5 ms·
would be awesome if it was true
by zoidb 14y ago
would be awesome if it was true
- bnegreve 14y agoWhat makes you think it is fake ?
- unimpressive 14y agoThe motorcycle may be real, but the story is bull. 12 days. In the desert. I doubt this dude keeps two weeks of water in his trunk.
- brohee 14y agoThis was near Tan-Tan in Morocco, a coastal area likely not completely dry (can see some trees on satellite photos). https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Tan-tan&ll=28.357568,-10.946503&spn=0.671922,1.499634&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=36.505383,95.976562&t=h&hnear=Tan-Tan,+Guelmim-Es+Semara,+Maroc&z=10 https://maps.google.com/maps?q=Tan-tan&ll=28.357568,-10.... One having 12 days of drinking water in his trunk is anything but shocking for the area. Also the motorcycle ain't awesome at all, only one gear with a crappy transmission, making it a barely practical contraption.
- debacle 14y agoIt's very likely that it's fake. It's very difficult to survive in the desert for twelve days, even if you have adequate water, let alone survive and find the energy to build a motorcycle, as rudimentary as this one might be. Finally, in a few of the pictures the supposed engineer of this contraption is shown in a thong. I don't know about you, but if I were in an arid place the last thing I would want is my skin exposed to sun and the air. It may be a real motorcycle, and that's cool, but it's very unlikely it was built under the conditions discussed in this article.
- todsul 14y ago"It's very difficult to survive in the desert for twelve days..." My co-founder survived in the Desert for 52 days after crossing the Gobi Desert entirely on foot in 2011. Not all deserts are 50C every day and explorers can be quite hardy. Also, they often wear clothes to cover all extremities, including gloves to cover fingers.
- debacle 14y agoNot all deserts are 50C every day, but all deserts are dry.
- mkr-hn 14y agoDeserts have water, but most of it is stored in plants and underground. It's near a coast too: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4007858 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4007858
- saraid216 14y agoHe had supplies with him. He wasn't living off the land.
- plink 14y agoYes, after eating his photographer he called the front desk to extend his stay until the licence plate and kickstand were assembled.
- vacri 14y agoDeserts don't get much rain, but they still have rivers. Some rivers are seasonal[1], others permanent, and all you need is some chlorine tablets and you have a decent supply of water if one is nearby. Also, if he was concerned about theft by the locals, that means that there were other people around from whom he could have obtained water and food. EDIT: It seems that this did happen right next to a river [2] [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henley-on-Todd_Regatta http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henley-on-Todd_Regatta [2] http://chameaudacier.free.fr/bato1.html http://chameaudacier.free.fr/bato1.html
- maak 14y agoAgree. The motorcycle may well exist, but it certainly wasn't constructed by a man stranded in the desert. Not plausible.
- Estragon 14y agoYes. Also, would he really have bothered to attach a kickstand to it, in an emergency like that?
- grego 14y agoThe thing weighted about 200kg, so the stand was there so that he would not have to lift it up. Also, at no point it was really an emergency as he had ample rations.
- pavel_lishin 14y agoIt wasn't really an emergency. He had plenty of supplies, and was only a few kilometers away from the nearest town. This is as much of an emergency as your car breaking down on the trip from Dallas to Austin.
- ovi256 14y agoI see no reason why it can't be true. He left equiped for a long distance desert trip (raid). He had water and food for more than two weeks. At no point was his life in danger. His car broke down several dozen kilometers from a town, and he knew that. He chose not to go back on foot, because he didn't find that fun, and he wanted to have fun. He's a mechanic and tinkerer, went there on holiday, the military turned him around, so he found something else to do: build a motorbike. In a subsequent trip he turned the same car model (Citroen 2CV) into a floating barge, just to cross a river. He could have crossed that river farther away in a multitude of ways, but this is his idea of fun. tl;dr: guy can walk back to civilization in a day or two after his car breaks down in Morocco, he chooses to build a motorcycle from car parts instead. Why? For fun. Edit: I feel that reading the full story on the original site (in French) dispels much of the doubt.