Tiny Swoopy Roads, Amazing Views and Wooly Coos
The latest episode of our Planet Ramble has just been posted. This time we find tiny swoopy roads over and through Scotland’s mountains, find some amazing scenery and have an encounter with Wooly Coos. Don’t know what a wooly coo is? Tag along on this episode and find out. You can ride with us by clicking HERE or cutting and pasting the below link into your web browser:
We hope you decide to come along!
Dim Castles, A British Military Tattoo, Strong People, Centaurs And Lots Of Scotch Whiskey
The latest episode of our Planet Ramble has just been posted. This time we stay in a dimly lit castle, discover the British Military Tattoo and find amazing characters after finding huge quantities of single malt scotch whiskey. If you’d like to come along, you can CLICK HERE or cut and paste the following into your web browser: http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/kim-mikes-most-excellent-planet-ramble.1151194/page-12#post-34523022
We hope you come along!
Two Men Screaming, Deep Thoughts and Blowing Bubbles At The Palace
The latest episode of our Planet Ramble has just been posted. In Norway we find two men screaming, think deep thoughts and blow bubbles at the Norwegian Royal Palace. If you would like to come along, you can click HERE or copy and past the following link into your web browser:
We hope you come along!
Viking Ships, Well Preserved People, & Light Rail Vehicles
The latest episode of our Planet Ramble has just been posted. We roll into Norway and right into Oslo. Meeting up with our riding friend Bjorn, we find thousand year old Viking ships and artifacts, visit with some people preserved in metal and stone, ending up checking out light rail vehicles.
You can ride along with us by CLICKING HERE or cutting and pasting the below link into your web browser:
We hope you come along for the ride!
A Centuries Old Sunken Warship, Ikea And Country Music
The latest episode of our Planet Ramble has just been posted. This time we visit a centuries old recovered and restored warship, make a “mandatory” stop at a Swedish Ikea and listen to country music… in Sweden. You can join us by clicking HERE or cutting and pasting the below link into your web browser:
We hope you decide to come along!
Penthouses, Blacksmiths and Ocean Sunsets
The latest episode of our Planet Ramble has just been posted. This time we travel to Tallinn, Estonia and find a 12th floor penthouse, hang out with blacksmiths and tour through Estonia as it was hundreds of years ago. You can come along for the ride by clicking HERE or by cutting and pasting the following link into your web browser:
Come along for the ride!
Pickle Pizza, Apes, Pyromania And New Found Friends
The latest episode of our Planet Ramble has just been posted. This time we leave Lithuania, get a pickle pizza, witness pyromania and find two new friends. You can ride along with us by clicking HERE or by cutting and pasting the link below into your web browser:
We hope you come along!
We Encounter Mechanical Glitches, Black Bison, Slovakian Harley Heaven And Get Free Harley Fuel
The latest episode of our Planet Ramble has just been posted. This time we run into mechanical problems, find the meeting place of Black Bison, inadvertently find Harley Heaven in Slovakia and get free Harley Fuel. If you’d like to ride along, click HERE. If this doesn’t work, cut and paste the below link into your web browser:
We hope you come along for the ride!
500 Year Old Grapevines, A Lost Phone and Sweltering Heat
The latest episode of our Planet Ramble has just been posted. This time we travel to Slovenia and Hungary, find a 500 year old grapevine, lose a phone with almost all our pictures and dine while swimming (you’ll see what me mean in the post) in the sweltering heat.
You can travel with us by clicking HERE. If this link doesn’t work, simply cut and paste the below into your web browser:
We hope you will join us.
More Mountains, Rotary Motorcycles, Roman Ruins And Party In Town
The latest Episode of our Planet Ramble has just been posted. This time, we ride even more mountains, find a motorcycle in a rotary and check out some ancient Roman ruins and attend a party in town. We’re in Slovenia and it is awesome!!!
Click HERE to join us. If the link does not work, copy and paste the below into your web browser.
Come ride with us for the next part of our journey.
Deeper Into France We Ride, Thunderstorms, Ancient Villages, Wine And Road Construction
The latest episode of our Planet Ramble has just been published. We ride deeper into France and find thunderstorms, Ancient Villages, lots of wine and road construction. Each had their fun elements… If you’d like to come along, click HERE. Or, you can cut and paste this link into your web browser:
We hope you enjoy the ride with us!
Eastward Through France, We Visit the Mont.
The latest episode of our Planet Ramble takes us further east across France with a visit to the famous Mont Saint Michel. An amazing Middle Ages Fortress and Monastery, it was attacked many times in history, but never taken. We walk through and find “interesting” things inside.
If you’d like to visit, click HERE.
