Guzzi Overland

On The Road

Kev and Karen are now on their way and posting progress reports when they get the opportunity. Follow their progress on the blogs page or via Twitter.

Guzzi Overland Trip Overview

We are Kev and Karen and our plan is to ride around the world in 2010/11 on our modified Moto Guzzi Spada. We have been saving up for 10 years to realise this dream and rebuilding and modifying the bike for 5 years, there is a lot more info on the bike modifications and preparation in the bike section.  We both realise this is an ambitious journey plan particularly as our bike of choice is 30 years old and is a big heavy beast but we have tried to plan for most eventualities. There will undoubtedly be times when we struggle and times when I curse its weight and bulk, but on the flip side there will be times when we are glad of its weather protection and extra features. We got the bike on the road in June this year and took it to the Moto Guzzi International Rally in the South of France. We quickly learned that it causes quite a stir wherever it goes because it looks so different, it was at this rally that we were approached by the then editor of Gambalunga (the Moto Guzzi Owners Club magazine) who asked us if we could write an article. This eventually turned in to a three part feature and is reproduced on our press section by kind permission of Moto Guzzi Club GB.

We have covered 8000 miles this summer testing the bike and modifications which seem to work well and the bike has introduced us to so many nice people on our travels that we realised the trip would not be the same without it. That said there are no guarantees with a trip of this magnitude, things will undoubtedly go wrong with the bike and us and a major part of our challenge will be to keep body and bike together.

Some days when I am feeling invincible, laughing in the face of danger and tweaking the nipples of terror this seems like the best idea in the world – What an adventure !

Some nights at three in the morning when I cant sleep and my knees ache, I lie there thinking who do you think you are you bloody idiot, how is that ever going to work. You will be mugged, robbed, killed, drowned, ripped off, kidnapped (delete as appropriate) not to mention all the “what if’s” for the bike: what if it breaks down requiring some vital part in the middle of nowhere, what if we cant keep it going all that way, how will we pick it up when it falls off the edge of the road down a bank, will we be able to get parts when needed, will we come back from somewhere to find a little spot of oil on the ground and no bike. What if we run out of beer- no some things are just truly unthinkable.

Since getting the bike on the road things have snowballed from a publicity point of view. We didn’t really intend to make a song and dance of it before we left knowing in the back of my mind that we could fail in our stated objective for any

number of reasons but we have come to terms with the fact that now its out there in the big wide world people will naturally want to know about it and what its for so why not share the dream with people who would love to be doing the same thing but for whatever reason cannot.  The articles in Gambalunga have elicited some helpful responses and support and at the time of writing Sam Manicom has written an article for Motorcycle Sport and Leisure about the bike and our plans to be published in January I believe. We will obviously be writing updates on the road and we will initially post them on the blog section of our website but our clever web master has arranged things so that they will be simultaneously be shared on Horizons Unlimited Travel Blogs (The motorcycle travel website), Guzzioverland on Twitter and Facebook so if that’s your cup if Earl Gray you can follow our crazy exploits on your mobile. Once we are on the road we will start posting with possibly some tests beforehand see the: Contact Us page.

I have always been very self reliant (possibly to do with losing my Father as a teenager) and I have done as much of the work as I possibly could myself but since getting the bike on the road I am starting to appreciate that we are going to be very reliant on others, other cultures speaking other languages with part of our destiny in their hands.

Gulp