Motoring
Living the dream: Best motorcycle adventure books
Who hasn’t dreamed of jumping on a motorcycle and leaving it all behind while you travel the world?
Most people want to do something out of the ordinary: go on a great adventure to discover new places for themselves. But few get to do it.
So for everyone who’s gazed at a sunset and dreamed, here’s our pick of some great literary adventures to inspire you to start your own journey.
Jupiter’s Travels
© Jupiters travels 1973
Jupiter’s Travels by Ted Simon
One of the most famous books about travelling on a motorcycle, Jupiter’s Travels is Ted Simon’s journal of his four-year voyage around the world on an old Triumph bike. The story begins in 1973. Having followed the turbulent 1970 Formula One season, Simon was in need of a new adventure so, commissioned by the London Times, he set off on the back of a 500cc Triumph Tiger 100 on a journey that was to last four years. In that time he visited 45 countries, covered 100,000km and went all the way around the world.
The trip is set against the backdrop of the collapse of the British motorcycle industry as the four big Japanese makers took over markets once dominated by Triumph, BSA, Norton and Vincent.
It’s more than the story of a trip, it’s also a philosophical journey and a trip back in time to the mid-70s. In 2001, when he was around 70 years old, Simon went back on the road, this time on a BMW R 80 GS, for Dreaming of Jupiter, which saw him roughly retrace his 1973 trip.
Long Way Roundby Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman
Inspired by Ted Simon, Hollywood star/motorcycle nut Ewan McGregor teamed up with fellow actor/motorcycle nut Charley Boorman (son of director John Boorman) to go on an epic motorcycle trip of their own; London to New York via Europe, Asia and North America.
Followed by TV cameras, The Long Way Round sees Boorman and McGregor ride through Western Europe and Ukraine and on to Russia, Kazakhstan and Mongolia across the Bering Strait into Alaska, Canada and eventually New York city. In Ulan Bator, Mongolia, they even met Ted Simon.
Like Simon, they saddled up again and this time headed from the northernmost tip of Scotland, John O’Groats all the way down through Europe, Africa to the Cape Town at the southern tip of South Africa.
Riding with Rilke: Reflections on Motorcycles
© Riding with Rilke: Reflections on Motorcycles and Books. 2005
Riding with Rilke: Reflections on Motorcycles and Booksby Ted Bishop
When Ted Bishop broke his back in a motorbike accident, he was forced to stay in bed for several weeks. Not a man who enjoys staying still, Bishop decided to fill this unwanted down time by writing a book about his two great passions: books and motorcycles.
The author takes us on a very special journey as he rides his Ducati Monster from Edmonton to Austin. Along the way Ted reflects on books, bikes and life in general. It’s a book on life, motorcycling and philosophy, that follows in the tracks of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.
One Man Caravan
© One Man Caravan. 1937
One Man Caravan by Robert Edison Fulton
In 1937, Fulton wrote: “Listen to the Past: it leads to the Future. Consider the Future: it becomes the Present. Live the Present: to achieve a happy Past." Fulton lived his life according to the mantra. After studying architecture in the US, he went to Europe to further his education in Vienna.
At dinner in London, he was asked if he planned to return home by ship: “No,” he replied, “I’ll go around the world on a motorcycle.” What ensured was an 18-month odyssey from London to Tokyo on a Douglas twin, across a world that was soon to be irrevocably changed by the Second World War.
