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Motorcycling History: Ms. Elspeth Beard

 

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Motorcycling History: Ms. Elspeth Beard

 

 

A motorcycling pioneer

Elspeth Beard is an architect and motorcyclist, and she is famous for being the first English woman to ride a motorcycle around the world. 

She achieved this feat in 1982, in the days before GPS, Internet, email and mobile phones. The bike she chose for the trip was a used 1974 BMW R 60/6 flat-twin, for which she paid £900 ($1800) in 1980 – a substantial sum at the time, especially for a machine that already had 30,000 miles on the odometer.

Elspeth used the bike for her first long solo rides to Scotland and to Ireland, then to mainland Europe and Corsica, racking up over 10,000 miles in her first two years of ownership.  At age 24, Elspeth had finished the first three years (of seven years) of architectural studies and decided to take a serious break from her responsibilities and began planning to ride around the world.  She had saved around $1,900 working behind the bar at her local pub in Marylebone, central London.  She made plans and began her journey.

She started the first stage of her trip in New York: “It cost £175 ($340 at the time) to send the bike and £99 ($197) for my own air fare,” she recalls.  From the Big Apple she rode up to Canada, then down to Mexico before reaching Los Angeles, adding 5,000 miles to the odometer.   From L.A. she shipped the bike to Sydney, but stopped off to see New Zealand on foot while the bike was in transit.

Elspeth then spent seven months working in a Sydney architectural practice and living in a garage, gaining experience and replenishing her diminished funds.  She spent weeks constructing her own lockable, top-box and panniers out of folded and riveted sheet aluminum before setting off on her travels once more.  She rode all over Australia, and had her first big accident on a dirt road near Townsville, in Queensland.  She was left with a concussion, but luckily no broken bones.  She still has the Bell “bone dome” helmet that she’s convinced saved her life (and which she carried on wearing for the rest of the trip).

In Singapore she had a disaster of a different kind, when all her valuables were stolen, including her passport with all the visas in it for the countries she had yet to visit, and the registration and shipping documents for her bike.  After an enforced six week sojourn in the island state replacing all the lost documents, she was on her way again.

Her trip was filled with much more adventure as well as additional perils, which included having another accident and spending time in Turkey recovering from illness.

By the time she got back to her native London, Elspeth had been away for three years and added 48,000 miles to her R60’s odometer.  Upon her return, she stripped and completely rebuilt the engine herself; the motorcycle is still in running order today.

Elspeth finished her architectural studies, founded Elspeth Beard Architects, and later redesigned Munstead Tower in Godalming, turning it into her home.  Brick-built and 130 feet high, Munstead Tower was erected in 1898 to supply water to the surrounding homes in Munstead and neighboring villages and was in use for approximately 70 years.  The water tower had been out of use for nearly twenty years when Beard bought it at auction in 1989.  With that project, she won the 1994 Royal Institute of British Architects award for South East England.

In 2017, Beard wrote a book about her adventure.  See the link below.  She still owns her architectural firm, which is based in a converted stable in Godalming. 

Discover more about Ms. Beard

 

YouTube short videos

Elspeth Beard - one of the early globetrotters.

A short recap of Ms. Beard’s story, 3 min. 46 sec. Posted July 8, 2016 by BMW Motorrad

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=7O4Xp6Qndfw

 Meet the First British Woman to Go Around the World on Her Motorbike

A short recap of Ms. Beard’s story, 3 min. 47 sec. Posted May 8, 2018 by Culture Trip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1_DZaKhwhA

YouTube full interview

This is a full interview with Ms. Beard by MCN (Motorcyclenews.com) in three parts Posted March 24, 2018 by MCN – Motorcyclenews.com

Part 1: Travelling the world, by Elspeth Beard | Interviews | Motorcyclenews.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xaxo5EIJhrY

Part 2: Travelling the world, by Elspeth Beard | Interviews | Motorcyclenews.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwBYy5Clm5U

Part 3: Travelling the world, by Elspeth Beard | Interviews | Motorcyclenews.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvogDFH67bs

 

Elspeth Beard’s Autobiography

Check out Ms. Beard’s autobiography, published in 2017, available at Amazon:

Lone Rider: The First British Woman to Motorcycle Around the World

Photos of Ms. Beard’s stunning, award-winning home

Check out a page at Elspeth Beard Architect’s website that features details about the construction and great photos of the interior of Ms. Beard’s home: Elspeth Beard Architects Page: Munstead Water Tower

 

 

Photos of Ms. Beard

Elspeth Beard

Elspeth Beard on her trip around the world. Location and date unknown.  Note the hand-built top-box and pannier.

 

Elspeth Beard

 

Elspeth Beard at Leh Pass in the Himalayas

 



Elspeth Beard

Elspeth Beard in Turkey

 

 


Elspeth Beard

 

Pictured with her 1974 BMW R 60/6 flat-twin in 2017






Holding the Bell helmet that saved her life



Elspeth Beard

Elspeth Beard, 2017


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