1997 Crossed North America
1998 Crossed Australia
2001 Crossed Africa
2005 Crossed South America
2009 Crossed Eurasia

In 1997, writer Jugatsu Toi set off on his Honda motorcycle with the goal of traversing all five of the world’s inhabited continents. In November 2009, at the age of 61, Toi completed his crossing of Eurasia, reaching his ultimate goal at the Honda Headquarters in Aoyama, Tokyo.

For the journey of his dreams, Toi selected a Honda XRV750 (Africa Twin) and a Honda NX650 Dominator for their reliability in tough environments. These two reliable companions carried Toi across the torrid desert, the frigid tundra and other terrain of the most daunting nature. With their help, Toi traveled more than 120,000 km.

Facing many a hardship, Toi kept riding, believing the essence of his journey to be the discovery of truth and hope, however small the forms they took. Although some may have considered the trip a waste of time, money and effort, nothing could dissuade Toi from exploring the unknown or taking in the kaleidoscopic experiences of the long road.

North America.

May-September 1997 (104 days)
19529 miles
Honda XRV750 (Africa Twin)

Starting at Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean, Toi rode south through Alaska and Canada. After passing through sacred Native American lands in the Western United States, he entered the deserts of Mexico Finding himself in the middle of the rainy season, he continued south through five Central American countries. He proceeded to the southern border of Panama, reaching the Darién Gap, a vast swampy area that separates North and South America. Toi then rode north toward the Gulf of Mexico. On the way, he again experienced the Central American rainforest, this time passing through Belize. After crossing Mexico for the second time, he entered the United States, passing through the American South, including Florida, and making his way along the Eastern Seaboard to New York City.

Australia
July-August 1998 (46 days)
7873 miles
Honda NX650 Dominator

Starting in Brisbane, Toi rode west on the Great Western Highway, where the long road trains dominate the road. Approaching the southern coast, he entered the vast, treeless expanse of the Nullarbor Plain and continued west until reaching Perth. Toi then dared the infamous Canning Stock Route, riding over 900 red sand dunes along the way. Next, he took the Tanami Track, a two-lane dirt road, to the east. In the center of the Australian continent, Toi looked with wonder on Uluru, the great sandstone rock formation sacred to the Aboriginal people of the region. From there he headed east, returning to the point of origin, Brisbane.

Toi Australia Bike Trip

Africa
February-June 2001 (100 days)
12427 miles
Honda NX650 Dominator

Starting in Morocco, Toi rode in a convoy through the Western Sahara, where many mines still lay buried. He then proceeded south through the West African nations of Mauritania, Senegal, Mali and Burkina Faso. In Ghana, he took a flight to Kenya, thereafter passing southward through Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and onward to his goal: Cape Town, South Africa.

South America
April-August 2005 (117 days)
12800 miles
Honda XRV750 (Africa Twin)

Starting in Lima, Peru, Toi passed through the Atacama Desert, the world’s largest coastal desert. He proceeded south through the Chilean Patagonia, reaching Punta Arenas, the world’s southernmost port. He then rode north, this time traversing the Argentine Patagonia. After experiencing the grandeur of Iguazu Falls, one of the three largest waterfalls in the world, he passed through Brazil to Belém, a city located on the banks of the Amazon estuary. After riding through French Guiana, Suriname, Guyana and Venezuela—roughly the area where Sir Arthur Conan Doyle set his novel The Lost World—Toi once again turned to the south, passing into the Amazon rainforest. Loading his bike onto a flatboat, he went up the Madeira River, a tributary of the Amazon River. Toi then made his way across the Pantanal, the world’s largest wetland, into Bolivia. At last he crossed the Andes, returning again to Lima.

Eurasia
July-November 2009 (120 days)
30,000 km
Honda XRV750 (Africa Twin)

Starting at Cabo de Roca in Portugal, Toi passed through Spain, France, Italy, the Balkan Peninsula and Turkey, where Europe becomes Asia. After riding through Iran, he traversed the Central Asian nations of Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. Tracing the Silk Road trade route, he rode through China, Mongolia and Russia. His final stop was the Honda Headquarters in Aoyama, Tokyo.

Toi Eurasia bike trip photos

More on Toi’s trip here and here.

Acknowledgment:- Honda Media. Jugatsu Toi.

