Haha! That's awesome!

But I figure it'd be harder to repair a Harley in the middle of Russia with minimal tools and no access to "Genuine Harley Parts". Bicycles can be repaired anywhere with anything!

Plus, you don't get all the awesome border stories such as the now infamous "What bike number?"!

Still, very cool!

 

He made it! Doug is the man. Been following him for a while now. As someone else mentioned, another good spot to read about his adventures is at his own website (well, his girlfriends) at motosapiens.org. That way you don't have to deal with all the beemer dudes at avrider.

Also note that the it didn't take long for someone else to copy his "Dirtster", as I saw one at Sturgis a couple of weeks ago. It was an exact copy, complete with the box saddle bags and KTM front end, etc. I glanced at it and about fell over, because I knew Doug was in Russia. Upon closer inspection it was clear it wasn't his bike, but a good copy. Of course, it didn't have the sticker that all of Doug's bikes have "Touch my motorcycle and I'll kill you and butt-fck your corpse!" lol

There's a good article in American Iron magazine a couple months ago about the "Dirtster" (2003 Sportster 1200, coverted into basically a duel sport dirt bike). Also on motosapiens.org Doug goes into the detail of the build, along with all his other builds and bike prep for his trips. Very cool stuff.

 

So can older harleys I've got 30 + yrs and well over 500,000 miles on them to prove it , you guys ( and girls ) have been brainwashed with the newer bikes the last 12 years because they are that delicate and parts dedicated . Sometimes newer isn't better in the real world outside our stateside box .

 

I can understand that mentality with regards to being in the States, but reading through Doug's threads you see how difficult some of the repairs get. Not on a technical level, just having to MacGuyver a solution. Some of the gear that people use to help him is pre-WW2 tools.

 

In Mongolia I saw guys welding with what had to be an ancient big *** Neon sign transformer using a colored bottle as as a lens , gets pretty crude out there seen some of it first hand up close . That's the juice of it for me , watching human nature and a need morph into a solution for a problem . This country was founded and became great on that spirit and we,re losing more of it everyday , hell I wonder if the next generation will even know how to change a flat tire the way things are going .

Russia is a whole other world when you get out the few big cities they have , I loved the county side and the people I met . They were warm giving , quick with a smile and shared what little they had language wasn't a big barrier at all . Talk about hardy and self sufficient , the average American is a total idiot by comparison outside of the real ranch living people in big open range states they have the same grit I guess you can call it .

 

Yep, that's pretty much 90% of Doug's repair stories right there!

I understand what you mean. Ever since the wonderful idea of NAFTA we have lost much of our tradesmen. We are turning into a country of managers with no skill set to bring the manufacturing heart of America back!

 

Human nature needs a challenge to really shine and we can be some creative creatures when needed . Please pardon my language but Americans are becoming fatter limp wristed pussies more so by the day and all my off the beaten path travels have just re-enforced that belief .