Istanbul

The Soviet experiencing culture shock.

The Soviet and me, we went to Istanbul for a few days. The original plan involved renting a Transalp and mooching around the countryside, but it rained a lot so we stayed in the city. It's a wonderful place. It's pretty exotic but it has all the conveniences of a large European city and doesn't have any of the hassles associated with say, Morocco. The people are friendly and easygoing and the food is consistently amazing!

It was a lovely trip and I can't wait to back on a bike to explore the rest of the country.

KTM 990 Adventure

Honda CBF 150 - These are ubiquitous in Istanbul and are the courier's weapon of choice. Note the crash-bars.

Another CBF 150.

Arora AR 200 anyone?

Malaysian built Megelli 250R - How beautiful is that?

BMW something-or-other... Yawn!

Zealsun? IDK...

Or a Kanuni?

Sym Wolf Classic.

Early 90's BMW GS

Spanky new Honda NC700.

Soviet Gangnam Style!

Give that Soviet a arbus. Soviets love arbus!

Tarty Sportster.

Buying Ice cream is a big theatrical production in Istanbul with bells and whistles. The ice cream has a weird visco-elastic texture allowing the sellers to do a variation of the shell game with the customer. Its funny to watch.

There are cats everywhere and they're treated like communal pets rather than strays. They have the run of the bars and cafes and people stop in the street to play with them. There's a similar situation with dogs but the dogs wear plastic tags in their ears.

Hagia Sophia. 

Graffiti in the bohemian part of the city near Galata tower. There's a fantastic nightlife in this area.

Jawa.

Aprilia Caponord.

Honda CRF 250

Mondial X-treme Max. When they bring out an Ultra Super X-treme Max I'll buy one.

When I first saw this I thought it was a Honda Rebel 250...

...but apparently it's a Regal Rider Motorcycles DD125E. I don't really go for cruisers much, especially small ones, but this is pretty nice (as is the Honda Rebel).

Kuba Motor K4. This thing is both compelling and hideous in equal measure. I thought it was pretty horrible yet I couldn't stop looking at it. It reminded me of those weird Japanese movies with a superhero who looks like a fly drives a jet powered motorcycle. In the end I decided that I loved it...

The electric motor appears to be located inside the rear hub - which is interesting from a packaging point of view. Note the abundance of rear shocks.

Suzuki DRZ 400...

...from California...

...apparently arriving in Turkey via South America. I left a business card on the bike so if the owner reads this, I'd love if you get in touch and tell me how your trip is going.

These guys are fishing off the Galata bridge right in the middle of the city. I have an idea that this is a sort of professional operation and they sell their catch to the fish restaurants located beneath the bridge.

Triumph Tiger

#TheSoviet #YelenaKalashnikova #Mercenary #MercenaryGarage #Istanbul