The Long Road: Peter & Kay Forwood
In today’s V-Twins Sunday Run, we’d like to introduce you to a couple of extremely notable people from the world of Harley-Davidson Motorcycles… Peter and Kay Forwood. While there are several people who have ridden motorcycles around the globe, Peter and Kay rode waaayy further than that!
Peter and Kay, from Townsville in North Queensland, took a fifteen-plus year journey throughout the world, on a 1994 Harley-Davidson Ultra Classic, with a standard Evolution 1340 engine. On that journey, their Ultra became the first and only vehicle (not just motorcycle) to have been ridden in ALL of the 193 internationally recognised countries of the world as they existed at that time.
For us at North Coast V-Twins, we’re flatly amazed at how special that record is. The first vehicle to visit and travel in EVERY country of the world wasn't a Land Rover, it wasn't a Jeep, not a Toyota Land Cruiser, not a Hummer... it was a Harley-Davidson.
Starting in Australia on the 3rd of February 1996, the trip finished in New Zealand in 2008… except it didn’t completely finish. From NZ, Peter and Kay just kept riding, re-visiting many favourite places, before finally riding into their Townsville garage in June 2012.
The Ultra was purchased new in 1994 and at the time it arrived back in tropical Townsville had been ridden over 610,000 km. (For perspective, just over 40,000km will take you around the entire planet Earth at the equator.) Peter and Kay’s journey began with simply a desire to travel by motorcycle, and it must have been a VERY strong desire!
After riding in 143 countries and receiving extensive media coverage along many parts of the journey, they were booked as a highlighted display at the Harley-Davidson 100th Anniversary Celebrations in Milwaukee in 2003. That recognition, however, wasn’t the end of the trip - there were 50 more countries to visit!
Those last 50 countries were dotted all over the place, and most were islands in vast oceans, so it took years and years to finish the ride. But they did it… every country of the world, using the same motorcycle.
The top end of the original Evo engine has been rebuilt twice, lasting about 250,000 km's before each freshen-up. Up until 540,080kms, it had not been necessary to remove the engine from the frame at any time as the bottom end didn’t need repair, nor was the gearbox opened.
But by August 2009 the original 1994 engine finally required a rebuild, after completing those 540,080kms. It was temporarily replaced with a brand new engine to continue travelling while the original engine was refreshed, and then re-fitted into the motorcycle like an old family member coming home.
Remember also that the Ultra carried two people, and every piece of luggage, camping equipment, repair tools and items, first-aid necessities, rider equipment…everything… for over 600,000kms!
Check the photos here today! Peter and Kay’s full story can be found here https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/forwood/
Have a great Sunday!
