Long Way Up: electric motorcycle adventure details announced

The highly-anticipated motorcycle adventure series, Long Way Up, will premiere on AppleTV+ this September. A follow up to much-loved Long Way Round and Long Way Down, the series follows actors Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman as they travel through South America on a pair of modified Harley-Davidson LiveWire motorcycles.

Only rumours of the series had previously been circulated, but AppleTV+ officially announced today that the series would premiere on the streaming service on September 18. The first three episodes will premiere at once, with further new episodes released weekly.

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Electric dreams

Long Way Up will follow McGregor and Boorman on a 13,000-mile journey from Tierra del Fuego, an archipelago near the southernmost tip of South America, to Los Angeles. Exactly how they do this on the electric Harley-Davidson LiveWire, will be revealed in the show, however McGregor revealed in an interview that they relied on the generosity of locals to charge the batteries.

The Harley-Davidson LiveWire has a claimed city range of around 235kms and 152kms of combined stop-and-go highway use. Harley also claims the battery will charge from 0-100% in 60 minutes.

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Details of McGregor and Boorman’s LiveWire motorcycles are scarce, but they appear to have been heavily modified for adventure use, sporting dual sport tyres, wire-spoked wheels, extra protection, a windshield, panniers, and plenty of electronic equipment.

It has also been revealed that the support crew, which once again features Russ Malkin, David Alexanian, Jimmy Simak and Claudio Von Planta, will utilise two yet-to-be-released electric Rivian R1T trucks.

Previously...

McGregor and Boorman’s initial Long Way Round trip in 2004 saw the pair travel from London to New York City via Europe, Ukraine, Russia, Canada and other surrounding countries. They piloted BMW R1150GS motorcycles on the 19,000-mile journey.

With McGregor’s high profile as an actor, the series became a smash-hit and inspired a whole generation of adventure motorcyclists. It was also a big boost for BMW, with the journey showing the reliability and performance of the R1150GS.

A follow-up, Long Way Down, aired in 2007 and followed the pair on a trip from Scotland to Cape Town, riding the BMW R1200GS Adventure.

Long time coming

The idea of a Long Way Up trip had been floated for years, and while it finally took place between September and December 2019, exact details were kept secret. When bikesales interviewed Charley Boorman earlier this year, our journalist was told strictly not to ask about Long Way Up.

McGregor unofficially confirmed the series when he spoke about it during an appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon in February. “This time we went on electric motorcycles, because we wanted to be part of that new wave of transportation,” explained McGregor on the show.

The Star Wars actor also claimed that while he ran the battery of his bike flat, Boorman never did. “He’ll tell you that is because he is the better rider,” said McGregor. “And he is probably right.”

It is still unclear whether the September 18 premiere date of Long Way Up will be the same in Australia, however AppleTV+ is currently available to Australians as a 7-day free trial, and then a monthly $7.99 payment. The streaming service features original television series’ and movies.