Horizons Unlimited 2005

[iswoolley]

Just back from the Horizons Unlimited Travellers Meeting, being held near Ripley this weekend. Of course having it on the same weekend as both Wimbledon and Glastonbury was a recepie for crap weather, but as you can see it wasn't that bad! Officially 390 people turned up for the weekend, so the campsite was a tad crowded.


One of the campsites

All sorts of bikes turned up; many many many BMW GSs, Africa Twins, Honda XRs, KTM Adventures, Yamaha XTs, and the occaisional odd-ball on a Harley or a GoldWing trike!


BMW outfit (why not buy a car?!)

There were presentations from people who had ridden; off-road across the States, to Timbuktoo, through South America on a Serrow, RTW with the wife, across Mongolia on a KTM, and 112 uses for an army surplus poncho! There were also technical presentations on; bike preparation, how to use a GPS, tyre changing, first aid, and tax refunds!


Some people choose to manhandle 300kg of airhead BMW around the world!


The winner of the tyre changing competition (not this bloke) managed to get a tyre off and back on a rim in 45 seconds!

On Saturday there were a number of organised ride-outs, with a leader taking a small number of folk out both on- and off-road. Some of the xrv.org.uk crew went for a 140 mile whistle stop tour of the Peak District. For once big trailies outnumbered sports bikes at Matlock Bath.


TKC80s get the thumbs up!

By Sunday the weather had changed for the better, and people began to drift off back to their respective corners of the country and continent. I saw number plates from New Zealand, Portugal, France, Germany, and more.


The 'bungee it all on the back and be proud of it' approach to luggage

A damn good weekend, and a chance to meet a bunch of virtual characters in real life. Be there next year!

[Maverick]

Not much of a ride report writer so here goes short and sweet
A very good atmosphere prevailed all weekend with loads of bikes, travel stories and of course the odd beer was consumed. Very nice to meet all the XRV guys and gals and hope to see you lot soon again.



All sorts of tents and even two tp's about.



Might be wrong but somehow felt Honda was the most popular bike at the meeting, Transalps..



Dominators....



Even some 600R's.....




And of course last but not least a **** load of Africa Twins!



Mine was easily spotted as I am sure this is the only one in the world with a screen in this horrible colour. When I orderd the screen last year was told it is "slightly" tinted.....ermmm ok very well then old chap! A bit worrying everyone walking up to me and ask "Maverick?" Me looking around and thinking did I piss someone off lately "who wants to know dude?" Ohh no we just saw the bike with the screen and it must be Maverick's.



One of my all time favourite bikes the Yamaha Tenere



Even though I have a black AT always liked the Red/White/Blue colour scheme more.



Yamaha XT's seem to pick up popularity again....



XRV Jim and Kiwi Pete at Jim's RWB AT.



Another Tenere from Scotland



And loaded tenere ready to roll, the blue ain't that bad a colour either...



Gibbo's AT and he's trying to sell it before returning to New Zealand



Yet another AT on his way home this morning after a fun filled weekend.



Don't know how this dude ended up in the hedge but he was trying to kickstart that bike for a while to get it out.



Has mad cow disease finally struck the BMW GS then?



Ernie from Overland Solutions's 1100GS is something to drool over for sure!



Bing Carb setup instead of the fuel injection and just look at those crashbars!



Now that's what I call decent pannier frames.



Ernie does some awesome custom overlanding mods to any bike and vechicles on demand, this KLR also had the full house done.



650 with Overland Solution pannier setup...



This gs outfit is going around the world starting in Florida later the year.



Another yammie that has seen some grubby roads



1100 GS held together by ductape?



Terry's airhead that has covered over 130k miles, it's going to be rebuilt from scratch before he goes off for another 5 years.



And who said the LC4 is not good enough for some smelly so socks...



Saw a few South-African's bikes but strangely enough only met one South-African guy??



Side view of the yammie



Additional alu fuel cells for this baby!



Classic looking airhead, they just keep my blood pumping!



My AT looking pretty lazy under the jacket and not in the mood returning home today.



But we had to get home and after packing all my **** had to hit the road!



After a few beers last night, nature called in the early hours of the morning and somehow through the haze of reality and my sleeping bag spinning around in the tent managed to take a photo of the bike with the moon in the background.....



Well I think it was the moon

[DaveS]

Awesome pics well done guys.
Any more pics anyone took that they can add always good to look at them.

[Chris J Barrett]

Crackin weekend, just the ticket that was. Nice piccys chaps. Leave my bungys alone, I like um & I'm stickin with um! Hope everyones home safe.

[xrv_jim]

Boy, you guys are quick! I've not even unpacked yet!

It was great to meet the xrv.org.uk folk though I managed to miss many of you - next year eh!

I'll post some pic's soon but Iain's and Maverick's are probably better than mine!

[gibbo]

Nice pics. A couple of more Hondas to add...

Chris Brights Transalp / Africa Twin hybrid project (in progress I believe)



Karim Hussains XR650R rally bike. This is something like I would like to set up back in NZ

[kiroh]

Good to see you all there guys. I had the most fantastic weekend drinking beer, talking about bikes and discussing future travel plans.

Thanks Chris for taking us riding on the most spectacular roads in England. Traffic free and enjoyable roads a rare down here.

Hope to see most of you at the Isle of Skye.

[kiroh]

Some people choose to manhandle 300kg of airhead BMW around the world!

Isn't this Ted Simons bike he went around the world on few years ago? I think he ditched the aluminium paniers in Australia for a set of soft waterproof bags.

[fewtrees]

It is.. and I managed to get to speak to the man himself on 2 occassions, plus he signed a book for me!

[modrover]

WOW! So many sweet bikes in one place at one time! Wonderful!