We already know Charley Boorman and Ewan McGregor from ‘Long Way Round’, in which the British duo rides almost 19,000 mi / 30,500 km around the world and ‘Long Way Down’, where they ride from the far north of Scotland all the way down to Cape Town in South Africa.

Almost 15 years after the first journey is completed, Ewan and Charley are about to film a new series, riding from South America to Alaska… but Boorman already hinted at some ‘surprises’ en route… whatever that may be.

Boorman is ready for another adventure after his recovery from a crash back in 2016, and while he hinted at the final destination for the trip (Los Angeles, not Alaska?) in a video on youtube that has since then been mysteriously removed, it’s still unclear which motorcycles they will use for this Journey. Moto Guzzi and Triumph are on top of the speculation list, but a good old BMW-GS is still a sound possibility.

In previous Moto Intel Reports we often touched upon the subject of cleaning and lubing your chain. Another, just as important aspect of chain maintenance is tension. You have to ensure the chain’s tension is up to par because riding with your chain too tight means that you increase the risk of wearing out both the chain and sprockets as well as complete chain breakage. However, if too loose, your chain may whip off the gears altogether.

Ari Henning from MC Garage clearly explains how to check if the tension is right using either ‘complex, high level mathematics’ or a simple 16 buck chain tension tool by Motion Pro. 

A few weeks ago, after a looooong wait, Yamaha launched the Tenere 700 officialy in Spain. Reporters were invited to take it for a two day test ride. Consequently the internet was bombarded with articles and videos. I’ve read and seen a lot of them, so to save you some time I’ve summarized the essentials. It’s a very good bike! It handles formidable onroad as well as offroad. Yamaha has outdone itself.

But how does it compare to another new bike in this segment; The KTM 790 which was released earlier this year and also has raving reviews? While we still have to wait for a shoot out video (unless you speak italian) here’s what it all comes down to really. KTM gets the nod on power (95 vs 72 horses) and suspension, while Yamaha gets the points on lower cost and reliability. If you can’t wait for the video, have a look at this article.

You can pre-order the Yamaha in Europe at the moment, until July 31st, for a price starting at  € 9.299. Unfortunatly it’s not available in North America yet. The KTM starts at € 12.399 and is available in North America starting at $12,499. Prices in countries may vary due to taxes.

This funky looking bag which fits in the palm of your hand contains a very versatile backpack made by Nelson Rigg. On a daily base, I use the 40L hurricane backpack which is 100% waterproof, and recently I bought a rain suit from the same brand.

The above backpack is a 30L, non-waterproof nylon backpack which might not be hurricane proof, but definitely good enough to pack your gym clothes or carry a second helmet. For just $18, it’s a handy gadget indeed.

At first I didn’t really know what I was seeing in this picture, but here’s the story from Mark that explains it all 🙂 

“We were on the way to the TT of Assen when the first guy saw a fixed radar and braked hard. The 2nd guy did not notice, hit him and fell off the bike. At that moment the third guy was taken on photo by the speed camera.“

Mark told me that, except for some ego and damage to clothes and the bike, no-one got hurt. Now, they all laugh about it.