19 Days From England to Iceland on a Moto Guzzi 

A good rant - I agree. Seems electrical items programmed to breakdown the day after the warranty expires. Yep-- KTM and I survived Namibia and heading to Okavango - vids on my channel if anyone wants some irreverence and bike riding ideas.

I wish more people would just get up and go on their bikes and enjoy the road at the pace their bikes can do, touring is not about the bike but the experience on the road and the adventure that is created by riding your own bike, out of your comfort zone. Iceland was definitely that for me, and I loved it.

Guzzi's are bikes for people that hate computers. ❤

As a V7 owner, that Iceland trip is on the bucket list for me as well. These bikes are bulletproof. I've done 14,000 miles in a year and not a single issue besides regular maintenance.

I know someone who worked for a big electronics consumer company. Critical parts were designed to be overstressed so the product would fail at a defined time. It's not your imagination.

Freddie, As an avid Aprilia fan I have owned an rs250, 2 Falcos, an rsv1000r (gen2), a Futura 1000 and a couple rsv4r's. I used to work in an Italian dealership in the mid 2000's. I used to refer an aprilia big twin as the Japanese Italian bike. They are robust and extremely reliable, gp inspired chassis and outrageous looks and colours. I saw far more ducati and MV Augusta bikes come through the workshop with issues. Here in Australia, Aprilia's of old did not sell in great numbers. A shame really, I owned a Falco for 8 years and had no dramas at all. Only thing I changed was service items. I still love my 06 Gen 2 RSV1000r. It is more of a garage queen now but when I take it out, she fires up and rides great. I keep it serviced, charged and fire it up now and again between rides to annoy my neighbours. Granted the newer V4's were a little more problematic, the older ones with rotax engines were and are great. Great zvids as always, your Bonnie looks great now. Regards Adelino

Thank you for showing / reading my V855 thoughts, Freddie. Your review played its part in my decision making.

That look because the cupboard door won’t close properly…..priceless 😂

Exactly the same thing happened to me moved into our new house brought everything brand new everything, after 8 years washing machine, dryer, coffee machine, TV all needed replacing. I'm only glad they lasted that long.

The Husqvarna badge is a rifle barrel and iron sights looking at it from the front. And yup Husqvarna is a place in Sweden it sits on lake vattern on the E4 I did that trip 11 years ago going from Peterborough to Helsinki in Finland, going through Belgium, Holland, Germany, Denmark, Sweden then catching a ferry from Stockholm to Helsinki. The Bridge and tunnel system from Denmark to Sweden is amazing by the way.

Watching the video with interest as I’m about to go to the French alps on my 39 year old goldwing 1200 and have to tell you the R.A.C are still doing breakdown insurance for older bikes but the premium is at a cost but that’s to be expected I guess .

Hi Freddie, mind if I have a rant too? I'm just learning to ride & going through the "Davide" process myself. My son has been riding for 4 years on his A2 license and we thought we'd go and buy a new bike to share with the idea of spending some fun times together. So, we decided to go to the dealers and he would test ride a few bikes and we'd then purchase the one we decided upon. It proved to be impossibe. No-one wuld insure him for a test ride as he's only 23, apparently you need to be 26. Even when I pass my test, no-one would insure me for said test ride either until I have one years experience. I find this totally insane! How can anyone expect you to spend up to 10K on a bike that you can't try first? Loving your channel and enthusiasm for riding and sharing your experiences.

Freddie, there is no magic to touring on an old bike. I am touring the Picos mountains in Spain on my 1991 BMW R80. The bike is fully restored by me at great cost. As a result of knowing every wire and mechanical feature of my bike, I am happy to jump on it and go. Less preparation = greater risk of problems. Also you must ride with sympathy. Do this and make happy memories.

Love the man maths …. You’ll get me into trouble 😂

I don't think an adventure bike exists. I think at most they are still duel sport bikes. The adventure is what you do. All bikes are adventure bikes

When i went through Turkey i just got Insurance at the Border into Turkey (Also given a Bottle of Home Made Alcohol) it was very inexpensive.

100 percent same experience

It’s simple buy Mielle the only products that are designed to last 20 years

Same here in Japan ,,,we all say everything has a 12 year life span remember you will own nothing and be happy ... old fridges are still just as efficient as todays machines ,, a fella on yt did a test

now the bonnie is back don't go off-road 😂😂, but do a short video on it

I think 🤔 that SL 1000 engine is a Suzuki V- Strom or SV1000 motor ?

