My first ride took place in the South East of France, in the Grenoble area, right in the middle of the mountains. After having practiced hours on a Yamaha Diversion 600 I finaly got my driving licence and acquired my very first bike: a second hand Aprilia Tuareg Wind 600 (if you've neve seen one check the pic)! Nice civilised version of the Paris-Dakkar bikes, which is ok for a tall guy like me.


Very proud of me on my nice ride, convinced that I own the world, I started from the shop to take the Tuareg up in the mountains!

Twisty roads + high bike + tall driver + unexperienced driver = SURPRISE!

This little equation just to let you know that as soon as I took the first serious left handed curve I ended up with the wheels on one side of the road and the head above the other lane!!! Luckyly there wasn't a car or I could have lost my head ;) It was a huge surprise to find my self thinking I would get the same visual reference as on the low Diversion! Good lesson though!

Before you ask: no that's not me on that R1200GS! Lighter, more powerful, modern looks and still the quality and the leg of a GS! After 25 years of GS on the roads and off-road tracks of the world BMW is still improving what is one of the best road/track (Gelände/Straße) bikes!

Compared to the former R1150GS it is not just an improvement but a fully new bike! Its new heart: a 1200cc flat twin (of course!!) gets 15 more Hp compared to the 1150 and finally plays with the 100 Hp figure. More power but at more rpms! This, to us, means that you have a more aggressive riding on the 1200 compared to the 1150. On the road it makes your life more funny (even though riding a 1150GS was never dull!), off-road it may be a bit of an annoyance as you will have less track at low rpm. But as a GS most of the time only gets on the road it is not a problem! The fact that as standard you get alloy wheels compared to the 1150's spokes supports the more "road" orientation.

A powerful and funny engine deserves a great frame….well there isn't any as usual, as the engine supports the suspension as well as the rear frame for the saddle. Stiff like the justice that bike is not moving or wobbling around! And thanks to the Paralever ® (rear mono-swing arm developed by BMW) and Duolever ® (front arm guided suspension developed by BMW) the bike sticks to the road whatever shape it's in!

As usual on a BMW you can adjust the saddle height as well as the wind shield (manually) to your size; well don't get me wrong this is still a very high beast! But on the lower saddle position a 1m70 person gets easily both feet on the ground when there is a need to stop!

As this bike is meant to get you to the end of the world, or at least the other side of it and back, the tank could have been bigger ("only" 20L) but you can still load it with luggage like no one thanks to the aluminium top box and panniers.

Did BMW improve the GS? Yes definitely!

For your next Unicorn Adventures tour ask for a R1200GS!

De toutes les architectures de moteur que l'on peut trouver sur une moto quelle est la meilleure? Quelle est celle qui vous donnera le frisson? Le plaisir?
Peut-on faire un parallèle ambitieux? En vaut-il mieux un ou plusieurs?

Un mono cylindre avec ses aller-retour puissants vous tapera dans les reins mais aura toujours des régimes lents!

Peut être un bi-cylindre? Quelle que soit sa disposition: vertical callé à 270, 360, ou autres, en V longitudinal en V face à la route ou encore Flat Twin, un bi pourra toujours vous emmener dans des envollées puissantes comme certaines peuvent le décrire! Et puis il y a cette rudesses du bi-cylindre! Le mâle en somme.

Le tri-cylindre est souvent réputé pour être le meilleur compromis entre le bi et le quadri! Brutal et nerveux! Et peu plus du côté sado-maso!

Enfin le quatre cylindres! Tout en souplesse et des très hauts régimes! Un peu comme un jeune étudiant! Lisse et en pleine "activité"!

Il reste ensuite les moteurs plus rares et forcément plus chers et spécifiques! On fait là dans le frimeur, l'exclusif et voir même le prétentieux, du 6 cylindres à la turbine d'hélico!

A chacune son type de moteur, à chacune sa joie de rouler et de frissonner!

During a north pole expedition we had the "chance" to be locked in a hotel in Siberia (no worries was after the communist era) thanks to a very bad weather, perfectly uncompatible with a plane flying to the ice cap!

This gave us the opportunity to see that it is perfectly possible to ride a bike (well it was more a trike) by minus 40 degrees celcius!

The most interesting moment, aside the inventive way to get ropes around truck tires on that 250 or 125cc trike, was the "warm up"! I don't think Valentino Rossi and Co ever tried that!

As by those polar temperatures oil freezes in less than five minutes you have to find a way to get it warm. Well seems from that man's experience that a blow torch is the best way (just look at the gas tank 5 cms away from the flame ;)

The pictures tells it all! A bike made for the winners, the ultimate weapon when it comes to off road racing!

As you may notice I was not sponsored for that run through the Morroco desert! But it was a hell of ride!

Well honnestly this was a "sort off" Peugeot 102 that a guy uses every day in the desert! Don't ask me wheer he gets the gas or what use he can make of that beauty in the middle of now where!

It was there and I couldn't resiste to get on that super powerful beast!! Ahhh memories!

PS: the dressing code and very well shaved face are all part of the Marathon des Sables style ;)

Before I start a quick geographical note: Grenoble is in the center of the mountains close to the Alps. Which means that during the winter its is freezing!

