The Harley-Davidson Livewires survived

The stars of the hit mini-series Long Way Round (2004) and Long Way Down (2007) have just concluded the epic ride that will soon be Long Way Up. The ride entails the seemingly impossible task of riding motorcycles from Ushuaia in Argentina to Los Angeles in the USA.

If that doesn't seem hard enough, they did it with electric motorbikes. Yes, unlike their past exploits onboard BMW GS's, this time, they did it in a pair of Harley-Davidson Livewires. This change of steed may seem like sacrilege for some fans, showing aside legitimate and capable adventure bikes for untested electric cruisers for this journey, but they accomplished it.

To help them complete their latest adventure, started last September 19 in Ushuaia, they brought along a small expedition team composed of 2 Rivian R1T electric pickup trucks, 4 camera chase motorcycles (that run on petrol), a Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Van, a Ford F-350 pick up truck that carried the quick chargers and backup batteries for the motorcycles and the R1T; and an entourage of 40 or so motorcycle riders (by invitation only) from the different localities they visited.

Charlie Boorman commented that charging the Livewire motorcycles wasn't too bad at all. They often plugged them into local sockets. In areas that were off-the-grid, they only used good 'ole fashioned generators to power the quick chargers for the pickups and motorcycles.

The Long Way Up started in Ushuaia, which is the southernmost tip of Argentina in South America. In this region, most of the roads that they passed were underdeveloped. The roads get progressively better the closer they get to the USA. Still, it's no simple task as the journey entails an intimidating 12,000 kilometers (more or less) to reach Los Angeles, California.

We're pretty excited to see how their adventure unfolds considering that they've used the most unlikely bike for adventure riding.

boorman harley-davidson livewire long way up mcgregor