe someday I'll do the same.
One commentary I found noteworthy, which highlighted the changing times that were the 30s; he was the 100th person to make an international long distance call from Bangkok to NY on their recently installed phone cable!
Some of his film was destroyed by heat and humidity during his travels he mentions, but he made it a point to mention he'd lent the US Army his footage of roads in Siam and Indochina during WWII. The army apparently lost it all and he's never been able to recover it. That's a darn shame.
So, check your local library system and get this DVD sent to you for viewing! Specially if you've read the book by Fulton but even if you have not. Its title is in the subject line, the author is Robert E. Fulton Jr, made by Searchlight Films of Bernardston, MA. Now this is a visual record of a world-class motorcycle rider!
Mr Fulton on his trusty steedWhile the book did an excellent job of describing the many varied views and people that Fulton saw as he rode; the film films in some of the blanks for the viewer. The book remains a must-read before the film, then let the film finish the job of bringing you along this man's great adventure at the tender age of 22. Wow.
The film starts with Robert Fulton, now 92, sitting on his trusty motorcycle which he still has in his possession, it's his voice that narrates throughout the film and he mentions portions of the book as examples. Having recently read the book, I found the repetition of these book portions to be great aids to the film and to my enjoyment of the films.
Watching the film, you'll get a small idea of what kind of rough terrain he had to negotiate during the early thirties and you'll wonder how he ever managed at times. After all, it's not like he had a support crew and chase vehicles, a mate to ride alongside him, powerful BMW dual-sport motorcycles etc. The man did it on his own and not a single whine did I detect.
A scene caused some wishful thinking on my part. Fulton shoots some footage of himself and his bike, they're next to a stone marker marking the Equator in Sumatra. He eats a sandwich, while straddling the Equator....that's cool! Maybe someday I'll do the same.
One commentary I found noteworthy, which highlighted the changing times that were the 30s; he was the 100th person to make an international long distance call from Bangkok to NY on their recently installed phone cable!
Some of his film was destroyed by heat and humidity during his travels he mentions, but he made it a point to mention he'd lent the US Army his footage of roads in Siam and Indochina during WWII. The army apparently lost it all and he's never been able to recover it. That's a darn shame.
So, check your local library system and get this DVD sent to you for viewing! Specially if you've read the book by Fulton but even if you have not. Its title is in the subject line, the author is Robert E. Fulton Jr, made by Searchlight Films of Bernardston, MA. Now this is a visual record of a world-class motorcycle rider!
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