Hands up if the Long Way Up met your expectations—OK, no need to ask anyone to put their hands down.
I jest, but after the Long Way Round and the Long Way Up, documentaries that fueled my adventurous nature and love for motorcycles. But the most recent installment was too focused on McGregor and Boorman struggling with range and charging, leaving me and many other viewers wanting. I still hold high hopes for their new endeavor.
Thankfully, the folks at Klim either got really lucky or have a good marketing team because its latest motorcycle travel-adventure series, Ride To The End, absolutely hit the spot.
The series launched on YouTube last week and follows two Klim employees, Lukas and Tolga, as they travel south from from Colombia down to Ushuaia. Their goal is to ride to the bottom of the continent, hence the name Ride To The End. But there's more to this series than the fact the guys are riding through South America.
For starters, Luka and Tolga are completely on their own. There are no chase trucks, video teams, or mechanics. It's two guys, two bikes, and some action cameras. The way it's shot is raw, and that's perfectly in line with the content. We've all seen enough perfectly produced, sometimes overproduced, motorcycle videos on YouTube that fall flat because the content isn't good enough or unauthentic.
Based on the first episode, you could never accuse the Lukas and Tolga of being unauthentic.
Within less than 20 minutes, you'll see the lads riding without jackets or gloves, attending a local completely illegal bike night, and passing trucks on double yellow lines and getting pulled over for it. I'm not glorifying or vilifying these actions, but they certainly show the realities of riding in Columbia and never leave the viewer feeling like there's content left on the table.
I don't want to jump the gun and definitively say that this is the travel-adventure series we've been waiting for, as there's only been one episode, but I'm eagerly anticipating the next installment. According to the person behind Klim's YouTube account, the rest of the series will be in 4K, whereas the first episode was all 1080p.
There's a nice contrast between old and new adventure bikes as Lukas rides a KTM 990 Adventure, whereas Tolga is on a Ducati Desert X, and seeing how these bikes fare compared to each other will undoubtedly be part of the fun.
If you've watched the first installment, please let us know whether you gave it the thumbs up or down in the comments.
Klim Things