Having crossed the dry deserts of the Earth, the 46-year-old Munich is now going one step further: within a period of three years he wants to travel on a BMW R 1200 GS Adventure through the main ice and volcanic deserts of the planet, in addition to the dry deserts.

Here, his interest will focus mainly on the people who live under extreme conditions in such regions. But the project name Planet Desert also highlights Martin’s aspiration to provide an illustrative documentation of global themes such as climate change in the form of both pictures and reports.

The motorcycle project with destinations all over the world started in August 2009 in the volcanic deserts of Iceland. After an extensive lecture tour this autumn and winter, this will be followed by trips through the ice deserts of Greenland, Spitsbergen and Northern Siberia. One aim will be to undertake a comparison of the dry, ice and volcanic deserts.

On this extreme motorcycle tour, geographer Michael Martin will also travel on his BMW 1200 GS Adventure to deserts such as the Sahara, Gobi and Atacama which he already knows, but this time he will be travelling in very remote areas he has never been to before. Martin will also be exploring other desert regions such as the Saudi Arabian Rub al Kahli, the Patagonian desert, Kamchatka and the Tibetan Chang Tang desert, where he will seek out life in its fascinating forms. Finally he will set out into the ice deserts of Antarctica. The final destination of this global adventure is the South Pole, where Michael Martin wants to arrive at the beginning of 2012.

On this latest project Planet Desert, Michael Martin will stay with his well-proven method: he will travel with a standard BMW R 1200 GS Adventure adapted only with a few special features provided by Touratech for extreme use such as a pannier system, ceramic clutch, GPS, long-distance headlamps and oil pan guard. In addition to the travel-tested R 1200 GS Adventure, Martin will also be making use of the BMW Motorrad range of accessories and rider equipment which has proved itself many times over on such extreme projects.

Michael Martin is travelling without a back-up team or external film team. This guarantees maximum authenticity and genuine adventure. State-of-the-art film and photographic technology and decades of experience ensure professional results.

Highlights in his career have included lectures to the Royal Geographical Society in London, at the World Climate Conference in Montreal, the UN conference in Tokyo and the UN desert conference in Buenos Aires. In 2006 Martin had the honour of being asked to design the official calendar of the UNCCD, short hand for secretary of UN convention to combat desertification and the secretary of UN framework convention on climate change. His illustrated book “Deserts of the Earth” was the official book of the UN’s international year of deserts and desertification. This standard work was translated into six languages, while the slide show of the same name set new standards both in terms of photography and content and was shown throughout German-speaking countries. The film project “Deserts of the Earth”, which Michael Martin carried out in collaboration with Elke Wallner, was highly successful in more than 30 countries.

In October 2009, Martin starts his Germany-wide lecture tour “30 Years of Adventure” in which he takes stock of his fascinating experience. The book of the same name is due to be published in September 2009 by Frederking & Thaler. The end of his lecture on “30 Years of Adventure” focuses on his recently completed trip to Iceland, which at the same provides a foretaste of his new project.

The book, TV series and new lecture are due to be released in autumn 2014. The project Planet Desert is sponsored by the Royal Geographic Society, the UNCCD and BMW Motorrad.

For further information and Michael Martin’s tour dates, please see www.michael-martin.de. A few more of his pictures here.

Acknowledgment:- Our thanks to BMW media for the pictures.

It was originally started by Robert White as a magazine to complement the purchase of a Rolls-Royce automobile.

A number of other magazines are also published under the Robb Report brand. Including, The Robb Report MotorCycling. In 2002 the Robb Report brand was sold to Curtco Media. After which Curtco was renamed Curtco Robb Media and acquired titles in vertical markets such as Homes, Motorcycles and most notably Worth magazine. 

The Robb Report MotorCycling has been renamed to Ultimate Motor Cycling. 

Recently the publishers of Ultimate MotorCycling magazine have launched a new and more encompassing online presence at www.UltimateMotorCycling.com.

The high quality photographs and quick reviews make the site a must visit. Check it out !

To view the slideshow click here

THE BEGINNING

William Harley

In 1901, William S. Harley, age 21, drew up plans for a small engine with a displacement of 7.07 cubic inches (116 cc) and four-inch (102 mm) flywheels. The engine was designed for use in a regular pedal-bicycle frame.