8:38 or a gigantic pain in the ass! 😬

The rant is real, carry on. much love fred, keep that bike shiny and new, it deserves it.

Regarding the appliances; built-in obsolescence' Freddie, it's a thing! Robbing bastards 😂 Another good vid 👌🏼

Built-in obsolescence is a reality - Apple finally admitted they do it, for one - and it's definitely a thing with anything electrical these days. Should be criminalized.

The Aprilla 660 is a fantastic bike , 660 engine, great induction sound , and even cruise control ( no other mid weight ADV has cruise )And fantastic suspension as well .

Hi Freddie - goods aren’t ‘programmed’ to fail as such, but they are designed to fail after warranty. It’s called ‘planned obsolescence’ - so, no longer (or very rarely!) will you get white goods that last 40 years. So it’s no real surprise that your goods bought at the same time will fail at a similar time. I know it’s difficult when you purchase a new house, but try to stagger white good purchase, so you reduce the potential of multiple similar timed failures. Keep up the good work and glad you’ve got the Bonnie back! 👍🏻

Buy a brand like Big chill, here in the US it's made. The thing a outlast you.

The water heater l had was65 years old when it broke. They built good stuff back then.

That’s a Fantastic trip on the V7 mate “ Would love to do that on my V85tt .

Another excellent Tuesday chat Freddie and I feel your pain over the built in obsolescence of modern ‘white goods’…. Re the conversation concerning touring on older machines, my classic bike cover through Carol Nash includes UK & full European breakdown cover for up to 90days for both my bikes which are 41 & 34yrs old at a very reasonable price so you can get cover for older machines. I’m off across the channel in a months time to take in some Alpine passes on my 1983 BMW R100RS. Re the Aprilia Tuareg, I think that’s a great choice as I’ve seen many people praise it as a great ‘under the radar’ choice that is ultimately a better bike than the big selling adventure bikes but, for me the Moto Guzzi V85TT would be my choice if I were laying my money down 👍

The V85TT possibly my next bike,been looking at these for a while recently test rode a Africa Twin,want to also test a v-strom 1050,but absolutely love the looks of the Moto Guzzi.

WRT the company that only works with letters and faxes. It could be religious regions. I m an engineer and used to work with a supplier who would only work via fax and physical mail. They supplied us with adhesives for assembling instrumentation for vehicles like the lotus elise. I can't remember exactly which religion it was but they used as little technology as possible to run their business. This was around 2001, so we'll into the era when the rest of the world was routinely using email etc.

2:38 and that's exactly the problem with the modern white goods, no one repair them any more, just replace it! That's the whole problem we have been turned into a huge consumer world with the emphasis on consume, decades ago I remember replacing the drum bearings in a washer

Planned obsolescence it’s called, and it’s everywhere. It should be illegal, but it’s not. We the consumers should do something about it.

I want a new channel about Freddie installing cookers

Hearing all the talk about the CBT and such, just for fun this Yank decided to take a sample Motorcycle Theory Test. FAIL! 40 correct out of 50. Ugh. Most errors were signage, roundabout and crosswalk questions. Puffin & Pelican Crossings?? The UK has a street crossing for funny little birds? Who knew? 🤣

Freddie, regarding breakdown cover for old bikes - I have classic bike insurance on my Yamaha XS1100 with Peter James. It includes European travel and it comes with breakdown cover for the UK and Europe. Fully comp costs me about £120 a year.

Waiting for your first post and trip on the fixed Bonnie.

Thanks for publishing part 2 of my story, Freddie! 💪

Hi Freddie, that was hilarious. While it's called planned obsolesence, the goal is less money in your pockets, and everyone elses. Affects, hobbies, exploring avenues of growing wealth because of the surplus, tourism aspirations, a better family life and life in general. Purposed low quality is the norm and bright vibrant colours of clothes except for known name designers in the higher price range are hard to find.

Freddy Pablo here in valencia hace to remember prices of sevices hear obviuslyore cheep as the Minimum wage in sapin Is a little over 3€ a hour so huge bills of 100€ ph labour would not be viable for most peoples to pay 👍🏽🏍️🏍️💪🏽

My old 1996 BMW K1100LT is currently off the road because I can't source a replacement exhaust It is not that I want to really buy another OEM one to break where the four pipes come together at the silencer. One day I will work out a solution and get that motorised sofa back on the road.

There is only Freddie and I that would buy a replacement machine without measuring lol……..and yes they do build them to break, it’s called planned obsolescence….. designing a product with an artificially limited useful life ...

