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[JaimeC]

Ewan MacGregor and Charlie Boorman rode a couple of Livewires from the southern tip of Argentina to Los Angeles last year.  Although no release date (nor even a trailer) for this documentary exists yet, here is an interesting article to whet your appetites:

http://tinyurl.com/rpey7qa

[Richard230]

Ewan MacGregor and Charlie Boorman rode a couple of Livewires from the southern tip of Argentina to Los Angeles last year.  Although no release date (nor even a trailer) for this documentary exists yet, here is an interesting article to whet your appetites:

http://tinyurl.com/rpey7qa

From what I hear it wasn't all that much of an "adventure".  They had a crew driving ICE vehicles to feed them and to help them stay fully charged during their ride, which ended at LA, instead of Alaska, I believe.   

[JaimeC]

This article implies that Los Angeles was always the final destination.

https://electrek.co/2019/09/09/rivian-electric-pickup-harley-davidson-livewire-electric-motorcycles-trip/

The trucks were also electric, not ICE, though the first article seems to imply something happened to them because Ewan didn't mention them at all on his Tonight Show appearance.

[Richard230]

This article implies that Los Angeles was always the final destination.

https://electrek.co/2019/09/09/rivian-electric-pickup-harley-davidson-livewire-electric-motorcycles-trip/

The trucks were also electric, not ICE, though the first article seems to imply something happened to them because Ewan didn't mention them at all on his Tonight Show appearance.

The pictures of the trucks that I saw before they began their trip looked like ICE to me and they contained gas-powered generators powering DC chargers at the rear of at least one large van or truck.  I am pretty sure that when the trip was first announced the idea was to travel to Alaska.  However, I am not surprised that the trip was cut short.

There is a lady "Itchy Boots" that saw the H-D crew during her ride from the tip of South America while riding a Royal Enfield Himalayan completely by herself.  She commented that it was quite an operation, with multiple vehicles supporting the two LiveWire riders.

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

Their prior adventure motorcycle shows, Long Way Round and Long Way Down, were also media affairs with a misleading difference between what was shown on camera versus the considerable support vehicles and equipment needed to keep the whole thing running (camera crew notwithstanding, those two would have broken their bikes a few times over and the equipment was just replaced with the infrastructure team).

So, these guys are generating a media event that involves motorcycle travel, but have never really been honest in the way that a lot of non-televised motorcycle adventurers are.

I have been following "Itchy Boots", by the way, and they seem much more like my friends who've gone traveling than those guys. There's also Austin Vince behind "Mondo Sahara" and "Mondo Enduro" who is low-key impressive and will criticize the Long Way duo until his dying breath probably.

[JaimeC]

I look at this the same way I looked at the year Paris Hilton was a part owner of a Moto3 Team... it brings attention to something outside of the usual circles.  BTW, one of the riders for Paris' team at the time was a very young Maverick Vinales, who currently rides for the Factory Yamaha team alongside the legendary Valentino Rossi.  Vinales just signed a contract through the end of 2022, so he's doing very well.  Who knows what might've happened had that Moto3 team NOT had Paris' sponsorship money?

https://www.crash.net/motogp/feature/243142/1/maverick-vinales-from-paris-hilton-to-motogp-leader

Maybe this publicity will be good for Harley Davidson in particular, but more importantly for electric motorcycles in general?

[BrianTRice@gmail.com]

Of course it's good publicity - as long as it doesn't result in new owners being irate that none of these bikes are easily arranged to go adventure touring.

[JaimeC]

Caveat Emptor.  I'm sure more than a few people thought you could jump a stock Mustang several feet in the air in San Francisco just like Steve McQueen, too...

[Richard230]

Caveat Emptor.  I'm sure more than a few people thought you could jump a stock Mustang several feet in the air in San Francisco just like Steve McQueen, too...

Well, you could probably do that - once.