About Us

Translated by: John Agrafiotis

In ancient Greece, someone was considered to be rich (plousios in Greek) when he had accomplished many “ploes”, which is an ancient Greek word for travels. He would be rich in images, smells, emotions and many other things that travelling by motorcycle can offer. Likewise, we started many years ago to “save” all the above, firstly in our head and our computer’s hard drive and next on to this site.

As time passed, more people like us showed up. People with the same or almost the same beliefs. People that wanted to share their gained “wealth” with us and with you. Our companionship constantly grows. And maybe this is the one and only wealth in the world so easily shared.

Moto Adventures is not a club. It doesn’t have some kind of base. Its office is on mountain passes, on paved roads, on picturesque routes, next to anything that can attract a motorcycle rider. There are no members, just friends that share whatever they learn on the road. They can be gathering information for new adventures or they can be enjoying reading about travels, travelling with their mind while wearing their cozy pajamas.

As we already mentioned, the cause of this site is just one; to share its wealth. The “task” is not so difficult. But the more the helping hands, the easier the job. So, if you think that you belong in this team and you want to give a helping hand to this try, do not hesitate to contact us. Even if you think that writing or photography are not some of your strong points, there are still a dozen of things waiting to happen. (e.g translating into some other language).

Let’s move on to the presentation of the people employed in this site. People in front of and behind the scenes, so that you know with what kind of scumbags, bikers you are dealing with.

Stelios Oikonomakis (Triumph Tiger 1200 Explorer)
He is the initiator and creator of the Moto Adventures blog. Most people know him as “Iron Ass” or “Duracell” since you can’t take him of the seat unless he has driven for 700 km non-stop, using some air refueling technique. Of course if you have a special tool available and you manage to get him of the seat, he will walk 20 km looking for and taking pictures of sights. His breakfast consists of sausages, eggs, stakes and spirulina, among other exotic delicacies. His other energy resources remain still unknown.

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Iakovos Sourgoutsidis (Yamaha Fazer 600)
Aka Jack the Drifter. For years he used to be one of the editors of the MOTO magazine, where after he managed to marry all his colleagues, he escaped the danger of getting married, by expatriating himself to Crete. There he started the world famous and unknown shop GAS Motorsport Culture which specializes in rider’s and bike’s equipment. Its slogan is “We have everything except what you need”. For the last 6127 years he is tied with blood bonds with a Fazer 600, known as “Kolokotronis”.

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Merkourios-Stylianos Kypraios (Yamaha TDM 900)
The small and extremely beautiful island of Symi was not big enough for his XT and his desire for new horizons (this sounds like a politician’s speech). Making a risky leap he found himself in Heraklion, Crete where he kept on crossing valleys and mountains. In a short time he became no 1 in the list of the “most wanted by sheep shepherds” and as a camouflage kit he left the XT for a TDM… aka The Dream Machine or TeDiboysMos or “Minotaur” as it is called by a well known rasta haired, ex editor of the MOTO magazine… With his new bike he kept on travelling all over Greece and he is slowly getting ready to “crawl” abroad.

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Dimitris Papantoniou (Suzuki V-Strom 650)
He is from Larisa and his elder brother Antonis, initiated him into 2 wheels and passed on to him his inquisitive opinions when it comes to motorcycles. Some say that he travels trying to escape from the bonds of marriage. Initially he climbed on some mountains (Alps), then followed some nomadic gypsies in the Balkans and later on he tried to hide behind the volcanic rocks of Cappadocia (he even tried to escape with a hot air balloon). There are some spirited and malevolent rumors that he once was heard screaming “It’s better with the Dracula”.

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Nikos Aggelakis (Yamaha Fazer 600)
He may find it hard to leave the room but he is an expert when it comes to maps. He has mentally crossed Russia, every country that it’s name ends in –stan (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan etc) and all the Latin America. Lately he has been employed in manufacturing a motorcycle launcher that will allow him to become the first man that will ever step on (or crash into) the moon, with his humble Fazeraki (The ending –aki is typical in last names of people living at Crete). A small village in Crete is his hometown. At marriages he helps people shooting with guns (a tradition of Crete), with his exhaust system and he is showing his skills in dancing traditional dances, while avoiding the numerous holes you can find in the, perfect, Greek roads. According to its owner, the Fazer runs better on tsikoudia (a traditional drink with alcohol coming from Crete).

