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The true fate of "adv" riding

klaviator said:
"Adventure" has different meaning to different people. Adventure is much more than riding a fully farkled, fully loaded BMW GSA around the world. When I bought my first bike and started exploring the area within around 25 miles of my home I considered that an adventure. A few years later I loaded up my GS550E and moved across the country. Before that I had never ridden across the state line. That was certainly an adventure to me. Since then I have had hundreds if not thousands of adventures on two wheels. I have even owned a real adventure bike, a 95 R1100GS.

The biggest threat to adventure ridering for future generations is that so many look for adventure on their devices online and disconnect from the real world and reality. On top of that so many have been taught that safety is paramount and risk taking is stupid. Luckily not everyone buys into that.
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That,
Yooper_Bob said:
There were lots of people taking "adventure" trips long before it became "in vogue", and I will suspect that will continue long after the market moves on to the next hot, money making, segment.

You just won't see as many posers hanging around Starbucks on their immaculate 4 year old GS with 1,000 miles on it, wearing $2K worth of spotless adventure gear.
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and that.
 
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87warrior said:
........... All of those feelings I experienced on that first riding trip to Colorado came back to me. While I had ridden on country roads on the dirt bike, there was a wild sense of freedom leaving my driveway for the first time on the WRR with my endorsement. There were no boundaries, no restrictions. Nothing was standing in my way of an adventure. I still get that feeling even if I am just riding the 25 minutes work in the morning.

So what does any of that mean? I don't know. I do believe the desire for adventure and ADV style riding has to come from within. Society/social media or even your close friends can encourage or discourage that desire, but it ultimately has to come from you.
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I think you nailed it there!
 
ZoomerP said:
I get unironically asked about my "adventures," which is strange to me. I see it as societal shorthand for, "What did you guys do when you went canyoneering in Utah?" A friend used to ride his R80G/S coast to coast on service calls, camping along the way to save money and enjoy the trip. He never considered that he was on an "adventure". Don't let new labels irritate you too much. If they knew more about what you were doing, they probably wouldn't think you'd gone "adventure riding."

It's worth remembering that the whole ADV/Get Out There! thing has been building steam for many years. You don't have to look any farther than Old Faithful to see that as much hype as there's been, not many people venture a mile down a trail from the parking lot, even on the busiest day of one of the busiest parks in the world. If the world of "ADVing" seems threadbare, try adding something else into the mix, like a simple day hike.
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One of my best adventures was several years ago while on a two week ride through NM, AZ, UT, and CO. One day I rode into Zion NP, parked my bike. rode the bus into the canyon and went for a "little" hike.

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These were great posts. I dont think I have classified myself as anything but a rider. The best journey type adventures I have had were on my original gs750l and 2up on the wifes 1989 sportster. The gs750l took me through the mountains of nc all the way to Isle of Palms. The Sportster we 2upped all through Ohio and into Canada. Both bikes needed attention due to the age of the bikes. I think that added an interesting element that any nicer bike and newer bike really never replaced.

In 2016 I picked up a beater 1981 xj550 maxim for winter use. We actually enjoyed this bike alot. We rode shorter style trips around northern Ohio. But we also rode every bike from my xt to the vino and plenty others. I find some adventure in the bike and not necessarily the end destination.

On the 2022 klr the adventure is just spending time together. That out weighs where the heck we end up. Even if the destination is epic.
 
The Term ADV and the ubiquitous BMW pannier box gear type thing, sort of morphed out of Ewan & charlies Long way round series two decades ago.
Bike makers and accessory gear firms loved it and a whole industry happened both commercially and culturally in motorcycling.
Many bought into the whole ADVing deal, and Pretty soon there seemed to be a near epidemic of ADVers doing ADVers type things like grafting some form of whitepower dirt bike suspension on to some such BMW bike and a sort or dreamlike pattern evolved which kind of went something like this.
Bike Purchased gear gathered hand your notice in at work and wola we have a life on the road sleeping in a tent in deepest siberia and sharing said exploits where and whenever the opotunity presented itself on the interweb.
We went through the podcast thing and talked about well ADV type stuff, things that matter to ADVers the world over which can be beating the Que at starbucks to fighting off a rampant brown bear in deepest wild wood zone in heisbackinstan or coldwetsunberia , depending on your flavor of ADVing .
Being English and biking being a big part of my life but also being very much second fiddle to my waterfowling and general shooting/ hunting background obsession, i picked and chose what i took from ADVing. And to be fair i took very little from it, i already did tank top bags and i only have wolfman throw over bags ( which probably existed before anyway) to thank ADVing for as far as i am aware.
I Have owned a ADV type bike a 2016 Triumph Tiger XCX800, it was ok came my way from my nephew who bought it moved to New zealand and i ended up babysitting and ultimately buying the tiger. Kept it a wile and thought it was a good bike but it went last year and i really dont miss it or its type of bike in my world.
ADVing to my way of thinking is something born out of nothing and although i admit we have gained more potentialy on/off road capable motorcycles than at anytine in motorcycling history the wheel was not invented here.
Millions of us were having adventures on basic road and trail bikes long before the term ADV was invented, and indeed still are my 1971 trident T150 went around the north of Scottland only last summer with this crippled up old codger at the helm and it felt fine to me like everything i have ever had adventures on in my life.
The bike of choice was often the bike that was there and that was very broad and varied. Ones i remember fondly i supose were Yamaha RD350 LC VPVS Suzuki T500r honda CB750/4. K4 Kawasaki Z1B900 Suzukis Gs1000 and 1100e models A 1974 Tiger 750 TR7v a suzuki 750 SRad streetfighter ci did the alps on solo in the mid 2000s and of course trail bikes My XL500s 17 and 12 years ownership respectfully and A DT250 Mx and My beloved still own ir 1996 Xt600E i have had coming up 20 years.
The list could go on for posterity perposes, but you get my drift by now. you can have adventure on whatever where ever and whenever you want.
we dont all want a big true ADV bike, and more importantly we can have that freedom of adventure on anything in our price point end of story. Or wait.!
No in fact.!
. This is just the begining its liberating to know its there for all if its chosen to be termed ADV, and all that that involves or not, its about what you want to take from ADV if anything at all. .
Just get out there enjoy yourselves its awesome. Just sayin.
 
