There are no fixed rules when it comes to packing for a motorcycle trip. But after seven long years on the road and more than 250,000 km worldwide, I came to realize that ‘less is more’, and the last thing you need to do while planning a bike adventure is to overthink. However, there are some items I believe are indispensable for a weekend away, or even a year-long trip around the world.
After over 12 months and almost 95,000 kilometers on our KTM 1190 ADVENTURE Rs, the feeling of having arrived at the southernmost point of the American continent doesn’t feel real: in six weeks our journey will come to an end and we are off home … in some ways nice, but also a real shame … we could carry on riding forever!
South America is a fascinating continent offering everything – literally everything – you could ever imagine as an adventure biker. In the face of so many options, you have to make a choice. We go for the “Andes crossing” option: criss-crossing the Andes along as many passes as possible in the saddle of our two KTM 1190 ADVENTURE Rs.
Although our Panini motorcycle world tour has already entered the final third, we’re certainly not tired of it – and even we are a little surprised by that! After every ‘bike-free’ day, we look forward to getting back in the saddle, pressing on, making new discoveries, and having new encounters on our KTM 1190 ADVENTURE Rs.
The dashboards on our two KTM 1190 ADVENTURE Rs display a total of 71,500 kilometers as we resume our Panini World Tour in the Colombian capital Bogotá. This followed a short flight across the Darién Gap, the only remaining gap in the Pan-American Highway, the road linking Alaska with Tierra del Fuego.
With our KTM 1190 ADVENTURE Rs – recently serviced in the USA – we started the next stage of the Panini Moto Tour round the world trip which is set to take us through seven central American countries: Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama – and then on “down” to Columbia.
South Africa is Adventure land. What locals take for granted is a big surprise for Europeans. As soon as you leave the big cities you enter the realm of sand, gravel and red clay. A fantastic discovery for the Austrian KTM couple Barbara and Tom on their KTM 1190 ADVENTURE R. A report of a week on knobblies, covering the scenic areas north of Johannesburg between the Waterberg range and the Blyde River Canyon.
Every year we at the KTM BLOG hear amazing stories about fantastic people going on exciting adventures with their KTM motorcycles that are taken far and wide. One of those is Bob Wilson, a 69 year old KTM fan from Newcastle, UK who found his love for adventure riding since he retired from work in the gas industry. He’s got the bug, and there really is no stopping this man now!
As the dust settles from our inaugural KTM Australia Adventure Rallye – and all us Rally riders have high country withdrawals – we take a look back at one (or rather two!) aspects of the ride that have so far flown under the radar. Their names are Reno and Anita and they hail from a place called Kiska.
Sometimes in KTM we hear of amazing accomplishments, or journeys people want to embark on, and some of the challenges people choose to face on a motorcycle are truly remarkable. Just under two years ago we at KTM HQ heard from Wissam Al Jayyoussi, who was planning a trip for charity that’s maybe the longest we’ve ever known.