I think that my worste "Blonde" moment was that day in December, in Grenoble, when I decided to go for a spin around midnight, to enjoy the clear full of stars sky! That was of course a very stupid idea as in that kind of place around that time of the year and the day there is a HUGE chance to find ice on the roads! Guess what? I found it! And here goes in a great Holiday On Ice demo the Bandit 1200 and its brand new carbon exhaust! Duh!

Definitely a must, even though the values presented "freedom", "lets smoke and fly high" etc...are a bit of a "cliché" nowadays.

Each time I watch that movie I feel sad, I mean this is a US movie, shouldn't the nice guys win at the end? And not die like that on the road? Bad bad trip man!

The actors are just great with that "cool" Fonda attitude and "who am i, sort of follower" one from Hopper and a very good (already) Nicholson!

No need to say that the two bikes are amazing, the Captain America one is even a sort of symbol of bikers during that "peace and love" era.

That is definitely a movie one should keep at home.

Reading this review and comparnig it to the previous ones will mak eyou think I like only old movies, but considering that some years ago they did not need many crazy special effects and could therefore concentrate on the actors, well yes there is a huge difference.

By the way for those travelling to Europe M. Hoppers hat or M. Nichlson's footbal helmet are not authorised on European roads! No fun I know ;) But safety first!

We are the best, the purest and the most honnest guys on earth and we fight honnestly! Come on give us a break!

Ok the good guy is really the best and stays it until the end (no more jiuce, let the young ones fight), but why did Lawrence Fishburn play in that movie? Maybe Matrux was a bit too boring!

At least you learn during the movie that the CBR stays a top bike what ever the press says ;) Ok it is an old model but still ;)

Now why did the dad of the heroe need to use his head as a parknig spot for a motorcycle still is a mystery but teaches you another lesson: when idiots run bikes close to you: get out of the way and keep your helmet on! (yep the street racers put a helmet on when they race but none on the road...

One more movie to watch hidden in a cave!

PS: one more time this is my opinion and for sure there are people who loved it, I accep that as they can accept my view ;)

Well well well this is a great movie! Not the one to get an Oscar or a Cesar but definitely one that makes you smile! At least there are a lot of motorcycles! And the pilots are doing all what a normal biker should do:

no helmet,

no speed limit,

jumps (with sport bikes),

impossible figures and many more things!

Of course I am teasing! This should not be done on the road ;)

Anyway you can see a lot of very nice bikes in the movie and even a Y2K (helicopter turbine engine bike from MTT), just one problem...the Y2K works with diesel...which doesn't get on fire if spread on the road because of a bullet in the tank. Oh yes one other little nagging issue: have you ever seen a HD ride faster than a 320 Hp bike? Wow Milwaukee improved their bikes a lot LOL.

In summary: rent the movie for a rainy sunday when you are on your own and no can see you are watching it!

Shhhht: I had fun watching it.

Refreshing! A movie with no fight, blood neither sex! Just friends on bikes! On the track, in races or on the beach just for the pure pleasure of riding a bike!

Steve McQueen appears in capital letters but he is just one more biker in the list, and if I ermeber well he did also put some money on the table to have that movey happen.

The moment (end of the movie) where the guys ride on the beach without any race objective neither target is a great moment: friendship and bikes! Man what a good time they have!

in summary bikes = friendship = good times

Being located on the edge of the french riviera we thought that a nice ride would be to get to the other side of the french mediteranean coast! Therefore we had to find a good reason for such a ride as we always get our passion and a theme to a tour!

Such a ride implies a lot of history and food and sceneries and fun! Too many topics! But there is a nice target: reach one of the smallest European continental states: Andorra! To get there we decided to follow the coast and enjoy its twisty roads and sceneries.

After that we wanted to share the pleasure we had to discover and enjoy historical places where famous people went through (you will discover one place marched over by Hannibal (no not the movie one, the real one) and his army of elefants). Of course we couldn't avoid the magnificent City of Carcassonne! This is such a great place!

Being on a motorcycle it was a must to get up the Pyrénées (anyway Andorra is up there!) and later down to the sea! Back to the sunny sea side!

A friend once told me that when you travel you should never get back in your tracks and always discover a new road! That is what we wanted to implement and decided to have the tour climb up north to follow a parallel track to the coast but up in the languedoc mountains and then pre-alps.And ride some of our favourite roads on the way back.

I like the number "8" it allows you to define such great tours!

Working in southern Europe one has to benefit from all the beautiful countries and places around!

Close to the Alps and to the Italian border there was a desire to mix the fun of the alpine roads with the italian gastronomy pleasure and with a bit of culture and history.

Being passionate about planes a nice place to mix some history and enjoy a great place was to get down to La Spezia where Mario Calderara flew the very first hydroplane.

In fact he chose a place which offers a fantastic gulf to enjoy the sea and its beauties, whilst being located in one of the richest" regions of Italy : the Emilia-Romagna...where you can find Parma!

Ahhhh Parma! Rings a bell? Yes of course the cheese: Parmegiano Reggiano and the Parma Ham! Oh don't forget the italian wines!! Not compatible with motorcycle riding, but hey! once at the hotel, the bike safelt parked, no problem lets enjoy life!