Over the next two years Harley and his boyhood friend Arthur Davidson labored on their motor-bicycle using the northside machine shop at the home of their friend, Henry Melk. It was finished in 1903 with the help of Arthur’s brother, Walter Davidson. Upon completion the boys found their power-cycle unable to conquer Milwaukee’s modest hills without pedal assistance. Will Harley and the Davidsons quickly wrote off their first motor-bicycle as a valuable learning experiment.

First Bike

Work immediately began on a new and improved second-generation machine. This first “real” Harley-Davidson motorcycle had a bigger engine of 24.74 cubic inches (405 cc) with 9-3/4 inch flywheels weighing 28 pounds. The machine’s advanced loop-frame pattern was similar to the 1903 Milwaukee Merkel motorcycle (designed by Joseph Merkel, later of Flying Merkel fame.) The bigger engine and loop-frame design took it out of the motorized-bicycle category and would help define what a modern motorcycle should contain in the years to come. The boys also received help with their bigger engine from outboard motor pioneer Ole Evinrude, who was then building gas engines of his own design for automotive use on Milwaukee’s Lake Street.

The prototype of the new loop-frame Harley-Davidson was assembled in a 10- by 15-foot (3 by 5 meter) shed in the Davidson family backyard. Most of the major parts, however, were made elsewhere, including some probably fabricated at the West Milwaukee railshops where oldest brother William A. Davidson was then toolroom foreman. This prototype machine was functional by 8 September 1904 when it competed in a Milwaukee motorcycle race held at State Fair Park. It was ridden by Edward Hildebrand and placed fourth. This is the first documented appearance of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle in the historical record.

In January 1905, small advertisements were placed in the “Automobile and Cycle Trade Journal” that offered bare Harley-Davidson engines to the do-it-yourself trade. By April, complete motorcycles were in production on a very limited basis. That year the first Harley-Davidson dealer, Carl H. Lang of Chicago, sold three bikes from the dozen or so built in the Davidson backyard shed. (Some years later the original shed was taken to the Juneau Avenue factory where it would stand for many decades as a tribute to the Motor Company’s humble origins. Unfortunately, the first shed was accidentally destroyed by contractors in the early 1970s during a clean-up of the factory yard.)

1907 Chestnut Street

In 1906, Harley and the Davidsons built their first factory on Chestnut Street (later Juneau Avenue). This location remains the Motor Company’s corporate headquarters today. The first Juneau Avenue plant was a 40 by 60-foot (18 m) single-story wooden structure. That year around 50 motorcycles were produced.

In 1907, William S. Harley graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in mechanical engineering. That year additional factory expansion came with a second floor and later with facings and additions of Milwaukee pale yellow (“cream”) brick. With the new facilities production increased to 150 motorcycles in 1907. The company was officially incorporated that September. They also began selling their motorcycles to police departments around this time, a market that has been important to them ever since.

1907 Model

Production in 1905 and 1906 were all single-cylinder models with 26.84 cubic inch (440 cc) engines. In February 1907 a prototype model with a 45-degree V-Twin engine was displayed at the Chicago Automobile Show. Although shown and advertised, very few V-Twin models were built between 1907 and 1910. These first V-Twins displaced 53.68 cubic inches (880 cc) and produced about 7 horsepower (5 kW). This gave about double the power of the first singles. Top speed was about 60 mph (97 km/h). Production jumped from 450 motorcycles in 1908 to 1,149 machines in 1909.
By 1911 some 150 makes of motorcycles had already been built in the United States — although just a handful would survive the 1910s.

In 1911, an improved V-Twin model was introduced. The new engine had mechanically operated intake valves, as opposed to the “automatic” intake valves used on earlier V-Twins that opened by engine vacuum. With a displacement of 49.48 cubic inches (810 cc), the 1911 V-Twin was smaller than earlier twins, but gave better performance. After 1913 the majority of bikes produced by Harley-Davidson would be V-Twin models.

By 1913, the yellow brick factory had been demolished and on the site a new 5-story structure of reinforced concrete and red brick had been built. Begun in 1910, the red brick factory with its many additions would take up two blocks along Juneau Avenue and around the corner on 38th Street. Despite the competition, Harley-Davidson was already pulling ahead of Indian and would dominate motorcycle racing after 1914. Production that year swelled to 16,284 machines.

