The OneWheelDrive.Net team has faced the Dempster when it’s wet and cold, but now we’re confronted by something we’ve never contemplated. The Dempster on a gorgeous fall day in August when everything goes right. Join us for the conclusion of Dempster: Road to the Arctic.
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This is a very well crafted video and an excellent account of your journey. Very inspiring. After combing the internet for months for information, video and photos of this type of trip, I’d have to say that this is the best video trip report I’ve seen.
I can’t wait to go there myself next summer (2011).
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There is no question that you guys had a difficult but amazing adventure on the Dempster. There is also no question that you did a superb job of capturing the Dempster in all its different personalities. Even with all the difficulties, you did a superb job; the series allowed so many people to see what most of us will never get to see or experience.
I am however, disappointed with the ending because you changed your tune from the beginning of the series. This was supposed to be a test of three bikes. In the end, you said it wasn’t about the bikes, it was about the Dempster. I get that, I really do. I have been North and I fully appreciate how its beauty and vastness render the man made world insignificant. Who cares which bike you are on when you are there in all its glory! It simply doesn’t matter.
But it does matter to those of us who followed the series not only for the adventure but because we were truly interested in the “comparo”. I still think that a breakdown of each bikes performance was due in the end. There couldn’t be a better environment or opportunity to put the bikes, these three bikes, side by side, through their paces. This just doesn’t happen every day. I understand there may be the “politics” that goes with showing an ultimate preference for one bike over another. It’s more likely that there isn’t an “ultimate” preference. The senario would more than likely be a preference for certain aspects of one bike over another under similar conditions. Each bike must have demonstrated innate strengths and weaknesses. In the end, a summary of these points at least would have been very much appreciated.
Even if the bikes performed equally well then this in itself is good information for a potential buyer. For someone looking for non-biased information comparing these particular models, your commentary on these three possibilities, put through their paces side by side on the long journey of the Dempster, would have been invaluable.
Cheers,
Dieter
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Dieter,
Sorry the videos left you hanging. All is not lost though, check out the full compo in two parts:
http://www.onewheeldrive.net/2009/12/09/arctic-challenge-ktm-990-adventure-vs-bmw-r1200gs-adventure-and-f800gs-part-1/
http://www.onewheeldrive.net/2009/12/17/arctic-challenge-part-2-ktm-990-adventure-vs-bmw-r1200gs-adventure-f800gs/
Hope that formats right. Answering on the iPhone from the roadside at the California/Arizona border. Next comparo MTS & GSA videos shouldn’t make the same mistake.
Cheers,
Neil
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Aha! The missing link!
On quick review…….just what the doctor ordered. Good breakdown.
How did I miss this?
Thanks
Diter
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Neil
I just got back from a two week trip up to and on the Dempster with my wife. Both of us riding 950s. I just wanted to say you guys did a great job on the trip primer. We had a fantastic time with side trips on the Campbell highway, Top of the World, South Canol Rd and Telegraph Creek. We are keen to go back and explore even more of what is without a doubt some of the most achingly beautifully country in the world. We didn’t want to come home we had such a great trip.
Some notes – Best Burger/Momma Zs in Dease Lake (hands down!!), Best Road/can’t pick, but perhaps overall, Dempster in full conditions!, Best Fellow ADVr/ Toni from Germany on an original 1957 BMW with custom leather front/rear panniers, simply a beautiful and classic set up, Best Camping Place/Municipal Campground Rainey River, Stewart.
The Worst awards – Worst Campground/Downtown Campground Watson Lake (a rip off), Worst road/the Dempster in full three days of rain condition, Worst Fellow ADVr/multiple Harley riders with way too much gear and attitude, Worst mud/Dempster no question – very hard on chains and any other metal bits.
Bike stuff – I got 428kms on my 950 one day!! I generally averaged 14-15kms per litre on the trip (as long as I was relatively gentle on the throttle. I had a Heidenau on the rear…fantastic tire for this trip. 7000kms and it is only 50% gone. Great on most surfaces but a little square for aggressive pavement work. Front TKC 80 is done completely but otherwise was pretty good. Happy Valley Panniers worked superb. Cee Bailey windscreen – not great, c+ performance. Aerostitch pants leaked badly all in the crotch of course!!!
Anyhow, well done and I highly recommend your primer as THE best one to read for anyone heading up to that corner of the world.
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