Adv Mad Cowboys

“As with everything in life the hard part is usually to make the decision, once it is taken the fun truly starts. Everything from the preparation to the actual execution is part of the trip and part of the experience. For us we plan to keep traveling, hopefully, to do another Rally in the next year, and to enjoy every moment and every off-road track we can with our friends.” – Carles Falcón

“Adv Mad Cowboys are the kind of people that have almost no limits when it comes to riding the big ‘cow’ bikes. Even though it might seem impossible at the beginning, you only need to try, and most of the time you’ll find you can simply do it. The satisfaction from this is enormous.” says Carles about his exploits while riding a BMW R1200 GSA air cooled through some truly tough terrain. For the last couple of years, he and his friend Aleix Liovet have slowly been pushing their boundaries when it comes to big bike adventure riding. “We love to travel and do as much of it off the road as possible. So Adv Mad Cowboys is the perfect window for showing what is possible on the big adventure bikes. To travel through unthinkable scenarios with these bikes, and discover amazing places is what it is about for us.”

“I’m from Tarragona, a coastal city close to Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. I’m 39 years old, and my profession is IT engineer in an automotive company. Aleix, a mechanical engineer in the same company, is 35 years old and hails from Barcelona city.” As one would expect Carles started riding motorbikes at a young age. “My first bike was a little Italjet Victory 50cc I got when I was six. My father owned an old Bultaco Alpina 350cc, so I learned to ride motorbikes with gears when I was eight. Our family has a little house in the mountains near Tarragona, and I spent my youth riding enduro bikes with through those mountains. Aleix started riding mopeds when he was sixteen moving up to supermoto at twenty-two. He was always pushing the limits so ended up with more than a few crashes resulting in a break from riding. But at twenty-seven he returned to riding as a supermoto professional where he competed for two years. He also started riding enduro around four years ago so you could say both of us have a pretty good set of off-road skills.”

Carles and Aleix always had a dream of rally racing, but it was unfortunately not a priority in their busy work and home life schedules. “But we know who the guilty ones are when it comes to who convinced us in the end; our friends.” Last year some of their friends took part in several rallies. “They raced in Albania, Greece and the Panafrica in Morocco. And after listening to them talk about the experience it became impossible not to silence the desire of competing ourselves.”

As far as professional races go Carles debut was this year Hellas Rally in Greece. Although we are convinced, it will not be his last. “It was a big challenge for me. This year I turn 40, and in fact, competing was a birthday present to myself. The idea was a year in the making, and I trained a great deal in the months leading up to it on my 2007 Yamaha WR 450. Competing on the WR would have been the ‘intelligent’ option, but it has always been my dream to race with the GSA.” The Hellas Rally is a seven-day event with several stages that cover almost 1250 mi / 2000 km. “I entered the bicylinder category, and Aleix had planned to enter with his F800GS. Unfortunately, he’s had several ‘issues’ with his motorcycle. A bent chassis, oil leaks, broken suspension and square rims have been plaguing his Bavarian parallel twin so to enjoy the rally he decided to go with a Yamaha WR450 in the M2 category.”

Maneuvering a big 1000cc plus motorcycle across terrain usually reserved for lighter machines can be a unique experience. “The feelings you get is the best part. Riding big bikes over this terrain makes you feel some special vibes as opposed to when you ride the same routes with other smaller bikes. It’s hard to explain to someone who hasn’t experienced it” And In Carles case the BMW has it’s ‘favorite’ kind of tracks. “She doesn’t like tracks with plenty of stones or big holes. But, when the kind of open gravel tracks appear that she likes, it’s an amazing sensation. Riding fast, passing other bikes before and after every turn. She’s completely controlled with only the right hand and one’s feet. There truly is no way of explaining the awesome sensation when you overtake an enduro bike while your big GS Adventure is howling beneath you!”

Rally stages are designed to test rider and machine. Deep ruts and holes, or 12 mi / 20 km of dunes are less than ideal terrain for the front telelever suspension. Deep river crossings that flood the engine makes for lost time while one has to extract the water from the boxer engine. “Keeping calm, and trying to anticipate situations and challenges before it’s too late is key. Dunes can be extremely dangerous on a big adventure machine. We’ve been to Morocco several times where we usually search out sections or tracks with deep sand or dunes. In these cases, it is important to think about your actions in advance because it’s very easy to fall, and it is extremely tiring to lift the bike up repeatedly. You have to have the determination, and you have to see yourself getting through it! Another important aspect of riding these bike are the ‘inertia.’ With these weights, inertia has to become your friend. Sometimes people will try to cover tricky sections with these bikes at extremely slow speeds. It is an error. Momentum and inertia are here to help you, but only if you know how to use them.”

Carles bought his air-cooled edition R1200 GSA off the showroom floor in 2010. Since then he’s managed to clock up over 83 000 mi / 133 500 km traveling and riding every single type of terrain. “Initially I wanted to travel around Europe, and I thought that this bike was the best option.” Believing firmly in the design of the GSA Carles didn’t change much in the way of upgrades. “The most important upgrade for me was to switch out the front & rear suspension for TFX shock absorbers.” This allowed the big beast to handle much tougher terrain than it’s German designers had originally intended. “For protection, we fitted an ACD skid plate, a swingarm protector, and some stainless steel exhaust header protectors.” With these fitted Carles turned his attention to shedding some weight and getting a bit of power gain by changing out the heavy OEM exhaust can for a titanium and carbon fiber Arrow muffler while also removing the stock catalytic converter. The original 19” front rim was replaced with a 21” Excel for better technical riding off-road with the rear seeing an 18” Excel rim upgrade.

Other than this the changes have been spartan. A special seat, LED bulbs, custom stickers, foam rally grips and a set of Puig brake and clutch levers run up front. Carles also ditched the sizeable touring screen for a Wunderlich screen that now protects the navigation equipment while still allowing the rider a cleaner line of sight for the trail ahead. “We run an ICO trip, and F2R roadbook coupled with remote controllers. In a rally, you need to stay focused and keep your concentration levels up. You need to be calm and able to follow the roadbook to avoid making navigation mistakes. Find your own pace and being able to stay focused so you don’t get lost and waste time is key to success. For our personal trips, we mostly use GPS for navigation. It usually ends up being a combination of tracks found on the internet along with information sourced from friends.”

With such a high volume of miles under his belt, Carles is outspoken on his choice of tires for each application. “For a while, we were big “fans” of Mitas tires, but I think something got changed in the compound. I started noticing a decrease in the millage we got out of them, literally seeing tires destroyed after 300 km of off-road riding. These days I’m in love with the MotoZ tires, mostly the Tractionator Adventure & Desert edition. Its a perfect combination of millage & off road grip, and works surprisingly very well on the asphalt. For competition or rally use, I prefer the combination of a Metzler Six Days Extreme for the front and a Pirelli Scorpion XC mid hard for the rear. In my opinion, it’s the best choice for the big GS.”

“The best part of the air-cooled GSA for me is the frame engine combination coupled with the brakes. I love the boxer engine. It’s very powerful, and you find torque in every kind of situation. In fact, it’s a deceivingly fast bike, and much easier to drive than it would seem. Although I must admit, I would probably change out the telelever and front frame for an upside-down fork like a WP with a cone valve set up if I could choose. And a snorkel air intake would be great for those river crossings too!”

To see more of Carles and Aleix’s adventures follow them on Instagram.

Images by Adv Mad Cowboys and Actiongraphers.