What's with the Ewan and Charlie Hatin'

[chris-red]

I've never really understood why people always moan about E+C. I for one really enjoyed TLWR and TLWD. They raised money for charity and in my mind made the biker image much more friendly to the general public.

I understand that they had a alot of support and got alot of free kit but that is the way of the world. Just look at the sales of the Adventure Beemers, BMW made alot of money out of it.

In my mind they are 2 mates that wanted to go around the world on bikes and thought they would make an (enjoyable) TV show and raised money for charity.

Some people don't like the moaning from guys but even with the support and the free kit it was still a very difficult journey with long hours and many problems. I feel it was a very honest show that showed the journey warts and all.
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Well, you know what they say. If you want to save the world, you have to push a few old ladies down the stairs.
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[nowhere.elysium]

I enjoyed the DVDs of LWR and LWD, but I find Charley Boorman comes across as a whining tart. I don't automatically support Ewan MacGregor out of some misplaced fandom, but I find it easier to sympathise with him. Charley's meant to be the more experienced rider and all that, but he's the one that bleats damn near constantly, from what I remember of it.
Equally, the support crew was a little on the ridiculous side, but it was a good watch, overall.
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'10 SV650SF, '83 GS650GT (it lives!), Questionable DIY dash project, 3D Printer project, Lasercutter project

[DEN MONKEY]

Enjoyed both of them for what they were worth but they did tend to sook too much especially in the 2nd one.
They were on the trip of a life time and still managed to complain about it an awful lot.

I think Claudio got the short end of ths stick considering he did pretty much the entire ride with all the camera gear on his bike and more often than not was out in front of them to get the shots.
I know he's just part of the crew but sometimes they pretended like there was no one else around.
Don't forget the guy holding the camera right in front of your face bozzo
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meh

[map]

[ms51ves3]

LWR was pretty good as the support crew did break away from the bikes, but through Africa on LWD they're constantly together.

Plus all the flying about in Africa because its 'Too dangerous to ride there' ruins it.

[JAMSXR]

I always found that every time I switched over to watch it one of them would be moaning about something, sure a journey like that is never going to be easy but they are essentially being payed to travel across the world on a motorbike, no real reason to moan. If they weren't moaning about the latest 'incident' they would be turning something quite interesting into a big mellow dramatic moment.

In my eyes they seemed to make a mountain out of a molehill. Saying that I don't think they are bad people just a little annoying, but to solve this problem I would just change the channel and fined something els to moan about.
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Honda SFX50 > Aprilia SR125 > Aprilia RS125 > Honda RFV400 > K4 GSXR600 > KTM Duke > C1H 636 > K3 GSXR1000 > Aprilia RSV-R > Triumph Street Triple R > Ducati 899 Panigale > Aprilia Tuono 1100 > Triumph Daytona 675R > KTM SuperDuke 1290 2.0

[Skudd]

If you take it for what it is, then the programes are good entertainment, good to see bikes on tv in a positive way, good for showing other countries not on the wish you were here tv stuff.

If you wanted hard core, don't watch them, watch the mondoe enduro stuff.

It was entertainment, two mates going around the world, getting paid for it, raising money for some charities, helping them with thier TV and career profiles.

I wish I could have done it, but I do think Claudio could have got something better out of it, even if it was just an out take or crash wars style thing based on the trip and other bike/car related stuff.
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Famous last words of Humpty Dumpty. " Stop pushing me "
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[BanditJeff]

I really enjoyed LWR and while LWD wasn't as good i still enjoyed it nontheless. I also recently read Race To Dakar and flew through the book in two days, not seen the vid of that yet but i shall be buying it sometime. There is so little in the way of bike stuff on TV that anything bike orientated gets my vote.
I also think that Ewan and Charlie come across as likeable guys, and so what that they have support vehicles and crew following them. I have great respect for their acheivements and the positive way that bikers are portrayed by them.

[Mr.Everready]

[MarJay]

LWR was good as a travellog rather than a motorcycle programme.

LWD was shite, mainly because they tried to inject fake tension into it. "Will Snap on give us the tools we need? Of course they will! They'll make millions from the advertising!!"
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British beauty: Triumph Street Triple R; Loony stroker: KR1S; Track fun: GSXR750 L1; Commuter Missile: GSX-S1000F; Cheap project: CBR900RR FireBlade
Remember kids, bikes aren't like lego. You can't easily take a part from one bike and then fit it to another.

[ms51ves3]

Race to Dakar is really good.

[st3v3]

[G]

The charity bit just makes it worse - if they really wanted to do work for charity there are much better ways to do it.
Seems a bit of a 'scam' to pretend that they're going on this trip for charity rather than for the sake of getting paid to go on a 'cool adventure'.

They chose their kit based on who would pay them the most, rather than what was the best kit. On that basis, they had rather unsuitable kit for their needs.

Like most such TV things these days, a lot has to be horribly over-played, when there's so much real stuff that would make good TV that could be shown.

Race to Dakar particularly annoyed me because of how Charlie made very little effort beforehand, moaned all the time, then claimed he really missed it when he couldn't ride any more (fair play for finishing the day, though!)

It does irk me that their rather 'safe' expedition is portrayed as this massive adventure - when a quick read through the ride reports on advrider shows people doing much more for longer with much less - and more importantly with more interesting characters that can present a better story.
Furthermore, that now anyone doing such things is presumed to be 'copying' them.
As with everything, you don't know how much of the content is scripted and not. Having been involved in such a (though a lot lower key) documentary has spoiled them for me, as I've become aware the way they 'work'.

Saying all that, not sure I'd say no if I had a chance to have a big support crew following me etc (actually, I reckon I probably would... but I'd like to be in the position to find out at least .)

[damz]

i dislike the fact that they have a huge support crew yet made it seem like it was a 2 man journey around the world. my stepmum and her ex made it from london to east of india by themselfs with no support crew on an old bmw. sadly the final destination was austrailia but there was a major storm that destroyed the roads throughout the area and heavy snow storms which caused havoc so had to give up and go back the way they came.

to me she is more of a biker than those two who are now milking the whole bike touring thing for fame and money.
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Current Bikes RVF400 - 94
Cars: RX7 FD, Eunos Roadster
Former Bikes: FZR 250R 89, ZX7R 98

[iooi]

[temeluchus]

If youve ever watched mondo enduro or terra circa youll realise what a load of crap lwr and lwd are.
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Some shite cruiser. Now with guns and FREEDOM!

[ms51ves3]

[G]

[Faldo]

[ytrewq321]

its charlie boorman that really annoys me more than anything, he seems quite up himself about how brave he was for attempting both trips. hes one of those people that are like, look how great i am, i am just marvellous .

Also with the hype surrounding those two trips they did, lwr lwd, it was like they were going to the moon, chances are they were hardly alone and support crew was there to make sure they were happy all the time. ive seen better threads on forums where people really have been biking alone, and they were alot more interesting. Now beige people seem to hold them aloft like they are great hero's of struggle and that they are the best bikers ever!.

in short boorman can go back to the hole he was in before lwr and mcgregor should have stopped acting after trainspotting, god he is awful in star wars and the island
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Honda CG125 BR-S 1995 + cg125 W

[ms51ves3]