Article from content at Wikipedia- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harley_Davidson – Under copyright of WikiMedia.
“Photographs courtesy of the Harley-Davidson Motor Company Archives.”

MotorCycle For World War I

WORLD WAR I
In 1917, the United States entered World War I and the military demanded motorcycles for the war effort. Harleys had already been used by the military in border skirmishes with Pancho Villa but World War I was the first time the motorcycle had been adopted for combat service. Harley-Davidson provided over 20,000 machines to the military forces during World War I.

THE 1920s
By 1920, Harley-Davidson was the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world. Their motorcycles were sold by dealers in 67 countries. Production was 28,189 machines. In 1921, a Harley-Davidson, ridden by Otto Walker, was the first motorcycle ever to win a race at an average speed of over 100 mph (160 km/h). During the 1920s, several improvements were put in place, such as a new 74 cubic inch (1200cc) V-Twin, introduced in 1922, and the “Teardrop” gas tank in 1925. A front brake was added in 1928.

V-twin engine

In the late summer of 1929, Harley-Davidson introduced its 45 cubic inch flathead V-Twin to compete with the Indian 101 Scout and the Excelsior Super X.

The Depression
The Great Depression began a few months after the introduction of their 45 cubic inch model. Harley-Davidson’s sales plummeted from 21,000 in 1929 to less than 4,000 in 1933. In order to survive, the company manufactured industrial powerplants based on their motorcycle engines. They also designed and built a three-wheeled delivery vehicle called the Servi-Car, which remained in production until 1973. In the mid-’30s, Alfred Rich Child opened a production line in Japan with the 74ci VL, which became Rikuo after the parent company severed its business relations with Harley-Davidson.
An 80 cubic inch flathead engine was added to the line in 1935, by which time the single cylinder motorcycles had been discontinued.

Harley-Davidson WL

By 1937, all the flathead engines were equipped with the dry-sump oil recirculation system that had been introduced with the 61E and 61EL “Knucklehead” OHV models. This caused the 74 cubic inch V and VL models to be renamed U and UL, the 80 cubic inch VH and VLH to be renamed UL and ULH, and the 45 cubic inch RL to be renamed WL. In 1941, the 74 cubic inch “Knucklehead” was introduced as the F and the FL, replacing the 80 cubic inch flathead UH and ULH models.

World War II
Harley copied the BMW R71 to produce its XA model.
One of only two American cycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression, Harley-Davidson again produced large numbers of motorcycles for the US Army in World War II and resumed civilian production afterwards, producing a range of large V-twin motorcycles that were successful both on racetracks and for private buyers.

Harley-Davidson WLA

Harley-Davidson, on the eve World War II, was already supplying the Army with a military-specific version of its 45″ WL line, called the WLA. (The A in this case stood for “Army”.) Upon the outbreak of war, the company, along with other manufacturing enterprises, shifted to war work. Over 90,000 military motorcycles, mostly WLAs and WLCs (the Canadian version) would be produced, many to be provided to allies. Harley produced the WLC for the Canadian military.
Shipments to the Soviet Union under the Lend-Lease program numbered at least 30,000. The WLAs produced during all years of war production would, unusually, have 1942 serial numbers. Production of the WLA stopped at the end of the war, though it would resume production from 1949 to 1952 due to the Korean War. The U.S. Army also asked Harley-Davidson to produce a new motorcycle with many of the features of BMW’s side-valve and shaft-driven R71. Harley largely copied the BMW engine and drive train and produced the shaft-driven 750 cc 1942 Harley-Davidson XA. Due to the superior cooling of an opposed twin, Harley’s XA cylinder heads ran 100 °F (55 °C) cooler than its V-twins. The XA never entered full production: the motorcycle by that time had been eclipsed by the Jeep as the Army’s general purpose vehicle, and the WLA—already in production—was sufficient for its limited police, escort, and courier roles. Only 1,000 were made and the XA never went into full production. It remains the only shaft-driven Harley-Davidson ever made.

Article from content at Wikipedia- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harley_Davidson – Under copyright of WikiMedia.
“Photographs courtesy of the Harley-Davidson Motor Company Archives.”