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ZoomerP said:
I get unironically asked about my "adventures," which is strange to me.
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I'm with you on this. I wasn't gonna post because I didn't want to come across as a anti-adv/ its-just-a-trend-label guy, but never before in my life have I heard people call daily activities an adventure. Adventures growing up were historical things like finding new continents or an expedition to the Arctic or something. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, that was an adventure. Stories like that.

I'll mention something about a ride and hear, "oh, sounds like a fun adventure". Was it really? I mean, yeah, it was fun. I just outside doing whatever and thought something seemed fun so I did it. Didn't really feel like I was being adventurous 😁

Whatever we decide to call it is cool, whatever "it" is. Making names for things is how we understand each other when we talk. I'm just happy to see/ be around folks that like to get outside and do things. Nature is awesome. Being in nature and being exposed to the good and bad things it brings is also awesome. I'm in.
 
I used the word adventure before to politely describe events at work that I felt should have never happened. But the word is coined into everything do to algorithms. This increases view counts and clicks. Compare two bikes with similar specs based on the same model. The adventure spec is the price premium and guaranteed to explore. Meanwhile either bike with decent tires can go almost anywhere....kinda. Anything over 300lbs can become a serious liability in real solo offroad riding. Most of these modern "adv" bikes could never trail break around an obstruction. And my old cm200 with tires would be easier. The cm was great in snow or offroad but would be laughed at by some.
 
The shine has kind of worn off the whole "adventure" riding thing. It's been an interesting beast to have been watching it over the last 15 years. Sure I bought in early with my first KTM and I sill relate to that genre more than others but I am getting deeper into the whole airhead culture too having just bought my 2nd.

I too care little for what anyone rides or where they go but I am looking forward to my upcoming little adventure of riding the Trans Taiga.

I'll make sure I look the part on my KTM all decked out in KLIM gear.:lol3
 
In my dyslexic state I started to wonder, who is the true father of adv riding?
I can think of Austin Vince,
Charlie and Ewan.
Horizon Unlimited,
Even Ed March.
 
Countless people rode bikes solo anywhere way before the internet. I talked to an ederly nurse who rode coast to coast on a sportster. She wasn't a biker and I bet she has no idea of adventure riding. The yamaha "rt 66" then later the virago 250 and then the vstar 250 was a classic example of the dream. In the 80s..I dreamed of rt 66. In 2017 I dreamed to liquidate everything and head to Prudhoe.

It is interesting...in other passions money and gear never bought happiness. And sometimes the dream is worth more than reality. It keeps one sane while dealing with life. Kinda like the biker scene. True american freedom right! In some ways yes! But corporated backing and money can create a negative impact to a true free soul.

The most damaging part is when money buys clout. Then the cost over runs the true enthusiasts that sparked the flames of passion to begin with.

The clone wars might actually save "adv" riding by affordability.
 
I guess I find it all interesting. This video has only 21 views in a month. I did not know about Iron Mt Thanx to these riders....I know the place exists.
 
Amos Malone said:
In my dyslexic state I started to wonder, who is the true father of adv riding?
I can think of Austin Vince,
Charlie and Ewan.
Horizon Unlimited,
Even Ed March.
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Respectfully disagree with this. Ted Simon, Ed Culberson, Elspeth Beard and Dave Barr were the real parents.
 

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Nice...I have wall of death pic....husband and wife on Indians..very old
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Kinda like who was the 1st female stunt rider...ah it all goes back to tomato can carbs.
 
Austin Vince definitely counts, read the book Mondo Enduro. Yes there were plenty of folks doing big trips much earlier but I really feel for Austin and what he and the group tried to achieve. That and he married Lois Pryce who has a pretty serious repertoire of interesting trips.
 
skibum69 said:
Austin Vince definitely counts, read the book Mondo Enduro. Yes there were plenty of folks doing big trips much earlier but I really feel for Austin and what he and the group tried to achieve. That and he married Lois Pryce who has a pretty serious repertoire of interesting trips.
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I bought a copy of his 3 DVDs on Ebay. As a bonus I got a CD with the band Lois Pryce is in, some badges, and some stickers. To quote Allen Millard. "I was very pleased with that."

Another who could be called father of adv riding is Baldy. While he didn't go around the world or ride adventures for all his life, his forum was IMHO very influential in the formation of adv culture.
 
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