If the link doesn’t work, cut and paste the below link into your web browser:
We hope you enjoy!
Ride2ADV Starts Phase 2 Of Our World Ramble
We are ready to start Phase 2 of our Planet Ramble. We’re off and riding Saturday June 3 for a few months. This trip will mostly be on pavement, so were doing a bit of an experiment and will be riding two modified Ducati Scramblers. Kim will be on a Scrambler Icon and Mike will be on a Scrambler Desert Sled. We’ve had to make some modifications to make the bikes suitable for our intended riding. The bikes now have aluminum panniers and top boxes. Kim’s bike has both upper and lower “case guards”, while Mike’s Desert Sled has only uppers. There is now weather protection for our hands, heated grips, oil cooler protection and some very bright led lighting. The last significant change is the addition of some larger and more sure footed footpegs.
There are some additional minor changes like a headlight guard on the Desert Sled and oversize sidestand feet. When we return, we’ll be looking at adding a bash plate (when we can find a quality one), or fabricate one ourselves if need be. Since this trip is to be mostly on road, this really shouldn’t be an issue. We are also running on OEM tires and will likely change to Continental TKC-80s for our trip to Morocco next Spring.
So what do they look like now? Here are a few pics.
If you’d like to see a brief video on the changes made to the Desert Sled, click the below video or on the link below the video.
Ride2ADV Nearly Ready for Phase 2 of Our Planet Ramble
We’re getting excited to start Phase 2 of our Planet Ramble. Last year we rode across North America from Vermont, USA to Alaska, USA. For Phase 2 will we be shipping our bikes (both Ducati Scramblers) to London to start a large clockwise circular route. Although subject to change depending what we find and see along the way, we should be traveling through England, Wales, Ireland, Scotland, Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Romania, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria, Switzerland and France. We’ll return to England and fly back to the USA.
We will be storing the bikes in England until March, 2018 when we’ll return to London and complete counter-clockwise journey through Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal and Morocco. Once leaving southern Morocco, we will head north and once back into Europe, head east, ultimately spending some time in Italy, before returning ourselves and bikes to London for return to the US. This part of the journey is exciting and we’ll be posting about what we’ve seen and done as we travel.
Once again, we will have a satellite tracking capability so you can see us in real time as we travel. We’ll post link and additional info soon.
Until later!!!
Rain, Bright Green Buildings, High Speed Cats, Fog & Barns
The latest episode of our Planet Ramble has been posted. This time we ride in rain, park in front of bright green buildings, jump a Cat, play in the fog, and stand in front of a barn. You can find it by clicking HERE or by cutting and pasting the link below into your browser.
We hope you enjoy it.
We Visit With Friends, Have Dinner and Entertain Mice
The latest episode of our Planet Ramble has been posted. Riding the remainder of the Cabot Trail, we stop to visit some old friends and make new ones we hadn’t planned on. You can find it by CLICKING HERE, or by cutting and pasting the link below:
We hope you enjoy the latest.
Crossing Into Canada We Find Craft Beer, A Very Large Bird, Thoroughbred Race Horses, Wind Turbines And Gravel Roads Along The Ocean
The latest episode of our Planet Ramble has been posted. This time we travel from Maine into Canada and find interesting craft beers, a very large bird, thoroughbred race horses, wind turbines and deserted gravel roads alongside the ocean. You can find it by clicking HERE or by cutting and pasting the link below:
We hope you enjoy the latest!
Destruction Bay, Crossing the Border, A Failing Bike And Kim Gets Sick
The latest edition of our Planet Ramble has been posted. We leave Destruction Bay and ride the final miles back to the US border, where my lack of attention to maintenance rears its ugly head and Kim gets sick.
You can find this update by clicking HERE or cutting and pasting the link below:
Can A Ducati Scrambler Be Made Into a Light Duty Adventure Bike?
Can a Ducati Scrambler be made into a comfortable light duty (i.e. pavement and maintained dirt/gravel roads) adventure bike good for longer trips and gravel roads? I had been asking myself that question for quite some time and have finally decided to investigate for myself. Those of you that follow us know that Kim and me just finished a trip from our home in Vermont to Eagle River, Alaska. We rode mostly on paved roads, although we did travel on some forest fire roads and unimproved roads. Kim’s Suzuki DR-650 performed admirably and carried her to Alaska easily. However, the DR is a fairly low powered thumper and riding it for long distances became somewhat of a tiresome experience for Kim. She said that although the bike did everything she asked and had a relatively lightweight feel, she felt under powered on those 75 MPH stretches of two lane roads common in the western US. Passing was more difficult that she desired, especially since I was traveling on a KTM 990 Adventure twin cylinder machine. She also wished that the bike was not a single because the thump, thump, thump of the single was tiring over time.
