In this second part of the series, we begin to take a look at some of the great rides of the past; the rides of previous record holders Shinji Kazama and Istvan Juhasz. We also take a look at the more recent (and well documented) ride of Damon I'Anson on one of the heavier bikes to see the upper side of 5,700m. All of these rides took place in the highest mountain range on earth, the Himalaya - from China, from India and from Nepal. Lets start with perhaps the greatest extreme adventure record holder of them all - Shinji Kazama.
Before Kazama, a number of Bultaco backed rides had proved the benchmark. In 1973 five Bultaco Sherpa-T 350 bikes set a new world record when they reached 5,156 m (16,916 ft) in the nepalese Imja Khola glacier in the Cukung Valley. The expedition also hired 55 sherpas (35kgs each) to take all the material needed (aeronautical gas was needed due to the poor quality of the nepalese gas combined with the high compression engines). The story is in a book called "Himalaya Namasté" from Dimas Vega, one of the expedition members.
The 1974 Igualada-Kilimanjaro expedition: Jaume Travesset and Santi Godó rode two Bultaco Sherpa-t 250 bikes from Barcelona across Africa and to the top of Kilimanjaro's Uhuru Peak - 5,891 m (19,327 ft). They reached the summit at 5pm on October 26, 1974. The expedition took 4 months and 20.000kms through Spain, Morocco, Spanish Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal, Malí, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Dahomey, Nigeria, Cameroon, CAR, Zaire, Rwanda and Tanzania.
It wasn't until the mid 1990s that Kazama's feats would be challenged. In 1995 a solo Hungarian in an all red outfit, Istvan Juhasz, rode an XL250R up the side of Gauri Shankar, a Nepalese mountain in the Himalaya, with the assistance of a trekking company and reached an impressive 6,183m (20,285 feet) where cold and fuelling limited progress. Istvan Juhasz has a pretty strong claim to have been the first person to cross the 20,000 foot mark on 2 wheels.
Shinji Kazama: The
legendary Kazama-san was seen in Michael Palin’s Pole to Pole documentary series
flying a motorcycle to Antarctica so that he could ride a bike to the South
Pole … and indeed he did. On top of that the Japanese adventurer has ridden a bike across the North Pole’s pack ice, the same pack ice that
saw Jeremy Clarkson struggle in his 4WDs.
Where Clarkson struggled, Kazama powered on and reached the North Pole. Kazama was an amazing rider. He competed in 4 Dakars. He even won the 500 cc class one year in the
days when 500cc was small by Dakar 5,880
metres (19,291 feet ) in 1984. He returned to Everest, this time on the
North (Chinese) side with a team of helpers in 1985 and made it to 6,005 metres (19,701 feet ). This stood as an unofficial record for many
years. In fact for a decade Kazama was not only the highest rider on the planet, he was the only person to have ridden to both poles (and still is). Walter has nicknamed his Husaberg "Kazama-san" in honour of this "emperor" of extreme adventure motorcycling.
Before Kazama, a number of Bultaco backed rides had proved the benchmark. In 1973 five Bultaco Sherpa-T 350 bikes set a new world record when they reached 5,156 m (16,916 ft) in the nepalese Imja Khola glacier in the Cukung Valley. The expedition also hired 55 sherpas (35kgs each) to take all the material needed (aeronautical gas was needed due to the poor quality of the nepalese gas combined with the high compression engines). The story is in a book called "Himalaya Namasté" from Dimas Vega, one of the expedition members.
The 1974 Igualada-Kilimanjaro expedition: Jaume Travesset and Santi Godó rode two Bultaco Sherpa-t 250 bikes from Barcelona across Africa and to the top of Kilimanjaro's Uhuru Peak - 5,891 m (19,327 ft). They reached the summit at 5pm on October 26, 1974. The expedition took 4 months and 20.000kms through Spain, Morocco, Spanish Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal, Malí, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Dahomey, Nigeria, Cameroon, CAR, Zaire, Rwanda and Tanzania.
It wasn't until the mid 1990s that Kazama's feats would be challenged. In 1995 a solo Hungarian in an all red outfit, Istvan Juhasz, rode an XL250R up the side of Gauri Shankar, a Nepalese mountain in the Himalaya, with the assistance of a trekking company and reached an impressive 6,183m (20,285 feet) where cold and fuelling limited progress. Istvan Juhasz has a pretty strong claim to have been the first person to cross the 20,000 foot mark on 2 wheels.
The Chinese: Kicked
of the current Guinness recognition of the motorcycle altitude game by getting a 2002 ride with considerable support and backing, up the North side of Everest suitably certified and verified. (there is a lot of verification involved with Guinness). They too crossed the 20,000 foot barrier
before topping out at 6,113 metres (20,060 feet).
Damon I’Anson: Unaware of the other significant rides, British moto journalist I’Anson went to Ladakh to set a world altitude record for bikes and document it for the UK’s Bike magazine in 2007. He creditably rode his XT660R from the UK all the way to the 5,582 metre pass, Marsimik La, then with his Indian co-rider Pankaj, found a way up the scree covered hillsides until exhaustion and lack of traction took their toll and they could go no higher. They reached 5,713 metres (18,743 feet) and reckoned it was probably about as high as anyone had ever been on a bike. “I was able to ride a Yamaha XT660-R to 18,743ft, which I believe is the highest anyone has ever ridden”. It was, however, still a long way below the efforts of Shinji Kazama, not to mention the 2002 Chinese Guinness World Record that was standing at the time 400 metres higher, and Istvan Juhasz’s ride another 70 metres higher again. I'Anson's documentary article also noted the absurd discrepancies between altitudes claimed on Indian signs and reality as seen by his GPS. He now runs tours in the Indian Himalaya.
Damon I’Anson: Unaware of the other significant rides, British moto journalist I’Anson went to Ladakh to set a world altitude record for bikes and document it for the UK’s Bike magazine in 2007. He creditably rode his XT660R from the UK all the way to the 5,582 metre pass, Marsimik La, then with his Indian co-rider Pankaj, found a way up the scree covered hillsides until exhaustion and lack of traction took their toll and they could go no higher. They reached 5,713 metres (18,743 feet) and reckoned it was probably about as high as anyone had ever been on a bike. “I was able to ride a Yamaha XT660-R to 18,743ft, which I believe is the highest anyone has ever ridden”. It was, however, still a long way below the efforts of Shinji Kazama, not to mention the 2002 Chinese Guinness World Record that was standing at the time 400 metres higher, and Istvan Juhasz’s ride another 70 metres higher again. I'Anson's documentary article also noted the absurd discrepancies between altitudes claimed on Indian signs and reality as seen by his GPS. He now runs tours in the Indian Himalaya.
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