3. The BMW F800GS

At home I ride a BMW R850R, great for riding around Sydney but no good for the off-road adventures ahead.

My original choice was the R1200GS, the all conquering giant from BMW. But after doing some research decided that its weight will cause real problems firstly bogging down in mud and secondly having to lift it off the ground, which on the pot-holed 'roads' of Mongolia will be frequent and miserable.

So the next obvious choice at the time was the R1200GS's smaller brother the BMW F650GS, although a proven bike for this kind of trip it still seemed a bit of a compromise from the power of the 1200.

However, last year a new bike from BMW arrived on the scene - the F800GS. Lighter than the R1200GS, yet more powerful than the F650GS, problem solved! Here is a picture of a one without any mud on it.

F800GS
Engine: Water-cooled, 2-cyl, 4-stroke, 4 valves per cyl, 2 ohd cams.
Capacity: 798 cc.
Power: 63 kW (85 hp) at 7,500 rpm
Torque: 83 Nm at 5,750 rpm
Max speed: Over 200 km/h
Dry weight: 185 kg

trivia: "GS" is short for Gelände/Straße meaning Off-road/On-road

2. 20 countries, 16 weeks & 20,000 miles

The trip to New York will pass through 20 countries, take 16 weeks and cover approximately 20,000 miles, here is a breakdown by week:

Week 1 - England, France, Belgium, Germany, Czech Republic
Week 2 - Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey
Week 3 - Turkey
Week 4 - Iran, Turkmenistan
Week 5 - Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan
Week 6 - Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan
Week 7 - Kazakhstan, Russia
Week 8 - Russia, Mongolia
Week 9 - Mongolia, Russia
Week 10 - Russia
Week 11 - Russia, South Korea
Week 12 - South Korea, Shipping, Canada
Week 13 - Canada
Week 14 - USA (Alaska), Canada
Week 15 - Canada
Week 16 - USA

Click to see route in Google Maps

1. If Ewan McGregor can do it....

Hi, my name is Ian McCarthy, an accountant from the UK living in Sydney, Australia.

On Thursday June 11th 2009 I will leave London, with 13 other riders, traveling on motorbikes across Europe, Asia and North America to hopefully arrive 113 days and 20,000 miles later in New York.

This is the blog about that trip.




If Ewan McGregor can do it, why not.......