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Kostas Petrakis (BMW GS 1200)
Kostas is the racing photographer of our companionship. He likes to travel and of course take photos of exotic and wild destinations. His travels are divided into two categories: a.) The two wheel travels, in which it’s common for him to collect tickets from police officers and b.) The ones one foot, in which he tends to lose the sense of time and space, due to the excessive drinking of tsipouro (another drink with alcohol usually found in Greece). After many years with street bikes and quite a few shots of tsipouro, he realized that his dream bike is the GS, with which he can enjoy the quintessence of travelling and the motorcycling nirvana! So, he became member of the AAGSC (Anonymous Alcoholics GS Club) and started exploring the nearby Turkey in his “Quest of the Holy Kebab”. His next targets are the “Lord Bacon” in the Old Albion and the “Chili-Chili dreams” in Guadalajara, Mexico.

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Giorgos Partsinevelos (Yamaha TDM 900)
Born some Saturday, about a century ago, he climbed on his own little cloud and wanders around the latitudes and longitudes of the globe. By travelling, he gets to know a bit from the world that lives behind the mountains that limit what that eye can see and a bit from his inner self. At nights, he gets drunk with a bit of wine and a map. Over the day he gets drunk by the beauty of the nature, the blue of the sea and the grey of the sky and also from the sunbeams finding their way through the clouds and warm his face. He hates Sunday mornings that he is stuck in his bourgeois couch. When he is on the road he can endure rain and kilometers and keeps on going relentlessly towards the little spot on the map, which he has set as his destination, letting himself to enjoy the loneliness of a dream.

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John Giatromanolakis (Suzuki V-Strom 650)
The physicist of our friendship, he has been experimenting for years trying to find what excites him and it looks like his final experiment was successful. Initially, he travelled all over the central Europe in a Smart (there’s no disputing about taste) and then he met the magic of the mountains, walking or rolling from Iran (Damavand) to the Alps (Mont Blanc). For dessert he decided to try travelling by motorcycle. He timidly started exploring Crete (one thousand gun shots) and next Greece. When it was time to make the big step and travel abroad, for some unknown reason the compass got stuck showing the East. Scientists have given up searching for the reason but, keep this between us; I believe it’s because of the Turkish soap operas on Greek TV.

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Sakkos Dimitris (Yamaha FZR 1300)
The alien under the code name Dimitris, that landed quite a few years ago on our planet with his spaceship (aka FZR 1300). Based on information found by motoadv.gr (exclusive info, seriously), the purpose of his top secret mission is to explore every spot of our planet, gathering information about anything that moves or can be eaten (mostly about the second one, actually). With his high – tech equipment camouflaged as everyday things (e.g. digital camera) he aims at his targets, gathering all the necessary information. ATTENTION: If you ever come across him, in order to avoid being part of an experiment from a civilization coming from another galaxy, just buy him a beer…

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Dimosthenis Papadopoulos (Yamaha Tenere 660)
Most of you know him as “Papasouzas”, meaning the “wheelie priest” (no he isn’t Evel Knievel) but in my opinion he is more like Lucky Luke. He “shoots” with his camera faster than his shadow. He doesn’t kill his victims but he captures them in his beautiful frames. You will be surprised as he is the first one I’m talking kindly about. You should try to go for a ride with him, having to stop 3154 times to take a photo, in which you will have to wait for the right weather conditions and you will have to act like a monkey-model until his artistic spirit is satisfied. Some say that the “Squirrel”, the last one to travel with him, has moved to another galaxy…

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John Kakleas (Honda Varadero XLV 1000)
The world renowned (mostly in his neighbourhood) undercover paparazzi, presents to us the adventures he has been through when he was young, as the time between travelling and writing about a trip is the same as the time needed to a travel to the moon and back. Some say that his departure from places he has visited is followed by earthquakes, natural disasters and in the best case scenario by a war. We are not responsible for anything that happens if you invite him to your place. You have been warned …

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Nikos Markas (BMW F800 GS)
An endangered species, found on the wild and virgin mountains of Crete. He is fed with nettles and can drink a huge amount of tsikoudia (a local alcohol drink from Crete) which leads his finger to draw crazy routes on the map. Asphalt roads or passable dirt roads are strongly prohibited during his organized excursions. If you dare to follow him you should have a survival whistle, dried food, flares and a bullet proof vest included in your gear, as there is a good chance of getting shot by a local shepherd.

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Στοιχεία επικοινωνίας:

Special thanks to the people behind the scenes:

• To Nikos Angelakis who designed the logo.
• To John “Masochist” Agrafiotis who volunteered to translate English this webpage in English.
• To Natasa Spiliopoulou that besides having to put up with me, she corrects all the texts before publishing (and has to correct some already published… are you listening Natasa ?)
• To Dimitris Anastasakis who is responsible for the 99 % of the videos you can find in here.

We wish you all fabulous and safe kilometers.