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The experienced and adventurous Morgans selected the 800GS for part of their round the world tour in 2009. Over 70 days they travelled through Peru, Chile, Argentina ,Paraguay,Uraguay and Brazil. The standard bikes were equipped with Tourace rear tyres and Universal knobby TKC80 front tyres. Gear was carried in alluminium rear panniers which took the brunt of many falls. They had plastic top boxes,soft tank saddlebags and large tank bags with clear map /document pockets on top. The bikes were equipped with GPS which saved a lot of problems map reading on the go. They carried small plastic petrol containers for extra fuel in remote areas. The bikes met every kind of road surface and were considered very reliable considering the rough treatment they got.This was a road based adventure. Problems encountered were:Side stand badly shaped so that the heavily laden bike had to be leaned away from the supporting foot every time the side stand was used-a tricky manouvre ( the Morgans are also in their 50s and are not tall or strong people). The oil cooler was too low and exposed and got covered in mud and salt etc reducing its efficiency. The fan on 1 bike was jammed by a stone so the bike over heated but was able to continue at slow speed. The wheel rim on one heavily ladden bike was buckled but was still rideable. They considered the bike was on the large and heavy side compared with their previous BMW 650 Dakars used in other sections of the world trip. Good points were reliabliity, able to carry a big load ,able to cover long km on tarmac at high speed. Easy to turn off the ABS for use on rough roads. Fuel injection sensors worked very well compensating for use at high altitude(4000m)automaticallly. Bikes handled satisfactorily on all surfaces. Deep mud was an issue due to the weight of gear carried and the compromise tyres. Jo Morgan found that lightening her load improved performance noticeably on loose rough surfaces. The group did not carry camping gear. They covered 81-653km per day at elevations up to 4400m ASL — Preceding unsigned comment added by 219.88.97.148 (talk) 22:01, 4 September 2011 (UTC)Reply
G Morgan is the author of 9 books, 4 them on adventure biking in different continents of the world. After becomming a multi millionare he has given away much of his fortune to worthy causes. Each of his trips is part of a campaign to raise awareness in a particular 3rd world project in which he has a special interest. He has always used BMW motorcycles.Im sure folks who are interested in the 800 would be interested in the opinion of a person (and his wife)who are, without doubt, two of the most experienced adventure riders any where in the world. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 219.88.97.148 (talk) 20:49, 5 September 2011 (UTC)Reply
I don't think it is strictly necessary to write the article first, or to even meet notability guidelines at all. As per WP:NNC, "Notability guidelines do not limit content within an article". The relevant policies are WP:UNDUE and WP:RS.
The problem I have with this content is that it's poorly written and uninformative. I'd rather be told in plain English what the Morgans did that was so "epic" and see a clear citation stating author, title, year and page number. And it kind of bothers me that the Morgans alone are the only source, and not a third party. But Random House is a major publisher and we have to presume that they did reasonable fact checking and editing. So I don't object to mentioning the Morgans here, but can we do a better job? --Dennis Bratland (talk) 21:40, 5 September 2011 (UTC)Reply
I think an important point is these folks are multi millionares so could buy any bike they like. They selected 800s . In their books they make some criticisms of the BMW network in some countries(price gouging) so they are not BMW mouthpieces. When bits "fall off" you hear it warts and all.They are not sponsered by BMW so they can say what they like, unlike some adventure riders and bike magazines that never seem to test a bad bike. My guess is that the Morgans and their friends have done 300,000km on their BMW's(mainly 650 Dakars) on adventure rides.Few could match that, if any? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 219.88.97.148 (talk) 02:13, 12 September 2011 (UTC)Reply
Ted Simon is remarkable but of course he never did an adventure ride on a BMW gs800.Ditto Nick Sanders.You have missed the point.The info is in Discussion as it doesnt fit the criteria for the main article on the gs800. It is NOT about the Morgans at all, although I would say that most of Gareth's achievements have been outside motorcycling.The intension is to give some info on the GS800 by a very experienced couple.I never stated they were the world's most experienced adventure riders or world famous or even notable-that is an assumption you made.If you are interested in Gareth he was the guy who donated about $40k to relocate a stranded Emporer penguin back to the Antaractc water with a transmitter attached.See Happy Feet. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 222.152.198.167 (talk) 22:06, 13 September 2011 (UTC)Reply