Man
It all began with my birth, but let's start a little bit later. When I bought a YAMAHA DT125R in July 1995
my career as a motorcyclist inevitably made its start. For the next three years the motorcycle mainly
served as a cheap student's car until its fatal frontal crash with a car in autumn 1998. Nothing serious
happened to both involved in the accident and guess who was to blame for it...
I was looking forward to some months without a motorcycle and realized quickly that this is an intolerable
situation. So I concentrated all my financal resources you dispose of as a student and bought a YAMAHA XT600E
with 172000km in November 1998. Until spring 2000, this motorcycle served as a student's car as well but with
the beginning of my employment the big tours started. It began with extensive pass trips in
the Swiss mountains and later on I did trips to Eastern Europe and the Pyrenees. In the meantime I have driven
over all important passes the Alpine mountains offer and you start to realize that although you drive
thousands of kilometers you're not getting anywhere.
Some travel reports I found by chance on the internet showed to me that motorcycles also work outside Europe.
The lecture of many other travel reports followed until it was certain: I want to get away! This dates back to
mid-2001. During the following months the route as well as the departure time got more and more concrete:
April 2003. In the meantime I spent many hours on preparation and if everything goes well in April 2003 I will
say: I'm away!
As I'm traveling alone I very much appreciate some company for the one or the other part of my journey. Just
drop me a message at D.Schaller(at)freesurf.ch and tell me where you're heading to. Any
other message or comment is welcome as well.
Credits
I would like to thank the follwing people as they contributed a big part to realize my journey:
- My sister Sandra and her boyfriend for their support at home. During my absence they will have to take care
about many things such as paying my taxes.
- Bruno Bachmann junior for the usage of some rooms to revise and put up the motorcycle during winter
2002/2003. There was no heating in the rooms but this was better in any case compared to work on the motorcyle outside.
- The team of Sidler Motos in Hochdorf. They often had to answer my question that someone usually asks if he
revises a complete motorcycle engine for his first time in life. They kindly helped me with advice and support.
- Jules Furrer for the usage of the garage at the agricultural school in Hohenrain. Many things can be done
much quickier if you have the right equipment.
- Gian Marco Badrutt from hostettler ag in Sursee for the informations from importer about the machine
and the supply of replacement parts abroad.
- Bruno Bachmann senior for some space to store my affairs during my absence. You can save quite some
money if you give up your appartment.
- Patrick Müller for the hosting of these internet pages on his server. I hope his machine
will not be overloaded because of web site.
- All those for their understanding that I was quite busy during the last months and thus
did not have that much spare time for other activities.
Die CO2 issue
To go traveling with your own vehicle may appears to be ecological nonsense to some. The carbon dioxide emissions
of today's vehicles is still way too high and I don't want to justify myself with the following. But let me do
a little comparision: According to Airbus a today's modern passenger
plane consumes about 3 litres of fuel per passenger and 100 kilometers, assumed that all seats are busy.
Today's motorcycle engines are still quite rudimentary and did not follow all the technological developments
the car engines have gone through. That's why my motorcycle still consumes about 5 litres per 100 kilometers.
But put this in relation to a spontaneous two-week vacation on Bali.
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