So I set about looking for a machine that was relatively small and light that we could turn into a light duty adventure bike. Since Kim is only about 5′ 3″ the bike could not be too high, nor could it be too heavy. She really wanted to get away from a single cylinder machine and frankly I don’t blame her. She never said a word during our over 7,500 mile trip to Alaska, but I had to ask myself, whether I would have enjoyed riding a single for that long a distance. My answer would be no, so I really shouldn’t expect her to feel any different. As I looked around the market, there really wasn’t much out there that fit Kim’s want list. She had already been on a V-Strom and felt it was too big and heavy. She had also ridden the BMW F650GS (twin) and F800GS extensively in Europe and South America, but she didn’t really like them because of their relative size and ride height. If she were to like a new machine, it would have to be about the size of her current Suzuki DR-650.
One of the few alternatives was the Ducati Scrambler. It’s a twin of approximately 800ccs and is actually very small in stature. Scramblers were created for dual sport, so if Ducati at least considered dual sporting, perhaps we could make this new Ducati into a light duty adventure bike. After doing some significant searching I found a number of bolt on parts that could potentially give her the utility of an ADV bike. So maybe, just maybe, we could adapt a Ducati Scrambler for ADV touring.
After a test ride and a bit of deliberation, we have taken the plunge. Kim is now the proud owner of a 2016 Ducati Scrambler Icon. The Icon is the base model of the Scrambler line and that suits us just fine. We’ve seen and tried Ducati’s own ADV parts and they fall far short of what we will need for our purposes. I’ve identified a number of parts that we are going to try and we’ll report on how well the fit our mission. So stay tuned for more updates as we attempt to convert a base Ducati Icon into an ADV machine Kim can love.
Just to entice you, here are a few pics of Kim’s soon to be converted Ducati Scrambler Icon which we will test out on a tour of the Canadian Maritime Provinces in early September.
Horses, Berries and Eagles, Oh My!
The latest update to our Planet Ramble has been posted. This time, we play with horses, munch on berries and visit with eagles. You can find it by CLICKING HERE or by using the following link:
A Road To The Sun With Mountain Goats
The latest update to our Planet Ramble has been posted. This time we ride the “Going To The Sun Road” in Glacier National Park. While there, we meet some of the local residents. Check it out by CLICKING HERE or by using the link below and start with Reply #86…
Riding To The Sun Road
Gorgeous and high up.
Disinterested local resident. (Note the radio collar)
Kim’s Bike Takes A Nap And Duct Tape Reigns Supreme
The latest update to our Planet Ramble has been posted. Today, Kim’s bike takes an unauthorized nap and duct tape reigns supreme. You can find it by CLICKING HERE or clicking the link below starting with reply #85.
Ride2ADV’s World Ramble
We are about to head out on a long ride that may encompass many places and countries. We are very excited and will be leaving tomorrow, June 6, 2016. We will be chronicling our journey here on Ride2ADV.com as well as ADVRider. For the complete story and pictures from our travels, click HERE and you will be re-directed to ADVRider where we will be posting all the details of our journey complete with pictures.
We will also have a Spot satellite tracker that will update our position in real time. So if you want to see where we are 24/7, all you have to do is come to this page and click HERE or copy and paste this link
https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=10ff55750ac5fbe899
into your browser to see where we are.
We will also be posting Facebook CLICK HERE and via Twitter CLICK HERE (@Ride2ADV)
We hope you’ll come along for the ride!
Honda Rolls Out New Africa Twin “Adventure Sports” Concept Bike
In a group of new introductions, Honda rolled out yet another adventure machine at the Osaka Motorcycle Show. Called the Africa Twin Adventure Sports Concept, this Africa Twin proposes to be a more adventure oriented and ready bike with a higher level of off road capability. The bike is still a concept at this time, but if the current Africa Twin and prototype CRF250 Rally are any indication, this up-rated Africa Twin just might make it to production.
Sporting a larger looking fuel tank, wide rear body panels that hint of perhaps more under seat fuel storage, a flat single piece seat, large, wide aluminum bashplate, bar risers, grippy billet platform footpegs, small frame, engine and rear brake protection bits, tubular luggage rack and upswept Termignoni exhaust,this version of the CRF1000L Africa Twin certainly looks the role of a much more sporty rally bike.
Missing in action are the bike’s turn signals, rear fender and mirrors, so it’s apparent that this bike is still a concept at this time. However, if a similarly equipped machine makes it into production, we are predicting that this bike will become more of an enduro model and a significant competitor to more off road worthy machines like the big KTM 1190. Time will tell.
Here are a few pictures to get your mouth-watering and your wallet burning.
Ride2ADV 