Funny rant on planned obsolescence. Doesn't help much when you just dropped a bunch of $$$ on new appliances, but "First World" problems, none the less. 😂

Some of use are aware that product influecing may lead to more consumption and some products consume electricity, these items may either fail or need updating. More importantly, there are 3 billion people in the world without access to adequate electricity. P.S. Enjoy your MC Joe did a good job.

There’s no such thing as a keeper Freddy… we all think we’ll get one and then…. A few months or so later the old twitch of curiosity begins… what next?!!!

Just to add to my story about Riding to the black sea on my NTV 650 it cost £1000 when I bought it and had 37000 miles on it. I left it in Bulgaria in the barn and apart from not really liking the E10 fuel there I run the more expensive petrol when I can, it runs and goes fine.

If you buy an older bike and it “ craps itself “ no great loss , strip it and sell parts ( to cover the 2 grand ) and buy another 2 grand beast 👍

The xl varadero headers for a grand must be new honda parts hes looking at you can pick uo a used set £70-£100 old Japanese bikes are cheap to run been doing it for years.

You are right buy them all at the same time and they break at the same time. It’s Chinese garbage - doesn’t matter if you buy premium, though most kitchen appliances are Turkish rubbish!

0.8 hp are you sure its not 8 hp the older 50cc bikes were actually quite fast as they were not limited to 30mph back in the 60's

Freddie, lots of organisations, government, police etc still require information to be faxed, it`s just the way it is here.

Hi Freddie mybe you could have look at insurance renewals. Mine as all most double in price!

Many views Freddie but few likes, maybe you need to remind viewers to help the channel?👍

The tuareg is a fabulous bike!

I agree with the electrical appliances, I get extended warranty ( 5-7 years) has paid off twice .

Usually just the element in the oven, easy fix ;) Great vlog as always! Ride safe

Love that Guzzi!

Freddie Dobbs realizes planned obsolescence in 2024. LOL.

Appliance advice that serves me well for much more than a decade. Bish bash Bosch

You're right about appliances Freddie. A friend of mine worked at an electronics repair centre and he said TVs have a number of working hours programmed in to them, I think about 100,000 hours. When they fail, they can be reset, if you know how, and they work again! I wouldn't be surprised if this is true!

6:45 Husqvarna is still a Swedish company that makes other machinery (lawn mowers I think) but the motorcycle division has been sold off. Interesting how many bike manufacturers had roots in arms manufacturing - British Small Arms (BSA), Triumph, Royal Enfield (hence the names of some of its bikes). As for England to Iceland, I'd have thought you could do that in shorter hops via the Orkney, Shetland and Faroe islands. Via Denmark and Norway is definitely the long way round but maybe that was the point.

0:54 it's called planned obsolescence and one of the reasons I hate seeing those modern TFT's on new motorcycles, just to give an example of how pervasive it is in EVERY product.

the old days, fridges etc rarely broke down! if they did u could fix them !

You look worn out Freddie ! I did wonder about your travel arrangements at the unveiling on Sunday but you explained it all here. Have a couple of days off ! 🇬🇧

Cars are the same certain items made to fail that is a fact. I just wonder if bikes are the same or will become the same ???

Have a Guzzi V7 850, can honestly say that the bike is very capable of anything...mine has never missed a beat. Whether that be bombing around the Peak District, Cotswolds or otherwise!

I think they use plastic that breaks down after 10 years.

Sod the gatekeepers: if you're on a bike, having an adventure, it's an adventure bike...

Of there are power surges, it will affect appliances and electronics all at once?

Now that motorcycles are connected to the internet via your phone, how long before they programmed to "break" after a certain period.🤔

Freddie, on the new bikes. HP is not the done thing any more, PCP is way more popular and can almost halve your monthly payments. I went through the thoughts you considered, I tried the Honda Transalp but then test rode the CF Moto 800MT, it’s a lot better and way better value! The transalp is £9600 with no kit at all, everything is an extra. The 800MT was £9200 (£112 per month on PCP) and has cruise control, heated grips, heated seats, up and down quick shifter and loads more, also comes with £1300 worth of 3 piece luggage thrown in for free! Can’t wait to collect it this weekend 👌🏻

I think you need to change the title to "Wednesday at Dobb's"

Our NEFF oven is now 28yo.

Freddie I was talking to someone in the pub who had slipped on some stairs in their hotel after they had been washed down, she spent two weeks in hospital, had to be flown back to the UK on a spinal board and had a private ambulance from the airport to home. Just goes to shows how the simplest of accidents can end up becoming a major problem, luckily she was insured.

