How YouTube pulled me out of a ditch

Alternative title “My favourite motorcycle YouTube channels”

Last weekend (on Saturday the 12th of September) I rode from Berlin to Graal-Müritz at the Baltic Sea, my favourite holiday location (because nothing feels as much like home).

I had found a riding buddy who wanted to do the return on the same day, so we went via the Autobahn as it was faster. However, roughly 2/3 of the way my co-rider decided to turn around and since I was in no rush, I decided to get off the highway as well and enjoy a nice ride through the country side until my final destination.

As I exited the highway, I wasn’t too sure which direction I was supposed to go (I still don’t have a GPS…) and just took a right turn. Normally, when I’m not sure where I have to go, I always go left – out of principle – so I quickly started doubting my choice and decided to stop on the side of the road to check Google Maps on my phone.

And then it happened: for a reason that’s unknown to me, I had stopped the motorcycle + sidecar in the most inconvenient way possible (given the circumstances) and I was now stuck in a ditch.

It’s not obvious on this picture, but what had happened is following: the height of the starting asphalt was the exact same as the height of the sidecar frame and the wheel being much lower there was no way for my to “drive up the curb”.  What I had to do was to lift the sidecar up, while moving the bike forward. Unfortunately, as I was alone and there was no way to have the bike move forward with the engine on while I was lifting the sidecar.

This might not seem like a big deal to you, but for me it was. Normally, upon realising that I was “stuck” and on my own, I would have started to freak out and potentially have a panic attack. But I didn’t, and there is one reason for that: I have watched so many hours of motorcycle travelers being stuck in the literal middle of nowhere, I knew that I could make it, I just had to keep calm and get to work – which I did. I took my helmet and my jacket off and started lifting and pushing. It took me a good 20 minutes because that rig is heavy and somehow always wanted to roll backwards (gravity apparently), but I made it.

Luckily Loki wasn’t with me this time (he was traveling by train), that would have been a nightmare.

So to honour and thank all those YouTubers who inspired me, here’s a list of my favourite motorcycle related YouTube channels.

1- FortNine

This one is not really a surprise, everyone knows it because the content is just so good, but I still had to name it. It’s mainly videos about gear reviews, maintenance advice and general tips for motorcyclist as you would see anywhere else, except that the production quality is insane. Ryan and his team (they are Canadians) put in a lot of effort to add some good story telling to whatever they are talking about. Plus, Ryan being a trained physicist (apparently), when they do tests and comparisons, it’s very scientific. A must watch.

2- Laurent ‘Lolo’ Cochet

Unfortunately this one is in French, and it’s a shame because in my opinion there is only one YouTuber that can top FortNine’s story telling and production, and it’s Lolo Cochet. He used to be a motorcycle journalist for one of France’s biggest Motorcycle Magazine and started to do online content way before everyone else. He eventually started his own production company and YouTube channel. His videos are also informative (reviews, tips, etc.) but he always comes up with the craziest ideas to structure his videos – and he is hilarious.

You may have seen this one very famous video of him falling into a parked boat after one of his side cases touched a pillar (it’s unfair people only know him for that, because he’s an otherwise excellent rider):

3-  c90adventures

Not exactly a “motorcycle” channel as Ed (March) travels on a Honda c90, which is more like a small moped, but still. Ed is an English dude who likes to travel cheap, so he chose the most reliable motorised two-wheeler he could find (the c90 has been in production for so long you can find parts everywhere, plus he’s an engineer so he can repair anything by himself) and travels the world. His video are purely narrative (no reviews or tests) about his journeys, but his personality and his sense of humour just make watching his videos a delight. Similarly to Lolo, he has some crazy ideas on what to do while traveling, and his adventures are always entertaining.

4- Motorcycle Adventures

Probably the first channel I started to watch and follow after getting my license (or even as I was getting it). Pavlin is a Bulgarian who lives/d in Berlin (he’s moving back to Bulgaria as I type this) and set himself the goal of visiting and seeing every country across the world. His approach is extremely pragmatic: traveling as efficiently as possible to travel as much as possible. He owns an older Ténéré 660 which he maintains himself and travels super light. He shares his years of experience traveling in a very “no fuss, no bullshit” way and every one of  his tips are helpful. His travel log videos are sometimes a bit long, but it’s on purpose as he’s trying to show the reality of long distance riding – unlike many other YouTuber who only shows their highlights.

5- Pedro Mota

Half Portuguese, half Dutch, Pedro has been living on his bike for a few years now. His channel only contains travel logs, no motorcycle reviews or gear tests, only his journeys. His channel is not very big (yet), but I like watching his videos because he’s not afraid to share his worst struggles on the road (similarly to Ed March). It’s always very inspiring to see him work on getting out of tricky situations – once he had to move big rocks for several hours in the South American sunlight in order to clear the only available road, with no village for kilometers.

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There are many other channels that I enjoy watching, but this post is already way too long. Unfortunately I haven’t found any ‘female rider’ channel that I enjoy, most of the ones I found are too “I’m an Influencer, my life is so cool, sponsor me” and I don’t get anything out of them – but feel free to share if you know any good ones.