Distance Touring Yamaha YBR125

[jeffyjeff]

Poking around the internet for small displacement motorcycle touring, I ran across this series of fourteen YouTube videos featuring two riders touring Europe on Yamaha YBR125’s. For a couple of amateurs with a go-pro, these clips are very well done. I enjoyed the narrative, the music, the road scenes, and most of the destinations featured in the videos. Yes, there were some deviations that I did not particularly care for, like a ski trip in the Pyrenees, and several displays of their swimming skills. They could have documented their locations better than they did, but overall, their effort was more inspiration than frustration. I traced their route as best I could from the narrative:

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/54158809518_6779735335_c.jpg

These guys took advantage of the YBR’s generous fuel tank range, choosing several off-road routes that would have given me cause to think twice. The Yamahas appear to be all stock, without modification, accessories, or gadgetry, save for textile panniers and hard top cases. The bikes held up well, although both suffered exhaust leaks enroute. I was surprised at the apparent ease which the bikes negotiated unimproved roads on their stock 90/90-18 street tyres.

The video series maintains continuity throughout 13 episodes, but unravels in the final video in an unnamed Czech city (I assume to be Prague). Don’t know why they did not continue the series back to the UK; other than a vague reference to a quarrel, there is no hint of conflict between the two. Six months on the road is a long time to spend every day with your mate. The one time I attempted a long-distance road trip with a friend, it did not end well.

Anyway, I hope this post will be of interest to some. Here are links to the videos.

1 Episode 1- Iberian Peninsula: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_1f_Bckmfw&list=PLpeXK9BKyywGactip9Tw1g_W3w2DlFYzQ&index=1
2 Episode 2-Southern France: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuvB-WTUCd8&t=45s
3 Episode 3-Italian West Coast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlwZvlCA_XU&t=43s
4 Episode 4-Sicily: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJzGj8LcIoU&t=64s
5 Episode 5-Inland Italy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19R7mMNFtBY&t=24s
6 Episode 6-Northeastern Italy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sxl4kMqzRTc&t=47s
7 Episode 7-Triglav National Park Slovenia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9dixYpKFYg&t=25s
8 Episode 8-Slovenia continued: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=socdQeSY49c&t=24s
9 Episode 9-Croatia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edwr3kkRjrE&t=21s
10 Episode 10-Bosnia & Herzegovenia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edwr3kkRjrE&t=21s
11 Episode 11-Montenegro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0wVxZ15a7M&t=24s
12 Episode 12-The Road to Theth Albania: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDmP8HikJ_4&t=22s
13 Episode 13-Greece: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nh7fj53JSmc&t=25s
14 Episode 14-Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, Czechia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcTokPcL8Is&t=28s
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History shows again and again how nature points out the folly of men - BOC