I loved that rant Freddie, it cracked me up!

Warranty, apparently, by law, a product must perform its role for 6 years, regardless of what warranty is offered from the vendor (eg currys ) so, a warranty by law is 6 years. Food for thought and I have never tested this right/law - this is in the UK only

Any updates on the Bonnie? Not heard anything for a while.

So funny intro . Best of :)

Total agree about modern household appliances, I am convinced they are fitted with a timing chip for them to break after a certain period of time👍

The Aprilia ToeRag

Had a VN 800 Great bike

Freddie, not sure if this helps answer a few questions but I’m heading off in two weeks on a France, Switzerland, Italy trip on my 19 year old ST1300 pan. The cheapest full EU breakdown inc getting the bike and myself back if the worst happens is £110 with the RAC. My mate has paid £70 for his 2013 Triumph Trophy for comparison

TVs? I bought a York 12'' black & white one for the 1982 World Cup when I was a student. It kept coming out of retirement throughout later years, when more modern colour TVs failed. I finally got rid of it in 2011 when I left England, but it was still working. Good idea re: the Pegaso. Nick

Yup. I think everything is going down on quality. It's frustrating to buy clothes and then in a year there is a hole on it. And then you got things like electric tools that you have to look for reviews and other peoples experiences on them to find out if they are any good. Some might even be expensive and still trash. They could just have the brand name on and then made cheaply somewhere. It is a chore to buy a 18V drill and you still don't know if it's any good. Some low quality stuff shouldn't be made at all. Just have the more expensive stuff on the shelf we consumers don't need the cheap stuff anyway.

Ah Freddie...welcome to middle-age... I complain about the quality of everything (including bikes)...next step is the fix it myself attitude (fork handles!)

Bought an Aprilia 660 Tuono factory last month. Ran it in, loaded it up and took the ferry to Spain. 250 miles a day - Picos through the Pyrenees and back. I’m half way through as we speak. Some of the mountain roads are in a really bad state, but blimey, considering it’s sporty suspension it’s coping brilliantly, I’d go as far as to say it’s really comfortable. It doesn’t bottom out, it doesn’t give me shocks through the spine or wrists, it’s plush and it goes where it’s pointed like a full on sports bike. Despite ragging it up and down 2500 ft climbs it’s even managing to return 67mpg- I saw 76mpg on the motorway down to Portsmouth. The engine sound glorious. The seat was good for 8 hrs straight today, only getting off for petrol and a few photographs. It’s even got cruise control. I’m really pleased with it. We’ve bonded quickly. Best bike I’ve ever owned - never thought I’d buy an Aprilia, but really happy I did.

Remember, and as they say in the building trade- "Measure twice cut once." Like you, I am amazed how fragile modern stuff has become. I now buy cheap TV's etc, and if they last three years-result!

I'm still riding a few old bikes that are over 30 years old. Maybe they were built before planned obsolescence :)

The home appliances longevity is an age old problem, my wife and i were married 40 years ago, after 7 years almost every appliance in the house was broken within weeks of each other. When people talk about the 7 year itch, i think its stress related from having to buy everything for the house again!

Had a new Aprilia Falco in 2001, had it for 7years. Bloody good bike.👍

My parents bought a Gobblin brand washer with wringer on top in the fifties. That machine lasted over 20 years. We got spares sent from England (where it was made) as we were living in Ireland. Eventually when we sent for a part they sent us the part for free. When the machine finally died we sent a bereavement card to their parts department

I went to Iceland a few weeks ago, amazing! Big boxes of greggs sausage rolls there, just pop them in the oven.

I bought a $35 toaster, it lasted 3yrs. Replaced it with a $5 one . I got two expecting to need it soon. 3yrs later I haven't needed the backup and can't remember where I put it.

Don't apologise for the rant Freddie! It's true, most appliances are preprogrammed to malfunction after 3 years! 😮 Great episode today!😊

Some engineer, designer really put alot of thought into that Moto Guzzi scrambler, a sidestand on each side, brilliant.😊

Freddie - enjoying your content from far away in NY - keep the rants and reviews coming!

Yep today’s electronic products all come with built in obsolescence. It’ll be interesting to see how long electric vehicles will last (batteries excluded)

Totally agree that modern electrics are designed with a build in shelf life. 3 years. Look at local recycling centre. Full of tv's, fridges, washing machines etc. My cathode ray tv worked for a lifetime as did my parents fridge.